TablePanelLayout Help

[boyindie86]

Hi Forum,

I have been fighting with this code for a day now.

What I have done is am have created a table in VB.NET using the TablePanelLayout object. I manage to the build the table perfectly and it looks how I want it too look.

I load the formatting and headings in from a CSV file which I query using OLEDB.

My table basically has the following format

---------------------------------------
| Titles | Controls |
-------------------------------------------
| Bit of Text | textbox control |
----------------------------------------
(Ignore formatting this page seems to destroy it- it simply two columns, with column 1 full of headings and column 2 full of Controls)


So this will allow the user to enter all there details into the VB.NET form like this. But I am having problems accessing the data that is entered into the forms, as there is no static textboxes, Comboboxes which are made, prior to compilation as I make a new instance of the controls at runtime depending on the setup of the table.

I have tried using getControlfromPosition, but it just returns nothing everytime I try to use it.

My table layout code looks like this:

Public Function LoadFeaturesLayout(ByVal FeatureId As Integer) As Boolean
        Dim dt As DataTable
        Dim i As Integer
        Dim text As String
        Dim objType As String
        Dim featureText As Label
        Dim dRow As DataRow
        Dim height As Single
        Panel2.AutoScroll = True
        'Gets the data to load into the table
        dt = GetTableData(FeatureId).Tables(0)
 
        'Clears all data and style from panel
        layFeaturesTable.Controls.Clear()
        layFeaturesTable.RowStyles.Clear()
 
        'Set panel dimensions
        layFeaturesTable.RowCount = dt.Rows.Count
        layFeaturesTable.ColumnCount = 2
 
 
        layFeaturesTable.AutoSize = True
 
        i = 0
 
        'Stop painting table at runtime, allows table to be defined before drawing
        layFeaturesTable.SuspendLayout()
 
        For Each dRow In dt.Rows
 
            If Not IsNothing(dRow("FeatureText")) Then
 
                'Set Rowstyle
                layFeaturesTable.RowStyles.Add(New RowStyle(SizeType.AutoSize))
                text = dRow("FeatureText").ToString
                objType = dRow("FeatureControl").ToString
                featureText = New Label
                featureText.Text = text
                featureText.Dock = DockStyle.Fill
 
                Select Case objType
                    Case "Panel"
 
                        featureText.Font = New System.Drawing.Font("Microsoft Sans Serif", 9.5!, System.Drawing.FontStyle.Bold, System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit.Point, CType(0, Byte))
                        layFeaturesTable.Controls.Add(featureText, 0, i)
                        layFeaturesTable.SetColumnSpan(featureText, 2)
 
 
                        Dim locSpecLab As New Label
                        Dim locTestLab As New Label
                        locSpecLab.AutoSize = True
                        locSpecLab.Font = New System.Drawing.Font("Microsoft Sans Serif", 10.0!, System.Drawing.FontStyle.Bold, System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit.Point, CType(0, Byte))
                        locSpecLab.Name = "lblSpec"
                        locSpecLab.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(101, 17)
                        locSpecLab.Text = "Specification"
 
                        locTestLab.AutoSize = True
                        locTestLab.Font = New System.Drawing.Font("Microsoft Sans Serif", 10.0!, System.Drawing.FontStyle.Bold, System.Drawing.GraphicsUnit.Point, CType(0, Byte))
                        locTestLab.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(75, 17)
                        locTestLab.Text = "Test Item"
 
                        ' layFeaturesTable.RowStyles.Add(New RowStyle(SizeType.AutoSize))
                        layFeaturesTable.Controls.Add(locTestLab, 0, i + 1)
                        layFeaturesTable.Controls.Add(locSpecLab, 1, i + 1)
                        i = i + 1
                    Case "Text"
                        Dim locText As New TextBox
                        locText.Dock = DockStyle.Fill
                        layFeaturesTable.Controls.Add(featureText, 0, i)
                        layFeaturesTable.Controls.Add(locText, 1, i)
                    Case "Boolean"
                        Dim locBool As New ComboBox
                        locBool.Dock = DockStyle.Fill
                        Dim locArray() As String = New String(1) {}
                        locArray(0) = "Yes"
                        locArray(1) = "No"
                        locBool.Items.AddRange(locArray)
                        layFeaturesTable.Controls.Add(featureText, 0, i)
                        layFeaturesTable.Controls.Add(locBool, 1, i)
                End Select
                i = i + 1
            End If
        Next
 
        If i <= layFeaturesTable.Controls.Count - 1 And Not i > layFeaturesTable.Controls.Count - 1 Then
            layFeaturesTable.Height = layFeaturesTable.Controls(i).Location.Y
        End If
 
 
        'Add cell borders to the panel
        layFeaturesTable.CellBorderStyle = TableLayoutPanelCellBorderStyle.Single
 
        'Allow panel to be scrollable if too large for groupbox
        layFeaturesTable.Visible = True
        layFeaturesTable.AutoScroll = True
 
        'Paints table to form
        layFeaturesTable.ResumeLayout()
        layFeaturesTable.PerformLayout()
        'Panel2.Height = layFeaturesTable.Height
 
    End Function

And I am trying to access the values with the following:

Public Function getControlValue(ByVal featId As Integer, ByVal col As Integer, ByVal row As Integer) As String
        Dim locControl As Control
        Try
 
            locControl = layFeaturesTable.GetControlFromPosition(col, row)
        Catch ex As Exception
 
        End Try
 
        If IsNothing(locControl) Then
            Return Nothing
        Else
            Return locControl.Text
        End If
End Function

Any Help would be greatly appreciated!

[marcellus7]

Why not just use a datagridview? Looks like it probably would be better for what you're trying to do. Im not exactly sure what you're doing after getting the data, but you may be able to just find each textbox control on the form

Dim thisTxt As Textbox
For each thisTxt In TablelayoutPanel
'Something here to save the text, eg. TableAdapter.Insert(thisTxt.Text)
Next

[boyindie86]

Hi Thanks,

For your post, I actually gave up on this method, I wanted to stick with the tablelayoutpanel as I think it looks a hell of lot better than datagridview. All I did was that I created a reference to each control with an arraylist everytime I added a new item into the table. So it was easier to get access to each dynamically generated control. It works like a treat.

And to store all the variables I also used an arrayllist of string arrays, which holds the data for each individual table!

boyindie