Dynamically change control type

[draghuna]

I have a dropdownlist (ddl) with a list of Controls I would like to Display, say suppose my ddl has a textBox, Combobox and a Listbox and when I make a selection from the ddl it should draw the Control for me in the page. How do I do this? Everytime I pick something up from the ddl it should remove the existing control and add the selected control from the ddl. Any help is certainly appreciated.

Thanks,

DD

[wildfrog]

Something like this should work:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace DynamicControl
{
    public partial class Form1 : Form
    {
        protected System.Windows.Forms.ListBox listBox1;
        protected System.Windows.Forms.Control control;

        public Form1()
        {
            InitializeComponent();

            // create listbox
            listBox1 = new System.Windows.Forms.ListBox();

            // add items to listbox
            listBox1.Items.AddRange(
                new object[] {"TextBox", "ComboBox","ListBox"});

            listBox1.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(25, 30);
            listBox1.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(120, 56);
            listBox1.TabIndex = 0;

            // add listbox to form
            Controls.Add(this.listBox1);

            // add listbox event handler
            listBox1.SelectedIndexChanged += new System.EventHandler(this.OnSelectionIndexChanged);
        }

        // handle selection chenages
        private void OnSelectionIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            // remove current control (if it exists)
            if (control != null)
                Controls.Remove(control);

            // get new selection and create new control
            switch (listBox1.SelectedIndex)
            {
                case 0: // create textbox
                    control = new TextBox();
                    ((TextBox)control).Text = "Hello";
                    break;
                case 1: // create combobox
                    control = new ComboBox();
                    ((ComboBox)control).Items.AddRange(new object[] { "Item1", "Item2" });
                    break;  // create listbox
                case 2:
                    control = new ListBox();
                    ((ListBox)control).Items.AddRange(new object[] { "Item1", "Item2" });
                    break;
            }

            // add new control
            control.SetBounds(100, 100, 200, 200);
            Controls.Add(control);
        }
    }
}

- petter

[hspc]

using relection you can avoid using a switch case
and load any type you add to the listbox using its name:
add some items to the listbox like this:
TextBox
ComboBox
ListBox
Label
ProgressBar
TreeView
RadioButton

and use this code:

public partial class Form1 : Form
{
	Control ctl=null;
	public Form1()
	{
		InitializeComponent();

	}

	private void listBox1_SelectedIndexChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
	{
		if (ctl!=null)
		{
			ctl.Visible = false;
			this.Controls.Remove(ctl);
		}

		string assemblyPath = Assembly.GetAssembly(typeof(Control)).CodeBase;

		ctl = (Control)Activator.CreateInstanceFrom(assemblyPath, "System.Windows.Forms." + listBox1.SelectedItem.ToString()).Unwrap();

		ctl.SetBounds(100, 100, 200, 200);
		ctl.Text = "My text";
		this.Controls.Add(ctl);
		
	}
}

don't forget to add:

using System.Reflection;

[draghuna]

Thanks for your help guys. Will look into it asap and post back if I have any questions