[Gambas-user] Control arrays

[Rob]

On Sunday 20 July 2003 18:41, Ahmad Kamal wrote:
> Thnx A LOT, Rob, but could u plz show how to put them in a group with code,
> in my specific case(labels)? I am new to not making an array graphically.

Setting the group of a control must be done at control creation time.  That 
means, if you create the control graphically you need to do it graphically 
(in the Properties dialog) and if you want to set the group in code you also 
have to create the control in code.

In your case you would want to do something like this, supposing 100x100 
labels (please refer to one of the Tips of the Day which has the exact syntax 
for grouping, if mine doesn't compile):

Public Labels as Object[]

and then in the form load event handler

dim tmpLabel as Label
labels = new Object[]

tmpLabel = new Label(ME) as "Labels"
tmpLabel.Move(0,0,100,100)
tmpLabel.Text = "text of label 0"
labels.Add(tmpLabel) ' this will add label 0

tmpLabel = new Label(ME) as "Labels"
tmpLabel.Move(100,0,100,100)
tmpLabel.Text = "text of label 1"
labels.Add(tmpLabel) ' this will add label 1

...

tmpLabel = new Label(ME) as "Labels"
tmpLabel.Move(200,200,100,100)
tmpLabel.Text = "text of label 8"
labels.Add(tmpLabel) ' this will add label 8

Then when it's time to set the event handlers,

Public Sub Labels_Click()

	... your handler code...

END

Obviously it's a lot more code intensive than just being able to set the index 
in the form designer, but it can be done.  It actually works much better if 
you have like a hundred controls to create because then it's more efficient 
to do it in a loop.  

I guess what would be ideal as a workaround for the lack of design time 
control arrays would be either (a) a collection or object array automatically 
populated with the contents of the corresponding group name, or (b) the 
ability to add controls to a given array and set the index independently of 
the group feature.  I think either could be implemented in the IDE (via code 
automatically generated and added to the form's class file) without needing 
changes to the language, if this proves unwieldy at the language level.  (a) 
was pretty much how I mean to do it in my .frm to .form/.class converter 
which isn't really doing much of use yet, but (b) would probably work better 
for non-converted forms (since if you're converting from a VB project you 
already know which index each control is supposed to have.)

Rob