Develop Reference

How to add/remove items from a list from a different form?

Say I have a list called listOfFruits in my main form. In a second form I've made I want the user to be able to remove items from that list to a second list called removedFruits. Currently I know I can access these lists in my second form simply passing them as parameters in the form constructor. However c# can't do pointers (correct?) so how can I effect the main form's copy of these lists from my second form? Because currently any changes to those lists in my second form don't effect the main form's original copy of the lists. If I were to remove 5 fruits from the listOfFruits passed to my second form then after finishing my work the main form would still still have a full listOfFruits and an empty removedFruits. Is there a simple fix to this? Maybe a get/set or a way to add/remove items from the original lists from the second form? Maybe the answer is in some sort of accessor stuff?
EDIT: To clarify; I want to add to one list, and remove from another. Not add/remove to the same list. Not sure if this matters entirely but I figured I'd be specific here in case it does.
EDIT2: I think the issue is I'm copying the original list from the first form and not editing it directly. Can someone fix my code so I can access the original list from my second form instead of making a copy of the list?
public partial class ListSelector : Form
{
private string windowName = Form1.typeOfModuleAdded;
public List<IOModule> innerIOList;
IOModule cardAdded = null;
public ListSelector(List<IOModule> cardList)
{
this.Text = windowName;
innerIOList = cardList;
InitializeComponent();
InitializeList();
}
private void InitializeList()
{
if (windowName == "Drive")
{
string[] listDrives = { "ACS880", "test" };
listBox1.Items.AddRange(listDrives);
}
else if (windowName == "IOBlock")
{
if (!innerIOList.Any())
{
MessageBox.Show("No cards loaded! Please import cards from IO List.", "Error Empty Data", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error);
this.Close();
}
foreach (IOModule card in innerIOList)
{
cardAdded = card;
listBox1.Items.Add(card.name);
}
}
else if (windowName == "Local Card")
{
string[] listLocals = { "1756-EN2T", "test" };
listBox1.Items.AddRange(listLocals);
}
else if (windowName == "Processor")
{
string[] listProcessors = { "1756-L71S", "test" };
listBox1.Items.AddRange(listProcessors);
}
}
private void addBtn_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (listBox1.SelectedItem != null)
{
Form1.SetModule(listBox1.SelectedItem.ToString());
Form1.confirmedAdd = true;
this.Close();
}
else if (cardAdded != null)
{
innerIOList.Remove(cardAdded);
}
else
{
MessageBox.Show("No module selected!");
}
}
and here's how I pass the list to that form from my first form:
ListSelector test = new ListSelector(ioList);
test.ShowDialog();
where ListSelector is the name of my second form, and ioList is the list im passing to it.
EDIT3: added more code

"However c# can't do pointers (correct?) so how can I effect the main form's copy of these lists from my second form?"
No, not correct. Any object reference (for instance, of a List<Fruit>) is still very much a pointer to a place in memory, and if you pass the same List<Fruit> object to both Forms, they share the same List.
I don't know why your changes to your listOfFruits don't chow up in your first Form. I would check the following things:
Are you 100% sure you use the same List<Fruit> object in both Forms. (If you create a new List like this: new List<Fruit>(listOfFruits) it is NOT the same List)
Does the first Form have any way of finding out, that the List has changed? Possible using a Timer with recurring checks, or (my favorite) triggering an event when you change something, and subscribe an EventHandler in the first Form to the event.

I assume that you have created a second list in your second form that is filled with the items of the first form's list. Then changes on the second list aren't reflected in the first list. You have to use the same reference of the list.
public Form2(List<Fruit> listOfFruits)
{
this._listOfFruits = listOfFruits;
}
private List<Fruit> _listOfFruits;

Instead using a public field, try to use property and on creating your new ListSelector pass the list to the property.
public partial class ListSelector : Form
{
private string windowName = Form1.typeOfModuleAdded;
private List<IOModule> innerIOList;
IOModule cardAdded = null;
public List<IOModule> CardList
{
get
{
return innerIOList;
}
set
{
innerIOList = value;
InitializeList();
}
}
public ListSelector()
{
this.Text = windowName;
InitializeComponent();
}
When creating your new ListSelector object
ListSelector ls = new ListSelector();
ls.CardList = your mainform list of IOModule here
ls.ShowDialog();

How to pass a System.Drawing.Size as a parameter to a method

I am creating a my account page for my C# application. I have it setup with loads of different edit buttons for different details, i was to make it less tedious to produce and create 1 method which will change the form to the way it is needed.
Here is my code which i hope will stop the code re-use.
private void OnEditButton(string boxSelected, Size size)
{
if (doneBtn.Visible)
{
MessageBox.Show("Must edit current detail before editting a new one");
return;
}
lnametxt.Enabled = true;
lnameLink.Visible = false;
doneBtn.Visible = true;
doneBtn.Location = new Point(size);
TextBoxSelected = boxSelected;
}
The TextBoxSelected Property tells the database which column they will be changing, so this is a parameter as it will change for each edit link.
What am i trying to do? - I am trying to pass the Size as a parameter to this method. Here is the code that will call the method.
private void lnameLink_LinkClicked(object sender, LinkLabelLinkClickedEventArgs e)
{
OnEditButton("lname", (495, 55));
}
at "(495, 55)" it has an error i have put the second lots of brackets to try and see if it will work with that there instead of having it on its own. Both show it has 3 parameters.
Here is the idea i am trying to go for, but without the parameters in place:
private void OnEditButton()
{
if (doneBtn.Visible)
{
MessageBox.Show("Must edit current detail before editting a new one");
return;
}
lnametxt.Enabled = true;
lnameLink.Visible = false;
doneBtn.Visible = true;
doneBtn.Location = new Point(495, 55);
TextBoxSelected = "lname";
}
if you would like any more information then please let me know and i will add it. Thank you in advance

the function OnEditButton takes two parameters, a string boxSelected and an object size of type Size.
So when you call it you have to do
OnEditButton("lname", new Size(495.0, 55.0));
You have to pass an instance of the type Size

C# Removing Submenu Item Image Margins

See the linked screenshot below.
In short, I need those little white boxes to disappear - they're supposed to house an image, but there is no image, and so I'd rather they disappear.
I've accomplished this using the follow code:
foreach (ToolStripMenuItem menuItem in mnuMain.Items)
((ToolStripDropDownMenu)menuItem.DropDown).ShowImageMargin = false;
This works for what I guess are the main items, but not the sub-items, as you can see in the picture.
I've tried a few variations on the above code to try and get it to capture everything instead of just the first level items, but no luck.
What am I doing wrong?
http://i.imgur.com/bst1i4v.png

You should do that for sub items too. To do so, you can use this code:
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
SetValuesOnSubItems(this.menuStrip1.Items.OfType<ToolStripMenuItem>().ToList());
}
private void SetValuesOnSubItems(List<ToolStripMenuItem> items)
{
items.ForEach(item =>
{
var dropdown = (ToolStripDropDownMenu)item.DropDown;
if (dropdown != null)
{
dropdown.ShowImageMargin = false;
SetValuesOnSubItems(item.DropDownItems.OfType<ToolStripMenuItem>().ToList());
}
});
}

This is a modified version of above. Use:
MainMenuStrip.HideImageMargins();
Because the recursive method performs the intended manipulation, I used overloading to make it clearer what is intended. Pattern matching is used because the above sample will throw an exception, not return null.
public static void HideImageMargins([NotNull] this MenuStrip menuStrip)
{
HideImageMargins(menuStrip.Items.OfType<ToolStripMenuItem>().ToList());
}
private static void HideImageMargins([NotNull] this List<ToolStripMenuItem> toolStripMenuItems)
{
toolStripMenuItems.ForEach(item =>
{
if (!(item.DropDown is ToolStripDropDownMenu dropdown))
{
return;
}
dropdown.ShowImageMargin = false;
HideImageMargins(item.DropDownItems.OfType<ToolStripMenuItem>().ToList());
});
}

save and load Listbox Items locally and pass them to other pages

I am currently working on Windows Store App in c#.
Now,
I am having a list box 'Listbox1' which gets its items on a button click event from a text box 'tasks', and have selected Items delete property on other button click event.
private void add_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
string t;
t = tasks.Text;
if (t != "")
{
Listbox1.Items.Add(t);
}
else
{
var a = new MessageDialog("Please Enter the Task First");
a.Commands.Add(new UICommand("Ok"));
a.ShowAsync();
}
tasks.Text = "";
}
private void del_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
for (int p = 0; p < Listbox1.SelectedItems.Count; p++)
{
Listbox1.Items.Remove(Listbox1.SelectedItems[p].ToString());
p--;
}
}
Now I want to save this list into local application storage, after user complete the changes (on a button click event perhaps).
And also to send all Listbox Items to another page(s).
I am not much a coder, I design things.
Please guide me by sample or reference.
Thank you in advance :)

If you have already stored the data to local storage, you could just read it in the OnNavigatedTo override of the other page. Otherwise, use the navigation parameter: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/windowsapps/en-US/8cb42356-82bc-4d77-9bbc-ae186990cfd5/passing-parameters-during-navigation-in-windows-8
Edit: I am not sure whether you also need some information about local storage. This is easy: Windows.Storage.ApplicationData.Current.LocalSettings has a property called Values, which is a Dictionary you can write your settings to. Have a look at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/hh700361.aspx
Edit: Try something like this code to store your list.
// Try to get the old stuff from local storage.
object oldData = null;
ApplicationDataContainer settings = ApplicationData.Current.LocalSettings;
bool isFound = settings.Values.TryGetValue("List", out oldData);
// Save a list to local storage. (You cannot store the list directly, because it is not
// serialisable, so we use the detours via an array.)
List<string> newData = new List<string>(new string[] { "test", "blah", "blubb" });
settings.Values["List"] = newData.ToArray();
// Test whether the saved list contains the expected data.
Debug.Assert(!isFound || Enumerable.SequenceEqual((string[]) oldData, newData));
Note, this is only demo code for testing - it does not make real sense...
Edit: One advice: Do not persist the list in your click handlers as this will become extremely slow as the list grows. I would load and save the list in the Navigation handlers, i.e. add something like
protected override void OnNavigatedTo(NavigationEventArgs e) {
base.OnNavigatedTo(e);
if (this.ListBox1.ItemsSource == null) {
object list;
if (ApplicationData.Current.LocalSettings.Values.TryGetValue("List", out list)) {
this.ListBox1.ItemsSource = new List<string>((string[]) list);
} else {
this.ListBox1.ItemsSource = new List<string>();
}
}
}
protected override void OnNavigatedFrom(NavigationEventArgs e) {
if (this.ListBox1.ItemsSource != null) {
ApplicationData.Current.LocalSettings.Values["List"] = this.ListBox1.ItemsSource.ToArray();
}
base.OnNavigatedFrom(e);
}

Here is very nice simple example on SQLite DataBase Use in winRT app Development. Look at it and you will know how you can store your Data on the Local Machine. I learned Basic code from this example.
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/robertgreen/archive/2012/11/13/using-sqlite-in-windows-store-apps.aspx
Now, for ease of navigation let me suggest you a flow for this portion of your app.
take one ObservableCollection<> of string and store values of
that textBox into this ObservationCollection with onClick() and then
refer that ObservableCollection<String> to the ItemsList of the
listBox.
now at the time you need to send your Data to the next page, make one parameterised constructor of next page and pass that ObservableCollection<String> as it's parameter.
Now you can access those Data in your constructor and can use as however you want.
Hope this will help..

Google Suggestish text box (autocomplete)

What would be the best way to develop a text box that remembers the last x number of entries that were put into it. This is a standalone app written with C#.

This is actually fairly easy, especially in terms of showing the "AutoComplete" part of it. In terms of remembering the last x number of entries, you are just going to have to decide on a particular event (or events) that you consider as an entry being completed and write that entry off to a list... an AutoCompleteStringCollection to be precise.
The TextBox class has the 3 following properties that you will need:
AutoCompleteCustomSource
AutoCompleteMode
AutoCompleteSource
Set AutoCompleteMode to SuggestAppend and AutoCompleteSource to CustomSource.
Then at runtime, every time a new entry is made, use the Add() method of AutoCompleteStringCollection to add that entry to the list (and pop off any old ones if you want). You can actually do this operation directly on the AutoCompleteCustomSource property of the TextBox as long as you've already initialized it.
Now, every time you type in the TextBox it will suggest previous entries :)
See this article for a more complete example: http://www.c-sharpcorner.com/UploadFile/mahesh/AutoCompletion02012006113508AM/AutoCompletion.aspx
AutoComplete also has some built in features like FileSystem and URLs (though it only does stuff that was typed into IE...)

#Ethan
I forgot about the fact that you would want to save that so it wasn't a per session only thing :P But yes, you are completely correct.
This is easily done, especially since it's just basic strings, just write out the contents of AutoCompleteCustomSource from the TextBox to a text file, on separate lines.
I had a few minutes, so I wrote up a complete code example...I would've before as I always try to show code, but didn't have time. Anyway, here's the whole thing (minus the designer code).
namespace AutoComplete
{
public partial class Main : Form
{
//so you don't have to address "txtMain.AutoCompleteCustomSource" every time
AutoCompleteStringCollection acsc;
public Main()
{
InitializeComponent();
//Set to use a Custom source
txtMain.AutoCompleteSource = AutoCompleteSource.CustomSource;
//Set to show drop down *and* append current suggestion to end
txtMain.AutoCompleteMode = AutoCompleteMode.SuggestAppend;
//Init string collection.
acsc = new AutoCompleteStringCollection();
//Set txtMain's AutoComplete Source to acsc
txtMain.AutoCompleteCustomSource = acsc;
}
private void txtMain_KeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
{
if (e.KeyCode == Keys.Enter)
{
//Only keep 10 AutoComplete strings
if (acsc.Count < 10)
{
//Add to collection
acsc.Add(txtMain.Text);
}
else
{
//remove oldest
acsc.RemoveAt(0);
//Add to collection
acsc.Add(txtMain.Text);
}
}
}
private void Main_FormClosed(object sender, FormClosedEventArgs e)
{
//open stream to AutoComplete save file
StreamWriter sw = new StreamWriter("AutoComplete.acs");
//Write AutoCompleteStringCollection to stream
foreach (string s in acsc)
sw.WriteLine(s);
//Flush to file
sw.Flush();
//Clean up
sw.Close();
sw.Dispose();
}
private void Main_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
//open stream to AutoComplete save file
StreamReader sr = new StreamReader("AutoComplete.acs");
//initial read
string line = sr.ReadLine();
//loop until end
while (line != null)
{
//add to AutoCompleteStringCollection
acsc.Add(line);
//read again
line = sr.ReadLine();
}
//Clean up
sr.Close();
sr.Dispose();
}
}
}
This code will work exactly as is, you just need to create the GUI with a TextBox named txtMain and hook up the KeyDown, Closed and Load events to the TextBox and Main form.
Also note that, for this example and to make it simple, I just chose to detect the Enter key being pressed as my trigger to save the string to the collection. There is probably more/different events that would be better, depending on your needs.
Also, the model used for populating the collection is not very "smart." It simply deletes the oldest string when the collection gets to the limit of 10. This is likely not ideal, but works for the example. You would probably want some sort of rating system (especially if you really want it to be Google-ish)
A final note, the suggestions will actually show up in the order they are in the collection. If for some reason you want them to show up differently, just sort the list however you like.
Hope that helps!

I store the completion list in the registry.
The code I use is below. It's reusable, in three steps:
replace the namespace and classname in this code with whatever you use.
Call the FillFormFromRegistry() on the Form's Load event, and call SaveFormToRegistry on the Closing event.
compile this into your project.
You need to decorate the assembly with two attributes: [assembly: AssemblyProduct("...")] and [assembly: AssemblyCompany("...")] . (These attributes are normally set automatically in projects created within Visual Studio, so I don't count this as a step.)
Managing state this way is totally automatic and transparent to the user.
You can use the same pattern to store any sort of state for your WPF or WinForms app. Like state of textboxes, checkboxes, dropdowns. Also you can store/restore the size of the window - really handy - the next time the user runs the app, it opens in the same place, and with the same size, as when they closed it. You can store the number of times an app has been run. Lots of possibilities.
namespace Ionic.ExampleCode
{
public partial class NameOfYourForm
{
private void SaveFormToRegistry()
{
if (AppCuKey != null)
{
// the completion list
var converted = _completions.ToList().ConvertAll(x => x.XmlEscapeIexcl());
string completionString = String.Join("¡", converted.ToArray());
AppCuKey.SetValue(_rvn_Completions, completionString);
}
}
private void FillFormFromRegistry()
{
if (!stateLoaded)
{
if (AppCuKey != null)
{
// get the MRU list of .... whatever
_completions = new System.Windows.Forms.AutoCompleteStringCollection();
string c = (string)AppCuKey.GetValue(_rvn_Completions, "");
if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(c))
{
string[] items = c.Split('¡');
if (items != null && items.Length > 0)
{
//_completions.AddRange(items);
foreach (string item in items)
_completions.Add(item.XmlUnescapeIexcl());
}
}
// Can also store/retrieve items in the registry for
// - textbox contents
// - checkbox state
// - splitter state
// - and so on
//
stateLoaded = true;
}
}
}
private Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey AppCuKey
{
get
{
if (_appCuKey == null)
{
_appCuKey = Microsoft.Win32.Registry.CurrentUser.OpenSubKey(AppRegistryPath, true);
if (_appCuKey == null)
_appCuKey = Microsoft.Win32.Registry.CurrentUser.CreateSubKey(AppRegistryPath);
}
return _appCuKey;
}
set { _appCuKey = null; }
}
private string _appRegistryPath;
private string AppRegistryPath
{
get
{
if (_appRegistryPath == null)
{
// Use a registry path that depends on the assembly attributes,
// that are presumed to be elsewhere. Example:
//
// [assembly: AssemblyCompany("Dino Chiesa")]
// [assembly: AssemblyProduct("XPathVisualizer")]
var a = System.Reflection.Assembly.GetExecutingAssembly();
object[] attr = a.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(System.Reflection.AssemblyProductAttribute), true);
var p = attr[0] as System.Reflection.AssemblyProductAttribute;
attr = a.GetCustomAttributes(typeof(System.Reflection.AssemblyCompanyAttribute), true);
var c = attr[0] as System.Reflection.AssemblyCompanyAttribute;
_appRegistryPath = String.Format("Software\\{0}\\{1}",
p.Product, c.Company);
}
return _appRegistryPath;
}
}
private Microsoft.Win32.RegistryKey _appCuKey;
private string _rvn_Completions = "Completions";
private readonly int _MaxMruListSize = 14;
private System.Windows.Forms.AutoCompleteStringCollection _completions;
private bool stateLoaded;
}
public static class Extensions
{
public static string XmlEscapeIexcl(this String s)
{
while (s.Contains("¡"))
{
s = s.Replace("¡", "¡");
}
return s;
}
public static string XmlUnescapeIexcl(this String s)
{
while (s.Contains("¡"))
{
s = s.Replace("¡", "¡");
}
return s;
}
public static List<String> ToList(this System.Windows.Forms.AutoCompleteStringCollection coll)
{
var list = new List<String>();
foreach (string item in coll)
{
list.Add(item);
}
return list;
}
}
}
Some people shy away from using the Registry for storing state, but I find it's really easy and convenient. If you like, You can very easily build an installer that removes all the registry keys on uninstall.