I'm writing a simple tic tac toe game for school. The assignment is in C++, but the teacher has given me permission to use C# and WPF as a challenge. I've gotten all the game logic finished and the form mostly complete, but I've run into a wall. I'm currently using a Label to indicate who's turn it is, and I want to change it when a player makes a valid move. According to Applications = Code + Markup, I should be able to use the FindName method of the Window class. However, it keeps returning null. Here's the code:
public TicTacToeGame()
{
Title = "TicTacToe";
SizeToContent = SizeToContent.WidthAndHeight;
ResizeMode = ResizeMode.NoResize;
UniformGrid playingField = new UniformGrid();
playingField.Width = 300;
playingField.Height = 300;
playingField.Margin = new Thickness(20);
Label statusDisplay = new Label();
statusDisplay.Content = "X goes first";
statusDisplay.FontSize = 24;
statusDisplay.Name = "StatusDisplay"; // This is the name of the control
statusDisplay.HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Center;
statusDisplay.Margin = new Thickness(20);
StackPanel layout = new StackPanel();
layout.Children.Add(playingField);
layout.Children.Add(statusDisplay);
Content = layout;
for (int i = 0; i < 9; i++)
{
Button currentButton = new Button();
currentButton.Name = "Space" + i.ToString();
currentButton.FontSize = 32;
currentButton.Click += OnPlayLocationClick;
playingField.Children.Add(currentButton);
}
game = new TicTacToe.GameCore();
}
void OnPlayLocationClick(object sender, RoutedEventArgs args)
{
Button clickedButton = args.Source as Button;
int iButtonNumber = Int32.Parse(clickedButton.Name.Substring(5,1));
int iXPosition = iButtonNumber % 3,
iYPosition = iButtonNumber / 3;
if (game.MoveIsValid(iXPosition, iYPosition) &&
game.Status() == TicTacToe.GameCore.GameStatus.StillGoing)
{
clickedButton.Content =
game.getCurrentPlayer() == TicTacToe.GameCore.Player.X ? "X" : "O";
game.MakeMoveAndChangeTurns(iXPosition, iYPosition);
// And this is where I'm getting it so I can use it.
Label statusDisplay = FindName("StatusDisplay") as Label;
statusDisplay.Content = "It is " +
(game.getCurrentPlayer() == TicTacToe.GameCore.Player.X ? "X" : "O") +
"'s turn";
}
}
What's going on here? I'm using the same name in both places, but FindName can't find it. I've tried using Snoop to see the hierarchy, but the form doesn't show up in the list of applications to choose from. I searched on StackOverflow and found I should be able to use VisualTreeHelper class, but I don't understand how to use it.
Any ideas?
FindName operates on the XAML namescope of the calling control. In your case, since the control is created entirely within code, that XAML namescope is empty -- and that's why FindName fails. See this page:
Any additions to the element tree after initial loading and processing must call the appropriate implementation of RegisterName for the class that defines the XAML namescope. Otherwise, the added object cannot be referenced by name through methods such as FindName. Merely setting a Name property (or x:Name Attribute) does not register that name into any XAML namescope.
The easiest way to fix your problem is to store a reference to your StatusDisplay label in the class as a private member. Or, if you want to learn how to use the VisualTreeHelper class, there's a code snippet at the bottom of this page that walks the visual tree to find the matching element.
(Edited: Of course, it's less work to call RegisterName than to use the VisualTreeHelper, if you don't want to store a reference to the label.)
I'd recommend reading the first link in its entirety if you plan on using WPF/Silverlight in any depth. Useful information to have.
You have to create a new NameScope for your window:
NameScope.SetNameScope(this, new NameScope());
Then you register name of your label with the window:
RegisterName(statusDisplay.Name, statusDisplay);
So this seems to be all you need to do to make FindName() work.
Related
I'm working on an inventory program and have finished the main functionality as a command line console app. I am now working on a version for winforms. I want to enable it to dynamically generate a Groupbox that holds some textboxes. I'd rather not design 50+ lines of multiple textboxes. Keep in mind I'm rather new to programming, having started with C# a year ago. I know next to nothing on Winforms.
I've tried to use dynamic item = new Groupbox();as a similar method allowed generation of objects at runtime. In the command line app, the way it works is that based on information given, a certain amount of objects are passed into the list _AllItems. I was thinking of generating the Groupboxes by using:
private void InitializeGroupBox()
{
foreach (Product product in Product._AllItems)
{
dynamic Item = new GroupBox();
}
}
But I have the feeling I'm nowhere near the correct method. Thanks to anybody who helps.
You will need to learn a bit more, but here is what I usually do to achieve what you asked.
internal class DynamicForm : Form
{
private FlowLayoutPanel mFlowLayoutPanel;
public DynamicForm()
{
mFlowLayoutPanel = new FlowLayoutPanel();
mFlowLayoutPanel.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
// Add to this Form
this.Controls.Add(mFlowLayoutPanel);
InitializeGroupBox();
}
private void InitializeGroupBox()
{
mFlowLayoutPanel.SuspendLayout(); // Performance
for (int i = 1; i <= 20; i++) {
var groupBox = new GroupBox();
groupBox.Text = "GroupBox #" + i;
groupBox.Size = new Size(200, 50);
var textBox = new TextBox();
textBox.Dock = DockStyle.Fill;
// Add the TextBox to GroupBox
groupBox.Controls.Add(textBox);
// Add to this Form
mFlowLayoutPanel.Controls.Add(groupBox);
}
mFlowLayoutPanel.ResumeLayout(); // after suspend, resume!
}
}
I have a list of Accounts with some properties which are saved in a database.
On my Window I´m going to show the Username from the Account list
for (int i = 0; i < liste.Count; i++)
{
Label l = new Label();
l.Height = 30;
l.HorizontalAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Left;
l.Content = liste[i].Username + "\n";
l.MouseDown += new MouseButtonEventHandler(Selectuser);
l.HorizontalContentAlignment = HorizontalAlignment.Left;
stack.Children.Add(l); // stackpanel in the xaml
SetKnownImageAcc(Convert.ToInt32( liste[i].AccAId)); // add a picture near the username
}
So I have now I MouseButton Event on every label I created but when I click on one of the usernames I the code behind I only can get the content of the Label so I don't know which Account it is exactly.
Sure i can make a loop to check liste[i].Username = this.content
But my Problem then is that i have more accounts and for example I have 2 accounts one facebook and one google but they have the same username how do I know now in the codebehind which account it is where I clicked
A friend said to me that I should try it with databinding but i´m new to coding so I don't know really how to do it or if this works with databinding.
Thanks for your help :)
One way you can do that is setting the Tag property of your label:
l.Tag = liste[i];
Then, you can get your user back in the subscribed method:
var myUser = (User)((Label)sender).Tag;
But your friend is right: Data binding is a much better way. In fact, in most cases, you shouldn't have any code in the code behind file (other than the automatically generated code). Try looking for MVVM on your favorite search engine.
I have my main form and a dialogbox which is called from main. In my main form I have a label and a button that which properties I can't change. I'm using Visual Studio 2015, not sure if there is a bug regarding this. I also made sure my label and button are set to public to modify.
Code: (this is from the dialog box, this has a list box the function is triggered at selectindexchange)
else if ((short)lbDiscountTypes.SelectedValue == 2) //Senior
{
frm_Main main = new frm_Main();
main.VAT = false;
main.labelStatus.Text = "NON-VAT (SENIOR)";
main.labelStatus.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.IndianRed;
main.labelStatus.ForeColor = System.Drawing.Color.WhiteSmoke;
main.btnNonVat.Enabled = false;
main.btnNonVat.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.SlateGray;
main.btnNonVat.ForeColor = System.Drawing.Color.Navy;
main.labelVatAmount.Text = 0.00m.ToString();
main.Dispose();
//INQUIRE DISCOUNT TYPES
var Discount = GC.CSHR_DiscountTypes.Where(Filter => Filter.DiscountCode == (short)lbDiscountTypes.SelectedValue);
decimal DP = 0.00m;
foreach (var item in Discount)
{
DP = item.DiscountPercentage;
}
foreach (var item in GC.CSHR_SORepo
.Where(Filter => Filter.Machine == MACHINE
&& Filter.SalesOrderNum == SALESORDERNUM
&& Filter.First_SRP == Filter.IMFSRP))
{
item.DiscountAmount = (item.SoldSRP * DP) / 100;
item.TotalAmount = (item.Quantity * item.SoldSRP) - item.DiscountAmount;
item.VATableSalesOnTotalAmount = (item.Quantity * item.SoldSRP) - item.DiscountAmount;
item.VATRate = 0.00m;
GC.SaveChanges();
}
Close();
}
The code below //INQUIRE DISCOUNT TYPES works well but not the one on top.
I've used debug mode to check if the lines are not being skipped over and they aren't.
You should pay attention to:
You are creating a new instance of your main form that you don't need (while it is open behind the dialog), so you need to get it not create a new instance
You are disposing the main form you created. main.Dispose();
In fact you are creating a new instance of main form and assigning values to those controls and then dispose it. While and instance of yor main form that you expect to see changes on it, is open and untouched behind your dialog.
To set value of those controls you can do one of these ways:
Option 1
Make your labelStatus and btnNonVat public. Open your main form in designer and select labelStatus and btnNonVat and in property grid, set Modifier to public. Then write this code:
//var main = Application.OpenForms.OfType<frm_Main>().FirstOrDefault();
var main = (frm_Main)Application.OpenForms["frm_Main"];
main.labelStatus.Text = "NON-VAT (SENIOR)";
main.labelStatus.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.IndianRed;
main.labelStatus.ForeColor = System.Drawing.Color.WhiteSmoke;
main.btnNonVat.Enabled = false;
main.btnNonVat.BackColor = System.Drawing.Color.SlateGray;
main.btnNonVat.ForeColor = System.Drawing.Color.Navy;
main.labelVatAmount.Text = 0.00m.ToString();
Option 2
Pass an instance of your frm_Main to your dialog and work with it.
Option 3
After closing the dialog, use values from dialog and set values of your main form
Looks like you are trying to create new form using frm_Main main = new frm_Main(); syntax. All you need to do is get the instance of your current form.
var _currentMainForm= Application.OpenForms[0];
or if you have given name to your form
var _currentMainForm = Application.OpenForms["MainFormName"];
Once you get the reference you can perform all your label updates.
The code on top creates a new form, changes the labels and then disposes the form.
I think you should change the labels of the existing form.
Like in the other answer said you are setting properties of controls into a new Form object and not in the form where you come from.
You should pass the form object into the parameters of the dialog, something like:
void myDialog(frm_Main callingForm)
{
callingForm.Textbox1.Text = "abc";
}
And call it from you main form like this
...
myDialog(this);
This may be a noobish question, but in my records in Coded UI Tests, I have recorded a lot of controls that don't have enough defined properties to be found in playback.
For exemple:
public HtmlEdit UIItemEdit
{
get
{
if ((this.mUIItemEdit == null))
{
this.mUIItemEdit = new HtmlEdit(this);
#region Search Criteria
this.mUIItemEdit.SearchProperties[HtmlEdit.PropertyNames.Id] = null;
this.mUIItemEdit.SearchProperties[HtmlEdit.PropertyNames.Name] = null;
this.mUIItemEdit.SearchProperties[HtmlEdit.PropertyNames.LabeledBy] = null;
this.mUIItemEdit.SearchProperties[HtmlEdit.PropertyNames.Type] = "SINGLELINE";
this.mUIItemEdit.FilterProperties[HtmlEdit.PropertyNames.Title] = null;
this.mUIItemEdit.FilterProperties[HtmlEdit.PropertyNames.Class] = null;
this.mUIItemEdit.FilterProperties[HtmlEdit.PropertyNames.ControlDefinition] = "type=\"text\" value=\"\"";
this.mUIItemEdit.FilterProperties[HtmlEdit.PropertyNames.TagInstance] = "5";
this.mUIItemEdit.WindowTitles.Add("http://cms.home.psafe.com/");
#endregion
}
return this.mUIItemEdit;
}
In this post, I learned about SearchProperties, but it doesn't look to be an appropriate solution in this case.
Is there any other way to wrap these controls properly?
You might be able to find it if its containing element can be found. You can use the containing element to scope the search. So, find that element's parent, then find an input type=text within it:
var container = new HtmlControl(bw); //where bw is the browser window
HtmlDiv parentDiv = new HtmlDiv(container);
parentDiv.SearchProperties[HtmlDiv.PropertyNames.Id] = "theIdOfYourDiv";
HtmlEdit edt = new HtmlEdit(parentDiv); //the search scope is narrowed down to the div only. This may be enough to find your control with the search property.
edt.SearchProperties[HtmlEdit.PropertyNames.Type] = "SINGLELINE";
You have two options:
Try crowcoder's solution of searching in the parent. The problem with this solution is when you move a control around you're going to be changing code a lot.
Add an Id property to all your controls in the HTML, this will make your Coded UI more robust and responsive to changes in the UI.
I have created a textBox control on run-time for my winform application. The control appears just find once the form loads up, and works great too. However, I have just run into a problem as I realize I do not know how to write the code to write to a dynamically created control.
Let's assume I have created a button (named "Button1") on design time. In Button1's click event, (Button1_Click), I would like to write the word "Hello" to a textBox control that won't be created until the application is executed. Some code below:
C# Code:
// Create the textBox control
TextBox new_textBox = null;
int x = 10;
int y = 10;
int xWidth = 300;
int yHeight = 200;
new_textBox = new TextBox();
new_textBox.Text = controlText;
new_textBox.Name = "textBox" + controlName;
new_textBox.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(xWidth - 10, yHeight - 10);
new_textBox.Location = new Point(x, y);
new_textBox.BringToFront();
new_textBox.Multiline = true;
new_textBox.BorderStyle = BorderStyle.None;
// Add the textBox control to the form
this.Controls.Add(new_textBox);
The Problem:
From Button1_Click event, I cannot get in contact with a control that has not even been created yet. Thus, Visual Studio will throw an obvious error that the control does not exist (because it doesn't).
So, is there some way to dynamically call a control, and more
specifically, a textBox control?
Thank you for any help on the matter,
Evan
Declare the new_textBox at class scope. Then the compiler can access it. For example:
class MyForm
{
TextBox new_textBox;
void InitializeTextBox()
{
new_textBox = new TextBox();
// initialization code here
// Add it to the form
this.Controls.Add(new_textBox);
}
void Button1_Click(...)
{
new_textBox.Text = "clicked";
}
You can make the new_textBox a class member (member of the form). You can again assign it a value and add to the forms controls later dynamically.
It would be a good practice to check if is null in the buttonClick event, though.