Referencing an object using a variable string in Visual Basic 2010

Question

I have several sets of similar objects (labels, progress bars) on a form in Visual Basic 2010 on Windows. In my code, I have collections that contain data, which needs to be pushed into the value/text property of each.

I would like to get a solution similar to PHP in that I can assign values somewhat like:

For ID as Integer from 0 to count(collectionExample) lblExample{ID}.Text=collectionExample(variableID)

...and as such to loop through so each of the different lblExample's were updated to their corresponding value.

The issue I have come to is that I cannot seem to reference an object on the form using a variable. I have also tried using something like

CallByName("lblExample" + variableID, "Text", CallType.Set, exampleCollection(variableID))... however I still can't combine the string and variable to reference the object.

Any solutions on referring to objects in VB2010 by combining a string prefix and a variable string identifier, similar to PHP's $variable{$variable} approach?

Edit: Windows Platform

In case if somebody has similar problem, I need to figure out two more "updates": - use someVariable as Control - use set for object not only someVariable = elem Dim i As Integer: i = 2 Dim someVariable As Control Dim Name As String: Name = "label" & CStr(i) For Each elem In Me.Controls If (elem.Name = Name) Then Set someVariable = elem Exit For End If Next someVariable.Text = "What ever" — nn1ka3l
– nn1ka3l, Commented Mar 7, 2017 at 16:46

aric8456 · Accepted Answer · 2014-12-03 13:33:03Z

5

This Also Works:

    Dim lab As Label

    For i As Integer = 1 To 2
            lab = Me.Controls("label" & i)
            lab.Text = "Test" & i
    Next

answered Dec 3, 2014 at 13:33

aric8456

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B Pete · Accepted Answer · 2010-10-09 04:22:45Z

2

You could add each of the controls to a dictionary, using a string as the key.

Then you can access the controls using the string.

Here is a simple example, replace the for loop with you foreach loop...

There may be a cleaner way to associate you data with controls, like putting the controls in a collection indexed by an integer (ID in your example), but you asked for a string!

Public Class Form1

Dim ctrlDict As New Dictionary(Of String, Control)

Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load

    ctrlDict.Add("label1", Label1)
    ctrlDict.Add("label2", Label2)

    For i As Integer = 1 To 2
        ctrlDict("label" & i).Text = "Test" & i
    Next
End Sub

End Class

answered Oct 9, 2010 at 4:22

B Pete

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2 Comments

Ellipsis Over a year ago

Hi B Pete, Apologies for not responding earlier - I was retasked away and haven't had a chance to test this fine answer out yet, but I will return to it soon! In the meantime, have a provisional tick. Thanks for your time and I look forward to testing it out.

Joel Coehoorn Over a year ago

If you're going to add the items to a collection, why mess around with string keys: just a make a collection to hold the items you care about and iterate over every item in the collection.

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