Multiple RichTextBoxs in tabs

[closet geek]

Hi,

 

I have a program that needs multiple tabs. The tabs are created when a user clicks a button and these created tabs are clones of the initial tab (which has a richtexbox on it).

 

I have a couple of questions.

 

1) How do I allow for unlimited tab creation - so instead of me defining a tab name I can say to J#: "Name the tab tabPage[integer] and after every creation do [integer]++". Currently I'm just using:

 

TabPage tabPage2 = new TabPage("tab");
tabControl1.get_TabPages().Add(tabPage2);

 

Which does allow multiple tabs to be open but do these have the same name?

 

2) How do I reference the richtextboxes that are created when a new tab is created? How do I ensure each richtext box that is created has a unique identifier (as with the tabs)?

 

I'm currently just using this, again it creates a richtextbox no matter how many tabs I create but I'm not sure how to reference the richtextbox:

 

RichTextBox richTextBox1 = new RichTextBox();
tabPage2.get_Controls().Add(richTextBox1);

 

Thanks a lot.

[snarfblam]

If you wanted to hack something out real quick, you could probably reference the RichTextBox by the tab's control collection and an index...

tabControl1.TabPages[index].Controls[2].Text //if you know that the RTF box is control #2

 

If you want to take a neater, cleaner approach, you need to store the newly created objects in some sort of array or collection. You may need to wire/unwire events on the fly. I don't know J#, so you will probably have to research the syntax in MSDN, but here is the c# equvalent.

List<RichTextBox> RTFs = new List<RichTextBox>(); //ArrayList could also be used
// Should be initialized with any RTFs that were placed at design time
// i.e. in contructor RTFs.Add(rtfDocument); where rtfDocument is
// the name of the RichTextBox added at design time.

// An example of duplicating a tab with an RTF
void DuplicateRtf(){
   // Create the new rich text box with copied text
   RichTextBox CurrentBox = RTFs[tabControl1.SelectedIndex];
   RichTextBox NewBox = new RichTextBox();
   NewBox.Rtf = CurrentBox.Rtf;
   
   // If you need to wire events:
   NewBox.LinkClicked += this.OnRtfLinkClicked();
   
   // Create the new tab page and add the new Rtf box.
   // This can be accessed later via index in the TabControl.TabPages collection.
   TabPage NewPage = new TabPage;
   tabControl1.TabPages.Add(NewPage);
   NewPage.Controls.Add(NewBox);
}

// An example of how to access a specific text box,
// in this case, the currently visible one.
void DisplayRtfFromCurrentlyVisibleBoxJustAsAnExample(){
   string RTF = Rtfs[tabControl1.SelectedIndex].Rtf;
   MessageBox.Show(RTF);

}

I haven't tested this either, but it should demonstrate the basic process.

[closet geek]

Thanks - I attempted your quick and dirty solution:

 

tabControl1.get_SelectedTab().get_Controls().get_Item("richTextBox1").Select();

 

This code selects the RTB created on the new tab however I can't then peform actions such as:

 

richTextBox1.Find

 

Which seems strange? I can select the RTB, set its Text but not Find in it? Any ideas?

 

Cheers.

[Cags]

I'd guess that you need to cast the object to a richTextBox before you can access its specific functions. I could be wrong though.

[snarfblam]

That is exactly what the problem is. Because you are getting it from the Controls collection, all that the compiler knows is that it is a control, i.e. it has a text property, a position, a parent, etc. but not that it has an Rtf property, a Find method, etc. because for all the compiler knows, Controls[1] could be a button or a group box. So, yes, you need to cast.

[closet geek]

Thanks - but I get errors when I try to cast the object, I am using this:

 

(RichTextBox) tabControl1.get_SelectedTab().etc etc

 

Is this not the correct way cast?

Edited April 4, 2006 by closet geek

[Cags]

Something like this should suffice.

if(tabControl1.TabPages[index].Controls[2] is RichTextBox)
{
   RichTextBox myRtf = (RichTextBox)tabControl1.TabPages[index].Controls[2];
   myRtf.DoSomething(); // where DoSomething() is the relevant method.
}

[closet geek]

Fantastic - thank you! Edited April 4, 2006 by closet geek