How to add a User Control to a Windows Form dynamically?

Question

I have a Windows form (base form) and 3 different user controls. 

such that,

1. Base Form
2a - UserControl1
2b - UserControl2
2c - UserControl3

I put a Panel Control on the Base Form, and I have 3 different buttons.  

e.g.
btnShowUserControl1
btnShowUserControl2
btnShowUserControl3

I would like to ask know, for example, how I can show (or call) UserControl2 if I click on btnShowUserControl2 button.

If possible, would you please show me some coding so that I can try it immediately, thanks ~

 

Answer 1

Something like this:

UserControl1 uc1 = new UserControl1();
myForm.myPanel.Controls.add(uc1);

You may also want to set some properties:

uc1.Top = ...
uc1.Left = ...

Hope this helps.

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www.insteptech.com ; msmvps.com/blogs/deborahk
We are volunteers and ask only that if we are able to help you, that you mark our reply as your answer. THANKS!

Answer 2

oh wow, thanks DeborahK ~ 

btw, can I think of UserControl as a "part" of a windows form? 

I mean, I know how to program a form and add control on it and do Database connection, handle different events.  But would this be similar to a UserControl in this situation?  (I plan to "switch" some of my forms to UserControl and then put all those UserControls on a Base Form)  My end-users would be happy to see the new UI as they can see all different forms into one "combine" form (thanks for Microsoft Base Form and UserControls) 

Can I think of this way?  Please advice :-)

Answer 3

Think of a user control as just another control on your form. Just like you could think of the DataGridView control as a set of header labels and textboxes in rows and columns, you can think of the set of controls in your user control as "just another control".

For example, if you wanted to dynamically add a simple Textbox control to your form, you would use the exact same code that I provided to you, except using TextBox instead of UserControl1.

A user control is just another control.

Hope this helps.

---

www.insteptech.com ; msmvps.com/blogs/deborahk
We are volunteers and ask only that if we are able to help you, that you mark our reply as your answer. THANKS!

Answer 4

yes, I totally understand it.  ~ thanks a lot ~