Referencing control on one form from another form

Question

As you can guess, I\'m kind of new to .NET and just want to reference a control on one form from another.

Usually I would just do Form.Control.Property but that does

Answer 1

In the form with the control you want to reference:

Public Property CustomerNo() As TextBox
    Get
        Return txtCustomerNo
    End Get
    Set(ByVal Value As TextBox)
        txtCustomerNo = Value
    End Set
End Property

In the form you wish to reference the control:

Dim CustomerNo as string = _sourceForm.CustomerNo.Text

It's a bad design to do this, but it's the simplest method - and should set you on your way.

If you are only interesting in the value entered in the text box then the following might be better:

Public ReadOnly Property CustomerNo() As String
    Get
        Return txtCustomerNo.Text
    End Get
End Property

The above will require the second form to have a reference to the actual instance of the first form. Add the below to the second form:

Private _sourceForm as frmGenerate

Public Property SourceForm() As frmGenerate 
    Get
        Return _sourceForm
    End Get
    Set(ByVal Value As frmGenerate)
        _sourceForm = Value
    End Set
End Property

Now you can do the following where you handle the creation and startup of your second form:

Dim customersForm as new frmCustomers
customersForm.SourceForm = Me
customersForm.Show()    

EDIT: I have constructed a sample project for you here:

http://www.yourfilelink.com/get.php?fid=595015