How do I pass variables to a buttons event method?

Question

I need to be able to pass along two objects to the method being fired when I click a button. How do I do this?

So far I\'ve been looking at creating a changed E

Answer 1

You can't use your own custom event argument class for a predefined event handler signature. At least, the custom event argument type will never be utilised by any default calls to the handler (which will only ever be of type EventArgs in the case of a button); you could, potentially, call the handler yourself, passing your custom type, however, you would need to have logic in order to cast it back from an EventArgs into that which it had been cast from.

As a possible solution (depending on your situation), consider a composite type to encapsulate the items you require, as with your event argument type, but keep the required instance as an accessible variable which can be utilised from within the event handler, or, at least, by the method/s which the even handler invokes.

For example, define your type...

public class MyType
{
    public object AccessibleItem { get; set; }
}

And, in your form class...

private MyType MyTypeInstance = new MyType();

private void Button_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
    //here we can set the item, if needs be...
    MyTypeInstance.AccessibleItem = new Anything();
    //or access the item to use as required...
    DoSomeMagicWithMyObject(MyTypeInstance.AccessibleItem);
}

EDIT:

Okay, looking at your current code I can only offer you this for now (it doesn't add the items to the forms control container and it uses a variable iterator within Linq (which I think is either frowned upon or just down-right wrong (?), but hey...):

    private void BuildButtonToObjectDictionary()
    {
        int counter = 0;
        var assembly = Assembly.LoadFile(@"c:\components.dll");

        var buttonToObjectDictionary = (
            from type in assembly.GetTypes()
            where type.IsClass && !type.IsAbstract
            select new
            {
                Button = new Button
                {
                    Name = type.Name,
                    Text = type.Name,
                    Size = new Size(95, 25),
                    Location = new Point(175 + (counter * 100), 10),
                    UseVisualStyleBackColor = true
                },
                Item = Activator.CreateInstance(type),
                Index = counter++
            });
    }