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My name is Andrew Sutton, aka Shandy.

I am currently living and working in the UK as a software developer. This blog contains mainly IT related issues.

I was a Microsoft VB MVP for a couple of years (Apr 2004-Mar 2006) and was a vbCityLeader between April 2003 and June 2007.

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VB.Classic

How To Enumerate Through All Controls On A Form

How To Enumerate Through All Controls On A Form

By Andrew Sutton, Microsoft VB MVP & vbCity Leader
Article Information

Language:

IDE:

Framework:

Area:

Audience:

VB.NET

Any

1.x

Windows.Forms (Controls)

Beginner, Intermediate, Expert

The Standard Method Of Enumerating Controls On A Form

When you enumerate the controls on a form only the controls whose parent is the form are enumerated. By this I mean that all controls placed directly onto the form will be enumerated but any controls placed into container controls like group boxes will not be enumerated. The code shows the method of enumerating which returns only controls placed directly onto the form.

Standard Enumeration Code 
Dim oControl as Control
Dim oCollection As New Collection
For Each oControl In Me.Controls
  oCollection.Add(oControl)
Next

An Enhanced Method Of Enumerating All Controls On A Form

I found the lack of a direct method to enumerate all controls on a form a real nuisance. However, help is at hand. I have created a couple of functions that will enumerate all controls on a form.

Enhanced Enumeration Code 
Private Function EnumerateAllControlsOnAForm(ByVal oForm As Form) As Collection
  Dim oControl As Control
  Dim oCollection As New Collection
  For Each oControl In oForm.Controls
    oCollection.Add(oControl)
    If oControl.Controls.Count > 0 Then
    '  Control is container control to enumerate through this control
      EnumerateAllControlsInAContainerControl(oControl, oCollection)
    End If
  Next
  Return oCollection
End Function
Private Sub EnumerateAllControlsInAContainerControl(ByVal oContainer As Control _
                                                   , ByRef oCollection As Collection _
                                                   )
  Dim oControl As Control
  For Each oControl In oContainer.Controls
    oCollection.Add(oControl)
    If oControl.Controls.Count > 0 Then
    '  Control is container control to enumerate through this control
      EnumerateAllControlsInAContainerControl(oControl, oCollection)
    End If
  Next
End Sub

All you need to do is pass a form to the EnumerateAllControlsOnAForm function it will return a Collection of all the controls on a form including all those in container controls.


Additional Reading

I solved this problem with help from Robert Verpalen who has published a slightly different way of doing it in C#, Enumerating all controls on a form.
posted on Wednesday, April 13, 2005 6:09 PM