How to duplicate a custom control (panel) programmatically - winforms

Question

I am using C# in VS 2010. I created a custom panel and would like to add this custom panel 9 times so I created a loop to add a copy of the panel 9 times at equal distance from each other. Each panel will have its own text and image. All I'm getting though is a single panel. Any insight would be appreciated
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
int index = 0;
List<CutePanel.CustomPanel> MenuItems = new List<CutePanel.CustomPanel>();
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
for (int i = 0; i < 9; i++)
{
this.cpTest.BackColor = System.Drawing.SystemColors.ActiveCaption;
this.cpTest.LabelText = "My super click text";
this.cpTest.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(12, 12+(64*i));
this.cpTest.Name = "cpTest";
this.cpTest.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(344, 58);
this.cpTest.SuperClick = null;
this.cpTest.TabIndex = 6;
}
cpTest.MouseClick += new MouseEventHandler(cpTest_MouseClick);
cpTest.SuperClick += new EventHandler(cpTest_SuperClick);
cpTest.LabelText = "This is my text.";
MenuItems.Add(cpTest);
}
void cpTest_SuperClick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
tcTest.SelectedIndex = index++ % 2;
}
void cpTest_MouseClick(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
tcTest.SelectedIndex = index++ % 2;
}
private void customPanel3_MouseClick(object sender, MouseEventArgs e)
{
tcTest.SelectedIndex = index++ % 2;
}
}
Thanks.

Answer 1

You have to make a distinction between your panel class and panel objects, also called instances of this class. Think of the class as a template that serves in creating objects. These objects are created with the new keyword:
for (int i = 0; i < 9; i++)
{
var cp = new CutePanel.CustomPanel();
cp.BackColor = System.Drawing.SystemColors.ActiveCaption;
cp.LabelText = "My super click text";
cp.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(12, 12+(64*i));
cp.Name = "cpTest" + i;
cp.Size = new System.Drawing.Size(344, 58);
cp.SuperClick = null;
cp.TabIndex = 6;
cp.MouseClick += new MouseEventHandler(cpTest_MouseClick);
cp.SuperClick += new EventHandler(cpTest_SuperClick);
cp.LabelText = "This is my text.";
MenuItems.Add(cp);
}
You can also assign it values from the existing panel:
cp.BackColor = cpTest.BackColor;
cp.Size = cpTest.Size;
...
An elegant way of making a duplicate is to include a Clone method in your panel class
public class CustomPanel
{
...
public CustomPanel Clone()
{
var cp = (CustomPanel)this.MemberwiseClone();
cp.Parent = null; // It has not yet been added to the form.
return cp;
}
}
Then
for (int i = 0; i < 9; i++)
{
CustomPanel cp = cpTest.Clone();
// Now only change the differing properties
cp.Location = new System.Drawing.Point(12, 12+(64*i));
cp.Name = "cpTest" + i;
cp.TabIndex += i + 1;
MenuItems.Add(cp);
}
but attention: If the cloned control is a container control containing other controls, you must clones those recursively as well. I.e., you must perform a deep clone! Creating new controls as shown in my first code snippet is safer.