Get .Text property from dynamically added Textbox - wpf

Question

I am dynamically adding several textboxes to my grid in my code behind. I would like to be able to capture what the user enters into those textboxes.
I'm not quiet sure how to do this as the name of the dynamically added textbox is not available when I try to add it in my codebehind.
I want to create a querybuilder tool. This is very rudementary but basically I want to add multiple comboboxes, textboxes and buttons.

Answer 1

First of all, you must leave behind the traditional mentality of manipulating UI elements in code and Embrace MVVM
<Window x:Class="MiscSamples.QueryBuilderSample"
xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation"
xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml"
xmlns:local="clr-namespace:MiscSamples"
Title="QueryBuilderSample" Height="300" Width="300">
<ItemsControl ItemsSource="{Binding}">
<ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
<DataTemplate>
<Grid>
<Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ColumnDefinition/>
<ColumnDefinition/>
<ColumnDefinition Width="Auto"/>
</Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
<ComboBox ItemsSource="{Binding Operators}"
SelectedItem="{Binding Operator}"/>
<TextBox Text="{Binding Value}" Grid.Column="1"/>
<Button Content="Add" Grid.Column="2"/>
</Grid>
</DataTemplate>
</ItemsControl.ItemTemplate>
</ItemsControl>
</Window>
Code behind:
public partial class QueryBuilderSample : Window
{
public List<QueryCriteria> Criterias { get; set; }
public QueryBuilderSample()
{
InitializeComponent();
DataContext = Criterias = Enumerable.Range(0, 10).Select(x => new QueryCriteria()).ToList();
}
}
ViewModel:
public class QueryCriteria
{
public List<Operators> Operators
{
get
{
return Enum.GetValues(typeof(Operators))
.Cast<Operators>()
.ToList();
}
}
public Operators Operator { get; set; }
public string Value { get; set; }
}
public enum Operators
{
Equals,
Contains,
GreaterThan,
SmallerThan,
}
Result:
Notice that I'm not doing a single line of code to create / manipulate UI elements. Everything is done via DataBinding.
Simple code. No complex event handling stuff or anything like that.
Declarative Code. Just Simple, Simple Properties and INotifyPropertyChanged. That's the default approach to EVERYTHING in WPF.

Answer 2

When you insert a text box, keep a reference to it in some object. A dictionary could be a good choice. That way, you can get that reference later, and from that reference you can read its Text property.

Answer 3

#jeff V you can simply capture the textbox text by using the name your assigning those textboxes..
you are using tb1,tb2 as textboxes name...so you can easily get the values using