How to modify dynamically created UserControl objects at runtime

Question

I've made a UserControl (with the help of Plutonix) but i have a little problem to change these objects from status.

I dynamically create them with this code:

While UserData.Read

                Dim CPID As String
                Dim CPUN As String
                CPID = UserData("Username").ToString
                CPUN = UserData("Voornaam").ToString & " " & UserData("Achternaam").ToString

                Dim CP As New Contacts(CPID, CPUN)
                CP.Name = CPID
                CP.ContactName.Name = CPID
                AddHandler CP.ContactName.Click, AddressOf Chatbox
                If UserData("Status").ToString = "Online" Then
                    CP.Status = Contacts.ChatStatus.Online
                    If UserData("NieuwBericht").ToString = "Ja" Then
                        CP.MsgStatus = Contacts.ChatMsgStatus.Ja
                    ElseIf UserData("NieuwBericht").ToString = "Nee" Then
                        CP.MsgStatus = Contacts.ChatMsgStatus.Nee
                    Else
                        CP.MsgStatus = Contacts.ChatMsgStatus.Onbekend
                    End If
                ElseIf UserData("Status").ToString = "Afwezig" Then
                    CP.Status = Contacts.ChatStatus.Afwezig
                    If UserData("NieuwBericht").ToString = "Ja" Then
                        CP.MsgStatus = Contacts.ChatMsgStatus.Ja
                    ElseIf UserData("NieuwBericht").ToString = "Nee" Then
                        CP.MsgStatus = Contacts.ChatMsgStatus.Nee
                    Else
                        CP.MsgStatus = Contacts.ChatMsgStatus.Onbekend
                    End If
                ElseIf UserData("Status").ToString = "Offline" Then
                    CP.Status = Contacts.ChatStatus.Offline
                    If UserData("NieuwBericht").ToString = "Ja" Then
                        CP.MsgStatus = Contacts.ChatMsgStatus.Ja
                    ElseIf UserData("NieuwBericht").ToString = "Nee" Then
                        CP.MsgStatus = Contacts.ChatMsgStatus.Nee
                    Else
                        CP.MsgStatus = Contacts.ChatMsgStatus.Onbekend
                    End If
                Else
                    CP.Status = Contacts.ChatStatus.Onbekend
                    If UserData("NieuwBericht").ToString = "Ja" Then
                        CP.MsgStatus = Contacts.ChatMsgStatus.Ja
                    ElseIf UserData("NieuwBericht").ToString = "Nee" Then
                        CP.MsgStatus = Contacts.ChatMsgStatus.Nee
                    Else
                        CP.MsgStatus = Contacts.ChatMsgStatus.Onbekend
                    End If
                End If

                CP.Dock = DockStyle.Top
                ChatContactPanel.Controls.Add(CP)

            End While

As result i get this:

Now my question is: How can i change the MsgStatus and Status of the contacts object from every user

score 2 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 12:15

Assuming you want to find "Patricia":

Dim user = "Patricia"

Dim chatter = ChatContactPanel.Controls.
                   OfType(Of Contacts).
                   FirstOrDefault(Function(c) c.ChatName.StartsWith(user))
If chatter IsNot Nothing Then
    chatter.Status = chatter.ChatStatus.Online
End If

I am guessing "Contacts" is the user control name, and "ChatContactPanel" is a container control where they are stored. The original answer has an edit with this info.

It would be better to find them by Id because names are rarely unique
It would also be even better for a ChatUser class to manage it rather than finding them each time something changes.

Surely there is other runtime data your app tracks by user. A ChatControl property in a ChatUser class would prevent you from having to search for them at all and allow the class to manage it:

myChatBox.Status = myStatus

The class could also create the control for you with the properties already set.

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 15 '16 at 22:59

I know this isn't an answer to your question - This is just a helpful pointer - please feel free to let me know if you want me to delete this - and apologies if I've missed something, and if there are typos in my code, but your big block of If..End If statements contains a lot of repeated code. It could be rewritten like this -

Select Case Userdata("Status").ToString
    Case "Online"
        CP.Status = Contacts.ChatStatus.Online
    Case "Afwezig"
        CP.Status = Contacts.ChatStatus.Afwezig
    Case "Offline"
        CP.Status = Contacts.ChatStatus.Offline
    else
        CP.Status = Contacts.ChatStatus.OnBekend
    End Select

    If UserData("NieuwBericht").ToString = "Ja" Then
        CP.MsgStatus = Contacts.ChatMsgStatus.Ja
    ElseIf UserData("NieuwBericht").ToString = "Nee" Then
        CP.MsgStatus = Contacts.ChatMsgStatus.Nee
    Else
        CP.MsgStatus = Contacts.ChatMsgStatus.Onbekend
    End If

Also apologies if the code is completely wrong, but I'm not able to test it.

That was two-thirds of the point I was trying to make with the [original answer](http://stackoverflow.com/a/35872915/1070452) even with a DRY link part of the point was lost. Even better would be if the DB and UC used the same things for the states — Ňɏssa Pøngjǣrdenlarp, Mar 15 '16 at 23:58

How to modify dynamically created UserControl objects at runtime

2 Answers2