Working with multiple forms

[DaveyM69]

If I understand you correctly, you want to get a value from the second Form in the first? If so, create a public property or method in the second Form, and call that from the first using the instance of the second Form.

// form2 is the Form2 instance and TextIWant is a string property getter in Form2
string specialText = form2.TextIWant

Dave
BTW, in software, hope and pray is not a viable strategy. (Luc Pattyn)
Visual Basic is not used by normal people so we're not covering it here. (Uncyclopedia)
Why are you using VB6? Do you hate yourself? (Christian Graus)

[bwood2020]

Thank you for your reply! Sorry, that was a typo on my part. I had ["+ GD +"]. GD doesn't show up in the popup but the name of the second form does (GetDelimiter). I used this as well but it throws the error: GetDelimiter is a 'type' but is used like a 'variable'. When I use GD it throws the error: GD does not exist in the current context. What am I doing worng here? Thank you!

[bwood2020]

Yes, that is correct. I want to capture the value from the second form and use it in the first. in the second form I have this: public void textBox1_TextChanged(object sender, EventArgs e) { string GD; GD = textBox1.Text; } then I am calling it in the first form with this: String comString = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=" + Path.GetDirectoryName(FilePath) + @";Extended Properties=""text;HDR=YES;FMT=Delimited("+ GD +")"; Both methods were made public before posting. Should have mentioned that. When I declare another string in the first it only allows me to write: string GDS = GetDelimiter.GD This throws an error: Doesn't contain a definition for GD.

[DaveyM69]

Keep a reference to the second form when you instanciate it and use that reference. A simple example. Button on Form1, TextBox on Form2:

// Form1
using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace WindowsFormsApplication1
{
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
private Form2 form2;
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
form2 = new Form2();
form2.Show();
}

    private void button1\_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        if (form2 != null)
            MessageBox.Show(form2.GD);
    }
}

}

// Form2
using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace WindowsFormsApplication1
{
public partial class Form2 : Form
{
public Form2()
{
InitializeComponent();
}

    private void textBox1\_TextChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
    {
        GD = textBox1.Text;
    }

    public string GD
    {
        get;
        set;
    }
}

}

Dave
BTW, in software, hope and pray is not a viable strategy. (Luc Pattyn)
Visual Basic is not used by normal people so we're not covering it here. (Uncyclopedia)
Why are you using VB6? Do you hate yourself? (Christian Graus)

[bwood2020]

Having a problem with get and set. The error I receive for: public void textBox1_TextChanged(object sender, EventArgs e) { GD = textBox1.Text; } public string GD { get; set; } Error: get and set must declare a body because it is not marked abstract or extern. I tried adding some code to get and set and I received this error: public void textBox1_TextChanged(object sender, EventArgs e) { //GD = textBox1.Text; } public string GD { get { return GD; } set { GD = value; } } Error:Make sure you do not have an infinite loop or infinite recursion. Any ideas?

[Henry Minute]

The problem is caused by your new public property. Change the case of the field references. Change:

public string GD
{
get { return GD; } // this is calling this property and so goes round in circles
set { GD = value; } // same here
}

to:

public string GD
{
get { return gd; } // now referencing your private field, assuming that you called it 'gd'
set { gd = value; } // same here
}

Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.”

[DaveyM69]

Sorry, I was using automatic properties which may not be available in the version that you're working with. Follow Henry's advice and use a private member variable that the property getter and setter accesses.

Dave
BTW, in software, hope and pray is not a viable strategy. (Luc Pattyn)
Visual Basic is not used by normal people so we're not covering it here. (Uncyclopedia)
Why are you using VB6? Do you hate yourself? (Christian Graus)

[bwood2020]

Sorry, I'm not following. As you can guess I am not a very good programmer. Just starting out and I thank you for your patience. I do not have any private fields in the second form. Do I need to declare gd as private? Something like: public void textBox1_TextChanged(object sender, EventArgs e) { GD = textBox1.Text; gd = GD; } private string gd; public string GD { get { return gd; } set { gd = value; } }

[Henry Minute]

Almost right. Well worked out! just a small change

public void textBox1_TextChanged(object sender, EventArgs e)
{

GD = textBox1.Text;
gd = GD; // this line is not needed. When you say GD = textBox1.Text, the lines in the set part of GD
// (called the setter, guess what the get part is called) get executed; gd = value.
// The value is whatever is on the right of the = in GD = textBox1.Text

}
private string gd;
public string GD
{
get { return gd; }
set { gd = value; }
}

Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.”

[bwood2020]

All right, it works!!! One more issue though. I placed a messageBox in the code on the first form and I am getting the correct string delimiter. So I know GD is storing this, however, when I go to call GetDelimiter.GD for the in the connection I get an ArgumentException was unhandled error: Format of the initialization string does not conform to specification starting at index 85. Here is the connection string: String comString = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=" + Path.GetDirectoryName(FilePath) + @";Extended Properties=""text;HDR=YES;FMT=Delimited["+ GetDelimiterForm.GD +"]"; The error occures at: OleDbConnection conTXT = new OleDbConnection(comString); I know it has something to do with FMT=Delimited["+ GetDelimiterForm.GD +"]"; because if I hard code it it has no problems (FMT=Delimiter(TAB)""";). I have tried replacing "[" with "(" and that doesn't work. Any ideas on this one?

[Henry Minute]

When you hard code it you are using slightly different syntax Hard coded: FMT=Delimiter(TAB) Using GetDelimiterForm: FMT=Delimited[...... Delimiter and Delimited, or is that just a typo?

Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.”

[bwood2020]

I apologize, it was a typo. What I meant was Hard Coded: FMT=Delimited(TAB) \\This works Using GetDelimiterForm: FMT=Delimited["+ GetDelimiterForm.GD +"]\\This throws the error

[Henry Minute]

It is the double quote thing for Extended Properties that is causing the problem. In order to get a quotation mark within a literal string you have to 'escape them' This means that the double quotes in the middle have to look like \"\", for them to be recognised as quotes within a string. When this is all over look up Escape Characters for a better explanation. In the mean time take a look at ADO Connection Strings[^], for some examples. Search in the article for 'Extended Properties' and you'll see what I mean. Have a play. Good Luck! :)

Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.”

[bwood2020]

Thank you Henry for all your help. I will look into this today.

[bwood2020]

Hi Henry, I have read a couple articles on escape sequences and have tried to include the same line of code(just modified to fit what I need) and I still get errors. Maybe I am looking in the wrong place but when I try and use Extended Properties=\"\"text;HDR=Yes;FMT=Delimited(" + gds + ");\"\";"; it says I need to add ";". But when I add one it tells me I need to add another. However, if I were to plug the line of code above into the code found in the Code Project page it seems fine. I think what is happening is that there is something wrong with the first part of the connection string, maybe the Source. "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=" + Path.GetDirectoryName(FilePath) + @"; Could you look at this one more time for me and point me in the right direction when you have time please? Here is the entire connection string: String comString = "Provider=Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0;Data Source=" + Path.GetDirectoryName(FilePath) + @";Extended Properties=\"\"text;HDR=Yes;FMT=Delimited(" + gds + ");\"\";"; Thank you, Brenton

[Henry Minute]

I have found an article that is doing what I think you are trying to do. Read text file (txt, csv, log, tab, fixed length)[^], it only uses one \" instead of two. Have a look and see if it helps.

Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.”

[bwood2020]

That did it Henry. Thank you so much. Is there something I need to do is far as closing this out or giving you a rating? Let me know and I will come back.

[Henry Minute]

Thanks for the thanks! If you would just vote one of my posts as a 5, then people will know that your question has been answered. Good luck! :)

Henry Minute Do not read medical books! You could die of a misprint. - Mark Twain Girl: (staring) "Why do you need an icy cucumber?" “I want to report a fraud. The government is lying to us all.”