How to get ALL child controls of a Windows Forms form of a specific type Button Textbox

Question

I need to get all controls on a form that are of type x  I m pretty sure I saw that code once in the past that used something like this   dim ctrls   as Control ctrls   Me Controls GetType TextBox     I know I can iterate over all controls getting children using a recursive function  but  is there something easier or more straightforward  maybe like the following   Dim Ctrls   From ctrl In Me Controls Where ctrl GetType Is Textbox

User · Answer

This may work   Public Function getControls Of T    As List Of T      Dim st As New Stack Of Control      Dim ctl As Control     Dim li As New List Of T       st Push Me       While st Count  gt  0         ctl   st Pop         For Each c In ctl Controls             st Push CType c  Control               If c GetType Is GetType T  Then                 li Add CType c  T               End If         Next     End While      Return li End Function   I think the function to get all controls you are talking about is only available to WPF

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Simply   For Each ctrl In Me Controls OfType Of Button       ctrl Text    Hello World   Next

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A clean and easy solution  C         static class Utilities       public static List lt T gt  GetAllControls lt T gt  this Control container  where T   Control           List lt T gt  controls   new List lt T gt             if  container Controls Count  gt  0                controls AddRange container Controls OfType lt T gt                  foreach  Control c in container Controls                    controls AddRange c GetAllControls lt T gt                                       return controls            Get all textboxes   List lt TextBox gt  textboxes   myControl GetAllControls lt TextBox gt

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Using reflection      Return a list with all the private fields with the same type List lt T gt  GetAllControlsWithTypeFromControl lt T gt  Control parentControl        List lt T gt  retValue   new List lt T gt         System Reflection FieldInfo   fields   parentControl GetType   GetFields System Reflection BindingFlags NonPublic   System Reflection BindingFlags Instance       foreach  System Reflection FieldInfo field in fields              if  field FieldType    typeof T           retValue Add  T field GetValue parentControl             List lt TextBox gt  ctrls   GetAllControlsWithTypeFromControl lt TextBox gt  this

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public List lt Control gt  GetAllChildControls Control Root  Type FilterType   null        List lt Control gt  AllChilds   new List lt Control gt         foreach  Control ctl in Root Controls            if  FilterType    null                if  ctl GetType    FilterType                    AllChilds Add ctl                           else               AllChilds Add ctl                     if  ctl HasChildren                GetAllChildControls ctl  FilterType                       return AllChilds

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Create Method  public static IEnumerable lt Control gt  GetControlsOfType lt T gt  Control control        var controls   control Controls Cast lt Control gt         return controls SelectMany ctrl   gt  GetControlsOfType lt T gt  ctrl   Concat controls  Where c   gt  c is T       And use it Like  Var controls  GetControlsOfType lt TextBox gt  this    You can replace this with your control

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You can use a LINQ query to do this  This will query everything on the form that is type TextBox  var c   from controls in this Controls OfType lt TextBox gt                  select controls

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I combined a bunch of the previous ideas into one extension method  The benefits here are that you get the correctly typed enumerable back  plus inheritance is handled correctly by OfType     public static IEnumerable lt T gt  FindAllChildrenByType lt T gt  this Control control        IEnumerable lt Control gt  controls   control Controls Cast lt Control gt         return controls          OfType lt T gt             Concat lt T gt  controls SelectMany lt Control  T gt  ctrl   gt  FindAllChildrenByType lt T gt  ctrl

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I modified from  PsychoCoder  All controls could be found now  include nested    public static IEnumerable lt T gt  GetChildrens lt T gt  Control control      var type   typeof  T      var allControls   GetAllChildrens control      return allControls Where c   gt  c GetType      type  Cast lt T gt        private static IEnumerable lt Control gt  GetAllChildrens Control control      var controls   control Controls Cast lt Control gt       return controls SelectMany c   gt  GetAllChildrens c        Concat controls

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This is an improved version of the recursive GetAllControls   that actually works on private vars       private void Test                  List lt Control gt  allTextboxes   GetAllControls this             private List lt Control gt  GetAllControls Control container  List lt Control gt  list                foreach  Control c in container Controls                        if  c is TextBox  list Add c               if  c Controls Count  gt  0                  list   GetAllControls c  list                      return list            private List lt Control gt  GetAllControls Control container                return GetAllControls container  new List lt Control gt

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I m saldy using VB so  I wrote an extension method  That retrieve all children and sub children of a control  Imports System Runtime CompilerServices Module ControlExt   lt Extension   gt  Public Function GetAllChildren Of T As Control  parentControl As Control  As IEnumerable Of T      Dim controls   parentControl Controls Cast Of Control      Return controls SelectMany Of Control  Function ctrl            GetAllChildren Of T  ctrl              Concat controls             Where Function ctrl  ctrl GetType     GetType T          Cast Of T  End Function  End Module   Then you can use it like  where  btnList  is a control  btnList GetAllChildren Of HtmlInputRadioButton  FirstOrDefault Function rb  rb Checked    In this case  it will select the selected radio button

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In C   since you tagged it as such  you could use a LINQ expression like this   List lt Control gt  c   Controls OfType lt TextBox gt    Cast lt Control gt    ToList        Edit for recursion   In this example  you first create the list of controls and then call a method to populate it  Since the method is recursive  it doesn t return the list  it just updates it   List lt Control gt  ControlList   new List lt Control gt     private void GetAllControls Control container        foreach  Control c in container Controls                GetAllControls c           if  c is TextBox  ControlList Add c             It may be possible to do this in one LINQ statement using the Descendants function  though I am not as familiar with it  See this page for more information on that   Edit 2 to return a collection   As  ProfK suggested  a method that simply returns the desired controls is probably better practice  To illustrate this I have modified the code as follows   private IEnumerable lt Control gt  GetAllTextBoxControls Control container        List lt Control gt  controlList   new List lt Control gt         foreach  Control c in container Controls                controlList AddRange GetAllTextBoxControls c            if  c is TextBox              controlList Add c             return controlList

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public static IEnumerable lt T gt  GetAllControls lt T gt  this Control control  where T   Control               foreach  Control c in control Controls                        if  c is T                  yield return  T c              foreach  T c1 in c GetAllControls lt T gt                     yield return c1

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Don t forget that you can also have a TextBox within other controls other than container controls too  You can even add a TextBox to a PictureBox   So you also need to check if  someControl HasChildren   True   in any recursive function   This is the result I had from a layout to test this code   TextBox13   Parent   Panel5 TextBox12   Parent   Panel5 TextBox9   Parent   Panel2 TextBox8   Parent   Panel2 TextBox16   Parent   Panel6 TextBox15   Parent   Panel6 TextBox14   Parent   Panel6 TextBox10   Parent   Panel3 TextBox11   Parent   Panel4 TextBox7   Parent   Panel1 TextBox6   Parent   Panel1 TextBox5   Parent   Panel1 TextBox4   Parent   Form1 TextBox3   Parent   Form1 TextBox2   Parent   Form1 TextBox1   Parent   Form1 tbTest   Parent   myPicBox   Try this with one Button and one RichTextBox on a form   Option Strict On Option Explicit On Option Infer Off  Public Class Form1      Private Sub Button1 Click ByVal sender As System Object  ByVal e As System EventArgs  Handles Button1 Click          Dim pb As New PictureBox         pb Name    myPicBox          pb BackColor   Color Goldenrod         pb Size   New Size 100  100          pb Location   New Point 0  0          Dim tb As New TextBox         tb Name    tbTest          pb Controls Add tb          Me Controls Add pb           Dim textBoxList As New List Of Control          textBoxList   GetAllControls Of TextBox  Me           Dim sb As New System Text StringBuilder         For index As Integer   0 To textBoxList Count - 1             sb Append textBoxList Item index  Name  amp      Parent      amp  textBoxList Item index  Parent Name  amp  System Environment NewLine          Next          RichTextBox1 Text   sb ToString     End Sub      Private Function GetAllControls Of T  ByVal searchWithin As Control  As List Of Control           Dim returnList As New List Of Control           If searchWithin HasChildren   True Then             For Each ctrl As Control In searchWithin Controls                 If TypeOf ctrl Is T Then                     returnList Add ctrl                  End If                 returnList AddRange GetAllControls Of T  ctrl               Next         ElseIf searchWithin HasChildren   False Then             For Each ctrl As Control In searchWithin Controls                 If TypeOf ctrl Is T Then                     returnList Add ctrl                  End If                 returnList AddRange GetAllControls Of T  ctrl               Next         End If         Return returnList     End Function  End Class

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IEnumerable lt Control gt  Ctrls   from Control ctrl in Me Controls where ctrl is TextBox   ctrl is GroupBox select ctr    Lambda Expressions  IEnumerable lt Control gt  Ctrls   Me Controls Cast lt Control gt    Where c   gt  c is Button   c is GroupBox

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Here is my Extension method  It s very efficient and it s lazy   Usage   var checkBoxes   tableLayoutPanel1 FindChildControlsOfType lt CheckBox gt      foreach  var checkBox in checkBoxes        checkBox Checked   false      The code is   public static IEnumerable lt TControl gt  FindChildControlsOfType lt TControl gt  this Control control  where TControl   Control               foreach  var childControl in control Controls Cast lt Control gt                           if  childControl GetType      typeof TControl                                 yield return  TControl childControl                            else                               foreach  var next in FindChildControlsOfType lt TControl gt  childControl                                         yield return next

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Here is my extension method for Control  using LINQ  as an adaptation of  PsychoCoder version   It takes a list of type instead that allows you to not need multiple calls of GetAll to get what you want  I currently use it as an overload version   public static IEnumerable lt Control gt  GetAll this Control control  IEnumerable lt Type gt  filteringTypes        var ctrls   control Controls Cast lt Control gt          return ctrls SelectMany ctrl   gt  GetAll ctrl  filteringTypes                    Concat ctrls                   Where ctl   gt  filteringTypes Any t   gt  ctl GetType      t        Usage        The types you want to select var typeToBeSelected   new List lt Type gt        typeof TextBox        typeof MaskedTextBox        typeof Button            Only one call var allControls   MyControlThatContainsOtherControls GetAll typeToBeSelected          Do something with it foreach var ctrl in allControls        ctrl Enabled   true

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I d like to amend PsychoCoders answer  as the user wants to get all controls of a certain type we could use generics in the following way       public IEnumerable lt T gt  FindControls lt T gt  Control control  where T   Control                  we can t cast here because some controls in here will most likely not be  lt T gt          var controls   control Controls Cast lt Control gt              return controls SelectMany ctrl   gt  FindControls lt T gt  ctrl                                      Concat controls                                     Where c   gt  c GetType      typeof T   Cast lt T gt             This way  we can call the function as follows   private void Form1 Load object sender  EventArgs e        var c   FindControls lt TextBox gt  this       MessageBox Show  Total Controls      c Count

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For anyone looking for a VB version of Adam s C  code written as an extension of the Control class        lt summary gt Collects child controls of the specified type or base type within the passed control  lt  summary gt       lt typeparam name  T  gt The type of child controls to include  Restricted to objects of type Control  lt  typeparam gt       lt param name  Parent  gt Required  The parent form control  lt  param gt       lt returns gt An object of type IEnumerable Of T  containing the control collection  lt  returns gt       lt remarks gt This method recursively calls itself passing child controls as the parent control  lt  remarks gt   lt Extension   gt  Public Function  GetControls  Of T As Control       ByVal Parent As Control  As IEnumerable Of T       Dim oControls As IEnumerable Of Control    Parent Controls Cast Of Control        Return oControls SelectMany Function c  GetControls Of T  c   Concat oControls Where Function c  c GetType   Is GetType T  Or c GetType   BaseType Is GetType T   End Function   NOTE  I ve added BaseType matching for any derived custom controls  You can remove this or even make it an optional parameter if you wish   Usage  Dim oButtons As IEnumerable Of Button    Me GetControls Of Button

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You can try this if you want         private void ClearControls Control ControlCollection c                foreach  Control control in c                        if  control HasChildren                                ClearControls control Controls                             else                               if  control is TextBox                                        TextBox txt    TextBox control                      txt Clear                                      if  control is ComboBox                                        ComboBox cmb    ComboBox control                      if  cmb Items Count  gt  0                          cmb SelectedIndex   -1                                     if  control is CheckBox                                        CheckBox chk    CheckBox control                      chk Checked   false                                     if  control is RadioButton                                        RadioButton rdo    RadioButton control                      rdo Checked   false                                     if  control is ListBox                                        ListBox listBox    ListBox control                      listBox ClearSelected                                                        private void btnClear Click object sender  EventArgs e                ClearControls  ControlCollection this Controls

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You can use the below Code   public static class ExtensionMethods       public static IEnumerable lt T gt  GetAll lt T gt  this Control control                var controls   control Controls Cast lt Control gt              return controls SelectMany ctrl   gt  ctrl GetAll lt T gt                                        Concat controls OfType lt T gt

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Here is a tested and working generic solution   I have a large number UpDownNumeric controls  some in the main form  some in groupboxes within the form  I want only the one last selected control to change back-color to green  for which I first set all others to white  using this method   can also expand to grandchildren       public void setAllUpDnBackColorWhite                   To set the numericUpDown background color of the selected control to white             and then the last selected control will change to green           foreach  Control cont in this Controls                       if  cont HasChildren                                foreach  Control contChild in cont Controls                      if  contChild GetType      typeof NumericUpDown                           contChild BackColor   Color White                            if  cont GetType      typeof NumericUpDown                   cont BackColor   Color White

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It might be the ancient technique  but it works like charm  I used recursion to change the color of all labels of the control  It works great   internal static void changeControlColour Control f  Color color        foreach  Control c in f Controls                    MessageBox Show c GetType   ToString             if  c HasChildren                        changeControlColour c  color                     else             if  c is Label                                Label lll    Label c                  lll ForeColor   color

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public IEnumerable lt T gt  GetAll lt T gt  Control control  where T   Control               var type   typeof T           var controls   control Controls Cast lt Control gt    ToArray            foreach  var c in controls SelectMany GetAll lt T gt   Concat controls               if  c GetType      type  yield return  T c

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Although several other users have posted adequate solutions  I d like to post a more general approach that may be more useful     This is largely based on JYelton s response   public static IEnumerable lt Control gt  AllControls      this Control control       Func lt Control  Boolean gt  filter   null         if  control    null          throw new ArgumentNullException  control        if  filter    null          filter    c   gt  true        var list   new List lt Control gt          foreach  Control c in control Controls            list AddRange AllControls c  filter            if  filter c               list Add c             return list

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Here is the Solution   https   stackoverflow com a 19224936 1147352  I have written this piece of code and selected only the panels  you can add more switches or ifs  in it

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Here s another option for you  I tested it by creating a sample application  I then put a GroupBox and a GroupBox inside the initial GroupBox  Inside the nested GroupBox I put 3 TextBox controls and a button  This is the code I used  even includes the recursion you were looking for   public IEnumerable lt Control gt  GetAll Control control Type type        var controls   control Controls Cast lt Control gt          return controls SelectMany ctrl   gt  GetAll ctrl type                                  Concat controls                                 Where c   gt  c GetType      type       To test it in the form load event I wanted a count of all controls inside the initial GroupBox  private void Form1 Load object sender  EventArgs e        var c   GetAll this typeof TextBox        MessageBox Show  Total Controls      c Count         And it returned the proper count each time  so I think this will work perfectly for what you re looking for

[c#] How to get ALL child controls of a Windows Forms form of a specific type (Button/Textbox)?

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