Clear All Textboxes On A Form

How would I go about clearing the value of all the texboxes on my form. I'm using the .net Framework 2.0 with C#. This is the code I tryed which didn't work (no error, just no result):

for (int i = 0; i < this.Controls.Count; i++ )

   if (this.Controls[i] is TextBox)

      this.Controls[i].Text = " ";

Works perfectly for me. Please provide more code.

Try this:

foreach(Control control in this.Controls)

{

if(control.GetType() == typeof(TextBox))

{

control.Text = "";

}

}

Manip wrote:

Works perfectly for me. Please provide more code.

namespace vintageMotors

{

public partial class mainForm : Form

{

public mainForm()

{

InitializeComponent();

;

}

#region Add Car Field Validation

private void addMileageText_keyPress(object sender, KeyPressEventArgs e)

{

if (!Char.IsDigit(e.KeyChar) && e.KeyChar != (char)8)

{

e.Handled = true;

errorProvider.SetError(addMileageText, "Numerical values only");

}

else

{

errorProvider.SetError(addMileageText, "");

}

}

private void addYearText_keyPress(object sender, KeyPressEventArgs e)

{

if (!Char.IsDigit(e.KeyChar) && e.KeyChar != (char)8)

{

e.Handled = true;

errorProvider.SetError(addYearText, "Numerical values only");

}

else

{

errorProvider.SetError(addYearText, "");

}

}

private void addSellerPriceText_keyPress(object sender, KeyPressEventArgs e)

{

if (!Char.IsDigit(e.KeyChar) && e.KeyChar != (char)8)

{

e.Handled = true;

errorProvider.SetError(addSellerPriceText, "Numerical values only");

}

else

{

errorProvider.SetError(addSellerPriceText, "");

}

}

private void addSellerPhoneText_keyPress(object sender, KeyPressEventArgs e)

{

if (!Char.IsDigit(e.KeyChar) && e.KeyChar != (char)8 && e.KeyChar != (char)43 && e.KeyChar != (char)32)

{

e.Handled = true;

errorProvider.SetError(addSellerPhoneText, "Numerical values only");

}

else

{

errorProvider.SetError(addSellerPhoneText, "");

}

}

#endregion

Car car = new Car();

private void addSubmitButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)

{

car.Make = addMakeText.Text;

car.Model = addModelText.Text;

car.Year = Convert.ToInt32(addYearText.Text);

car.InitialMileage = Convert.ToInt32(addMileageText.Text);

car.Description = addDescriptionText.Text;

backgroundWorker.RunWorkerAsync();

}

private void backgroundWorker_doWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)

{

serializeObject(car, "DataStore.xml");

}

private void backgroundWorker_runWorkerCompleted(object sender, RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e)

{

for (int i = 0; i < this.Controls.Count; i++ )

{

if (this.Controls[i] is TextBox)

{

this.Controls[i].Text = " ";

}

}

MessageBox.Show("New car has been added to the data store successfully!", "New Car Added", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Information);

}

public void serializeObject(Car car, string file)

{

// Create collection of Car objects

List<Car> carList = new List<Car>();

// Retrieve current Car data

XmlSerializer serializer = new XmlSerializer(typeof(List<Car>));

if (File.Exists(file) == true)

{

FileStream fileStream = new FileStream(file, FileMode.Open);

XmlReader reader = new XmlTextReader(fileStream);

carList = (List<Car>)serializer.Deserialize(reader);

reader.Close();

fileStream.Close();

}

// Add new Car object to collection

carList.Add(car);

// Re-serialize Car collection

File.Delete(file);

TextWriter writer = new StreamWriter(file, true);

serializer.Serialize(writer, carList);

writer.Close();

}

}

}


I've highlighted the code I was talking about in bold.

You probably have another Control container between your Form and TextBoxes. Look at the hierarchy in InitializeComponent -- you may need a recursive method to dig into each control container and find TextBoxes.

Not sure what you mean. You probably won't have the time to take a look, but if you do here is the link to the Visual Studio 2005 Project:

Project File

PeterH wrote:

Project File

You have containers in the groups you are using, addSellerDetailsBox and addCarTab, those have their own *.Controls.

A groupBox is just a form without any controls on the top right or the ability to add menus. So if you have a textBox inside a groupBox that is like having another form so when you call it on the form all that form is able to find is the group boxes. 

Try this: 

  for (int i = 0; i < this.Controls.Count; i++)
            {

                if (this.Controls[i] is TextBox)
                {
                    this.Controls[i].Text = " ";
                }
                else if(this.Controls[i] is GroupBox)
                {
                    for (int y = 0; y < this.Controls[i].Controls.Count; y++)
                    {
   if (this.Controls[i].Controls[y] is TextBox)
                 {
                      this.Controls[i].Controls[y].Text = " ";
                 }
                       
                    }
                }

            }

i think we all where on the right page but if you actually looked at his code you would see that he has all these controls on a tabpage in a tabcontrol and for some reason this.controls was only finding the submit button, but knowing that they are all in tabpages the following works just fine.

foreach (TabPage t in this.tabControl.TabPages)
            {
                foreach (Control c in t.Controls)
                {
                    if (c is GroupBox)
                    {
                        for (int i = 0; i < c.Controls.Count; i++)
                        {
                            if (c.Controls[i] is TextBox)
                            {
                                c.Controls[i].Text = "";
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }

It will look at the tabcontrol and then go through all the tabpages and then go through that for groupbox's and then go through that for the textbox's

Thanks Wacko, that works great. I understand now, I didn't know that that was how Windows Forms worked. i.e. With control hierachies.

Orbit86 wrote:

name.text ="" ..its not like you have 500 textboxs..do you?

Not to beat a dead horse, but if you are looking for a slightly more generic approach, you could write something like this.

private void ClearTextBoxes(Control parent)
{

    if(parent is TextBox)
    {
        //using String.Empty is better than ""
        //because it is static so there is only one allocation
     parent.Text = String.Empty;
    }

    foreach(Control control in parent.Controls)
   {
        if(control is TextBox)
        {
           
            control.Text = String.Empty;
        }

        if(control.Controls.Count > 0)
        {
             ClearTextBoxes(control);
        }
}
 
This would allow you to pass in the parent form, a single tab, a group box a panel or whatever control that could possibly contain a text box.

Perhaps it is overkill, but since you asked.

dwoodard wrote:

//using String.Empty is better than ""
//because it is static so there is only one allocation

why not make it recursive? check to see if the control has a contol collection...

then just call its self.......

private void clearTheTextBoxes(Control containerControl){
    foreach (contol ctl in containerControl.controls){
       if(ctl.controls.count > 0)
              clearTheTextBoxes(ctl);
       else
              if(ctl = typeof(TextBoxBase))
                   ctl.Text = string.empty;
    }
}
   
-chad

I am using recursion. I was just trying to avoid the time when a TextBox can contain other controls. Whis is terrifying, but possible in Avalon.

Your version certainly works though.

dwoodard wrote:

Not to beat a dead horse, but if you are looking for a slightly more generic approach, you could write something like this.

private void ClearTextBoxes(Control parent)
{

    if(parent is TextBox)
    {
        //using String.Empty is better than ""
        //because it is static so there is only one allocation
     parent.Text = String.Empty;
    }

    foreach(Control control in parent.Controls)
   {
        if(control is TextBox)
        {
           
            control.Text = String.Empty;
        }

        if(control.Controls.Count > 0)
        {
             ClearTextBoxes(control);
        }
}
 
This would allow you to pass in the parent form, a single tab, a group box a panel or whatever control that could possibly contain a text box.

Perhaps it is overkill, but since you asked.

dwoodward - good call, somehow that recursion in your solution just slipped right by me.

perhaps i DO need another cup of java....errr, i mean coffee =)

thanks!

-chad

What about this:
 
        private void ClearTextBoxs()
        {
            foreach (Control c in this.pnlBody.Controls)
            {
                if (c is TextBox)
                {
                    TextBox tb = (TextBox)c;
                    tb.Text = string.Empty;
                }

                if(c is CheckBoxList)
                {
                    CheckBoxList cb = (CheckBoxList)c;
                    cb.ClearSelection();
                }

                if(c is RadioButtonList)
                {
                    RadioButtonList rb = (RadioButtonList)c;
                    rb.ClearSelection();
                }
            }
        }


I need to wrap it all in a panel called pnlBody. Can't find any controls if I only use this in the "foreach" statement: "this.controls"

Frank Hileman wrote:

You probably have another Control container between your Form and TextBoxes. Look at the hierarchy in InitializeComponent -- you may need a recursive method to dig into each control container and find TextBoxes.