Multiples Click Events In A Single Function/Place

Learn how to trap a button and other click events in one function

Introduction 

 

In this post, I will demonstrate how to use a single function to trap all clickable buttons.

 

Events in .NET are very different from old events like Visual Basic 6.0, if you remember. 

 

When I first migrated to OOP C#, I was very excited to use this feature to trap all buttons in one click.

 

THIS IS THE FORM SAMPLE

 

We have 10 buttons on it:

 

 

 

Here is the complete code:

using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace MultiplesButtonClick2SingleFunction
{
    public partial class FormRegular1 : Form
    {
        public FormRegular1()
        =>
            InitializeComponent();

        private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            // Read all controls in the form
            foreach(Control ctl in Controls)
                if (ctl is Button bt) // Select only Button type
                        bt.Click += ClickEvents;   // Add the event
        }

        private void ClickEvents(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            // Check if is a Button and init bt variable
            if (!(sender is Button bt)) return;

            // Check by the text caption of the button
            switch(bt.Text)
            {
                case "button1":
                    {
                       new FormAnonymous1().Show();
                        // Do something
                        break;
                    }
                case "button2":
                    {
                        // Do something
                        break;
                    }
                case "button3":
                    {
                        // Do something
                        break;
                    }
                case "button4":
                    {
                        // Do something
                        break;
                    }
                case "button5":
                    {
                        // Do something
                        break;
                    }
                case "button6":
                    {
                        // Do something
                        break;
                    }
                case "button7":
                    {
                        // Do something
                        break;
                    }
                case "button8":
                    {
                        // Do something
                        break;
                    }
                case "button9":
                    {
                        // Do something
                        break;
                    }
                case "button10":
                    {
                        // Do something
                        break;
                    }
            }
        }


    }
}

Plus - Using Anonymous

 

Using anonymous is a bit different, but I designed the code more efficiently in the following sample:

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace MultiplesButtonClick2SingleFunction
{
    public partial class FormAnonymous1 : Form
    {
        public FormAnonymous1()
        =>
            InitializeComponent();

        private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            foreach (Control ctl in Controls)
                // Check Button type
                if (ctl is Button bt)
                    // Create anonymous funcions
                    bt.Click += (ss, ee) =>
                    // Pass only the text
                    { ClickEvents(((Button)ss).Text); };
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Check only the text
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="text"></param>
        private void ClickEvents(string text)
        {
            switch( text)
            {
                case "button1":
                    {
                        new FormRegular1().Show();
                        // Do something
                        break;
                    }
                case "button2":
                    {
                        // Do something
                        break;
                    }
                case "button3":
                    {
                        // Do something
                        break;
                    }
                case "button4":
                    {
                        // Do something
                        break;
                    }
                case "button5":
                    {
                        // Do something
                        break;
                    }
                case "button6":
                    {
                        // Do something
                        break;
                    }
                case "button7":
                    {
                        // Do something
                        break;
                    }
                case "button8":
                    {
                        // Do something
                        break;
                    }
                case "button9":
                    {
                        // Do something
                        break;
                    }
                case "button10":
                    {
                        // Do something
                        break;
                    }
            }
        }
    }
}

PLUS 2 - MIX MULTIPLES TYPE CONTROLS

 

In this sample, the Click event is trapped together.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Data;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading.Tasks;
using System.Windows.Forms;

namespace MultiplesButtonClick2SingleFunction
{
    public partial class FormAnonymous1 : Form
    {
        public FormAnonymous1()
        =>
            InitializeComponent();

        private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
        {
            foreach (Control ctl in Controls)
                // Check Button type
                if (ctl is Button bt)
                    // Create anonymous funcions
                    bt.Click += (ss, ee) =>
                    // Pass only the text
                    { ClickEvents(((Button)ss).Text); };
            else if (ctl is CheckBox)
                    ctl.Click += (ss, ee) =>
                    // Pass only the text
                    { ClickEvents(((CheckBox)ss).Text); };

        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Check only the text
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="text"></param>
        private void ClickEvents(string text)
        {
            switch( text)
            {
                case "checkBox1":
                    {
                        // Do something
                        break;
                    }
                case "button1":
                    {
                        new FormRegular1().Show();
                        // Do something
                        break;
                    }
                case "button2":
                    {
                        // Do something
                        break;
                    }
                case "button3":
                    {
                        // Do something
                        break;
                    }
                case "button4":
                    {
                        // Do something
                        break;
                    }
                case "button5":
                    {
                        // Do something
                        break;
                    }
                case "button6":
                    {
                        // Do something
                        break;
                    }
                case "button7":
                    {
                        // Do something
                        break;
                    }
                case "button8":
                    {
                        // Do something
                        break;
                    }
                case "button9":
                    {
                        // Do something
                        break;
                    }
                case "button10":
                    {
                        // Do something
                        break;
                    }
            }
        }
    }
}

Conclusion

Putting all click events in a single place is good way to improve the programming.

 

Happy coding.