Identify buttons on click? - vb.net

Question

So here's what I have:
Code that makes buttons when you click the button "New Button" (Button1).
Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
ActionsMade = ActionsMade + 1
Dim actionButton = New Windows.Forms.Button
ActionContainer.Controls.Add(actionButton)
actionButton.Text = "New Action " + ActionsMade.ToString
actionButton.Width = 107
actionButton.Height = 56
AddHandler actionButton.Click, AddressOf OnActionButtonClick
End Sub
When you click the buttons that were created, it shows an input box, where you type what you want to rename the button to.
Sub OnActionButtonClick()
If IsRenaming Then
Dim renameTo As String
renameTo = InputBox("Rename ActionButton To:")
Else
MessageBox.Show("Action started! Not renaming")
End If
End Sub
The only problem is, I have no way to identify between these buttons.
tl;dr:
I created buttons programmatically
I want to rename them
I don't know how to identify between these buttons and rename them individually

Answer 1

This is more concise and includes a referencable button name (eg Button_03):
Private Sub MakeButton_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MakeButton.Click
Static ActionsMade As Integer = 0
ActionsMade += 1
ActionContainer.Controls.Add(New Button With {
.Name = $"Button_{ActionsMade:00}",
.Text = $"New Action {ActionsMade:00}",
.Size = New Size(107, 56),
.Location = New Point(100, 250 + 25 * ActionsMade)
})
AddHandler ActionContainer.Controls($"Button_{ActionsMade:00}").Click, AddressOf OnActionButtonClick
End Sub
Note that in the above code I haven't actually defined a new button per se, just New-ed it within the Controls.Add() statement, and then used the generated button name to add the event handler.
Another way would be declare the button as an independent object and then add it:
Dim actionButton As New Button With {
.Name = $"Button_{ActionsMade:00}",
.Text = $"New Action {ActionsMade:00}",
.Size = New Size(107, 56),
.Location = New Point(100, 250 + 25 * ActionsMade)
}
ActionContainer.Controls.Add(actionButton)
AddHandler actionButton.Click, AddressOf OnActionButtonClick
Other notes:
Use of a Static ActionsMade integer variable which retains its value between calls. This could also be a module-wide variable and removed from the MakeButton_Click Sub.
Use of string interpolation in assigning the button's Name and Text properties according to a formated version of the ActionsMade value.
Use of button properties Size and Location.
Automatic increment of button vertical position based on the value of ActionsMade.
Regarding your Action Button event handler, it should look like this:
Private Sub OnActionButtonClick(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
If ActionStarted Then
MessageBox.Show("Action started! Not renaming.")
Else
CType(sender, Button).Text = InputBox("Rename ActionButton To:")
End If
End Sub
Note that I've checked for a started Action rather than a renaming in progress but that's just an illustration of an alternative approach. Note also that you don't need to know the name of the button to change its properties.