Programmatically add controls to form - vb.net

Question

I'm using the attached code to add another line\row of controls beneath an existing set (when a label is clicked). There could be quite a few rows added so I'm having to repeat the code many times using the counter (i) to keep track...
Is there a better method for doing this?
Private Sub Label10_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles LblExpandSearch.Click
If i = 0 Then
'TextBox7
'
Dim TextBox7 As New TextBox
TextBox7.Size = New Size(302, 20)
TextBox7.Name = "TextBox7"
TextBox7.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(60, 135)
Me.ExpAdvancedSearch.Controls.Add(TextBox7)
'RadioButton5
'
Dim RadioButton5 As New RadioButton
RadioButton5.AutoSize = True
RadioButton5.Checked = True
RadioButton5.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(77, 112)
RadioButton5.Name = "RadioButton5"
RadioButton5.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(55, 17)
RadioButton5.TabIndex = 48
RadioButton5.TabStop = True
RadioButton5.Text = "NEAR"
RadioButton5.UseVisualStyleBackColor = True
ElseIf i = 1 Then
ExpAdvancedSearch.Size_ExpandedHeight = 260
'TextBox8
'
Dim TextBox8 As New TextBox
TextBox8.Size = New Size(302, 20)
TextBox8.Name = "TextBox8"
TextBox8.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(60, 185)
Me.ExpAdvancedSearch.Controls.Add(TextBox8)
'RadioButton9
'
Dim RadioButton9 As New RadioButton
RadioButton9.AutoSize = True
RadioButton9.Checked = True
RadioButton9.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(77, 162)
RadioButton9.Name = "RadioButton9"
RadioButton9.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(55, 17)
RadioButton9.TabIndex = 48
RadioButton9.TabStop = True
RadioButton9.Text = "NEAR"
RadioButton9.UseVisualStyleBackColor = True
End If
i = i + 1
End Sub

Answer 1

Hmmm.. UseVisualStyleBackColor says 'winforms' to me.
A few points...
Don't add controls all to one panel, use a usercontrol.
Then just add instances of that.
Don't process click events from a label
Use a linklabel or button. Anything else = being mean to users. Of course it makes sense to you, you thought of it! Now so with users, this is black and white.
Sample...
Very minimal of course. You'll want to:
Put the items in a scrollable panel instead of right on the form.
Add them to a generic list of uc probably, too.
Set form's min/max size - to allow reasonable sizing (allow any height > ~100)
Set uc's and controls .Anchor properties to allow reasonable resizing
uc.vb
Public Class uc
Inherits System.Windows.Forms.UserControl
Private components As System.ComponentModel.IContainer
Friend WithEvents TextBox1 As System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
Friend WithEvents LinkLabel1 As System.Windows.Forms.LinkLabel
Public Sub New()
MyBase.New()
Me.TextBox1 = New System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
Me.LinkLabel1 = New System.Windows.Forms.LinkLabel
Me.SuspendLayout()
Me.TextBox1.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(8, 8)
Me.TextBox1.Name = "TextBox1"
Me.TextBox1.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(88, 20)
Me.TextBox1.TabIndex = 0
Me.TextBox1.Text = "TextBox1"
Me.LinkLabel1.Enabled = False
Me.LinkLabel1.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(112, 8)
Me.LinkLabel1.Name = "LinkLabel1"
Me.LinkLabel1.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(24, 16)
Me.LinkLabel1.TabIndex = 1
Me.LinkLabel1.TabStop = True
Me.LinkLabel1.Text = "add"
Me.Controls.Add(Me.LinkLabel1)
Me.Controls.Add(Me.TextBox1)
Me.Name = "uc"
Me.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(148, 36)
Me.ResumeLayout(False)
End Sub
Private _addcallback As EventHandler = Nothing
Public Property AddCallback() As EventHandler
Get
Return _addcallback
End Get
Set(ByVal Value As EventHandler)
_addcallback = Value
LinkLabel1.Enabled = Not Value Is Nothing
End Set
End Property
Private Sub LinkLabel1_LinkClicked(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.LinkLabelLinkClickedEventArgs) Handles LinkLabel1.LinkClicked
If AddCallback Is Nothing Then Throw New ApplicationException("AddCallback not set on a uc") ' ALWAYS check for errors like this
_addcallback(Me, Nothing)
AddCallback = Nothing ' gray myself out, can't insert in thie implementation
End Sub
End Class
frm.vb
Public Class frm
Inherits System.Windows.Forms.Form
Private components As System.ComponentModel.IContainer
Public Sub New()
MyBase.New()
Me.AutoScaleBaseSize = New System.Drawing.Size(5, 13)
Me.ClientSize = New System.Drawing.Size(292, 266)
Me.Name = "Form1"
Me.Text = "Form1"
End Sub
Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
AddClicked(Me, Nothing)
End Sub
Private Sub AddClicked(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)
Dim myuc As New uc
myuc.AddCallback = AddressOf AddClicked
If Controls.Count > 0 Then
myuc.Top = Controls(Controls.Count - 1).Bottom
End If
Me.Controls.Add(myuc)
End Sub
End Class

Answer 2

I don't know if there's a "less code" approach to this but I do know that you can save your fingers using a With statement.
Dim RadioButton5 As New RadioButton
With RadioButton5
.AutoSize = True
.Checked = True
.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(77, 112)
.Name = "RadioButton5"
.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(55, 17)
.TabIndex = 48
.TabStop = True
.Text = "NEAR"
.UseVisualStyleBackColor = True
End With

Answer 3

If you need to add an indefinite number of items to a single page, then you need to store those items in an array list that we can later add to the page dynamically.
Imports System.Collections.Generic
Partial Class Default2
Inherits System.Web.UI.Page
''# the i integer is here for helping to set the ID of the radio button
''# as well as the tabindex
Private Shared _i As Integer
Public Shared Property i As Integer
Get
Return _i
End Get
Set(ByVal value As Integer)
_i = value
End Set
End Property
''# we need to create an array of our control list class
Public Shared _ctrlList As List(Of ControlList)
''# page load event
Protected Sub Page_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load
If Not Page.IsPostBack Then
''# if the page is not a postback, then we need to initialize the Control List
_ctrlList = New List(Of ControlList)
i = 0
End If
End Sub
''# button click event
Protected Sub button_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles button.Click
''# create a new RadioButton every time the button is clicked
Dim rb As RadioButton = New RadioButton
With rb
.ID = "radioButton" + i.ToString
.Checked = True
.TabIndex = 48 + i
.Text = "NEAR"
End With
''# create a new literal every time the button is clicked
Dim lt As Literal = New Literal
With lt
.ID = "literal" + i.ToString
.Text = " <strong>my fancy text</strong><br />"
End With
''# add the radio button and literal to our custom array
_ctrlList.Add(New ControlList(rb, lt))
''# loop through the array and add the controls to the page
For Each cl In _ctrlList
LabelPlaceHolder.Controls.Add(cl.RadioBtn)
LabelPlaceHolder.Controls.Add(cl.Litrl)
Next
''# increment the i counter so that we have unique radioButton ID's
i = i + 1
End Sub
''# this is our custom Control List
''# the idea behind this is for us to store
''# an array of Radio Buttons and literals to
''# spit out onto the page
''# NOTE: you can add as many controls as you like
''# to this list and even add static "Literals" to
''# help you with your formatting (IE: DIV tags or <BR> tags
Public Class ControlList
Private _RadioBtn As RadioButton
Public Property RadioBtn As RadioButton
Get
Return _RadioBtn
End Get
Set(ByVal value As RadioButton)
_RadioBtn = value
End Set
End Property
Private _Litrl As Literal
Public Property Litrl As Literal
Get
Return _Litrl
End Get
Set(ByVal value As Literal)
_Litrl = value
End Set
End Property
Public Sub New(ByVal radioBtn As RadioButton, ByVal litrl As Literal)
_RadioBtn = radioBtn
_Litrl = litrl
End Sub
End Class
End Class
Try this and see how it works. All you need in your ASPX is
<form id="form1" runat="server">
<asp:PlaceHolder runat="server" id="LabelPlaceHolder" /><br />
<asp:Button ID="button" runat="server" Text="click me" />
</form>
Basically what this does is add an additional control set to the page every time the button is clicked. You can have an indefinite number of controls on the page without adding any additional code.