Array of properties (not of their values)

General
1

I have a number of CheckBoxes in a window (CBoxA, CBoxbB, etc…). And a number of corresponding properties (PrefCBoxA, PrefCBoxbB, etc…) where I store the value of those checkboxes.

Now I can make an array of those checkboxes by:

Var AllCheckBoxes() as DesktopControl
AllCheckBoxes.Add(CBoxA) etc...

with every entry is a reference to the checkbox object.

How can I make an arrays of properties (NOT of their values).

My goal is then to loop trough the arrays, and do:
PrefCBoxA= CBoxA.value

Thanks!

2

You could use Introspection to get property references as instances of the PropertyInfo class.

For example, this snippet locates the property named “Value” of the checkbox named “CheckBox1”, and sets it to True.

  Dim props() As Introspection.PropertyInfo = Introspection.GetType(CheckBox1).GetProperties()
  For Each prop As Introspection.PropertyInfo In props
    If prop.Name = "Value" Then
      prop.Value(CheckBox1) = True
    End If
  Next
3

Thanks Andrew. This help but does not solve the problem I am facing.
To clarify what I am trying to achieve is maybe better exemplified by that this code:

Var theArrayOfControls() as DesktopControl
theArrayOfControls.Add(CheckBoxAESounds)

which perfectly provide an array containing reference to instance of DesktopControls.

While this:

Var theArrayOfProperties() as Variant
theArrayOfProperties.Add(TestProperty) // defined as: Public Property TestProperty As string = "Luciano"

PublicProperty

provides an array of the values of the corresponding properties, and not a reference to their instances.

It might be that Introspection is the way to achieve this, but I didn’t manage to do it.

Thanks

4

The issue is that not all data types are objects that can be just references. The base types (Booleans, Integers, Strings, etc) are just data.

You could remedy this by creating a class which contains a property of the type you want and two operator_convert methods to get the value in and out.

Class BooleanType
    Private Property mValue as Boolean
 
    Sub operator_convert(value as Boolean)
        mValue = value
    End Sub

    Function Operator_Convert as Boolean
        Return mValue
    End Function
End Class

Then instead of using Boolean, you use BooleanType in your code.

1 Like
5

That’s exactly what I was looking for !!
Thanks a million !!!
Luciano