How can I make a button available and usable in every file of a Visual Studio Project?

Question

Hello together,

I have a problem with my Visual Studio 2008 Project. I have 5 .cs-files in it. I need to be able to make all my elements available in every file.

Example: I want to use a button in a .cs-file (because there is the function I need the button to be in), but VS says, that there is no context to this element in this specific file. In another .cs-file of my project it's no problem.

It's probably quite easy to solve, but I have no idea how I can make this possible.

Thank you!

Answer 1

If you want your Button to be available to all other forms or classes in all .cs files within the same project, then I suggest you do three things :

1. Change the Modifiers property of the Button (in the Properties Box) from private to internal.

2. Add the highlighted code to the form which contains the Button:

namespace Namespace1

{

  class Form1 : Form // or whatever it's called

  {

     internal static Form1 Me;

 

     public Form1()

     {

        InitializeComponent();

        Me = this;

      }

      // rest of code

  }

}

3. If the classes in the other .cs files are in different namespaces, add a using directive to them for the namespace in which the above form resides:

using Namespace1;

If you do all that, then you should be able to access the Button (button1 say) from anywhere else in the project using the following code:

Button btn = Form1.Me.button1; 

Answer 2

That works out for me. Thank you so much!!!