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Add a control to a form (Windows Forms .NET)

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Most forms are designed by adding controls to the surface of the form to define a user interface (UI). A control is a component on a form used to display information or accept user input.

The primary way a control is added to a form is through the Visual Studio Designer, but you can also manage the controls on a form at run time through code.

Add with Designer

Visual Studio uses the Forms Designer to design forms. There's a Toolbox window that lists all the controls available to your app. You can add controls from this window in two ways:

Add the control by double-clicking

When a control is double-clicked, it's automatically added to the current open form with default settings.

Double-click a control in the toolbox on visual studio for .NET Windows Forms

Add the control by drawing

Select the control by clicking on it. In your form, drag-select a region. The control is placed in the region you selected.

Drag-select and draw a control from the toolbox on visual studio for .NET Windows Forms

Add with code

Controls are created and added to a form at run time with the form's Controls collection. This collection is also used to remove controls from a form.

The following code adds and positions two controls, a Label and a TextBox:

Label label1 = new Label()
{
    Text = "&First Name",
    Location = new Point(10, 10),
    TabIndex = 10
};

TextBox field1 = new TextBox()
{
    Location = new Point(label1.Location.X, label1.Bounds.Bottom + Padding.Top),
    TabIndex = 11
};

Controls.Add(label1);
Controls.Add(field1);

Dim label1 As New Label With {.Text = "&First Name",
                              .Location = New Point(10, 10),
                              .TabIndex = 10}

Dim field1 As New TextBox With {.Location = New Point(label1.Location.X,
                                                      label1.Bounds.Bottom + Padding.Top),
                                .TabIndex = 11}

Controls.Add(label1)
Controls.Add(field1)

See also