Create and display a form based on its Name

Saturday, May 24, 2003

This sample uses Reflection to create a form using only the name stored in a string. While the technology can do way more than what is presented in this example, this will give you a basic start. Note that in this example, an instance of Form2 is created and shown based only on the string "Form2" when the main form is clicked on.

Option Strict On
Option Explicit On

Imports System
Imports System.Windows.Forms
Imports System.Drawing

Public Class Form1
    Inherits Form

    Public Sub New()
        Me.Text = "Main Form"
        AddHandler Me.Click, AddressOf FormClick
    End Sub

    Public Sub FormClick(byval sender As Object, byval e As Eventargs)
        Dim myType As Type = Type.GetType("Form2")
        Dim myForm As Form

        Dim newForm As Object = Activator.CreateInstance(myType)
        myForm = CType(newForm, Form)
        myForm.Show()
    End Sub

    <STAThread()> _
    Shared Sub Main()
        Application.Run(New Form1())
    End Sub
End Class

Public Class Form2
    Inherits Form

    Public Sub New()
        Me.Text = "Second Form"
    End Sub
End Class

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