How to clone a "Control"

[Rob Stevenson]

Does anyone know how to do this accurately. I really only want to clone the
design-time properties which should make the task easier. I've searched high
and low however and still can't find a problem-free solution. Even (ad-hoc)
solutions posted by MSFT employees have problems. For instance, if you
simply copy all serializable properties, you may eventually receive an
"Object does not match target type" exception. In my case, this occurs when
I encounter (and clone) the "Location" property due to the fact that the
"Site" property was cloned earlier. If I clone "Location" first however
(before "Site"), it works fine. There must be a clean way to do this. Can
anyone offer any insight. Thanks.

[RobinS]

You can create the control using the designer, then copy the code and
remove the control, and then you can put the code in the code window and
create the control exactly the same way every time. Would that work for
you?
Robin S.
-------------------------------

Post by Rob Stevenson
Does anyone know how to do this accurately. I really only want to clone
the design-time properties which should make the task easier. I've
searched high and low however and still can't find a problem-free
solution. Even (ad-hoc) solutions posted by MSFT employees have problems.
For instance, if you simply copy all serializable properties, you may
eventually receive an "Object does not match target type" exception. In
my case, this occurs when I encounter (and clone) the "Location" property
due to the fact that the "Site" property was cloned earlier. If I clone
"Location" first however (before "Site"), it works fine. There must be a
clean way to do this. Can anyone offer any insight. Thanks.

[Rob Stevenson]

Post by RobinS
You can create the control using the designer, then copy the code and
remove the control, and then you can put the code in the code window and
create the control exactly the same way every time. Would that work for
you?

Thanks. I wish it were that easy however :) This is being done at runtime on
a machine where VS isn't even installed. I need to generically clone an
arbitrary control that I'm not familiar with ahead of time. A clone function
taking a "Control" argument and returning the cloned control is what I'm
after.

[Morten Wennevik [C# MVP]]

Hi Rob,

There may be better ways, but this may work

private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
TextBox t =3D (TextBox)CloneObject(textBox1);
}

private object CloneObject(object o)
{
Type t =3D o.GetType();
PropertyInfo[] properties =3D t.GetProperties();

Object p =3D t.InvokeMember("", System.Reflection.BindingFlags.CreateIn=
stance, null, o, null);

foreach(PropertyInfo pi in properties)
{
if(pi.CanWrite)
{
pi.SetValue(p, pi.GetValue(o, null), null);
}
}

return p;
}

This code should create a new object of the same type and any writable p=
roperty will get their values copied.
There may be far better ways though.

Does anyone know how to do this accurately. I really only want to clon=

e the

design-time properties which should make the task easier. I've searche=

d high

and low however and still can't find a problem-free solution. Even (ad=

-hoc)

solutions posted by MSFT employees have problems. For instance, if you=
simply copy all serializable properties, you may eventually receive an=
"Object does not match target type" exception. In my case, this occurs=

when

I encounter (and clone) the "Location" property due to the fact that t=

he

"Site" property was cloned earlier. If I clone "Location" first howeve=

r

(before "Site"), it works fine. There must be a clean way to do this. =

Can

anyone offer any insight. Thanks.

-- =

Happy coding!
Morten Wennevik [C# MVP]