How do I find a form and component by name

[Josh]

Hi

How can I find a component by its name which is on a form by its name.

ie
var frm_name='frm1';  and cmp_name=' pan1';

i have tried code below but the component is not found, the form is found though.

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. function FindFormByName(const AName: string): TForm;
2. var
3.   i: Integer;
4. begin
5.   for i := 0 to Screen.FormCount - 1 do
6.   begin
7.     Result := Screen.Forms[i];
8.     if (Result.Name = AName) then
9.       Exit;
10.   end;
11.   Result := nil;
12. end;
13.  
14. ...
15. var frm:tform;
16.       pnl:tpanel;
17.  
18. begin
19.   frm:=FindFormByName('Frm1');
20.   if frm<>nil then
21.   begin
22.     pnl:=frm.findcomponent('Pan1');
23.     if pnl=nil then showmessage('Pan1 not found on Frm1')
24.     else
25.     begin
26.        ....
27.     end;
28. end;      
29.  

[wp]

You say "the component is not found". I think this is not true since you cannot even compile this code. The return value of FindComponent is TComponent, but you assign this to a TPanel variable. This is rejected by the compiler because a TComponent can be "anything", not necessarily a TPanel. Better to work with a TComponent variable, check whether this is a TPanel and cast the TComponent to a TPanel:

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. var
2.   frm:tform;
3.   pnl:tpanel;
4.   c: TComponent;
5. begin
6.   frm:=FindFormByName('Frm1');
7.   if frm<>nil then
8.   begin
9.     c := frm.findcomponent('Pan1');
10.     if c=nil then
11.       showmessage('Pan1 not found on Frm1')
12.     else
13.     if not (c is TPanel) then
14.       showmessage('Pan1 found on Frm1, but it is not a TPanel')
15.     else
16.     begin
17.       pnl := TPanel(c);
18.        ....
19.     end;
20. end;