Loading form at runtime using reflection

[Saroj]

Hi Gurus,
I need help.

Suppose I have a form called Form1 in c:\test folder.
How can I load this form directly without referencing a assembly.

I may not know which assembly this form belongs.

Is there any way to do this.
Any help/example/suggestion would be appreciated.

Thanks
Saroj

 

[Phill W.]

Suppose I have a form called Form1 in c:\test folder.

And what are you regarding as a "form"?

A Form is nothing more than a Class (OK; it's a class that you can /see/
but it's still just a Class) and Classes only exist within Assemblies.

How can I load this form directly without referencing a assembly.

You can load the Assembly (Assembly.LoadFrom), then get the Form's Type
(Assembly.GetType) and feed the result into Activator.CreateInstance,
but ...

I may not know which assembly this form belongs.

.... you're going to have to find this out somehow.

At the very least, you're going to need the name (and path) of the file
that makes up the Assembly and the [fully-qualified] name of the [Form]
Class you want to instantiate.

HTH,
Phill W.

 

[Family Tree Mike]

Perhaps the question involves compiling the form files at runtime? I have
seen various posts stating that it is possible to do such, but I have never
seen a need for this type of solution. Loading an assembly and finding
classes of course is the more common approach.

Suppose I have a form called Form1 in c:\test folder.

And what are you regarding as a "form"?

A Form is nothing more than a Class (OK; it's a class that you can /see/
but it's still just a Class) and Classes only exist within Assemblies.

How can I load this form directly without referencing a assembly.

You can load the Assembly (Assembly.LoadFrom), then get the Form's Type
(Assembly.GetType) and feed the result into Activator.CreateInstance,
but ...

I may not know which assembly this form belongs.

.... you're going to have to find this out somehow.

At the very least, you're going to need the name (and path) of the file
that makes up the Assembly and the [fully-qualified] name of the [Form]
Class you want to instantiate.

HTH,
Phill W.

 

[Saroj]

Thanks Guys.

Saroj

Perhaps the question involves compiling the form files at runtime? I have
seen various posts stating that it is possible to do such, but I have
never
seen a need for this type of solution. Loading an assembly and finding
classes of course is the more common approach.

Suppose I have a form called Form1 in c:\test folder.

And what are you regarding as a "form"?

A Form is nothing more than a Class (OK; it's a class that you can /see/
but it's still just a Class) and Classes only exist within Assemblies.

How can I load this form directly without referencing a assembly.

You can load the Assembly (Assembly.LoadFrom), then get the Form's Type
(Assembly.GetType) and feed the result into Activator.CreateInstance,
but ...

I may not know which assembly this form belongs.

.... you're going to have to find this out somehow.

At the very least, you're going to need the name (and path) of the file
that makes up the Assembly and the [fully-qualified] name of the [Form]
Class you want to instantiate.

HTH,
Phill W.