Arrays Generator

<b>Alaa Ben Fatma</b>

4.81/5 (11 votes)

Jul 26, 2015

CPOL

2 min read

23657

826

Generate your arrays using a GUI tool

Introduction

This project is a simple application that'll make you able to generate your arrays (long or short ones) in a better and easier way.

Background

While I was creating an application that contains a lot of arrays to highlight some specific words, I felt bored and tired by writing codes and symbols again and again, so I decided to create this project to help me to generate long arrays to save time and strength.

Using the Code

The project uses many loops to:

Generate a table
Add items to ContextMenuStrip
Generate the array code depending on your settings

So let's explain it part by part.

First, you have to declare some variables that'll contain your settings.

C#

   private string arrayName { get; set; }
        private string arrayType { get; set; }
        private decimal arraySize { get; set; }
        private TextBox array = new TextBox();
        private string language { get; set; }

VB.NET

 Private Property arrayName() As String
        Get
            Return m_arrayName
        End Get
        Set(value As String)
            m_arrayName = value
        End Set
    End Property
    Private m_arrayName As String
    Private Property arrayType() As String
        Get
            Return m_arrayType
        End Get
        Set(value As String)
            m_arrayType = value
        End Set
    End Property
    Private m_arrayType As String
    Private Property arraySize() As Decimal
        Get
            Return m_arraySize
        End Get
        Set(value As Decimal)
            m_arraySize = value
        End Set
    End Property
    Private m_arraySize As Decimal
    Private array As New TextBox()
    Private Property language() As String
        Get
            Return m_language
        End Get
        Set(value As String)
            m_language = value
        End Set
    End Property
    Private m_language As String

Generate a Table

The table you'll generate depends on the settings you entered (example: number of columns):

As I said from the beginning that the project contains many loops, one of them is the one that we'll use to generate the table and the ContextMenuStrip items:

C#

 arrayName = an.Text;
            arraySize = number.Value;
            arrayType = type.Text;
            language = lan.Text;

            for (int i = 0; i < arraySize; i++)
            {
                arrays.Columns.Add(i.ToString(), arrayName + "[" + i + "]");
                cm.Items.Add("Go to "+arrayName+"[" + i + "]",
		Arrays_generator.Properties.Resources.table_go);
            }

VB.NET

     arrayName = an.Text
        arraySize = number.Value
        arrayType = type.Text
        language = lan.Text

        For i As Integer = 0 To arraySize - 1
            arrays.Columns.Add(i.ToString(), arrayName + "[" + i.ToString() + "]")
            cm.Items.Add("Go to " + arrayName + "[" + i.ToString() + "]", 
		ArraysGenerator.My.Resources.table_go)
        Next

As you can notice that the code will simply add columns into the datagridview controller and items (including its image) to the right click popup menu.

As a user, all you have to do is to fill the cells, then generate the code. :)

BUT wait, you are a developer and you want to understand how it works!
Trust me it's too easy, you only have to manipulate strings, and use some if statements. Take a look at a simple code:

C#

 if (language == "VB.net")
                {
                    if (arrayType == "string")
                    {
                        code.Text = "dim " + arrayName + " as string() = {";
                        for (int i = 0; i < arrays.Columns.Count; i++)
                        {
                            string cellValue = arrays.Rows[0].Cells[i].Value.ToString();
                            code.AppendText(symbole + cellValue + symbole + ",");
                        }
                        code.AppendText("}");
                        code.Text = code.Text.Replace(",}", "};");
                    }
}

VB.NET

If language = "VB.net" Then
                If arrayType = "string" Then
                    code.Text = "dim " + arrayName + " as string() = {"
                    For i As Integer = 0 To arrays.Columns.Count - 1
                        Dim cellValue As String = arrays.Rows(0).Cells(i).Value.ToString()
                        code.AppendText((symbole & cellValue) + symbole + ",")
                    Next
                    code.AppendText("}")
                    code.Text = code.Text.Replace(",}", "}")
                End If
End If

The result is as follows:

Notes

You can create your custom generator basing it on this one.
I did not add syntax highlighting because I wanted it to be as simple as possible.