Accessing Form class items outside the class

[BobFX]

Hi,

I'm using a Form generated application.

Its definition starts with:

public ref class Form1 : public System::Windows::Forms::Form
	{

	public:
		Form1(void)
		{

When I'm inside one of its method, I can use calls like:

this->StartPosition = FormStartPosition::Manual;

thanks to the this pointer.

How can I do this kind of calls from a routine that's not part of the class?

I obviously need a handle to the instance of the class, but I don't know how to get it.

The app starts with:

Application::Run(gcnew Form1());

but trying to change into:

Form1 ff = gcnew Form1();
Application::Run(ff);

gives a compiler error.

I'm new to C++, and there is probably something basic that I don't understand.

Thanks.

[Agni]

Form1 ff = gcnew Form1();

it probably want's you to declare 'ff as a 'Form1*', but i could be wrong since i've never seen the 'gcnew' operator before.

[Ancient Dragon]

Form1 ff = gcnew Form1();

it probably want's you to declare 'ff as a 'Form1*', but i could be wrong since i've never seen the 'gcnew' operator before.

Probably Form^ ff , depending on which version of CLR.

>>I'm new to C++,
If you are trying to learn c++ than stay away from CLR and Forms because that is almost another language in itself.

[BobFX]

Probably Form^ ff , depending on which version of CLR.

That creates a generic Form form, but not an instance of Form1.

If you are trying to learn c++ than stay away from CLR and Forms because that is almost another language in itself.

I have a project that needs to be written in C++/CLI, and Forms seem easy to program, aside the problem mentionned above.

[Ancient Dragon]

I meant to say Form1^ ff = gnew Form1; Current version of CLR does not allow you to use * instead of ^. And you can not use gnew without the ^.

[BobFX]

I meant to say Form1^ ff = gnew Form1; Current version of CLR does not allow you to use * instead of ^. And you can not use gnew without the ^.

"Form1^ ff = gcnew Form1" works, thanks, but ff cannot be declared as global or static variable.

So, I'm still stuck about how to access it from a method that does not belong to the Form1 class.

[jonsca]

Do you have freedom in your class design that you could instantiate it within the Form1.h code and pass your form1 in as a parameter to the constructor? (or better yet whatever individual UI components you needed instead of the whole thing)

[BobFX]

Do you have freedom in your class design that you could instantiate it within the Form1.h code and pass your form1 in as a parameter to the constructor? (or better yet whatever individual UI components you needed instead of the whole thing)

My code was generated within Visual Studio 2008, and I don't think that I can modify it this way.

Besides, it seems that getting the main window handle must be a common need, and I'd like ot find out how it's done for my own education.