VB.NET How to do statement to a picturebox where .Name = var

Question

I'm recreating Minesweeper. All my code is created on runtime, feel free to c&p to help troubleshoot.

I have a loop that creates a grid of pictureboxes (pbxNewZone) with random mines, and sets tag to true if that box is a mine, false if not.

I directcast those pictureboxes (now called "pb") for a click event called "pbxNewZoneClicked", and read the tag. As of now, it showing the mines for testing purposes, and it is showing the hit mine and clear img if i click on a picturebox depending on the condition of the tag.

Now I need to be able to click on an image, and check the 8 imgs around it for mines. All mines are named by their x & y coordinates (literally based on the Integers x and y created on form_load) on the grid and is 1 based, meaning the first mine is named "1, 1" not "0, 0".

So if i click on a pb (renamed directcasted picturebox) named "8, 7", I will Substring out the xValueCheck and yValueCheck variables as "8" and "7", respectively. I then subtract both by one, (to find the box up and to the left), Dim Box1 As String, in this case that would = "7, 6".

Here's the logic I have. Find the pb where name = Box1, and if THAT pb's Tag = True, then counter += 1.

How would I check that pb's Tag WITHIN THE CLICK EVENT, when I'm not clicking on it?

Here's what I got so far:

Public Class Form1
Inherits System.Windows.Forms.Form
Dim active As Boolean = True
Dim images(8) As Image 'declares image array

Dim zonesY As Integer = 9
Dim zonesX As Integer = 9

Dim Guy As Object
Dim pbxNewZone As PictureBox = DirectCast(Guy, PictureBox)  'declares pbxNewZone as a picturebox variable

Dim generator As New Random

Public Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load

    images(0) = Image.FromFile("clear.png")
    images(1) = Image.FromFile("1.png")
    images(2) = Image.FromFile("2.png")
    images(3) = Image.FromFile("3.png")
    images(4) = Image.FromFile("4.png")
    images(5) = Image.FromFile("5.png")
    images(6) = Image.FromFile("blank.png")
    images(7) = Image.FromFile("hit.png")
    images(8) = Image.FromFile("mine.png")

    Dim x As Integer  'declares x as an integer variable
    Dim y As Integer  'declares y as an integer variable
    Me.SuspendLayout()  'suspends creation of layout

    For y = 1 To zonesY 'starts a For loop (1 to zonesY number of loops)
        For x = 1 To zonesX  'starts a For loop (1 to zonesX number of loops)
            Dim zonesize1 As Integer
            Dim zonesize2 As Integer

            pbxNewZone = New PictureBox

            Dim blockStatus As Integer
            Dim allZones As Integer
            allZones = zonesX * zonesY
            blockStatus = generator.Next(0, allZones)

            pbxNewZone.Name = y & ", " & x
            If blockStatus < (allZones / 5) Then
                pbxNewZone.Tag = True
                If pbxNewZone.Tag = True Then
                    pbxNewZone.Image = images(8)
                End If
            Else
                pbxNewZone.Tag = False
                If pbxNewZone.Tag = False Then
                    pbxNewZone.Image = images(6)
                End If
            End If
            pbxNewZone.Height = 16
            pbxNewZone.Width = 16
            zonesize1 = pbxNewZone.Height 'sets out all of the boxes on the form.
            zonesize2 = pbxNewZone.Width
            pbxNewZone.Left = ((x - 1) * zonesize1 + 15)
            pbxNewZone.Top = ((y - 1) * zonesize2 + 15)
            Me.Controls.Add(pbxNewZone)
            '  Wire this control up to an appropriate event handler
            AddHandler pbxNewZone.Click, AddressOf pbxNewZoneClicked

        Next
    Next
    Me.Height = (pbxNewZone.Height * zonesY + 63)  'sets the height of fmmGame
    Me.Width = (pbxNewZone.Width * zonesX + 40)  'sets the width of frmGame

End Sub

Private Sub pbxNewZoneClicked(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs)

    If active = True Then
        Dim pb As PictureBox = DirectCast(sender, PictureBox)

        Dim Status As String = "Clear" ' Status - Testing Purposes Only
        If pb.Tag = True Then ' Status - Testing Purposes Only
            Status = "Mine" ' Status - Testing Purposes Only
        End If
        MsgBox(pb.Name & vbCrLf & "Status: " & Status, , "Test") ' Post Statistics of box.

        Dim xValueCheck As Integer = pb.Name.Substring(0, 1)
        MsgBox(xValueCheck) ' To spit out y value from name
        Dim yValueCheck As Integer = pb.Name.Substring(3, 1)
        MsgBox(yValueCheck) ' To spit out y value from name

        Dim Box1 As String = (xValueCheck - 1) & ", " & (yValueCheck - 1)
        MsgBox("Box1 = " & Box1, , "Test")
        Dim count As Integer = 0

        If pb.Tag = True Then
            pb.Image = images(7) ' Hit Image
            active = False
            MsgBox("No Longer Active", , "Test") ' Testing Purposes Only
        ElseIf pb.Tag = False Then
            'ENTER CODE THAT WILL READ BOXES AROUND IT
            'ENTER CODE THAT WILL READ BOXES AROUND IT
            'ENTER CODE THAT WILL READ BOXES AROUND IT
            'ENTER CODE THAT WILL READ BOXES AROUND IT
            'ENTER CODE THAT WILL READ BOXES AROUND IT

            pb.Image = images(count) ' Clear Image by default.
        End If

    End If
End Sub

End Class

Answer 1

Yipes. Please consider using a 2D array to hold the pictureboxes. Otherwise you will need some (overly complicated) reflection code to go find your controls.

2D array:

Private oGrid(10,10) As PictureBox

Private Sub SetupGrid() 
  '
  '  Initialize the grid here
  '
  '  Place the coordinate of the cell in the .Tag property.
  '
End Sub

Private Sub GridCellClickHandler(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) 
  Dim tLocation As Point = sender.Tag
  '
  ' Scan around the other 8 cells
  '  eg.  oGrid(tLocation.X - 1, tLocation.Y)
  '
End Sub

Of course all this extra data wrangling becomes MUCH easier if you create a new user control to represent the grid cells.