Delphi - how to address a tool in after running the program - delphi

Question

I want to know if there is a way to address a tool which I put in my form after the program is executed? For example:
Suppose there are 100 label components in a form and you put an edit box in your form and ask the user to enter a number in the edit. When the number is written in the edit, the label with the same number will change the font colour.
But you cannot code it before running the program and need sth like this:
Label[strtoint(edit1.text)].color:=clblue;
But as you know this code does not work. What should I write to do what I want?

Answer 1

Yes, you can do something like you demonstrate, you just need to store the form’s controls into some type of array or list.
Sorry, I currently do not have access to my Delphi IDE, but I think I can give you an overview to what you need to do. I will also provide a link that better demonstrate the concept.
Here are the steps:
First ensure your controls have a consistent naming format that includes an index number in the name.
Example: Label1, Label2, . . . .
Next you need to store the controls into some type of an array or TList.
Example:
Var
ControlList : TList
. . . .
ControlList := TList.Create;
. . . .
{ Load the controls into the list after they been created }
ControlList.Add (Label1)
ControlList.Add (Label2)
ControlList.Add (Label3)
Here an alternatives to adding the Labels to the list manually.
for I := 1 to 3 do
begin
ControlList.Add(TLabel(FindComponent('Label'+IntToStr(I)));
end;
Now designate some event handler where you will put the code to update the label. This handler routine will first convert the user inputted value to an integer. Them use that value as an index to the control array. Once you have the label designated to be updated, set whatever properties you like.
idx := StrToInt(InputBox.Text);
lbl := TLabel( ControlList[idx])
. . . .
lbl.Color := clBlue;
Check out this link Control Arrays in Delphi for a more detailed description.
-- Update --
Although my previous answer would work, Remy Lebeau comment give me an idea to a better approach. You do not need to store the controls in an array or list, just use the Findcomponent() command to locate the control. Below are two examples demonstrating this concept.
Example using an Edit box OnKeyPress event:
procedure TForm1.Edit1KeyPress(Sender: TObject; var Key: Char);
var
LabelControl : TLabel;
begin
if ord(Key) = VK_RETURN then
begin
LabelControl := TLabel(FindComponent('Label'+Edit1.Text));
if (LabelControl <> nil) then
LabelControl.Color := clblue;
Key := #0; // prevent continue processing of the WM_CHAR message
end;
end;
Another example using a Button's OnClick event:
procedure TForm1.Button1Click(Sender: TObject);
var
LabelControl : TLabel;
begin
LabelControl := TLabel(FindComponent('Label'+Edit1.Text));
if (LabelControl <> nil) then
begin
LabelControl.Color := clBlue;
end;
end;
Things to note about the code:
In the first example, for the label to be updated, the user must press the enter key after inputting the desired label number.
In the second example, the user must press a button after entering
the number of the label to be updated.
In In both examples, invalid responses are ignored.

Answer 2

As I understand you right, all the Labels already contain a number in their caption.
Then, you could use the Controls array, that already exists in TForm, which contains all controls that belong to the form:
type
TForm1 = class(TForm)
Label1: TLabel;
Label2: TLabel;
Label3: TLabel;
Label4: TLabel;
// ...
Edit1: TEdit;
procedure Edit1Change(Sender: TObject);
private
public
end;
// ...
{ uses
System.RegularExpressions;
}
// ...
procedure TForm1.Edit1Change(Sender: TObject);
{
// if aLabel.Name instead of aLabel.Caption
// will work for Label1, Label2, Label3, Label4 ...
function TryNameToInt(AName: string; var ANumber: Integer): boolean;
var
aRegEx: TRegEx;
aMatch: TMatch;
aStr: string;
begin
aStr := '';
ANumber := -1;
aRegEx:= TRegEx.Create('[A-Za-z_]+([0-9]+)');
aMatch:= aRegEx.Match(AName);
if aMatch.Success then begin
aStr := aMatch.Groups.Item[1].Value;
end;
Result := TryStrToInt(aStr, ANumber);
end;}
var
aControl: TControl;
aLabel: TLabel;
aNumberEdit: Integer;
aNumberLabel: Integer;
aIdx: Integer;
begin
if TryStrToInt(Edit1.Text, aNumberEdit) then begin
for aIdx := 0 to ControlCount - 1 do begin // Controls is the list of all Controls in the form, ControlCount is the length of this list
aControl := Controls[aIdx];
if aControl is TLabel then begin // this gets only TLabel controls
aLabel := TLabel(aControl);
if TryStrToInt(aLabel.Caption, aNumberLabel)
{or TryNameToInt(aLabel.Name, aNumberLabel)} then begin
if aNumberLabel = aNumberEdit then begin
aLabel.Font.Color := clBlue;
end
else begin
aLabel.Font.Color := clWindowText; // if needed
end;
end;
end;
end;
end;
end;

Answer 3

You can use FindComponent function to do that:
Here I dropped a TButton and TEdit on form, you type the Label number you want to change the font color in Edit and then press the Button. Write this code in OnClick event for the Button:
Var
mColor: TColor;
mLabel: Tlabel;
begin
mColor := clGreen;
mLabel := FindComponent('Label' + Edit1.Text) as TLabel;
if mLabel <> nil then
mLabel.Font.Color := mColor;
end;
or if you don't want to press the Button and want it as you type in Edit, you have to write the code in OnChange event for Edit.