R – how to get the handle of listbox in vb.net 2005

As per Prerak K's update comment (since deleted):

I guess I have not presented the question properly.

Situation is this: I want to load data into a global variable based on the value of a control. I don't want to change the value of a control from the child thread. I'm not going to do it ever from a child thread.

So only accessing the value so that corresponding data can be fetched from the database.

The solution you want then should look like:

UserContrl1_LOadDataMethod()
{
    string name = "";
    if(textbox1.InvokeRequired)
    {
        textbox1.Invoke(new MethodInvoker(delegate { name = textbox1.text; }));
    }
    if(name == "MyName")
    {
        // do whatever
    }
}

Do your serious processing in the separate thread before you attempt to switch back to the control's thread. For example:

UserContrl1_LOadDataMethod()
{
    if(textbox1.text=="MyName") //<<======Now it wont give exception**
    {
        //Load data correspondin to "MyName"
        //Populate a globale variable List<string> which will be
        //bound to grid at some later stage
        if(InvokeRequired)
        {
            // after we've done all the processing, 
            this.Invoke(new MethodInvoker(delegate {
                // load the control with the appropriate data
            }));
            return;
        }
    }
}

Two options:

1. Use a NumericUpDown instead. NumericUpDown does the filtering for you, which is nice. Of course it also gives your users the ability to hit the up and down arrows on the keyboard to increment and decrement the current value.

2. Handle the appropriate keyboard events to prevent anything but numeric input. I've had success with this two event handlers on a standard TextBox:

   private void textBox1_KeyPress(object sender, KeyPressEventArgs e)
   {
       if (!char.IsControl(e.KeyChar) && !char.IsDigit(e.KeyChar) &&
           (e.KeyChar != '.'))
       {
               e.Handled = true;
       }
   
       // only allow one decimal point
       if ((e.KeyChar == '.') && ((sender as TextBox).Text.IndexOf('.') > -1))
       {
           e.Handled = true;
       }
   }
   

You can remove the check for '.' (and the subsequent check for more than one '.') if your TextBox shouldn't allow decimal places. You could also add a check for '-' if your TextBox should allow negative values.

If you want to limit the user for number of digit, use: textBox1.MaxLength = 2; // this will allow the user to enter only 2 digits