TextBox Reverse Validation

Question

So I have an odd question. I have 10 TextBoxes on my form. TextBox1 through to TextBox10. I would like to know how I would throw up a message if any 2 (or more) of these boxes contain the same information.

In other words I want validation that every box contains something different, else "Please check input"

Obviously I can check 2 boxes together (If TextBox1.Text = TextBox2.Text then...) but I want to check all 10 against all 10.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Try one of solutions:

Dim textboxes = {TextBox1, TextBox2, TextBox3, TextBox4, TextBox5,
                 TextBox6, TextBox7, TextBox8, TextBox9, TextBox10}

Dim strings = From tb In textboxes
              Where Not String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(tb.Text)
              Select tb.Text

Dim has_duplicates As Boolean = strings.Distinct.Count <> strings.Count

If has_duplicates Then MsgBox("Please check input")

If you do not want to exclude empty textboxes, then remove the Where condition.

In order to access textboxes by name, you can also consider Me.Controls.Find.