Member Avatar for Gus_19

I'm a noob to the .net world and I was wondering how I would go about creating a rich text box by triggering a click event button. I am trying to shrink the data currently in my form. One way of doing this would be to take away the two rich text boxes I have drag/dropped into the form and just adding a button. When the button is clicked, a rich text box will pop up. Any guidance will be greatly appreciated.

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by Mitja Bonca

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If the goal is to keep the main form compact, create the editor only when needed and either host it in a small popup or reuse a single instance instead of leaving two drag-dropped controls on the form. 's answer shows the basic dynamic-creation idea; below are practical patterns, event/cleanup notes, and small examples you can apply immediately for 's scenario.

A modal editor (keeps the main UI tiny): create a lightweight Form that contains a RichTextBox docked to fill, show it with ShowDialog, then read rtb.Rtf or rtb.Text after the dialog closes.

Dim editor As New Form With {.Text = "Editor", .Size = New Size(600, 400)}
Dim rtb As New RichTextBox With {.Dock = DockStyle.Fill, .AcceptsTab = True}
editor.Controls.Add(rtb)
If editor.ShowDialog() = DialogResult.OK Then
    Dim content As String = rtb.Rtf   ' or rtb.Text
End If

Reuse a single dynamic control if you want a modeless popup or an embedded panel—create once, AddHandler for events, then show/hide or move it rather than re-creating each click. Remove handlers and Dispose when you truly no longer need it.

Private editorRtb As RichTextBox

Sub ShowOrCreateEditor(hostPanel As Panel)
    If editorRtb Is Nothing Then
        editorRtb = New RichTextBox With {.Dock = DockStyle.Fill}
        AddHandler editorRtb.TextChanged, AddressOf OnEditorTextChanged
        hostPanel.Controls.Add(editorRtb)
    End If
    editorRtb.Visible = True
End Sub

Quick tips: prefer rtb.Rtf for formatted text, SaveFile/LoadFile for persistence, call RemoveHandler then Dispose to avoid leaks, and use DockStyle.Fill or a FlowLayoutPanel for responsive layout. If loading large documents from a background thread, marshal updates with Invoke. These patterns give a smaller main form while keeping the editor responsive and safe.

Member Avatar for Mitja Bonca

do:

Private rtb1 As RichTextBox
Private Sub button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
    rtb1 = New RichTextBox()
    rtb1.Name = "rtb1"
    rtb1.Size = New Size(300, 200)
    'set it
    rtb1.Location = New Point(20, 20)
    'set it
    Me.Controls.Add(rtb1)
End Sub
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