How to get access to form's controls from class C#

Question

I've got problem when I am trying to get access to form's controls from another class. My program is hanging in infinite loop. I know why, but I don't know how to write this correctly.
Here is Form1.cs (to my Form)

public Form1()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
        Load config = new Load();

        string[] data = config.readConfig("config.ini");
        if (data.Length == 4) { //client
            Client run = new Client();
            run.startClient(data[1], Convert.ToInt32(data[2]));
        }
        else if (data.Length == 3) //server
        {
            Server run = new Server();
            run.startServer(Convert.ToInt32(data[1]));

        }
    }


public void addLog(string dataLog){
            richTextBox1.Text += dataLog;
        }

and here is Client.cs file:

class Client
{

    public void startClient(string ipAddr, int port)
    {
        Form1 form1 = new Form1();

            TcpClient client = new TcpClient();
            try
            {

                form1.addLog("Connecting...");

                client.Connect(ipAddr, port);
                form1.addLog("Connected to server: " + ipAddr + ":" + port.ToString());

            }
            catch
            {
                MessageBox.Show("We couldn't connect to server");
            }

    }


}

How can I change text value without running each time new form. Maybe There is something like run_once?

Answer 1

The infinite loop is here:

Form1:

//Always runs if the config file is a certain length
Client run = new Client();

Client:

 Form1 form1 = new Form1();

Each constructor creates the other object, which in turn creates the first object, ad infintum.

If you need to get the form object to the client don't create a new one!. It doesn't work anyways, as your new form object knows nothing about the old one. Just pass it in:

public Client(Form1 form)
{
   //Do whatever with it
}

//Form class
Client c = new Client(this);

Disclaimer: There are usually far better ways to do this, but you'll learn those as you get more familiar with design patterns/architecture.