PRACTICE 08

VB.NET
VB.NET’s’s Form
Visual Basic.NET
by Has Bunton

1
 Form and Window
ƒ The term form and window describe
the same entity.
ƒ The window is what the user sees when
the application is running.
ƒ A form or Window form is the same
entity at design time

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Properties of the Form Control
ƒ Accept Button/Cancel Button: These
properties specify button to be automatically
activated when user presses Enter or Esc key
ƒ AutoScale: Automatically scale the height of
the control to be placed on the form to fit
the height of text.
ƒ AutoScroll*: Automatically
attaches scroll bars to the
form when it’s resized to
the point that not all its
controls are visible.
ƒ Etc.

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Designing Functional Form
ƒ Data entry form is one of the interfaces
users work with most of the time and they
work mostly with keyboard
ƒ In developing data entry form you must
consider the following:
1. User needs
2. Make prototype and ask users to test-drive it
3. Listen to user’s objections and use them to
refine your application’s user interface
4. Don’t defense your design

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The Contacts Project
ƒ Objective: Demonstrate a few
techniques for designing easy to use
forms
ƒ Design:

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Coding - The Contacts Project (1)
1. Private Sub Form1_KeyDown(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As _
System.Windows.Forms.KeyEventArgs) Handles MyBase.KeyDown
' F10 displays the number of contacts
2. If e.KeyCode = Keys.F10 Then
3. MsgBox("There are a number of contacts“)
e.Handled = True
4. End If
' ALT+ takes you to next contact, ALT- takes you to previous contact
5. If e.KeyCode = Keys.Subtract And e.Modifiers = Keys.Alt Then
6. MsgBox(“Move previous“)
7. End If
8. If e.KeyCode = Keys.Add And e.Modifiers = Keys.Alt Then
9. MsgBox(“Move next“)
10. End If
11. End Sub

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The Form’s Events
ƒ Activate and Deactivate: Happen when
you click on another form or when you
press Alt + Tab
ƒ Resize: Fired every time the user
resizes the form using mouse
ƒ Etc.

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Designing Menus
ƒ Start by double clicking the MainMenu icon
on the toolbox
ƒ The MenuItem represents a menu command,
at any level, with its own
property.
ƒ To create a separator bar,
use a dash (-)
ƒ To Insert an item, right-
click, select Insert New

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MenuItem Object’s Properties
ƒ Check
ƒ DefaultItem
ƒ Enabled
ƒ Visible
ƒ Etc.

ƒ Note: Menu commands can be programmed

just as with controls.

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Manipulating Menus at Runtime
ƒ Dynamic menus change at runtime to display
more or fewer commands.

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Creating Short and Long Menus
ƒ Start a new project and create menu with
the structure as above.
ƒ Write the following code
1. Protected Sub MenuSize_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As _
System.EventArgs) Handles MenuSize.Click
2. If MenuSize.Text = ">>" Then
3. MenuSize.Text = "<<"
4. Else
5. MenuSize.Text = ">>"
6. End If

7. mFontAllCaps.Visible = Not mFontAllCaps.Visible

8. mFontBold.Visible = Not mFontBold.Visible
9. mFontItalic.Visible = Not mFontItalic.Visible
10. End Sub

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Creating Context Menu
ƒ To create a context menu, place a
CentextMenu Control on your form. Except
the first command, which is the context
menu’s name, it is identical to the
MainMenu, but it won’t be displayed there
at runtime
ƒ To associate a context menu with a
control, set the control context menu
property to the name of the corresponding
context menu.
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Adding Controls at Runtime*
ƒ To add controls at runtime first
initialize the control, set it
properties, and finally call Add
method od the control collection.
ƒ Example:
1. Dim Bttn as New System.Winforms.Button
2. Bttn.text = “New Button”
3. Bttn.Left = 100
4. Bttn.Top = 60
5. Bttn.Width = 80
6. Me.Controls.add (bttn)

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The Dynamic Form Project
ƒ This project allows user to specify at
runtime the number of data points
they wish to enter, and the number of
textboxes on the form changes.
ƒ The control at the top
of the form is the
NumericUpDown
control

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Coding The Dynamic Form Project (1)

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Coding The Dynamic Form Project (2)

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Coding The Dynamic Form Project (3)

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Reading the Control on the Form (4)

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Creating Event Handlers at Runtime
ƒ Create a subroutine that accepts two
arguments, the sender and e. The
name of argument can be anything
ƒ Enter the code for the event
ƒ Connect it to an event of a specific
control using the following syntax
1. AddHandler Control.Event, New System.EventHandler(AddressOf SubName)

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Event Handlers Added at Runtime

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