standard Windows/Microsoft Office items. File Open/Save

1
CIS 338 Dialog Boxes

• Dr. Ralph D. Westfall
• April, 2011

2
Dialog Boxes

• do one of following
• display a message to user
• has only one button (OK)
• get a decision from user
• OK, Cancel, etc.
• get information from user
• e.g., name, password, age, date of birth, etc.

3
VB Dialog Boxes You Can Use

• MessageBox
• message one or more buttons
• MsgBox
• simplified version of MessageBox
• User-created
• do it yourself with forms, or
• using form templates

4
Syntax Convention

• computer language documentation uses a syntax
  convention to show which items are required
  versus optional
• MessageBox.Show(prompt , title, buttons ,
  icon, defaultButton, options)
• items in square brackets are optional
• prompt is the only required argument in the above
  code
• commas not needed for unused options, so are
  shown inside square brackets

5
MessageBox

• MessageBox.Show(prompt , title, buttons ,
  icon, defaultButton, options)
• prompt text string to display
• title message box title bar (same as Project
  name if not provided)
• buttons button(s) to display
• icon icon (image)
• defaultButton gets initial (at 1st) focus
• options international settings
• Note MsgBox has an abbreviated syntax

6
Message Box Examples

• MessageBox.Show("It's crashing")
• 'using a string literal
• sMessage "The 3rd crash today!"
• MessageBox.Show(sMessage)
• 'using a string variable
• nReply MessageBox.Show("Quit?",_
• MessageBoxButtons.YesNo)
• 'using MessageBox as a function
• 'that receives a return value
• 'note object.property .YesNo

7
MessageBoxIcon Values

• values in the MessageBoxIcon property that get
  specified icons
• .Stop (or .Error) 'severe error
• .Exclamation 'warning
• .Question 'need information
• .Information 'status message
• .None (or no value) 'no icon (default)
• 'more in notes

8
MessageBox Button Values

• properties control number of choices and text on
  buttons
• .OK (OK button)
• .OKCancel (2 buttons)
• .AbortRetryIgnore (3 buttons)
• .YesNoCancel (3 buttons)
• .YesNo (2 buttons)
• .RetryCancel (2 buttons)

9
MessageBoxDefaultButton Values

• identify default button (gets the focus) counting
  from the left
• .Button1
• .Button2
• .Button3
• for example, .Button2 on a YesNo button makes No
  the default

10
MessageBox Button Values

• vbOK 1
• vbCancel 2
• vbYesNo 4
• vbIgnore 5
• vbYes 6
• vbNo 7 'notes
• nReply MessageBox.Show("Choice?", "Click",
  MessageBoxButtons.YesNo)
• If nReply vbYes Then some code

11
Modal MessageBoxes

• MessageBoxes are "modal" at the application level
• until clicks button, user can't do anything else
  in the VB application
• no other VB code can run until clicked
• VB6 can also make modal for whole system
• will not be able to use any other program in
  Windows until the user responds to the MessageBox
  (was NOT a good idea!)

12
InputBox Dialog Control

• syntax
• InputBox(prompt, title,default,x,y)
• nInput InputBox("Age?")
• prompt is shown above text input box
• if provided, title shows on title bar
• default goes into the input box (e.g., "guest")
• x (horizontal), y (vertical) position of box on
  screen (in pixels)

13
InputBox Dialog Example

• Dim sName As String
• sName InputBox("Enter your name", _
• " Name?", "guest", 50, 50)
• 'guest is the default value in this code

14
More Dialog Controls

• can also use Microsoft Common Dialog controls in
  VB.NET
• standard Windows/Microsoft Office items
• Color, Folder, Font, File Open/Save items in
  Toolbox
• may need to stretch ToolBox to see them (down
  toward the bottom in Dialogs category)

15
Using Common Dialog Boxes

• drag and drop onto the form, but will only see in
  new panel under the form
• OpenFileDialog files to open
• SaveFileDialog files to save
• FontDialog fonts to use
• ColorDialog colors to use
• PrintDialog is now in a separate section of
  Toolbox with other printing objects

16
Example FileDialog

• shows a standard Windows FilegtOpen form
• code specifies separate lines of text in Files of
  type
• dropdown ComboBox at bottom of dialog
• just returns name of file selected by user
• still need to write code to open/read file

17
FileDialog Code

• Private Sub Button2_Click( etc.
• OpenFileDialog1.InitialDirectory "C\"
• OpenFileDialog1.Filter() "Text files
  (.txt).txtAll files (.)."
• OpenFileDialog1.FileName ""
• OpenFileDialog1.ShowDialog()
• MsgBox(OpenFileDialog1.FileName)
• End Sub 'notes

18
Do It Yourself Dialog Boxes

• customize a form
• add a form ProjectgtAdd Windows Form
• set appropriate properties
• FormBorderStyle SizableToolWindow '(narrow,
  just x)
• (Name) frmName
• Text whatever you want to say

19
Do It Yourself Dialog Boxes - 2

• can customize it to do what you want
• add labels and buttons, etc. as appropriate
• display modally when you need it
• frmName.ShowDialog
• can make it to be a template so you can use it
  again
• demo GradeSQL