More controls
In this section you will learn about a few other controls such as Frames, Option Buttons, Check Boxes, ScrollBars and finally Timers. Frames gather and organize controls, Option buttons and Check Boxes provide choices that the user can click. ScrollBars let you move things such as text, for a better view, and Timers are like clocks...
FramesWhat frames basically do is hold controls inside of them, and therefore differentiate them into a set. When you want to use frames, remember that you must add the frame to the form and then move controls inside of the frame. In order to do this, after placing the frame on the form, click & select the frame (so it's blue), then click on a control in the toolbox and draw it in the frame. Not only does your application look better, but the frames also work great w/ Option Buttons...
Frame properties
| BorderStyle | Changes the way the border looks | |
| BackColor | Changes the backround of the frame | |
| Caption | Changes its caption |
Option button properties
| Caption | Changes the option buttons caption | |
| Style | Changes the option buttons look |
Private Sub Command1_Click()
If Option1.Value = True Then
Me.Caption = "Option1 was clicked"
End If
If the Option1 button was clicked then
the form's (refered to as "Me") caption changes
to "Option1 was clicked"
End Sub
Check boxes are similar to option buttons, except you can have as many check boxes on your form checked at the same time w/o having frames for them.
Check box properties
| Style | Changes the style |
Private Sub Command1_Click()
If Check1.Value = 1 Then
Note
The "1" is another way of saying "True"
And "0" is another way of saying "False"
If the check box is checked then show form2
Form2.Show
Else
Form2.Hide
If it's not checked then hide form2
End If
End Sub
Scroll bars are used for changin' values. Moving the scroll bar does just that with the addition of some code.
Scroll bar properties
| LargeChange | Changes the amount of the scroll when the user clicks the scroll bar area | |
| Max | Changes the maximum value of the scrollbars position | |
| Min | Changes the minimum value of the scrollbars position (switch them & run it and you will understand what I'm saying) | |
| SmallChange | Changes the amount of the scroll when the user clicks the scroll bar area |
Heres some code to change a labels caption to whatever the scrollbars value is:
Private Sub HScroll1_Change()
Label1.Caption = HScroll1.Value
End Sub
Timers are very useful, and are used a lot. They are very easy to understand too, b/c they simply are what they are called, "Timers." You can get how much time has passed w/ them, loop codes etc.
Timer properties
| Interval | A value (1 to 65535) milliseconds which is thousandths of a second |
So lets say you wanted the computer to tell you whenever a second has gone by the codes would look something like this:
Private Sub Timer1_Timer()
If Timer1.Interval = 1000 Then 1000 m/s is equal to 1 second
MsgBox "1 second has passed", vbInformation
End If
End Sub
Note: Timers are always hidden and will not show at run time
Well now you know more then enough controls to keep you busy for a while. Next up, Dialog boxes.
