0 Working with forms in vb

Working with forms in vb

The main chararteristics of a form is the title bar on which the form caption displayed . On the left end of the title bar is the control menu icon .Clicking  this icon open the control menu . On the right side of the title bar are three button minimize, maximize and close . Clicking these button perform the associated button fuction . When a form is maximised , the maximize button is replaced by the normal button . When clicked , the normal button will restore the form to its size and position before it was maximized.

Form1

Restore Move Size - Minimize Maximize Close           alt+f4

Control Menu

1.     Restore =  Restore a maximised form to the size it was before maximised , available only if the form has been maximised.

2.     Move = Lets the user move the form around with the mouse.

3.     Size = Lets the user resize the control with the mouse.

4.     Minimize = Minimize the form.

5.     Maximize = Maximize the form.

6.     Close = closes the current form.

• Min button, Max button = These two properties are true by default . Set them to false to hide the corresponding butto on the title bar.
• Control Menu = This property is also true by default . Set it to false to hide the icon ans disable the cotrol menu.
• Border Style = The border style property determines the style of the form border and the appearace of the form. The border style property can take one of the value.   

  The start-up form

A typical application has more than a single form when an application starts the main form is loaded you can control which forms is initially loaded by setting the startup object in the project properties window.

Loading, Showing, Hiding form

• Not loaded = The form lives on a disk file ad does not take up any resources.
• Loaded but not shown = The form is loaded into memory , takes up the read resources , & is ready to be displayed. 

•  Loaded =  The form is shown , and the user can interact with it.

Designing Menu 

  Menu are one of the most common and characteristics element of the window user interface . Menus were used to display methodically organised choices and guide the user through an application . The menu is a standard fixture of a form.

Menu Editor

Menus can be attached only to forms and you design them with the menu editor , choose>menu editor to open the menu editor. If the menu editor windows you can specify the structure of your menu by adding one command at a time .Each menu command has two mandatory properties.

• Caption =  This is the string that appears on the application menu bar.
• Name = This is the name command . This property does not appear on the screen , but  your code uses it to program the menu command. 

  The index field = It can use the index field to create an array of menu commands.All the commands of the array have the same name and a unique index that distinguishes them, just like array of control.

The Enabled field  = Some menu command are not always available . The paste command .Example , It has no menaning if the clipboard is empty.

The Visible fields = To remove a command temporarily from the menu , set the command visible property to false . The visible property is not used frequently is menu design.

The windows fields = This option is used with MDI (multiple document interface ) application to maintain a list of all open window.