How to load a form on the basis of previous execution? - vb.net

Question

I have made a form in Vb.net in which the user can do several changes. I want the changes which the user makes should remain each time it is executed.
For Example, I have applied some effects on font while execution -
Private Sub Checkbox1_CheckedChanged ()
If CheckBox1.Checked = True then
Label1.Font = New Drawing Style ("Comic Sans Ms", 16, FontStyle.Bold)
End If
End Sub
The changes which the user makes should be visible next time the program is executed.
Is it possible?
Thanks in Advance!

Answer 1

You have a couple of options, The one that I would use if you are just going to have a few settings is the built in User Settings, you can create a setting in your Project Propertys. This is an example of your Font.
You would then use it like this.
Private Sub Checkbox1_CheckedChanged() Handles CheckBox1.CheckedChanged
If CheckBox1.Checked = True Then
Label1.Font = New Font("Comic Sans Ms", 16, FontStyle.Bold)
My.Settings.MyNewFont = Label1.Font
My.Settings.Save()
End If
End Sub
Public Sub New()
' This call is required by the designer.
InitializeComponent()
If Not IsNothing(My.Settings.MyNewFont) Then Label1.Font = My.Settings.MyNewFont
End Sub

Answer 2

Yes you can use external Css file for this purpose
1st you create a external Css file of your project and specify some default style
Like your Css file
.Fstyle {
font-family: Comic Sans Ms;
}
And your aspx
<asp:label id="lblname" runat="server" class="Fstyle">
2nd you can re-write to this file by the changes which the user makes
save the changes to the variables and override this file by using IO function of vb.net it remains the changes permanent.

Answer 3

Marks answer is how i would do it Except if you wish to store changes for a number of different controls you might be best to loop through them and check the settings on form closing and store them in a System.Collections.Specialized.StringCollection in My.Settings then you can loop through this collection on Form Load and set the settings as they should be.
Let me know if you want an example and i can provide it.
Example:
Note: I have always found when adding a System.Collections.Specialized.StringCollection you need to add an empty string manually (you can then delete it) to force it to create the .xml (probably a more technical solution to this but it works for me)
I created one called FormLoadData
To identify which controls to store data for I prefixed their names with "UC_", if it is all the controls on the form or all in a groupbox etc then you can skip this check.
then add the following form closing sub:
Private Sub Form1_FormClosing(sender As Object, e As System.Windows.Forms.FormClosingEventArgs) Handles Me.FormClosing
'clear collection
My.Settings.FormLoadData.Clear()
'loop through each control on the form
For Each Con As Control In Me.Controls
'run check to see if it is a control to store changes for
If Con.Name.Substring(0, 3) = "UC_" Then
'load any settings you wish to store in the collection starting with the control ID
My.Settings.FormLoadData.Add(Con.Name & "," & Con.Font.ToString)
End If
Next
End Sub
and the following under New:
Public Sub New()
' This call is required by the designer.
InitializeComponent()
' Add any initialization after the InitializeComponent() call.
'loop through controls
For Each Con As Control In Me.Controls
'loop through settings to compare
For Each item In My.Settings.FormLoadData
'check stored name against control name
If Con.Name = item.Split(",").ElementAt(0) Then
'update settings
Con.Font = New Font(item.Split(",").ElementAt(1), Con.Font.Size)
MsgBox(item)
Exit For
End If
Next item
Next Con
End Sub
There is certainly a better way of doing this rather then the loop through the collection created but unless you are storing the data for thousands of controls this will work OK.
My browser is playing up so i cannot check what this looks like but hopefully it is clear!