Using combobox from class - vb.net

I have some questions on using of combobox.
1) I need to reference combobox from class like this:
If Me.ActiveControl.GetType Is GetType(ComboBox) And combodroppeddown = False) Then
something...
End If
From Here I need right from the AND to check if this combobox is dropped down but I don't know how.
2) My actual type of combobox is of "DropDownList" type.
Problem is that if I drop it down and type with up/down keys the value is changed according to selected row. If I then press ESC then last value stays as choosen what is not wanted.
Is here way to return original value from moment of dropping in case if I press ESC when list is dropped?
How to do that?
Here is closer look to my xCombo subclass to get help in second question...
Public Class xAutoCombo
Inherits ComboBox
Private entertext As String
Protected Overrides Sub OnKeyDown(ByVal e As KeyEventArgs)
If e.Control Then ' this dropped a list with keyboard
If e.KeyCode = Keys.Down Then
Me.DroppedDown = True
End If
End If
'' this should return value back if ESC was pressed
'' but don't work!
If Me.DroppedDown And e.KeyCode = Keys.Escape Then
Me.Text = entertext
End If
MyBase.OnKeyDown(e)
End Sub
Protected Overrides Sub OnDropDown(ByVal e As System.EventArgs)
entertext = Me.Text '' this remember text in moment of droping
MyBase.OnDropDown(e)
End Sub
EDIT:
Here I found one issue in functionality which I like to be solved.
When combo is dropped and I navigate through list by keyboard and then press with mouse to form (or outside of combo) it closes a list and set value which is last been selected.
Instead of that I would like that combo set his new value ONLY on click with mouse to list or with pressing Enter key with keyboard.

Examine the DroppedDown property, but it seemed like you have other things you wanted to do while dropped down.
Dim cbo As ComboBox
If Me.ActiveControl.GetType Is GetType(ComboBox) then
cbo=Ctype(Me.ActiveControl, ComboBox)
' make it easier to refernece
if cbo.DroppedDOwn then
....
End iF
End if
' Note:
Ctype(Me.ActiveControl, ComboBox).DroppedDown
' should work, but the above is easier to read and use since you apparently
' will have other things to do/override with it
Note also that I think one of the three combobox dropdown types does not use/support the DroppedDown property.
For the rest of your question, which I dont entirely follow, you could also store the last selected item and restore it in similar fashion. Overriding windows default behavior though, is rarely a good idea because you are creating something the user has never encountered before.
EDIT
To change Escape functionality from CLOSE DROPDOWN to ABORT CHOICE:
NOTE: I just used a std cbo, refs will need to be changed to MyBase, events to On...
Private selectedindex As Integer = -1
Private bEsc As Boolean = False
Private Sub cbo_Enter(....
' reset tracking vars...might not be needed
selectedindex = -1
bEsc = False
End Sub
Private Sub cbo_DropDown(...
' capture starting state
selectedindex = cbo.SelectedIndex
bEsc = False
End Sub
KeyDown:
If cbo.DroppedDown AndAlso e.KeyCode = Keys.Escape Then
bEsc = True
e.Handled = True
' this MUST be last!
cbo.DroppedDown = False
End If
Private Sub cbo_DropDownClosed(...
' rest cbo.selectedindex if escape was pressed
If bEsc Then
' note: SelectedIndexChanged event will fire and any code there will run
' may need to qualify with If Esc = False...
cbo.SelectedIndex = selectedindex
End If
End Sub

Related

VB: How to manually call or delay events?

Background: I'm new to vb, coming from javascript.
My assignment is to use the txtBox.LostFocus event to do some validation. The problem is I need to cancel the validation step if the user intends to press either two of three buttons.
Illustration:
Code
Dim lblInputBox As Label
lblInputBox.Text = "Name:"
Dim txtInputBox As TextBox
Dim btnClear As Button
btnClear.Text = "Clear"
Dim btnSayName As Button
btnSayName.Text = "Say Name"
Dim btnExit As Button
btnExit.Text = "Exit"
' Some boolean to determine what the next action is
Dim UserIntentDetected = False
' When the user moves focus away from the textbox
Private Sub txtInputBox_LostFocus(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) _
Handles txtIputBox.LostFocus
' I want to be able to detect the next focus, but this is where I'm going wrong
If btnExit.GotFocus Or btnClear.GotFocus Then
UserIntentDetected = True
Else
UserIntentDetected = False
End If
' Only call validate if there is no intent to quit or clear
If Not UserIntentDetected Then
Call validate()
End If
' Reset the intent boolean
UserIntentDetected = False
End Sub
' Validate subroutine
Private Sub validate()
' **Fixed description**
' User moved focus away from txtbox and doesn't intend to clear or exit
Console.WriteLine("You're NOT INTENDING to clear or exit")
End Sub
I've tried to add the two button's GotFocus event to the input box's LostFocus event handler, but there were bugs with the event firing multiple times in a loop.
Eg:
Private Sub txtInputBox_LostFocus(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) _
Handles txtIputBox.LostFocus, btnExit.GotFocus, _
btnClear.GotFocus
... (code follows)
These attempts are entirely wrong, but from a javascript background, although also entirely wrong, I could hack something like this..
... (assume same element structure from vb)
var eventQueue = [];
var userIntentDetected = false;
txtInputBox.addEventListener("blur", function(event){
// Set a timeout to manually trigger the last event's click method in the eventQueue
setTimeout(function(){
if (eventQueue.length > 0 && userIntetDetected)
runIntendedHandler(eventQueue[eventQueue.length -1]);
}, 500);
})
// Both event listeners listen for click and stop default actions,
// set intent boolean to true, and add it's event object to a queue
btnExit.addEventListener("click", function(event){
event.preventDefault();
userIntentDetected = true;
eventQueue.push(event);
});
btn.addEventListener("click", function(event){
event.preventDefault();
userIntentDetected = true;
eventQueue.push(event);
});
// Validation should occur only if the user moves focus to an element
// that IS NOT either the btnExit or btnClear
function runIntendedHandler(event){
if (event.target.id = "btnExit")
// run exit functions
code...
else if (event.target.id = "btnClear")
// run clear functions
code..
userIntentDetected = false;
}
What is the proper way to work with events in vb and how would I go about detecting the next event in the queue before triggering an action? could the RaiseEvent statement help?
UPDATE 3: The answer was a lot easier than I made it seem. Apparently, you can use the btn.Focused property to check the next focus of an element from within the txtInputBox.LostFocus event handler... Go figure!
UPDATE 2: There's been a lot of confusion as to what exactly was needed, and a lot of that was my fault in describing the validation subroutine. I've changed some of the element names and added an image to sum up all of the information that was given to me by my instructor.
UPDATE 1: #TnTinMn has provided the closest working answer that can be used with a minor alteration.
Example follows:
Private LastActiveControl As Control = Me ' initialize on form creation
Protected Overrides Sub UpdateDefaultButton()
' Just added an IsNot condition to stay inline with the requirements
If (LastActiveControl Is txtNumberOfDrinks) AndAlso
((ActiveControl Is btnClear) OrElse (ActiveControl Is btnExit)) Then
Console.WriteLine("Your intent to press either btnClear or btnExit has been heard...")
' Validation happens only if the user didn't intend to click btnClear or btnExit
ElseIf (LastActiveControl Is txtNumberOfDrinks) AndAlso
((ActiveControl IsNot btnClear) OrElse (ActiveControl IsNot btnExit)) Then
Console.WriteLine("You didn't press either btnClear or btnExit.. moving to validation")
validateForm()
End If
LastActiveControl = ActiveControl ' Store this for the next time Focus changes
End Sub
Thank you all!
Winform's event order is confusing at best. For a summary, see Order of Events in Windows Forms.
Assuming I have interpreted your goal correctly, I would not respond to the txtInputBox.LostFocus event but rather override a little known Form method called UpdateDefaultButton. This method is called when the Form.ActiveControl property changes and effectively gives you an ActiveControl changed pseudo-event. If the newly ActiveControl is a Button, this method also executes before the Button.Click event is raised.
Since you want to call your validation code only when the focus changes from txtInputBox to either btnPromptForName or btnExit, you can accomplish that with something like this.
Public Class Form1
Private LastActiveControl As Control = Me ' initialize on form creation
Protected Overrides Sub UpdateDefaultButton()
If (LastActiveControl Is tbInputBox) AndAlso
((ActiveControl Is btnPromptForName) OrElse (ActiveControl Is btnExit)) Then
ValidateInput()
End If
LastActiveControl = ActiveControl ' Store this for the next time Focus changes
End Sub
Private Sub ValidateInput()
Console.WriteLine("You're either intending to prompt for name or exit")
End Sub
Private Sub btnPromptForName_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles btnPromptForName.Click
Console.WriteLine("btnPromptForName_Click clicked")
End Sub
Private Sub btnExit_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles btnExit.Click
Console.WriteLine("btnExit clicked")
End Sub
End Class
Edit: I forgot to mention, that since UpdateDefaultButton runs before the Button.Click event is raised, it is possible wire-up the click event handler only if validation succeeds. You would then remove the event handler as part of the Button.Click handler code.
It looks like the solution was a lot easier than I thought. The intended (instructor's) way to do this is by checking for alternate "btn.Focused" properties within the txtInputBox.LostFocus event handler eg:
' When the user moves focus away from the textbox
Private Sub txtInputBox_LostFocus(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) _
Handles txtIputBox.LostFocus
' Check if the clear or exit button is focused before validating
' Validate only if btnClear and also btnExit IS NOT focused
If Not btnExit.Focused AndAlso Not btnClear.Focused Then
Call validateForm()
End If
End Sub
Thank you #TnTinMn for the UpdateDefaultButton and showing me an alternate way to track events. This was very helpful too.

VBA Textbox's change affect second textbox and vice versa

On my form I have more textboxes, but two of them are special. It's textbox with name tbVolume and textbox with name tbWeight.
If I change tbVolume, by other parameters is computed value for tbWeight, but when I added same procedure to tbWeight (to compute value for tbVolume), it creates some kind of cyclically link, because change of volume changes weight, change of weight changes volume, etc...
Does it exist some argument of tbVolume_Changed() / tbWeight_Changed() which can tell to procedure if value is changed by user or by application?
Or do you have another idea how to solve this twin-textbox problem?
Oh.. Finally it was so easy, only two new booleans and everything works fine:
Dim editingVolumeByApp As Boolean
Dim editingWeightByApp As Boolean
Private Sub tbVolume_Change()
If editingVolumeByApp = False Then
'...
editingWeightByApp = True
tbWeight.Value = finalVolume * CDbl(tbMatDensi.Value)
editingWeightByApp = False
'...
End If
End Sub
Private Sub tbWeight_Change()
If editingWeightByApp = False Then
'...
editingVolumeByApp = True
tbVolume.Value = finalVolume * CDbl(tbMatComplCoef.Value)
editingVolumeByApp = False
'...
End If
End Sub
And it works fine :-)
Instead of tbWeight_Change() or tb_Volume_Change() you could use the following:
Private Sub tbWeight_Exit(ByVal Cancel As MSForms.ReturnBoolean)
' do everything you want to do
End Sub
and of course:
Private Sub tbVolume_Exit(ByVal Cancel As MSForms.ReturnBoolean)
' do everything you want to do
End Sub
You change the value of the textbox, exit it via tab or mouse click and the other value of the textbox will change.
If you want a parallel output while writing in the textbox you can use an extra textbox just for displaying the calculated value.

Disable Button If Combox Input Deleted

In my project, I have a few textbox inputs, and some combo boxes with maybe 2 indexed items on a form. There's a button I'm disabling on load if no input is supplied to both textbox inputs, and it works great even if I delete out any text. However, I'm having issues with forcing the combo box to behave in the same manner. This work however:
Private Sub cboPickShirts_SelectedIndexChanged(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles cboPickShirts.SelectedIndexChanged
InputCheck_3 = True
If cboPickShirts.SelectedIndex < 0 Then
InputCheck_3 = False
End If
If InputCheck_3 = False Then
btnInputResult.Enabled = False
ElseIf InputCheck_3 = True Then
btnInputResult.Enabled = True
End If
End Sub
I have InputCheck_3 set up as a global variable in a Public Module. On form load, I'm disabling my button and it doesn't enable until I select one of the indexed items. My struggle to get the button disable again if any combo box text is entered and deleted out, leaving it null or empty. Any thoughts on what I'm missing or what I can add to get results? I guess I need a variable or event to notice the change (entering & deletion of text).
The problem you are having is that your SelectedIndexChanged event is not being triggered when you remove the selected item from your ComboBox. I would use the TextChanged event of your TextBox's and ComboBox and give it a common handler and check it that way. Something like this
Private Sub TextChanged(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles TextBox1.TextChanged, TextBox2.TextChanged, cboPickShirts.TextChanged
EnableCheck()
End Sub
Private Sub EnableCheck()
btnInputResult.Enabled = (String.IsNullOrEmpty(TextBox1.Text) And String.IsNullOrEmpty(TextBox2.Text) And ComboBox1.SelectedIndex = -1)
End Sub
You can also check that the comboBox is NullorEmpty the same way as the textbox's. As it stands right now the combobox will be enabled when the text no longer matches a selection.
One line code
btnInputResult.Enabled = If((cboPickShirts.SelectedIndex<0),False, True)

Deselect combobox selected value

First of all, I apologize to the community because the title may seem a bit 'misleading from what actually is the real problem.
I have made a code that populates two combobox with the same values, with each change that occurs on the combobox I perform a check to see if the selected value is equal to another combobox; if it is equal, then execute a particular code otherwise proceed.
I need to implement a de-selection of value and I did it with:
ComboBox1.SelectedIndex = -1
Combobox2.SelectedIndex = -1
This works fine, but the code that checks if the values are equal interfere with this operation.
In fact, within each combobox I have something like this:
Private Sub ComboBox2_SelectedIndexChanged_1(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles ComboBox2.SelectedIndexChanged
If ComboBox3.SelectedIndex = ComboBox2.SelectedIndex Then
MsgBox ("You can not compare two equal teams", "Warning")
off ()
End If
...
where "off ()" is the function that then doesn't continue what you're doing.
How do I solve this problem?
You'll have to disable the event when resetting the combobox. This can be done by removing the event with RemoveHandler/AddHandler and adding it again.
An other option is to use a flag. (This is just an example to show an idea, the flag variable should be properly placed).
Private FreezeEventFlag As Boolean = False ' or True, it depends..
' Declare it toplevel, initialize its value depending on
' the way you're going to initialize your Comboboxes selected values.
' Then set it's value to True each time you want to
' disable the event handling in any code block that resets
' SelectedIndexes to -1 like below :
' ...
FreezeEventFlag = True
ComboBox1.SelectedIndex = -1
Combobox2.SelectedIndex = -1
FreezeEventFlag = False ' Don't forget to set the Flag to false !
Private Sub ComboBox2_SelectedIndexChanged_1(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles ComboBox2.SelectedIndexChanged
If FreezeEventFlag Then Exit Sub ' Just ignore this event this time.
If ComboBox3.SelectedIndex = ComboBox2.SelectedIndex Then
MsgBox ("You can not compare two equal teams", "Warning")
off ()
End If
End Sub

DataGridView - ReadOnly Cell KeyDown Event

i have a datagridview with a readonly cell, i would like to show a formdialog window when the user press the space key. but is not possible since the cell is readonly=true.
i'v been using the following code with the EditingControlShowing event. and when the cell is readonly=false it works sometimes.
Private Sub sub_fecha_keydown(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As KeyEventArgs)
If e.KeyCode = Keys.Space Then
Dim frm As New frmFecha
frm.fecha_inicial = Me.m_dtp_id_fecha.Fecha
Dim res As DialogResult = frm.ShowDialog()
If res = Windows.Forms.DialogResult.OK Then
Me.m_dgv_detalle.Rows(Me.m_dgv_detalle.CurrentRow.Index).Cells("m_dgv_dtm_documento").Value = frm.fecha_format
Else
Me.m_dgv_detalle.Rows(Me.m_dgv_detalle.CurrentRow.Index).Cells("m_dgv_dtm_documento").Value = ""
End If
End If
End Sub
i would like to keep the cell readonly=true.
is there any other way to do it?
thanks very much for your time and help.
Rather than trying to intercept a keystroke for a readonly cell, which may not be possible, why not add a button column next to the field and when it is pressed, perform your actions.
This way you don't have to worry about whether the cell is readonly or not and it will be easier for your users to understand how the form is to be accessed.
Here is a link to the MSDN documentation on the DataGridViewButtonColumn.