Windows form closing automatically when parent window gets focus - vb.net

VB Windows form Application.. I am developing an application of which part of the program is around configuration settings allowing the user to enter configuration items. When the menubar item for configuration menu is clicked on the main form the menu opens. This is fine but the mainform should not become active again until the configuration menu has closed. This does not happen right now and the mainform simply comes to the foreground and the configuration form goes to the background... I realize that coding an event on the Child form to handle this would not work because the child window loses control and the main form gains control.. I thought of coding a function as follows on the main form but it does not seem logical because i would have to add to it for everyform and do checking to make sure the child is actually open before trying to close it..
Private Sub Form1_GotFocus(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.GotFocus
MailSettingsWindow.Close()
RentalSettingsWindow.Close()
End Sub
I did away with the above sub routine and used the below code as per the recomendation of using showdialog which works just as i was looking for.
Private Sub MailingAndEmailSettingsToolStripMenuItem_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MailingAndEmailSettingsToolStripMenuItem.Click
Dim MailConfig As New MailSettingsWindow()
MailSettingsWindow.Showdialog()
End Sub

I did away with the above sub routine and used the below code as per the recommendation of using ShowDialog which works just as I was looking for.
My code is as follows:
Private Sub MailingAndEmailSettingsMenuItem_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs) Handles MailingAndEmailSettingsMenuItem.Click
Dim MailConfig As New MailSettingsWindow()
MailSettingsWindow.ShowDialog()
End Sub

Related

Improve UI responsiveness on windows form application

I am currently working on a project and decided to create a user interface for it using visual studio with a windows forms application(Visual Basic).
The problem I'm facing is that the user interface doesn't respond as quickly and smoothly as I'd like it to.
Mainly, I am using pictures as buttons to make the user form look more modern.
However, when I hover my mouse over a "button" it takes a while until the "highlighted button" appears.
P1 is the picture of the "normal button" and P2 is the picture of the "highlighted button".
Here is the short code I have for now:
Public Class Main
Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
End Sub
Private Sub PictureBox1_MouseHover(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles P1.MouseHover
P1.Visible = False
P2.Visible = True
End Sub
Private Sub P2_MouseClick(sender As Object, e As MouseEventArgs) Handles P2.MouseClick
'Call cmdInit()
'Call cmdConnectRobot()
'Call cmdUnlock()
End Sub
Private Sub Main_MouseHover(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Me.MouseHover
If P2.Visible = True Then
P2.Visible = False
P1.Visible = True
End If
End Sub
Private Sub P4_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles P4.Click
End Sub
End Class
Another problem I'm facing is that when I call other subs, the user form becomes unresponsive while the sub is running.
I researched and found that I could implement multi threading or async tasks but I'm a bit lost and would be extremely grateful if someone could guide me or point me in the right direction.
Thanks in advance!!
In this case your UI is responsive, however the MouseHover event is only raised once the mouse cursor has hovered over the control for a certain amount of time (default is 400 ms), which is what is causing the delay.
What you are looking for is the MouseEnter event, which is raised as soon as the cursor enters ("touches") the control:
Private Sub P1_MouseEnter(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles P1.MouseEnter
P1.Visible = False
P2.Visible = True
End Sub
You can then use that together with the MouseLeave event on the second picture box to switch back to the non-highlighted image:
Private Sub P2_MouseLeave(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles P2.MouseLeave
P1.Visible = True
P2.Visible = False
End Sub
However switching picture boxes like this is not optimal. I recommend you to look into how you can use Application Resources, then modify your code to only switch the image that one picture box displays.
Here are the basic steps:
Right-click your project in the Solution Explorer and press Properties.
Select the Resources tab.
To add an image either:
a. Drag and drop the image onto the resource pane.
b. Click the arrow next to the Add Resource... button and press Add Existing File....
Now, in your code add this right below Public Class Form1:
Dim ButtonNormal As Image = My.Resources.<first image name>
Dim ButtonHighlighted As Image = My.Resources.<second image name>
Replace <first image name> and <second image name> with the names of your button images.
Now you only need one picture box for the button:
Private Sub Form1_Load(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
P1.Image = ButtonNormal
End Sub
Private Sub P1_MouseEnter(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles P1.MouseEnter
P1.Image = ButtonHighlighted
End Sub
Private Sub P1_MouseLeave(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles P1.MouseLeave
P1.Image = ButtonNormal
End Sub
I'll start by saying i'm not a programmer by trade, and i'm sure someone will point out better ways of doing these things, but in regards to the threading question it's fairly simple to implement.
Imports System.Threading
Public Class Form1
Dim WorkerThread As New Thread(AddressOf DoWork)
'WorkerThread' can be any name you like, and 'DoWork' is the name of the sub you want to run in the new thread, and is launched by calling:
WorkerThread.start()
However there is a catch, the new thread is not able to interact directly with the GUI, so you cannot change textbox text etc... I find the easiest way to get changes made to the GUI is to drag a timer onto your form, and have the new thread change variables (pre-defined just below Public Class Form1), then use the Timer1 Tick event to monitor the variables and update the GUI if there are any changes.

How to write a single click event in Visual Basic?

I have created a form that allow users to close a form by clicking anywhere on the enlarged picture form (There are 3 objects to consider) and go back to the other form, which is called: "frmPhone". There's an actual picture on the form: "frmPhonePics" which is what I'm using to accomplish what I'm trying to do (was unable to insert an image on here. Sorry.) What I want to do is write a single click event to close the large picture form to allow the user to close it absolutely anywhere in the form, but I don't know how to do that. Here's the code I have so far:
Private Sub frmPhonePics_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Click
frmPhone.Show()
Me.Hide()
End Sub
It sounds as though you have a picture on your frmPhonePics form. If you double click that (from the VBA editor), you should be taken to the code - for example, you might see
Private Sub Image1_Click()
End Sub
Now all you have to do is add your code there:
Private Sub Image1_Click()
Me.Hide
frmPhone.Show()
End Sub
Note - the order matters, since frmPhone.Show() will "hijack" the code flow until it's dismissed, and in your code Me.Hide will not execute (so the form will not close) until frmPhone has been dismissed.
You can map the click handler for various object to one thing, if that is what you are asking:
Private Sub frmPhonePics_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, _
ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _
Handles MyBase.Click, Handles picLarge.Click, Handles otherThing.Click
frmPhone.Show()
Me.Hide() ' should be Me.Close?
End Sub
Not sure why it is MyBase.Click in your code instead of Me.Click. Is this a subclassed form?
I'd strongly suggest using a DoubleClick instead of a single Click. The chances of an errant click doing the wrong thing is very great.
The easiest way is right from the designer. Write the sub routine, then for each control, in the properties window, click the events icon(thunderbolt) and assign the sub routine to the double-click event.
Alternatively, dispense with the Handles clause completely and use a series of Addhandler statements in the Load event handler. If you put a unique string in the names of the controls or if it's all the controls, you can iterate through the controls and use one addhandler statement for all of them
For Each c As Control In Me.Controls
AddHandler c.DoubleClick, AddressOf Ctrl_DoubleClick
Next
Private Sub Ctrl_DoubleClick(sender As Object, e As EventArgs)
'Do stuff
End Sub

how to focus a specific textbox in vb.net

I'm making a desktop application in vb.net. When I click the back button (placed by me) on any form it hides current form and shows previous form but when i go again to the form from which i had hit back button then the focus cue still remains on the back button but I want the focus to be on the first textbox on that form or any specific button on which I want.....How can i achieve this...
I have already used some code to shift focus from one textbox to another when i press enter key...but it doesn't work in the above mentioned case....I'm using vb.net in visual studio 2005...
This is the code i'm using for shifting focus among textboxes
Private Sub party_code_KeyDown(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.KeyEventArgs) Handles party_code.KeyDown
If e.KeyData = Keys.Return Then
party_name.Focus()
End If
End Sub
Can anyone help me on this????
You need to add a handler for either the form's Activated event:
Private Sub Form1_Activated(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Activated
party_name.Focus()
End Sub

vb.net winform 2008 datagrid doubleclick event not firing

i have a databound datagrid in vb.net 2008. This is a program where i use the double click event multipal times.. but for some reason on a new form it's not working anymore. In code behind i selected the datagrid and double click event. when i double click on teh grid in debug mode, it never fires off the event(i put a breakpoint in). I've tried several other events and none of them are firing.
Here is what the event look like
Private Sub dgWho2_DoubleClick(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles dgWho2.DoubleClick
End Sub
and here is what it looks like for one that is working on another form
Private Sub dgQueryStats_DoubleClick(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles dgQueryStats.DoubleClick
For Each O As asr.QueryStat In Os
If O.RowID = CInt(Me.dgQueryStats.Tag.ToString) Then
Me.lblQuery.Text = O.Text
End If
Next
Me.cmdCopyQuery.Visible = True
End Sub
in comparing the properties of the two datagrid, other than the name and the binding, they look the same as well. wondering if anyone has an idea.
thanks
shannon
Err... found my problem.. i had a datagrid.enabled=false stuck down in some code...
Sorry about that
shannon

VB.net form restore not showing form

I'm currently using VB.Net 2008.
The project has the "make single instance application" checkbox checked.
The application works by hiding the form when the form is minimized.
Private Sub Form1_Resize(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Resize
If Me.WindowState = FormWindowState.Minimized Then
Me.Hide()
End If
End Sub
When the appropriate menu item is pressed within the notifyicon the form should show itself again.
Private Sub ShowToolStripMenuItem_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _
Handles ShowToolStripMenuItem.Click
Me.Show()
Me.WindowState = FormWindowState.Normal
End Sub
This works fine until the user tries to open the same application while the form is minimized. When this occurs the application will block a new instance of the application the user was trying to open as expected, however when the user then goes to show the form from the notifyicon's menu it will have seemed to open (it shows the form in the taskbar) but no window is shown.
At this point the window can be maximized and works as intended but by using the restore button the window will not be drawn but will still be shown in the taskbar.
If any help can be given on how to restore the form correctly from being hidden it would be most appreciated.
Thanks in advance
Just a couple of suggestions...
Instead of using Hide() and Show(), could you use the ShowInTaskbar property of the form instead?
Set it to false where you use Hide() and true where you currently use Show(), and see if that makes any difference.
Or perhaps set the WindowState to Normal before calling Show().