Is there a difference between MsgBox and MessageBox.Show? - vb.net

Question

Is there a difference between the following two?
msgbox()
messagebox.show()
Some tutorials use msgbox(), and some use the other, messagebox.show()---I see that both can have an editable style, but I was wondering: Why are there two?
Is it to accommodate older programmers (who have learnt on an older version of Visual Basic)?
So in that case, which one should I use in Visual Basic 2010 (Visual Studio 2010)?

Answer 1

MsgBox() is the same as Messagebox.Show().
It exists for VB6 programmers who are used to it.
There are no rules on which one to use, but since MsgBox simply ends up delegating to MessageBox, I personally would go directly with MessageBox.

Answer 2

Here is the source code for Msgbox. As you can see it doesn't do anything particularly interesting before calling MessageBox.Show.
<MethodImpl(MethodImplOptions.NoInlining), HostProtection(SecurityAction.LinkDemand, Resources:=HostProtectionResource.UI)> _
Public Shared Function MsgBox(ByVal Prompt As Object, ByVal Optional Buttons As MsgBoxStyle = 0, ByVal Optional Title As Object = new Object()) As MsgBoxResult
Dim owner As IWin32Window = Nothing
Dim text As String = Nothing
Dim titleFromAssembly As String
Dim vBHost As IVbHost = HostServices.VBHost
If (Not vBHost Is Nothing) Then
owner = vBHost.GetParentWindow
End If
If ((((Buttons And 15) > MsgBoxStyle.RetryCancel) OrElse ((Buttons And 240) > MsgBoxStyle.Information)) OrElse ((Buttons And &HF00) > MsgBoxStyle.DefaultButton3)) Then
Buttons = MsgBoxStyle.OkOnly
End If
Try
If (Not Prompt Is Nothing) Then
[text] = CStr(Conversions.ChangeType(Prompt, GetType(String)))
End If
Catch exception As StackOverflowException
Throw exception
Catch exception2 As OutOfMemoryException
Throw exception2
Catch exception3 As ThreadAbortException
Throw exception3
Catch exception9 As Exception
Throw New ArgumentException(Utils.GetResourceString("Argument_InvalidValueType2", New String() { "Prompt", "String" }))
End Try
Try
If (Title Is Nothing) Then
If (vBHost Is Nothing) Then
titleFromAssembly = Interaction.GetTitleFromAssembly(Assembly.GetCallingAssembly)
Else
titleFromAssembly = vBHost.GetWindowTitle
End If
Else
titleFromAssembly = Conversions.ToString(Title)
End If
Catch exception4 As StackOverflowException
Throw exception4
Catch exception5 As OutOfMemoryException
Throw exception5
Catch exception6 As ThreadAbortException
Throw exception6
Catch exception13 As Exception
Throw New ArgumentException(Utils.GetResourceString("Argument_InvalidValueType2", New String() { "Title", "String" }))
End Try
Return DirectCast(MessageBox.Show(owner, [text], titleFromAssembly, (DirectCast(Buttons, MessageBoxButtons) And DirectCast(15, MessageBoxButtons)), (DirectCast(Buttons, MessageBoxIcon) And DirectCast(240, MessageBoxIcon)), (DirectCast(Buttons, MessageBoxDefaultButton) And DirectCast(&HF00, MessageBoxDefaultButton)), (DirectCast(Buttons, MessageBoxOptions) And DirectCast(-4096, MessageBoxOptions))), MsgBoxResult)
End Function

Answer 3

There is a difference when you are attempting to mix icons with different buttons. MsgBox has predefined styles (there may be a way to create new styles).
For example:
MsgBox("Do you wish to save changes?", MsgBoxStyle.YesNoCancel, "Save Changes")
^ This will display a box with Yes, No and Cancel buttons without an icon.
MsgBox("Do you wish to save changes?", MsgBoxStyle.Question, "Save Changes")
^ This will display a box with a Question mark icon but with ONLY an OK button.
MessageBox.Show("Do you wish to save changes?", "Save Changes", MessageBoxButtons.YesNoCancel, MessageBoxIcon.Question)
^ This will display a box with Yes, No and Cancel buttons AND a Question mark icon.
As you can see, using MessageBox.Show enables you to have any buttons you want with any icon.

Answer 4

But the really nice thing about MsgBox is that it can be SystemModal e.g. If MsgBox("There is a new Quick Message!" & Environment.NewLine & "Do you want to read it now?", MsgBoxStyle.Information + MsgBoxStyle.YesNo + MsgBoxStyle.SystemModal, "Quick Message") = MsgBoxResult.Yes Then...
I couldn't find a simple way of making If MessageBox.Show(... to be SystemModal.
My messages now get full prominence on screen. Yippee.

Answer 5

According to this site and the answers so far to my own question (see remark), as well my inability to display a specific help file using the msgbox function, I'd have to say use messagebox rather than msgbox if you want to show help. The msgbox function displays a help button, but apparently there is no way to put a helpfile in it! I'm showing the code I played around with below, and there is also a good code sample on the first link.
Imports Microsoft.visualbasic 'have to have this namespace to use msgbox
Public Class Form1
Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
Dim Helpfilepath As String = "C:\Windows\Help\mui\0409\aclui.chm"
Dim msgresult As Byte
'BTW, Must use 0 for BLANK PARAMETER. Using messageboxoptions.defaultdesktoponly errors out with help btn.
msgresult = MessageBox.Show("Text", "Messagebox", 0, _
0, 0, 0, Helpfilepath)
'displays help button, but how do you display the help file?
msgresult = MsgBox("Text", MsgBoxStyle.MsgBoxHelp, "msgbox")
'BTW, must use dialogresult rather than messageboxresult with windows forms
If msgresult = DialogResult.Yes Then
'etc
End If
End Sub
End Class

Answer 6

The message box created using MsgBox() has a title of the form which created it, whereas the message box window created by MessageBox.Show() does not have any title.