I have this VB.Net 1.1 project that I have to make some changes to. There is a flag in the App.config file. If it is false, the page just loads a splash screen and runs the program normally. If it is true it first opens a login window.
VB.Net is not something I've ever worked with before. I can't for the life of me figure out where the logic for the picking the startup object is. In the property pages, Main.vb is always set as the startup object, but that's not even the window that loads up when the flag is false, it always comes after the splash screen.
I've search all through the code for any reference to creating a new instance of the login window to display it but can't find it. I've searched for where it checks what the flag is set to, but anything I've found for that is not in reference to loading the login window.
Any ideas?
What is the name of the login window class? You could either do a search in the entire solution to find all occurences of that name (e.g. by pressing Ctrl+Shift+F) or place the cursor on the class name and press Shift+F12. The latter will find all references of the login window class. In the search result window now look for new MyLoginWindow to see where it is instantiated.
From that location on you can use the same method again to find the callees and possibly the place in the code where the config flag is checked (Or you could place a breakpoint, debug and walk up the call stack to see where you are coming from - that could be easier).
Related
I've got a single instance (set up via .net) program that operates mostly from the system tray but also has a window.
Users often lose the program among their other system tray icons and believe the program isn't running, trying to open it again from the executable.
How can I detect, within my running program, that the executable is opened again? (So that I can maximize the window)
Thanks in advance.
Opening another copy of a single instance program will bring your form to the front by default, but when the form isn't visible, this won't have any effect.
This is what I was looking for
The MyApplication_StartupNextInstance event occurs when another instance is started. This can be used to call any additional functions you need.
In Project Properties, You can navigate to Application -> View Application Events and handle Me.StartupNextInstance from within Partial Friend Class MyApplication.
Direct all thanks to the comments.
I had a question about Dialogs in VB.NET. I am working on a point of sale program, and at one point during a sale, I have a few windows that pop up. For example, a user will go into a sale that is window A. In window A, they have the option of entering products, etc., and if they choose a 'repair' product, it opens window B, allowing them to choose options. In window B, there is a button that pops up window C that allows them to attach products TO the repair. My issue is with window B opening window C.
Because I open window B as a Dialog (in order to check if DialogResult.OK is true), any window I open with B is non-touchable, as B is a Dialog and requires attention before going to any other windows/forms.
My question is - is there any way to still use a dialog, but allow for manipulating other open forms while the dialog is up, and if not, what would be the best way to check if the user selected OK, or cancelled out of the window?
The only solution I can think of right now would be to open window C as a dialogue as well (it's actually a UserControl, and I'm still trying to find where in the code it's actually getting openned/called), or to create a variable that is passed in to the form, and then passed back out when it's closed, that basically sets a flag to either continue or cancel...
Any advice/ideas??
If I were to explain this using code, this answer would be very long, so instead I'm going to give you a high level overview.
.Show() vs .ShowDialog()
The link below will take you off to Microsofts website to explain the technical differences between these two. However in laymans terms, .ShowDialog() will create the form where it is the only window allowed to have focus in the application. Forms that are called in this instance are hierarchical, in that if you open them in order of 1,2,4,3 then they must be closed in the 3,4,2,1 order. Forms that are opened with just .Show() can be focused at any time.
How to: Display Modal and Modeless Windows Forms
Form.FormBorderStyle property
This property controls how the OS will display the window. The different options under this selection changes the way the window behaves. Depending on the options that are chosen you can make a window that only has a close button on it, or it may not even have a title bar at all. Setting this option to None will take away all controls of the form and only leave you with the Me.ClientArea to work with. When you want a completely custom GUI, this is how you do it but you have to implement your own controls for everything, closing the form, size handles, the ability to move the form on the screen, etc...
Form.FormBorderStyle Property
Passing data between forms
When someone asks how to pass data back and forth between forms, they are usually talking about modeless forms that were created using .Show(). The most common thing I see on SO is to use the tag property of an object (a form is an object that has this property too) to pass data back and forth. While I won't say this is a bad practice, I will recommend creating public properties on your forms. These can be set from a separate form and you can perform additional actions when setting the values (be careful though, this way of doing things isn't thread safe). If you are using a Modeless form as though it were a Modal form, then you can simply override the .Dispose property to return a value or you can create a method named DialogResult that will return the value you need. The caveat to using a DialogResult or similar method is that if the form has been disposed then you can't access the value you wanted to return.
You can use myNewForm.Show(Me) for the Window you want to be shown as a dialog. This will show myNewForm as a child of the current form, but lets you interact with the current form.
We have a "Core" system that we use to run the business and there are about 15-18 people using it at any one time. The program is written in VB.NET and has about 165 forms.
The way it works is when the user runs the program he/she is prompted to log in and if the login is successful a "Main" form is displayed with a number of menus (Customers, Suppliers...). From there they can click on the menus which open another form on top of the "Main" (the "Main" form needs to be visible in the background because it displays information that is relevant to the users while they are in other screens)
The issue we are having is that if the users have other programs open while using the "Core" system (Outlook, Word, Chrome, anything really) and switch to another program and then back to the system, it only displays the "Main" form and any other forms open on top disappear. The way we get around this is by switching back to the other programs they have open and clicking on the minimise button in the top right corner of the window until all the other programs are minimised, which only leaves the "Core" system visible. However this is becoming a nuisance to all the users (including myself and the other developer) and we really need to sort this issue out in order to keep out staff happy :)
I would appreciate any advice or pointers in the right direction which will help us solve this issue and please feel free to ask if you need any more information.
It seems you are creating the ChildForm from the MainForm but the ChildForm itself is showing itself with Me.ShowDialog(). What you should probably try is showing the form from the MainForm and passing the MainForm in as the parent. This should keep the form tied to it's parent and on top. For example:
childForm.showDialog(Me)
Where Me is the MainForm. This is the documentation for that method.
This is the important part:
Owner Type: System.Windows.Forms.IWin32Window
Any object that implements IWin32Window that represents the top-level window that will own the modal dialog box.
Does that make sense?
Changing code to show dialog will change behavior of your code little bit, like your main from execution will hold till you close child form
But you can you use only show as child (not dialog)
childForm.show (Me)
This will not change anything except whenever you click on main form it will display its entire children on it.
I need to save the user's data for the first time he opens the app and never show it again.
Let's say I need the user to enter his first name and other data, and save it so the application can use it later. The user enters his first name, and the next time he opens the application, he doesn't get asked to enter his name again. The application just goes to the main screen.
How can I do this?
You can use application settings. Open your project's properties (My Project in the Solution Explorer), go to the Settings tab, and make a setting. I'll assume you called it FirstName. Keep everything else as-is (User Setting, String) and save.
Now you can use this setting just like any other property, except it'll persist between runs. You can find the property in the My.Settings class. To set it the first time:
My.Settings.FirstName = userFirstName
And to use it later, it's just My.Settings.FirstName.
I'm fairly new to Xcode and Cocoa/Objective-C and I'm trying to implement something as simple as a QInputDialog that can be re-used throughout the program - with a unique message to the user each time it is launched and return a string as a result.
I have searched the web and found multiple methods but nothing seems to be quite clear or concise - well enough for me to understand anyway.
Is there anything out there as simple as:
Create/Launch a window from a method with a new message label to the user in the form of a string.
Has an NSTextField to receive the users input.
Close the window and return the string from the text field (if accepted) to the calling method.
??
Modal prompts for input are very un-Mac-like. It's like smashing the user's face in with a cricket bat and yelling “TELL ME THE ANSWER NOW!”
The correct solution is to put your text field into a non-modal window, so that the value is already ready when the user invokes whatever action needs the value. Beep and show the “hey, you forgot this” icon if the user hasn't filled in the field and you need a value there. If the field is not relevant in the window the user starts the action from, or if you're going to need several facts as input, then show another window, non-modally, with its own window controller, to take in all the input you'll need for the action.
A separate, non-modal window will also enable the user to fill out and/or perform multiple such actions in parallel.
If you must demand the value with a modal dialog, you can and should make it a sheet, but you'll still need to build the panel and its contents from scratch in IB or code.
See also the Sheet Programming Guide and the chapter on windows in the Human Interface Guidelines.