Advanced Programming

[Taftheman]

Hello, I am not sure if anyone can help.
one of my colleagues was talking about he knew some one that can build a form and all of it controls via a database. So in vb's case instead of drag and drop columns, he specified them in a table, and then refernced to a form. Or somthing like that. I seen a small section which my colleagues has written in .Net but it is very basic like changing the colour of a label. However i was wondering can this be done in VB6, and if so can some one point me to the write direction, like a tutorial or web page. If possible i would like to know for VB6 however, i am also begining to start to learn .Net so it would be helpful for that as well.

Thanks in advance if anyone can help!

[Taftheman]

Just bumping this one back up the chain

[Killer42]

Just bumping this one back up the chain

I didn't spot this one before. However, I don't think it's really clear what you want to achieve. Could you try to explain again?

[vijaydiwakar]

Hello, I am not sure if anyone can help.
one of my colleges was talking about he knew some one that can build a form and all of it controls via a database. So in vb's case instead of drag and drop columns, he specified them in a table, and then refernced to a form. Or somthing like that. I seen a small section which my colleges has written in .Net but it is very basic like changing the colour of a label. However i was wondering can this be done in VB6, and if so can some one point me to the write direction, like a tutorial or web page. If possible i would like to know for VB6 however, i am also begining to start to learn .Net so it would be helpful for that as well.

Thanks in advance if anyone can help!

See if i got right then u like to create a UI independant of Database
then this can be with the help of xml files also
i've done it with the help of vbdot net and xml files
Good Luck

[Traps]

I've implemented the ability to create a dynamic form at runtime, using parameters in a file. If I can remember, I'll post some source. Its really easy.

[iburyak]

Hello, I am not sure if anyone can help.
one of my colleges was talking about he knew some one that can build a form and all of it controls via a database. So in vb's case instead of drag and drop columns, he specified them in a table, and then refernced to a form. Or somthing like that. I seen a small section which my colleges has written in .Net but it is very basic like changing the colour of a label. However i was wondering can this be done in VB6, and if so can some one point me to the write direction, like a tutorial or web page. If possible i would like to know for VB6 however, i am also begining to start to learn .Net so it would be helpful for that as well.

Thanks in advance if anyone can help!

See how I generate new menu items from a database.
Assume I have mnuOS with index 0 and it is not visible.

The rest could be built similarly. You can set Top, Left, Width, Height, Color for each control and all other possible properties.



[PHP]Dim rsResult As ADODB.Recordset
Dim objMainView As New clsMainView
Dim n As Integer

On Error GoTo ErrorHandler
Set rsResult = objMainView.Get OSRights

Do While Not rsResult.EOF
n = n + 1
Load mnuOS(n)
mnuOS(n).Captio n = rsResult!Name
mnuOS(n).Tag = rsResult!os_id
If glCurrentOS = rsResult!os_id Then
mnuOS(n).Checke d = True
glCurrentOS = CLng(mnuOS(n).T ag)
End If

mnuOS(n).Visibl e = True
rsResult.MoveNe xt
Loop[/PHP]

Hope it helps.
Good Luck.

[Taftheman]

Hi thanks for all your replys.
for example if i had a lable and wanted this to be red insted of specifying it everytime. I have that in a table and every time i need it i reffer to it (a table in a database to make the label red).

I hope this makes more sense. It can be done in .net as i have seen it, tho can some one point me to the right direction cheers

[iburyak]

Yes, you can say something like this:

[PHP]Label.backcolor = value_from_data base_here.[/PHP]

Good Luck.

[Killer42]

Yes, you can say something like this:

[PHP]Label.backcolor = value_from_data base_here.[/PHP]

You could take it a step further and loop through all the controls on your form, checking the name and loading values from your database for that name. Something like

For Each ctl In Me.Controls
  With ctl
    .BackColor = LookupProperty(Me.Name, .Name, .BackColor)
  End With
Next

(The idea of passing the current BackColor was to provide a default value in case the lookup routine didn't find it in the database.)

Um...

Oh! Try looking up "propertyba g". I just remembered, in VB6 there's an object called a "property bag" which is used to hold the properties for a user control. Haven't had much experience with it, but it might be just what you're after.

[Taftheman]

You could take it a step further and loop through all the controls on your form, checking the name and loading values from your database for that name. Something like

For Each ctl In Me.Controls
  With ctl
    .BackColor = LookupProperty(Me.Name, .Name, .BackColor)
  End With
Next

(The idea of passing the current BackColor was to provide a default value in case the lookup routine didn't find it in the database.)

Um...

Oh! Try looking up "propertyba g". I just remembered, in VB6 there's an object called a "property bag" which is used to hold the properties for a user control. Haven't had much experience with it, but it might be just what you're after.

Hi again, i was looking at this, and it is exactly what i was looking for, to bw able to loop through the form, is there a website or somthing that i can get tutorials

[Taftheman]

I have made a start to this by changing the colour of a label, however i keep getting an error.

I have a database with the value vbRED in a column A

I then open up a connection to the database and run a simple select statement (Recordset)

Label1.BackColo r = rs1!A

but this does not work can some one guide to the right place

Thanks in advance

[iburyak]

You have two options here:

1. Convert string function into a long by choosing from case. In this case you limited to options in your case.

Dim Color As Long

Select Case UCase(rs1!A)
Case "VBRED"
    Color = vbRed
Case "VBMAGENTA"
    Color = vbMagenta
Case "VBGREEN"
    Color = vbGreen
Else 
    Color = Label1.BackColor 
End Select

Label1.BackColor = Color

2. Save value of a variable into a database not a variable name

You have to save Clng(vbRed) as long not as string.

Try this test:

Label1.BackColor = 255

Good Luck.

[Killer42]

Yes, I would definitely save the values, not the name of a constant which contains it. For instance, vbRed is simply a Long containing the value 255.

Don't know how you would go about converting the string "vbRed" to the value of the constant. Apart from the brute-force Select Case of course, like iburyak said. Much simpler to just store the actual values from the properties. (I think I mentioned, there is a thing called a propertybag which may be useful in this regard - you probably should check it out, but I don't remember anything about it except that it is used to hold a bunch of properties and their values.)

Also, something else I may have mentioned before - keep an eye out for the values indicating Windows system colours (Eg. "Button Face" = &H8000000F&) . They may not be any problem in your situation, but I ran into problems when I was splitting up colours into their R/G/B components, because they're four-byte values rather than three.