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Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded Second Edition

Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded Second Edition. Chapter 2 Creating a User Interface. Objectives. After studying this chapter, you should be able to: Plan an application Complete a TOE chart Use a text box, table layout panel, and timer

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Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded Second Edition

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  1. Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded Second Edition Chapter 2 Creating a User Interface

  2. Objectives After studying this chapter, you should be able to: • Plan an application • Complete a TOE chart • Use a text box, table layout panel, and timer • Explain the difference between a primary window and a dialog box • Follow the Windows standards regarding the layout and labeling of controls Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  3. Objectives (continued) • Follow the Windows standards regarding the use of graphics, fonts, and color • Assign access keys to controls • Set the tab order • Designate a default button and a cancel button • Explain the difference between a modal form and a modeless form • Add a splash screen and a dialog box to an application Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  4. Planning an Application Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  5. Planning an Application (continued) • Plan the application before creating the user interface • Work jointly with the user • TOE (Task, Object, Event) chart: • Shows application’s tasks, objects, and events • Tasks, objects, and events should be identified in the first 3 steps of planning Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  6. Skate-Away Sales • Skate-Away Sales: • Sells skateboards at $100 each • Two colors: blue and yellow • Currently the salespeople calculate the order total • Develop an order-taking application for this company Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  7. Identifying the Application’s Tasks Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  8. Identifying the Application’s Tasks (continued) • First, review current user procedures and forms • Steps: • Identify the desired outputs • Identify the necessary inputs • Identify the processing needed to change the inputs into the outputs • Identify how the user will end the application • Identify the need to clear the screen between transactions Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  9. Identifying the Application’s Tasks (continued) Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  10. Identifying the Objects • Assign each task to an object in the TOE • TextBox tool: instantiates a text box control • Text box: • Used to allow the user to input information • Use buttons to initiate the calculations • Use labels to guide the user Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  11. Identifying the Objects (continued) Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  12. Identifying the Objects (continued) Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  13. Identifying the Events • Text boxes: no special events needed for user to enter the text • Labels: no special events needed to display the prompts • Buttons: • Action must occur when each button is clicked Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  14. Identifying the Events (continued) Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  15. Identifying the Events (continued) Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  16. Designing the User Interface • Follow Windows standards for: • Consistency • Ease of use • Familiar look and feel • Primary window: • The main window in an application • Dialog boxes: windows used to support and supplement a user’s activities in the primary window Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  17. Designing the User Interface (continued) Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  18. Designing the User Interface (continued) • Primary windows can be resized, minimized, maximized, and closed by the user • Primary window’s title bar includes: • Minimize, Maximize, and Close buttons on the right • Control menu on the left • Dialog boxes can be closed only • Dialog box’s title bar includes: • Close button and optionally a Help button • No control menu Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  19. Designing the User Interface (continued) • Form object used to create primary window and dialog boxes • FormBorderStyleproperty: • Sets border style • Use default setting of Sizable for primary window • Use FixedDialog setting for dialog boxes • MinimizeBoxproperty and MaximizeBoxproperty control the existence of Minimize and Maximize buttons • Splash screen: • Set FormBorderStyle to FixedSingle • Set ControlBoxproperty to False to remove control menu Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  20. Designing the User Interface (continued) Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  21. Designing the User Interface (continued) Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  22. Designing the User Interface (continued) Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  23. Arranging the Controls • Guidelines: • Information should flow either vertically or horizontally • Group related controls together using white space or container controls • Container controls: • Group box control • Panel control • Table layout panel control Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  24. Arranging the Controls (continued) Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  25. Arranging the Controls (continued) Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  26. Arranging the Controls (continued) Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  27. Arranging the Controls (continued) Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  28. Arranging the Controls (continued) Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  29. Arranging the Controls (continued) • More guidelines: • Use a label with each text box • Left-align the label’s text • Position label to left of or above the text box it identifies • Labels and button captions should be 1 to 3 words only, and appear on one line • Labels and captions should be meaningful • Use sentence capitalization for labels Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  30. Arranging the Controls (continued) • Sentence capitalization: • Only first letter in the first word is usually capitalized • Book title capitalization: • First letter in each word is capitalized (except articles, conjunctions and prepositions) Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  31. Arranging the Controls (continued) • More guidelines: • Maintain a consistent margin from all edges of the form • Size buttons relative to each other • Minimize the number of different margins by aligning control borders where possible • Interface should not distract the user from doing the work Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  32. Including Graphics in the User Interface • Human eye is drawn to pictures before text • Include graphics only if necessary • Use for aesthetic purposes • Use to clarify a portion of the screen Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  33. Including Different Fonts in the User Interface • Font property: used to change the type, style, and size of the font • Font: • General shape of characters in text • Size is measured in points • Point: 1/72 of an inch • Serif: a light cross stroke at top or bottom of a character • Sans serif fonts: do not have the cross strokes Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  34. Including Different Fonts in the User Interface (continued) • Guidelines: • Use sans serif fonts on screens • Use only one font type for the text in a form • 12-point font is easiest to read at high screen resolution • Avoid italics and underlining • Use bold only for titles, headings, and key terms Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  35. Including Color in the User Interface • Human eye is drawn to color before B&W • Guidelines: • Use color sparingly • Some people have trouble distinguishing colors • What is “acceptable” in colors is subjective • Color may have specific meaning in certain cultures • Use black or dark text on a white or light background • Use maximum of 3 different colors that complement each other • Do not use color as the only means of identification Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  36. Assigning Access Keys • Access key: • Allows user to select an object using Alt + access key • Appears underlined on the button caption • Is not case-sensitive • Guidelines: • Assign access keys to each control that can accept user input • Exceptions: OK and Cancel buttons Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  37. Assigning Access Keys (continued) • Advantages of using access keys: • User does not need mouse to navigate and activate controls • Allows fast typists to keep hands on keyboard • Facilitates use of the application by people with disabilities • Include & in front of the character to be used as the access key: • &Calculate Order  Calculate Order Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  38. Setting the TabIndex Property • TabIndex property: • Determines the order in which a control receives the focus when the Tab key is pressed • Starts at 0 • Focus: the state of being able to accept user input • Default TabIndex values are set according to the order in which the controls were added to the form Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  39. Setting the TabIndex Property (continued) Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  40. Setting the TabIndex Property (continued) Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  41. Designating Default and Cancel Buttons • Default button: activated when user presses Enter key • AcceptButtonproperty: • A form property • Designates the name of the default button • Cancel button: activated when user presses Esc key • CancelButtonproperty: • A form property • Designates the name of the cancel button Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  42. Including Splash Screens and Dialog Boxes in an Application Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  43. Including Splash Screens and Dialog Boxes in an Application (continued) Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  44. Including Splash Screens and Dialog Boxes in an Application (continued) • Show method: displays a form as a modeless form • Modeless form: • Can remain displayed while user uses other forms • ShowDialog method: displays a form as a modal form • Modal form: • Requires user to take action in the form • Rest of the application is not usable until the modal form is closed Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  45. Including Splash Screens and Dialog Boxes in an Application (continued) Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  46. The Timer Tool • Timer tool: instantiates a Timer control • Timer control: processes code at one or more regular intervals, specified by Interval property • Tick event: occurs after each interval has elapsed • Timer control does not appear on the form, but in the component tray • Component tray: area in the IDE that stores all controls that do not appear in the user interface at runtime Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  47. The Timer Tool (continued) Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  48. The Timer Tool (continued) Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  49. Programming Tutorial Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

  50. Programming Example Microsoft Visual Basic 2005: Reloaded, Second Edition

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