1. Chapter 13: Advanced GUI and Graphics
Visual Basic .NET Programming:
From Problem Analysis to Program Design

2. Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design
Objectives
Work with additional GUI controls
Draw lines, rectangles, and ovals
Develop GUI classes that interact with a PD class
Create applications with multiple forms
Simulate a DA class
Create an integrated system that simulates interaction with a database
Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

3. Working with Additional GUI Controls
Other GUI components:
Menus
Group boxes
Tab pages
Namespace:
System.Windows.Forms
Control
Superclass of other GUI classes
Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

4. Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

5. Using Group Boxes and Panels
Containers
Enable you to visually and logically organize groups of related controls
Add components
By drawing them inside group box or panel
Move panel or group box
All controls within it move together
Common use of group boxes and panels
Group set of radio buttons
Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

6. Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

7. Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

8. Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

9. Using Tree Nodes and Tree Views
Displays group of hierarchically related items
Each item is represented as instance of TreeNode class
Useful for displaying hierarchical information
Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

10. Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

11. Using Tree Nodes and Tree Views (continued)
Has a value
Types:
Parent
Child
Sibling
Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

12. Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

13. Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

14. Example 13-2: Using Tree Views and Tree Nodes
Declaring variables:
Dim rootNode, profNode As TreeNode
Adding to tree:
control.Nodes.Add(myString)
Finding selected node:
myNode = trvCSC.SelectedNode
Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

15. Example 13-2: Using Tree Views and Tree Nodes (continued)
Accessing related nodes:
myNode.Parent
myNode.PrevNode
myNode.NextNode
Accessing node text:
myNode.NextNode.Text
Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

16. Using Tab Controls and Tab Pages
Provides functionality for set of tab pages
Instance of TabPage class
Useful when
Form requires large number of controls
Controls can be grouped into logical subsets
User switches between subsets by clicking appropriate tab
Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

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19. Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

20. Using Main Menus and Menu Items
MainMenu and MenuItem classes
Create menus and submenus for a form
Main menu control
Serves as container for menu structure
Menu items
Represent individual menu choices within structure
Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

21. Using Main Menus and Menu Items (continued)
Menu purposes:
Provide functionality for common tasks, such as
Opening and closing files
Editing text
Accessing help features
Can use menus instead of buttons to perform many tasks
Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

22. Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

23. Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

24. Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

25. Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

26. Drawing Lines, Rectangles, and Ovals
VB .NET includes a rich set of classes for drawing graphical elements
System.Drawing namespace
Contains classes and structures needed for drawing graphical objects
Automatically available in Windows applications
No need to import namespace
Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

27. Drawing Lines, Rectangles, and Ovals (continued)
Structure
Can include:
Constructors
Methods
Properties
Events
Value type
Variable contains actual data for structure
Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

28. Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

29. Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

30. Example 13-5: Using Graphics
Generate paint event for form:
Invalidate()
Event handler parameters
Sender
Reference to object that raised event e
Object specific to event being handled
Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

31. Example 13-5: Using Graphics (continued)
'declare variables needed for drawing
Dim instrumentColor As Color
Dim myBrush As SolidBrush
Dim myPen As Pen
Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

32. Example 13-5: Using Graphics (continued)
'draw a white rectangle to serve as drawing canvas
g.FillRectangle(New SolidBrush(Color.White), 18, 160, 492, 248)
'Define a brush using the selected Color
myBrush = New SolidBrush(instrumentColor)
'Define a pen using the selected Color
myPen = New Pen(instrumentColor)
Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

33. Developing GUI Classes that Interact With a PD Class
Create GUIs that interact with problem domain (PD) class
Customer PD class contains
Three attributes:
Name
Address
PhoneNo
Parameterized constructor,
Get and set accessor methods
Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

34. Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design
Adding a Customer
Visual programming process
Generates variables necessary to create GUI
Does not generate all variables needed to respond to events
Variables must be added to source code through the Code Editor window
Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

35. Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design
Finding a Customer
Use ArrayList to simulate interaction with database
Customer instances created from hard-coded data
Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

36. Creating Applications with Multiple Forms
Link multiple forms through GUI that allows you to navigate between forms
Referred to as main menu GUI
Uses buttons to navigate between forms
Event handlers hide and show forms:
frmAddCustomerGUI.ShowDialog()
Me.Show()
Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

37. Creating Applications with Multiple Forms (continued)
Modal dialog box
Form must be dismissed before next statement in procedure will be executed
Use ShowDialog method
Data Access (DA) class
Enables sharing of data among forms
Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

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39. Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design
Simulating a DA Class
Simulate interaction with database by using ArrayList of customers
DA classes provide data storage and retrieval services
Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

40. Simulating a DA Class (continued)
DA methods
Initialize
GetAll
AddNew
Find
Update
Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

41. Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design
Creating an Integrated System that Simulates Interaction With a Database
Modify previously developed forms to use DA class
Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

42. Modifying the Main Menu Form
Initialize simulated database
By invoking Initialize method of CustomerDA class
Invoked by event handler for Load event
Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

43. Modifying the Add Customer Form
Event handler for Add Customer button
Invokes AddNew method of DA class
To add Customer instance to simulated database
Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

44. Modifying the Find Customer Form
Does not include CreateCustomers method
PopulateListBox method now invokes DA class method GetAll
To obtain ArrayList
Event handler for list box
Invokes DA class method Find
Event handler for Update button
Invokes DA class method Update
Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

45. Programming Example: Interacting with Multiple PD Classes
Person
Student
Professor
Phone
DA classes:
professor
Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

46. Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

47. Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design
Summary
Group boxes and panels
Containers that enable you to visually and logically organize groups of related controls
Tree view
Displays group of hierarchically related items as expandable outline
Tab control
Provides functionality for a set of tab pages
Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

48. Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design
Summary (continued)
Main menu control
Serves as container for menu structure
Menu items
Represent individual menu choices within that structure
Graphics class contains methods for drawing shapes
Structures are value types
Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design

49. Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design
Summary (continued)
Event handlers provide two parameters:
Sender e
Graphical user interface (GUI) classes can interact with problem domain (PD) and data access (DA) classes
Visual Basic .NET Programming: From Problem Analysis to Program Design