Thinker
10-08-2002, 02:47 PM
Here is an ActiveX control I created earlier this year. I call it a
Tabbar. It is designed to be similar to a control you can find in
both the VB IDE, and in Outlook. In the VB IDE, it is like the
toolbox window. Normally, there is only one tab in the toolbox,
General. But you can add additional tabs and then add controls
to those tabs. In addition, if you add a designer to the project,
like the datareport, it automatically adds another tab. In Outlook,
you find it holding shortcuts. As you click each tab, it hides all the
controls on the previous tab, and makes visible all the controls
for the currently selected tab. In that respect, it is similar to the
Tabbed Dialog control, but it is practical in places where a Tabbed
Dialog (or even tabstrip) control just wouldn't work.
The zip contains the Tabbar control project and a test project
that shows off some of the features of the control. There is a
.VBG group file that will load them both, but I recommend you
only do this if you are quite comfortable with subclassed projects.
The Tabbar control is the only VB based ActiveX control I know of
that has been subclassed at design time. This means when you
have an instance of this control sited on a form in the VB IDE, it
is running subclassed. With the compiled OCX, this will not cause
any problems, but when you open the project group, both the
test project and the control itself are running in the IDE. Anyone
who has ever subclassed in VB can tell you what can happen
running them in the IDE.
One of the main reasons this control is so good is all the fantastic
code and help I received from The Hand. Without his subclassing
code and Hoverbutton control, this control wouldn't have near the
capabilities, and have some external dependencies. I am most
grateful for the help and recommend www.elitevb.com to anyone
who is interested in serious VB subclassing and interface design
programming.
Tabbar. It is designed to be similar to a control you can find in
both the VB IDE, and in Outlook. In the VB IDE, it is like the
toolbox window. Normally, there is only one tab in the toolbox,
General. But you can add additional tabs and then add controls
to those tabs. In addition, if you add a designer to the project,
like the datareport, it automatically adds another tab. In Outlook,
you find it holding shortcuts. As you click each tab, it hides all the
controls on the previous tab, and makes visible all the controls
for the currently selected tab. In that respect, it is similar to the
Tabbed Dialog control, but it is practical in places where a Tabbed
Dialog (or even tabstrip) control just wouldn't work.
The zip contains the Tabbar control project and a test project
that shows off some of the features of the control. There is a
.VBG group file that will load them both, but I recommend you
only do this if you are quite comfortable with subclassed projects.
The Tabbar control is the only VB based ActiveX control I know of
that has been subclassed at design time. This means when you
have an instance of this control sited on a form in the VB IDE, it
is running subclassed. With the compiled OCX, this will not cause
any problems, but when you open the project group, both the
test project and the control itself are running in the IDE. Anyone
who has ever subclassed in VB can tell you what can happen
running them in the IDE.
One of the main reasons this control is so good is all the fantastic
code and help I received from The Hand. Without his subclassing
code and Hoverbutton control, this control wouldn't have near the
capabilities, and have some external dependencies. I am most
grateful for the help and recommend www.elitevb.com to anyone
who is interested in serious VB subclassing and interface design
programming.