Saving Forms... - Xtreme Visual Basic Talk

07-28-2005, 08:35 PM

mntlnstituteflr mntlnstituteflr is offline

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Saving Forms...

Hey everyone,

I am wondering how to save the form as a file format that I will be making. In other words, I have 6 picture boxes, 6 text boxes, and 6 buttons on a form, and I want to save all of the information from that form as a new file.

Source is offered if needed. Here's all I've tried:

Code:

    Private Sub Button8_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button8.Click
        SaveFileDialog1.ShowDialog()
    End Sub

Thanks,

Patrick Cason

07-28-2005, 11:44 PM

Ruffnekk

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What kind of information should the file keep? The text properties and image names? Please specify.

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07-29-2005, 12:00 AM

sgt_pinky

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Your first step needs to be to learn how to read and write files in VB.NET. Once you can write to a file, and read back from a file, you will be able to store properties such as width, height, text, etc - as Ruffnekk suggests.

There are plenty of tutorials on the net about reading and writing using IO.StreamReader and IO.StreamWriter that you can check out.

07-29-2005, 12:00 AM

mrjeffy321 mrjeffy321 is offline

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also for general info about file saving and reading,
File I/O In VB.Net

07-29-2005, 08:17 AM

wayneph

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Or using serialization you can save the entire form in a simple step.

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07-30-2005, 11:29 AM

mntlnstituteflr mntlnstituteflr is offline

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So your saying that there is no way to save multiple components as one file, and then open it back up later?

Patrick Cason

07-31-2005, 06:48 AM

Fyreblade

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Quote:

Originally Posted by wayneph

Or using serialization you can save the entire form in a simple step.

I thought, It was impossible to serialize a control in .Net ...
How do you want that to realise without creating new classes which inherit all the controls you need (which is , as far as I know, possible, but less functional than the "old-school" way)?

Fyreblade

Edit: I've got to improve myself: It would be possible, if there weren't any other objects declared in the control, which aren't able to serialize either. So I think you've got to save each property separately...

Last edited by Fyreblade; 07-31-2005 at 06:53 AM.

07-31-2005, 07:20 AM

jo0ls

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Code:

Dim stringToWriteToFile As String

    Private Sub SaveControls()
        For Each ctrl As Control In Me.Controls
            Select Case ctrl.GetType.ToString
                Case "System.Windows.Forms.Button"
                    AddButtonToFile(ctrl)
                    'repeat with function for all control types
            End Select
        Next

        'now save the string to a file ...
    End Sub


    Private Sub AddButtonToFile(ByVal ctrl As Control)
        Dim thisButton As Button
        thisButton = DirectCast(ctrl, Button)
        stringToWriteToFile &= thisButton.Name & ","
        stringToWriteToFile &= thisButton.Location.X & ","
        stringToWriteToFile &= thisButton.Location.Y & ","
        stringToWriteToFile &= thisButton.Width & ","
        stringToWriteToFile &= thisButton.Height & ","
        '..etc...
        'last one for this control:
        stringToWriteToFile &= thisButton.Text & vbCrLf 'start new line for next control
    End Sub

should get you started...
note: Common properties such as location could be retrieved with ctrl.Location. You need to do the direct cast to get properties specific to a control type, so ctrl.image won't work, but if you cast the ctrl to a picturebox with
thisPicturebox = directcast(ctrl,picturebox)
..then you can use thisPictureBox.image

Last edited by jo0ls; 07-31-2005 at 08:31 AM.

07-31-2005, 08:38 PM

mntlnstituteflr mntlnstituteflr is offline

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Posts: 69

I'm sorry I don't get it, I tried the code, but it didn't work and was too confusing

. I just thing I need to learn a little more before I can deal with the big coding

.

I don't really need the code now, but thanks anyway!

Patrick Cason