by Visualcode (2 Submissions)
Category: Coding Standards
Compatability: Visual Basic 3.0
Difficulty: Intermediate
Date Added: Wed 3rd February 2021
Rating: 
(16 Votes)
This is for anyone who is having trouble with common dialog boxes.
Common Dialogs
I have seen many examples on VBCode.com , that have messed up
Common Dialogs , mainly when it comes to the font dialog. This tutorial should teach you all you need to know for common dialogs.
Definitions:
Flags - These are simply options or choices you can use.
Using the flags:
'Setting it for use
CommonDialog.Flags = &H1
'Setting it for use of more than one
CommonDialog.Flags = &H1 Or &H4
Activating Dialogs:
This is simply the code to start up each dialog box.
CommonDialog.ShowColor 'Lets the user pick a color
CommonDialog.ShowFont 'Lets the user pick font
CommonDialog.ShowOpen 'Lets the user pick a file to open
CommonDialog.ShowPrinter 'Shows Printer Setup
CommonDialog.ShowSave 'Lets the user pick a file to save to
ShowColor:
The following are some flags for using the Color dialog boxes.
&H1 - This is one i personally like. This makes the common dialog start showing its current color.
&H2 - This starts with the custom color tab open.
&H4 - This makes it so they can not create custom colors.
&H8 - This adds a help button to the dialog.
&H10 - This will reset the common dialog to default.
ShowFont:
The following are some flags for using the Font dialog boxes.
&H1 - Allows the dialog only to list fonts supported by the system.
&H2 - Allows the dialog only to list fonts supported by the printer.
&H3 - Lists the fonts from the two above.
&H4 - Adds a help button.
&H100 - Allows the choices of underline strike thru and color selection.
&H2000 - Shows only font sizes between the min and max.
&H20000 - Allows only fonts that can be scaled.
&H40000 - Allows only true type fonts
Applying to a textbox - For each property you must set it here is an example
that sets it assuming you have &H100 and have a textbox named Text1
Text1.FontName = CommonDialog.FontName
Text1.FontItalic = CommonDialog.FontItalic
Text1.FontBold = CommonDialog.FontBold
Text1.FontStrikethru = CommonDialog.FontStrikethru
Text1.FontUnderline = CommonDialog.FontUnderline
Text1.FontSize = CommonDialog.FontSize
Text1.ForeColor = CommonDialog.Color
ShowOpen And ShowSave:
The following are some flags for using the Open dialog boxes.
&H2 - Forces a warning before overwriting a file
&H8 - Stops default directory from changing
&H10 - Shows help button.
&H200 - This makes it so more than one file can be selected.
&H1000 - This makes it so the file must exist.
&H2000 - This warns the user before creating a new file.
Opening a file:
CommonDialog.ShowOpen
Open CommonDialog.FileName for Input as #1 'Opens The File
Do until Eof(1) "Loops till complete file added to Textbox
Line Input #1, Tmp
Text1.Text = Text1.Text & Tmp
Loop
Close #1 'Closes the file
Saving a file:
CommonDialog.ShowSave
Open CommonDialog.FileName for Output as #1 'Opens The File
Print #1, Text1.Text 'Creates The File
Close #1 'Closes the file
ShowPrinter:
The following are some flags for using the Printer dialog boxes.
&H4 - Makes it so they cant choose to print only selected text.
&H8 - Does not allow you to choose to print certain pages like 4-7.
&H800 - This shows the help button.
&H40 - This shows the print setup dialog box rather than the printer dialog box.
&H100000 - This gets rid of the print to file option box.
Printing Landscape - Printer.Orientation = 2
Printing Portrait - Printer.Orientation = 1
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Download A Guide To Common Dialog Boxes Including Fonts (3 KB)
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