Visual Basic

24-Oct-13 4:39

Hi,

I posted this in general questions and then realized I should have posted it here. I have a large vb6 app that I turned into a dll so I could run it from vb .net. When I run the vb6 & .net projects in debug everything works fine. If I open the forms non modally everything works fine all the time.

However when I compile the vb6 into a dll the vb6 forms are not being placed in the .Net container form when I open them modally (non modal is OK). The vb6 form just sits in the upper left of the screen.

I came up with this solution based on an article by Eduardo Campano on embedding vb6 forms in .Net applications from July 2007. Great article and a good idea if you have a million lines of code to convert to .net.

I have sample code but don't see how to upload it to the forum.

The code for loading the vb6 into the container is from the container load event in .net:

SetParent(mintFormHandle, Me.Handle.ToInt32)
SendMessage(Me.Handle.ToInt32, WM_NCACTIVATE, 1, 0)
SetForegroundWindow(Me.Handle.ToInt32)
LockWindowUpdate(0)

Such a Larry

modified 24-Oct-13 11:17am.

Eddy Vluggen24-Oct-13 8:34

24-Oct-13 8:34

larry118 wrote:
Great article and a good idea if you have a million lines of code to convert to .net.

Calling VB6 code from VB.NET is not a conversion. It's merely building another layer on something that should have been retired a few years ago.

What does "sit there" mean? Does it still process messages? You can test if it is by dragging another application over it - if a white smear appears, then the paint handler is no longer being called. I suggest you turn your DLL back into an executable; that's the easiest way.

Outside of that, the recommended way to use legacy code would be by using the InterOp Form Toolkit[^].

Bastard Programmer from Hell Suspicious | :suss:

If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]

larry11824-Oct-13 8:46

24-Oct-13 8:46

Yes of course the best thing would be to convert the code but its not going to happen right away when there is so much code and so many customers and users (100's).

By stripping the vb6 forms borders and putting them in a .net wrapper we get a really nice look in Windows 7 & 8 and now we have more time to properly analyze and convert the remaining code and marketing can demo an upgraded look and feel to the application.

As far as sit there. The vb6 form is frozen but you can drag stuff over it without a paint problem.

I wish I could upload the code.

Larry

Such a Larry

Eddy Vluggen25-Oct-13 12:30

25-Oct-13 12:30

larry118 wrote:
I wish I could upload the code.

VB6 has been dead to me for a few years.

larry118 wrote:
and now we have more time to properly analyze and convert the remaining code and marketing can demo an upgraded look and feel to the application

Microsoft extended support ended in 1998. Your excuse was valid until 2007.

Bastard Programmer from Hell Suspicious | :suss:

If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]

Mycroft Holmes27-Oct-13 14:29

Mycroft Holmes

27-Oct-13 14:29

Larry you have my sincere sympathies, imagine working for an organisation so forward thinking that they don't plan for an end of life on their development platform. Then wait 6 YEARS after the end of support to attempt to remedy the situation.

To top it off the development is now being driven by the marketing departments need to show of a new look and feel. You really should submit your situation to WTF it sounds like a classic to me!

Never underestimate the power of human stupidity
RAH

larry11828-Oct-13 5:10

28-Oct-13 5:10

These are really good people. I like them and don't mind being responsible for converting the code. I have made some progress on this issue. The setparent now seems to be working. The vb6 form is now appearing in the .net container. The problem was passing the parent from vb6 and that is now handled.

So setparent works now but it's followed by a send message, setforegroundwindow and lockwindowupdate which appear not to be working. My declarations are as follows:

<system.runtime.interopservices.dllimport("user32.dll")> _
Private Shared Function SetParent(ByVal hWndChild As IntPtr, ByVal hWndNewParent As IntPtr) As Int32
End Function

Public Declare Auto Function SendMessage Lib "user32.dll" ( _
ByVal hWnd As IntPtr, _
ByVal wMsg As Int32, _
ByVal wParam As Int32, _
ByVal s As String _
) As Int32

<system.runtime.interopservices.dllimport("user32.dll")> _
Private Shared Function SetForegroundWindow(ByVal hwnd As IntPtr) As IntPtr
End Function

<system.runtime.interopservices.dllimport("user32.dll")> _
Private Shared Function LockWindowUpdate(ByVal hwndLock As IntPtr) As Boolean
End Function

and the code is:

SetParent(mintFormHandle, Me.Handle.ToInt32)
SendMessage(mintFormHandle, WM_ACTIVATE, 1, IntPtr.Zero)
SetForegroundWindow(mintFormHandle)
LockWindowUpdate(0)
Me.Refresh()

Any suggestions?

Such a Larry

Eddy Vluggen28-Oct-13 8:40

28-Oct-13 8:40

larry118 wrote:
Any suggestions?

Both the SetForgroundWindow and the LockWindowUpdate should be superfluous. The parent would already be the foreground-window and thus active. Painting the window should not have been locked in the first place. If it is, then you'll probably need to send a WM_SETREDRAW to reactivate.

larry118 wrote:
These are really good people.

Them being kind does not make VB6 any less dead. Companies that keep building on outdated blocks tend to become outdated themselves.

Bastard Programmer from Hell Suspicious | :suss:

If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]

larry11828-Oct-13 9:01

28-Oct-13 9:01

Thanks but that did not help the vb6 form is still frozen. As soon as I get this working I can begin the conversion.

Such a Larry

Eddy Vluggen29-Oct-13 8:42

29-Oct-13 8:42

larry118 wrote:
Thanks but that did not help the vb6 form is still frozen.

The difference between an executable and a dll is an executing thread. The easy way is to turn it into an executable, the correct way is to google for the Interop Toolkit.

Bastard Programmer from Hell Suspicious | :suss:

If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]

larry11829-Oct-13 9:09

HOW TO READ DATA FROM BCP BARCODE SCANNER

29-Oct-13 9:09

Sadly there is very little documentation on the interop toolkit the way I am using it. Ironically the answer was in the order of doing things. If I execute the setparent function before I open the vb .net form it works perfectly. Lots of time lost for a stupid problem.

Such a Larry

Member 1035533223-Oct-13 6:30

Member 10355332

23-Oct-13 6:30

I WANT TO KNOW HOW TO READ THE DATA FROM BCP BARCODE SCANNER .ALL THE DATA ARE STORE IN BARCODE
AND WANT TO FILL ALL DATA IN DATAGRID VIEW...
IN VB.NET CODE

Re: HOW TO READ DATA FROM BCP BARCODE SCANNER

Eddy Vluggen23-Oct-13 7:08

23-Oct-13 7:08

First, writing your post in all-caps makes it look like you're shouting. That's kinda unkind.

Member 10355332 wrote:
HOW TO READ THE DATA FROM BCP BARCODE SCANNER

BC scanners come with a driver that usually makes the scanner act like a keyboard - scan an item, and the code comes out as if typed using a keyboard. Means that you can use a textbox; give it focus, wait for the number.

Member 10355332 wrote:
ALL THE DATA ARE STORE IN BARCODE
AND WANT TO FILL ALL DATA IN DATAGRID VIEW...

How to display data using the DataGridView is explained here[^].

Bastard Programmer from Hell Suspicious | :suss:

If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]

Advanced Email in VB.NET

Dhanish Balloo22-Oct-13 19:42

22-Oct-13 19:42

Hi all,

I need to develop a small but rather advanced email app using vb.net
Up to now everything has been going smoothly until my lecturer asked me to include pictures in the email
I successfully managed to include the picture as attachment but he wanted the picture to be included in the email body itself and not as attachment
Now for 1 image I managed to do it by converting the email into html format and sending it
But now the real problem is when the user wishes to include several pictures in the email
How am i to detect the number of pictures and rewrite the equivalent email html??
I am using a richtextbox for the input of text and pictures

What I managed to do up till now is as follows

Imports System.Net.Mail
Imports System.Net.Mime

Public Class Form1
    Dim picturePath As String
    Dim pictureExt As String
    Dim filePath As String = ""

    Private Sub btnSend_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnSend.Click
        Dim smtp As New SmtpClient
        Dim avHtml As AlternateView
        Dim mail As MailMessage = New MailMessage
        Dim htmlBody As String
        Dim pic1 As LinkedResource
        Dim x() As String

        x = txtBody.Text.Split(" ")

        smtp.UseDefaultCredentials = False
        smtp.Credentials = New Net.NetworkCredential("myEmail@yahoo.com", "myPassword")
        smtp.Port = "25"
        smtp.EnableSsl = True
        smtp.Host = "smtp.live.com"

        Try
            htmlBody = "<html> "
            htmlBody = htmlBody & "<body> "

            If Not x(0) = Nothing Then htmlBody = htmlBody & x(0)

            htmlBody = htmlBody & "<br /> "
            htmlBody = htmlBody & "<img src='cid:Pic1'> "
            htmlBody = htmlBody & "<br /> "

            If Not x(1) = Nothing Then htmlBody = htmlBody & x(1)

            htmlBody = htmlBody & "</body> "
            htmlBody = htmlBody & "</html>"

            avHtml = AlternateView.CreateAlternateViewFromString(htmlBody, Nothing, MediaTypeNames.Text.Html)

            Select Case pictureExt
                Case "jpg", "JPG", "jpeg", "JPEG"
                    pic1 = New LinkedResource(picturePath, MediaTypeNames.Image.Jpeg)
                Case "gif", "GIF"
                    pic1 = New LinkedResource(picturePath, MediaTypeNames.Image.Gif)
                Case "tiff", "tif", "TIFF", "TIF"
                    pic1 = New LinkedResource(picturePath, MediaTypeNames.Image.Tiff)
            End Select

            pic1.ContentId = "Pic1"
            avHtml.LinkedResources.Add(pic1)

            mail.From = New MailAddress("myEmail@yahoo.com")
            mail.To.Add(txtTo.Text)
            mail.Subject = txtSubject.Text
            mail.IsBodyHtml = True
            mail.Body = htmlBody
            mail.AlternateViews.Add(avHtml)

            If Not filePath = "" Then mail.Attachments.Add(New System.Net.Mail.Attachment(filePath))

            smtp.Send(mail)

            MsgBox("Email sent!")

            txtBody.Text = ""
            txtSubject.Text = ""
            txtTo.Text = ""
            picturePath = ""
            pictureExt = ""
            filePath = ""
        Catch ex As Exception
            MsgBox(ex.ToString)
        Finally

        End Try
    End Sub

    Private Sub btnAddImage_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnAddImage.Click
        Dim openDlg As OpenFileDialog = New OpenFileDialog
        Dim filter As String = openDlg.Filter
        Dim tmp() As String
        Dim img As Image
        Dim orgData

        openDlg.Filter = "Image File (*.tiff;*.jpg;*.gif)|*.tiff;*.jpg;*.gif"
        openDlg.Title = "Open an image file"

        If (openDlg.ShowDialog() = DialogResult.OK) Then
            picturePath = openDlg.FileName

            tmp = picturePath.Split(".")

            pictureExt = tmp(1)

            img = Image.FromFile(picturePath)

            orgData = Clipboard.GetDataObject

            Clipboard.SetImage(img)

            txtBody.Paste()
        End If
    End Sub

    Private Sub btnAddAttachement_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnAddAttachement.Click
        Dim openDlg As OpenFileDialog = New OpenFileDialog

        If (openDlg.ShowDialog() = DialogResult.OK) Then
            filePath = openDlg.FileName
        End If
    End Sub
End Class

Eddy Vluggen23-Oct-13 7:00

23-Oct-13 7:00

There's a content-id in your html, where you're referring to the image;

htmlBody = htmlBody & "<img src='cid:Pic1'>

How about adding more than one?

Dhanish Balloo wrote:
How am i to detect the number of pictures and rewrite the equivalent email html??

Keep a List<>, and add each picture to the list when the user uses the opendialog. When generating the list, loop trough the list and add the content-id tag foreach picture.

Bastard Programmer from Hell Suspicious | :suss:

If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]

Dhanish Balloo24-Oct-13 0:33

24-Oct-13 0:33

HI,

fanx 4 ur reply
must say i didnt fink abt the list
its a gud idea but 1 prb stil remains
wen i'll b creating the html, how to knw exactly where the user placed the picture?

Chris Quinn24-Oct-13 1:42

Chris Quinn

24-Oct-13 1:42

Please don't use text speak - it makes you sound stupid and is rude in polite conversation.

=========================================================
I'm an optoholic - my glass is always half full of vodka.
=========================================================

Dhanish Balloo24-Oct-13 1:49

24-Oct-13 1:49

Sorry about that

What i said is :

"Thanks for your reply. Must say I didn't think about the list. It's a good idea but one problem still remains. When I'll be creating the html, how to detect exactly where the user placed the picture??

Kenneth Haugland24-Oct-13 2:04

Kenneth Haugland

24-Oct-13 2:04

Or like Ali G is in tha house. Good for comedy but not for anything else. Thumbs Up | :thumbsup:

Eddy Vluggen24-Oct-13 8:25

24-Oct-13 8:25

Dhanish Balloo wrote:
wen i'll b creating the html, how to knw exactly where the user placed the picture?

You don't know that now either, do you? Smile | :)

You could ask it's position by looking where the cursor is at that moment. There's a

<a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.controls.textbox.selectionstart.aspx">SelectionStart</a>[<a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.controls.textbox.selectionstart.aspx" target="_blank" title="New Window">^</a>]

property on the textbox that tells you where the cursor is located. I'd go for the easy way, and insert a "tag" at that location - some kind of word that's literally visible in the text and that hints that picture number X should go there. If you don't want such a visual marker you'd need to muck around with a RichTextBox, like shown here[^].

Bastard Programmer from Hell Suspicious | :suss:

If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]

Dhanish Balloo24-Oct-13 19:02

24-Oct-13 19:02

hmmm.....that seems pretty interesting
I'll give it a try...thanks Smile | :)

Eddy Vluggen25-Oct-13 12:31