topic Re: VB .NET Calling a Form in ArcObjects SDK Questions

VB .NET Calling a Form

Gregde_Bruin — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:01:49 GMT

Hi,

I'm in the process of converting code from VBA to VB. NET, and I'm having trouble calling a form I created from a button.
Here's what I've tried so far:

Protected Overrides Sub OnClick()

Dim FormLogin As New System.Windows.Forms.Form
FormLogin.Show()

End Sub

This brings up the form, but it's a completely blank form, which the form I'm attempting to call is not.
Any help is appreciated.

Thank you,
cdebruin

Re: VB .NET Calling a Form

GeorgeFaraj — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 22:56:34 GMT

Hi,

I'm in the process of converting code from VBA to VB. NET, and I'm having trouble calling a form I created from a button.
Here's what I've tried so far:

Protected Overrides Sub OnClick()

Dim FormLogin As New System.Windows.Forms.Form
FormLogin.Show()

End Sub

This brings up the form, but it's a completely blank form, which the form I'm attempting to call is not.
Any help is appreciated.

Thank you,
cdebruin

rem What form were you trying to create?
rem Dim FormLogin As New System.Windows.Forms.Form
Dim FormLogin As New TheActualFormIAmTryingToCreateAndNotJustANonSpecificFormObject
rem And how do I want the form to be displayed and handled 
rem FormLogin.Show() ' A floating non-modal form that can be ignored
FormLogin.ShowDialog() ' A modal form that requires the user to use it

Re: VB .NET Calling a Form

EdgarBejarano — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:49:47 GMT

Hi,

In your VB.NET project you have defined a form class, e.g. myFormClass, that inherits or is derived from the System.Windows.Forms.Form class. It is that form class that you have designed with various Windows Forms controls. That is the class that you should be using when you declare your object variable FormLogin and that you set equal to a new instance of your myFormClass. Instead you are creating an instance of the generic System.Windows.Forms.Form class.

It should looks something like this in the .vb class file corresponding to your ArcMap or ArcCatalog custom button:

Protected Overrides Sub OnClick()

Dim FormLogin As New myFormClass
FormLogin.Show()

End Sub

There should be a myFormClass.vb class file (the form class) in your VB.NET project when you do the above code, and that form class in turn should be inheriting from the System.Windows.Forms.Form class.

Re: VB .NET Calling a Form

Gregde_Bruin — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:04:57 GMT

Thank you!

I see what you mean by creating instances of the generic windows form class as opposed to my own form.
I fixed the code.

Thanks again.

Re: VB .NET Calling a Form

JimIsbell — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 23:00:22 GMT

Now is there a way to set the Form.Owner property to be the ArcMap application? This would bring the form forward if the application window is made active.
I found some documentation that shows how to do this with ArcGIS Explorer, which exposes a Application.Window reference that the Form.Owner property will accept.
Unfortunately, the ArcMap Application class only exposes a hWnd integer. I have no clue what to do with that.

Can anyone help?

Re: VB .NET Calling a Form

RichardWatson — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 14:56:50 GMT

Nice Explanation C# & VB Wrapper Code

JohnNelson3 — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 15:10:01 GMT

http://ryanfarley.com/blog/archive/2004/03/23/465.aspx
http://help.arcgis.com/en/sdk/10.0/arcobjects_net/componenthelp/index.html#//00480000013m000000

Re: VB .NET Calling a Form

JimIsbell — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 20:17:39 GMT

@rlwatson and @jtkknelson,
Thanks for the code and the links. I have it working now, thanks to helpful folks like you, here in these forums. Much appreciated!
-Jim

Re: VB .NET Calling a Form

KevinAndras — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 18:11:06 GMT

isbellj,
Would you mind posting your code showing how you accomplished this? I can't figure it out.
Thanks!!!

Re: VB .NET Calling a Form

KenBuja — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 22:56:37 GMT

Here's an example for my VB.NET addin. In my project, I have created the class Win32HWNDWrapper and I have a form FieldInfoForm.

'this is the code in my main program to open the form
Dim FieldForm As New FieldInfoForm
FieldForm.ShowDialog(New Win32HWNDWrapper(My.ArcMap.Application.hWnd))

'this is the code for the Win32HWNDWrapper class
Public Class Win32HWNDWrapper

    Implements System.Windows.Forms.IWin32Window
    Private _hwnd As System.IntPtr

    Public ReadOnly Property Handle As System.IntPtr Implements System.Windows.Forms.IWin32Window.Handle
        Get
            Return _hwnd
        End Get
    End Property

    Public Sub New(ByVal Handle As System.IntPtr)
        _hwnd = Handle
    End Sub

End Class

Re: VB .NET Calling a Form

JimIsbell — Fri, 10 Dec 2021 22:56:39 GMT

Thanks for that reply, @KenBuja. That's pretty much the same code I have, and it works beautifully.

Incidentally, I discovered that this technique can also be used with a System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox object. As you know (or will eventually find out), the default location for the MessageBox is at the CENTER OF YOUR DISPLAY SCREEN. This behavior is not what I prefer, so I use the Win32 Window Wrapper technique, as follows:


Imports System.Windows.Forms


' Example 1: This will open a MessageBox at the center of YOUR FORM:
MessageBox.Show(New Win32HWNDWrapper(MyFormInstanceName.Handle), "This is the message", "This is the caption")


' Example 2: This will open a MessageBox at the center of the ARCMAP APPLICATION WINDOW:
MessageBox.Show(New Win32HWNDWrapper(My.ArcMap.Application.Hwnd), "This is the message", "This is the caption")

I hope someone finds this as useful as I have.

Re: VB .NET Calling a Form

JimIsbell — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 23:45:38 GMT

Here's a follow-up to the Form Owner issue.

I saw this demonstrated at the 2012 User Conference in San Diego using only ONE LINE OF CODE! As it turns out, .NET has a built-in static method that can do the same thing as the wrapper class mentioned earlier. It works as follows:

MyFormInstanceName.Show(System.Windows.Forms.Control.FromHandle(My.ArcMap.Application.hWnd))

No wrapper class is needed after all!