ADGE devel on .NETfx

Last update: 2010/11/01 23:02 +0900

Overview

An experimental project … Rewrite ADGE, and make it run on Vista!

ADGE is written by rain` (member of DM.com).

I just enjoy rewrite of ADGE in my hobby.

Goals?

• Bring it on free development environment.
  • VB6 is very old. (VB6 is ADGE's development environment.)
    • VB6 is probably no more sold (because of 1998's old product).
    • It means maintenance is becoming difficult except on primary developer.
  • VB.net 2008 express is available, also available in very low cost.
    • It can be obtained from MSFT site: Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition, also Microsoft Visual Basic Power Packs 3.0
    • DotNetfx is considered to survive while at least Windows survives.
      It and its development environment won't be obsoleted for years.
• Remove dependent technology which is no more supported on recent Windows.
  • ADGE uses FM20. But it may not work on Windows Vista.
    • It's short for "Microsoft Forms 2.0 controls". It is an attachment of Microsoft Office product.
    • It supplies intelligent controls compared to VB6's traditional controls.
    • Some developers know it is useful for their applications. It is happy thing!
    • MSFT just says that FM20 is not suitable with VBA (Visual Basic for Applications). PRB: "Error 7 - Out of Memory" Error Message From Visual Basic Application Using FM20.DLL It is terrible news!

Issues:

• Resolve compiler errors which come from language's difference (between VB6 and VB.net language).
  • VB.net 2008 Express edition equips VB6-to-VB.net converter. I used it for basic conversion.
    The conversion has done without critical problems. However many compiler errors appear after conversion.
    It says you have to rewrite the source code and eliminate errors. It was very curious work!
• Remove dependencies for FM20.dll.
  • ADGE depends on some user interface controls imported from FM20. It must be replaced with generic .net form controls.
    • AxCommandButton
    • AxImage
    • AxListBox … Replace all of them with ListView control. It is now powerful control!

2008.06.29

A screen shot is available. I published it at DM.com chat today midnight. It took a full day to fix all compiler errors.

Example of rewriting a AxListBox

Replace the AxListBox control. Here is memo:

• Remember AxListBox's Name, ColumnCount, Location and Size properties.
• Remove an AxListBox, then place ListView. And tweak it:
  • Paste Name, Location and Size properties.
  • Raise Columns dialog:
    Click [Add] button to add new column until column count reaches number of ColumnCount property.
  • FullRowSelect → True
  • GridLines → True
  • HeaderStyle → None
  • HideSelection → False
  • MultiSelect → False
  • View→ Details

Rewrite the code.

Before	After
--- In these days, developer tended to hate to prepare many objects (e.g. allocate an item object per list item) because code cost and memory cost extremely increases per object. So all the manipulation is done through parent control like ListBox.	--- .net controls ListView control adapt well object oriented idea. item's attributes (focus status, multi-column texts, etc) can be manipulated through each list item object ListViewItem.
DoorList.set_ListIndex(selecteddoor - 1) --- VB's ListBox has ListIndex property to identify current focused item.	DoorList.Items(selecteddoor - 1).Focused = True --- .NET ListView control has no ListIndex property. Each list item (ListViewItem) has Focused property. Set it True to focus the item, then other list item loses focus automatically.
selectdoor(DoorList.get_ListIndex() + 1)	selectdoor(DoorList.FocusedItem.Index + 1) --- Use FocusedItem property to locate the actively focused item.

2008.07.03

Tips: how to remove AxCommandButton

For example, correct the button in RuneEditor form.

1. Open RuneEditor.Designer.vb. Drag the file and drop into VB.net express system.
   
2. Find keyword "axcom".
   
3. You'll find Ok and Cancel control variables uses AxCommandButton class.
   
4. Replace AxMicrosoft.Vbe.Interop.Forms.AxCommandButton with System.Windows.Forms.Button. 4 items'll be replaced.
   
5. You'll get errors like 'OcxState' is not a member of 'System.Windows.Forms.Button'. Just remove 2 lines which mention OcxState errors. It is not needed for VB.net.
   
6. Add 2 lines:
   Me.Ok.Text = "Ok"
   Me.Cancel.Text = "Cancel"
   
7. Remove ISupportInitialize lines utilized for Ok and Cancel controls:
   
   
    
8. Resolve errors Event 'ClickEvent' cannot be found. Just replace ClickEvent with Click.
   →
9. It's done!