passing my data inputs from frmMain to a secondary form

pretty new to this, and i understand a fair bit, but when the prof starts talking about arrays i get lost, i have user inputs on the frmMain like name, address, city, then items like hatsqty, t-shirts qty, etc. and i need to transfer all of that to a form called sales, and eventually to a txt file using I/O (and that i kind of get. what the prof wants us to use on the second form is a list box, i was able to have some sucsess with a test app i made using a list view item, i just need some help to get started, one i get going i can usually figure it out, but right now gettin started is killing me!!! thanks in advance

How do arrays figure into this? Are you required to use them?

I was going to point you to a whole thread on the subject of the ways you can pass data between forms, but the search on the forums isn't working, yet, after the big change on Monday. Therefore, no link for you.

It's hard to say what to recommend, as I don't know what will make sense to you at this point, and what would be something new. Have you covered properties? The typical way to pass things between forms would be to put properties on one form or the other, and pass the data via properties. If you haven't covered that, then how about adding a module to the project and putting the variables in there declared Public? That would make them global variables visible to all forms. It's not a great way to handle things, but it will work pretty well for this situation.

thanks for the response, actually i am not sure they do at this point, but its what he's been discussing for the last few days so i think they will figure into this somewhere. and a bunch of us get together after class in the lab and they are all trying to do it with arrays. i am familiar with the 2nd option of creating a module and putting public (global?) variables, that was what i did with the test form that i had some sucsess with (except if i entered more than 7 chars it would return ...
for example 1234567 came back as 1234567 but 12345678 came back as ...1234) and that was with a list view item, but he wants me to use a list box. but at this point i just need to get it to work, and like i said i am familiar with the module aspect and comfortable with doing just that. what i can say is i never got more than one txtbox to work, the only txtbox on frmMain was txtUserName, but when i tried txtAddress, the input would not pass. all help is greatly appreceated!!!

Nothing much can be said without seeing code. If you have a variable for UserName, and a different variable for Address, they should both work. Since they are not, either you are trying to do this with a single variable, or you are doing something odd.

All the txt boxes have different names

txtUserName
txtAddress
txrCity

Etc. I will upload my code ASAP

Option Explicit On
Option Strict On


Public Class frmSallysSouvenirs


'Order Form Project: written by Rick Ferguson 7/9/12
'modified 7/18 added cbo state, cbo hat/tee sizes and colors, splash, 2nd frm (sales)
'modified 7/23 fixed calculate
'modified 8/1 installed MenuStrip


'Collects number of hats and tees, adds the total items and then multiplies by price and outputs to grand total

'Declare constants
Const decHats As Double = 15.99D '$15.99
Const decTees As Double = 9.99D '9.99
Const SALESTAX As Double = 0.087D '8.7%




Private Sub chkBoxHats_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles chkBoxHats.CheckedChanged
If chkBoxHats.Checked = False Then
txtHats.Enabled = False
cboHatSize.Enabled = False
cboHatColor.Enabled = False
ElseIf chkBoxHats.Checked = True Then
txtHats.Enabled = True
cboHatSize.Enabled = True
cboHatColor.Enabled = True
MessageBox.Show("Please enter the size, color & quantity of hats")
txtHats.Focus()
End If

End Sub

Private Sub chkBoxTees_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles chkBoxTees.CheckedChanged

If chkBoxTees.Checked = False Then
txtTees.Enabled = False
cboTSize.Enabled = False
cboTColor.Enabled = False
ElseIf chkBoxTees.Checked = True Then
txtTees.Enabled = True
cboTSize.Enabled = True
cboTColor.Enabled = True
MessageBox.Show("Please enter the size, color & quantity of tees")
txtTees.Focus()
End If

End Sub


Private Sub txtUserName_Leave(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles txtUserName.Leave
'Checking for text input only:
Dim blnLtrCheck As Boolean

If txtUserName.Text <> "" Then 'Bad input
blnLtrCheck = Alphabetic(txtUserName.Text)
If blnLtrCheck = False Then
MessageBox.Show("You must enter your name here.", "Input Error!", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error)
txtUserName.Focus()
End If
Else
MessageBox.Show("You must enter your name here.") 'error msg if you try to tab out without entering data
txtUserName.Focus()
txtUserName.SelectAll()
End If

txtUserName.Text = StrConv(txtUserName.Text, VbStrConv.ProperCase) 'caps first letter of fname/lname
End Sub

Private Sub txtAddress_Leave(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles txtAddress.Leave
'Checking for text input only:
If txtAddress.Text = "" Then 'Bad input
MessageBox.Show("You must enter your address here.", "Input Error!", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error)
txtAddress.Focus()
txtAddress.SelectAll()
End If
txtAddress.Text = StrConv(txtAddress.Text, VbStrConv.ProperCase) 'caps address as needed
End Sub

Private Sub txtCity_Leave(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles txtCity.Leave
'Checking for text input only:
Dim blnLtrCheck As Boolean

If txtCity.Text <> "" Then 'Bad input
blnLtrCheck = Alphabetic(txtCity.Text)
If blnLtrCheck = False Then
MessageBox.Show("You must enter a City here.", "Input Error!", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Error)
txtCity.Focus()
End If
Else
MessageBox.Show("You must enter a City here.")
txtCity.Focus()
txtCity.SelectAll()
End If
txtCity.Text = StrConv(txtCity.Text, VbStrConv.ProperCase) 'caps city as needed
End Sub


Private Sub txtZip_Leave(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles txtZip.Leave
'Checking for text input only:
If txtZip.Text.Length < 5 Then
MessageBox.Show("Please enter a 5 digit zip code")
txtZip.Focus()
txtZip.SelectAll()
End If

End Sub
Private Sub frmSallysSouvenirs_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
lblDate.Text = Today.ToString("d")
txtHats.Enabled = False 'sets txt hats input box to disabled until chkbox is checked
txtTees.Enabled = False 'sets txt tees input box to disabled until chkbox is checked
cboHatSize.Enabled = False
cboHatColor.Enabled = False
cboTSize.Enabled = False
cboTColor.Enabled = False
With cboState.Items 'Populate cboState Items collection
.Add("AL")
.Add("AK")
.Add("AZ")
.Add("AR")
.Add("CA")
.Add("CO")
.Add("CT")
.Add("DE")
.Add("DC")
.Add("FL")
.Add("GA")
.Add("HI")
.Add("ID")
.Add("IL")
.Add("IN")
.Add("IA")
.Add("KS")
.Add("KY")
.Add("LA")
.Add("ME")
.Add("MD")
.Add("MA")
.Add("MI")
.Add("MN")
.Add("MO")
.Add("MT")
.Add("NC")
.Add("ND")
.Add("NE")
.Add("NH")
.Add("NJ")
.Add("NM")
.Add("NV")
.Add("NY")
.Add("OH")
.Add("OK")
.Add("OR")
.Add("PA")
.Add("RI")
.Add("SC")
.Add("SD")
.Add("TN")
.Add("TX")
.Add("UT")
.Add("WA")
.Add("WI")
.Add("WV")
.Add("WY")
End With
cboState.SelectedIndex = 44 'Select 1st item for display
With cboHatSize.Items 'Populate cboHatList Items collection
.Add("Sizes")
.Add("Sm 6-7")
.Add("Med 7-8")
.Add("Lrg 8-9")
End With
cboHatSize.SelectedIndex = 0 'Select 1st item for display

With cboTSize.Items 'Populate cboTSize Items collection
.Add("Sizes")
.Add("Sm 36-38")
.Add("Med 38-40")
.Add("Lrg 40-42")
.Add("XLrg 42-44")
.Add("XXLrg 44-46")
End With
cboTSize.SelectedIndex = 0 'Select 1st item for display

With cboHatColor.Items 'Populate cboHatColor Items collection
.Add("Colors")
.Add("Red")
.Add("Green")
.Add("Black")
.Add("Blue")
End With
cboHatColor.SelectedIndex = 0 'Select 1st item for display

With cboTColor.Items 'Populate cboDropDown Items collection
.Add("Colors")
.Add("Red")
.Add("Green")
.Add("Black")
.Add("Blue")
End With
cboTColor.SelectedIndex = 0 'Select 1st item for display
End Sub

Private Function Alphabetic(ByVal strInput As String) As Boolean
'This function checks each character of the string parameter for one that is not alphabetic.
'If it finds one, it returns "False". If not, it returns a "True".
Dim i As Integer
Dim strChar As String

strInput = strInput.ToUpper

For i = 0 To strInput.Length - 1

strChar = strInput(i) 'Getting the first character of the string

'If it's a blank, skip it
If strChar = " " Then Continue For

If Not (strChar >= "A" And strChar <= "Z") Then 'Is it alphabetic?
Return False 'No, so return "False"
End If

Next i

Return True 'Every character passed, so return "True"
End Function




Private Sub MenuStrip1_ItemClicked(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItemClickedEventArgs) Handles MenuStrip1.ItemClicked

End Sub

Private Sub cboHatSize_SelectedIndexChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles cboHatSize.SelectedIndexChanged

End Sub

Private Sub mnuAbout_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles mnuAbout.Click
Dim AboutForm As New frmAbout 'Opens sales frm, that contains list box for data
frmAbout.ShowDialog()
End Sub

Private Sub ClearAllToolStripMenuItem_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles ClearAllToolStripMenuItem.Click
txtUserName.Text = "" 'clears all boxes and output labels for next order, and clears chk boxes
txtAddress.Text = ""
cboState.Text = ""
txtCity.Text = ""
txtZip.Text = ""
txtHats.Text = ""
txtTees.Text = ""
txtItemsOrdered.Text = ""
txtSubtotal.Text = ""
txtTotalSale.Text = ""
txtGrandTotal.Text = ""
chkBoxHats.Checked = False
chkBoxTees.Checked = False
End Sub

Private Sub ClearOrderToolStripMenuItem_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles ClearOrderToolStripMenuItem.Click
txtHats.Text = "" 'clears customer input text boxes for the next order and clears chkboxes
txtTees.Text = ""
txtItemsOrdered.Text = ""
txtTotalSale.Text = ""
txtGrandTotal.Text = ""
chkBoxHats.Checked = False
chkBoxTees.Checked = False
End Sub


Private Sub HistoryToolStripMenuItem_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles HistoryToolStripMenuItem.Click
Dim SalesForm As New frmSales 'Opens sales frm, that contains list box for data
frmSales.ShowDialog()
End Sub

Private Sub CalculateToolStripMenuItem1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles CalculateToolStripMenuItem1.Click
'Input quantities are good, so calculate the order:

Dim intHats As Integer
Dim intTees As Integer
Dim dblTotalSale As Double
Dim dblSalesTax As Double
Dim dblGrandTotal As Double
Dim blnHatsOK As Boolean = False
Dim blnTeesOK As Boolean = False

'Declare module-level boolean variables:
Dim blnUserNameOK As Boolean = False
Dim blnAddressOK As Boolean = False
Dim blnCityOK As Boolean = False
Dim blnZipCodeOK As Boolean = False

' If chkBoxHats.Checked = False And chkBoxTees.Checked = False Then
'MessageBox.Show("Please order something!")
'End If

Try 'Check the input for hats
If chkBoxHats.Checked Then
intHats = CInt(txtHats.Text) 'OK, so convert to a number
Else
intHats = 0
End If

Catch ex As Exception 'Invalid, so show error msg
MessageBox.Show("Please enter the quantity of hats.", "Input Error")
txtHats.Focus()
Exit Sub
End Try

Try 'Check the input for shirts
If chkBoxTees.Checked Then
intTees = CInt(txtTees.Text) 'OK, so convert to a number
Else
intTees = 0
End If
Catch ex As Exception 'Invalid, so show error msg
MessageBox.Show("Please enter the quantity of T-shirts.", "Input Error")
txtTees.Focus()
Exit Sub
End Try

If intHats = 0 And intTees = 0 Then
MessageBox.Show("No Customer Information or Order was placed", "Input Error")
Exit Sub 'Nothing to calculate:
Else
txtItemsOrdered.Text = (intHats + intTees).ToString
End If


dblTotalSale = CDec(intHats) * decHats + CDec(intTees) * decTees
dblSalesTax = dblTotalSale * SALESTAX
dblGrandTotal = dblTotalSale + dblSalesTax

'Display the output:
txtGrandTotal.Text = dblTotalSale.ToString("C") 'These are formatted as currency
txtTotalSale.Text = dblSalesTax.ToString("C")
txtGrandTotal.Text = dblGrandTotal.ToString("C")
txtSubtotal.Text = dblTotalSale.ToString("C")
End Sub

Private Sub ExitToolStripMenuItem_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles ExitToolStripMenuItem.Click
Me.Close() 'closes frmSally
End Sub

Private Sub CustomerDetailsToolStripMenuItem_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles CustomerDetailsToolStripMenuItem.Click
Dim CustDetailsForm As New frmCustDetails 'Opens sales frm, that contains list box for data
frmCustDetails.ShowDialog()
End Sub

Private Sub SaveToolStripMenuItem_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles SaveToolStripMenuItem.Click

End Sub

Private Sub SaveAsToolStripMenuItem_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles SaveAsToolStripMenuItem.Click

End Sub

Private Sub HelpToolStripMenuItem_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs)

End Sub

Private Sub ToolStripMenuItem1_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs)

End Sub
End Class

ok, i got this working in a test project, but i can only get it to pass one box "name" to label 1
but i still have address and city, etc and cant figure out why only 1 box will pass data

Public Class Form1

Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
lblUserName.Focus()
End Sub

Private Sub btnSend_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnSend.Click

Dim frm As Form2 = New Form2(lblUserName.Text)
frm.Show()

End Sub


End Class


Public Class Form2
Dim TextBox1 As Object

Private Sub Form2_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load

End Sub
Public Sub New(ByVal strTextBox As String)

InitializeComponent()

Label1.Text = strTextBox


End Sub

End Class

its progress but SLOOOOW ;-)

There are some good things in what you are doing, though. For one thing, it is really good to see somebody learning with Option Strict ON. That seems to be ignored by lots of classes, yet it is a very useful way to work. Another good point is that you are creating a new instance of Form2 rather than relying on the utterly evil default instance.


Now that I see how you are doing this, I think there is a better way than what I was suggesting earlier, especially since you aren't using default instances. Since you are creating the variable frm, you now have access to all of the controls on that frm from within Form1. Therefore, rather than passing all the items across in the constructor, you could do something like this:

frm.Label1.Text = strTextBox.Text

You could do that for all of the items you wanted to pass, because frm gives you access to all the public and Friend members of the form instance. Since all controls are Friend, you have access to them all. This is a better way to pass things over rather than using global variables. If there are items that don't go into any particular control on the second form, that is where properties come in. After all, .Text is just a property of the label and textbox control. Similarly, you can add properties to a form and access them just as you are accessing the properties of the controls.

Thanks for the compliments, we have a pretty good professor, I just wish I hadn’t done the course in summer (7 weeks vs 12 weeks). 2 things though, when I tried the strTextBox.Text I received an error
‘Text’ is not a member of string, and I don’t know exactly what that means (I’m going to look it up after this) the second is how do I collect data from multiple input boxes from the first form?
Label 1 grabs the name, but I still need address, city, state, etc. label1(lblUserName) gets the text from the first form but label 2(lblAddress) (thats all i have done so far) still does not grab the text from the first form/2 txtbox and eventually I need it to go to a listbox but one step at a time, and I still want to know how to do this anyway. Thanks for all your help!

Thanks for the compliments, we have a pretty good professor, I just wish I hadn’t done the course in summer (7 weeks vs 12 weeks). 2 things though, when I tried the strTextBox.Text I received an error
‘Text’ is not a member of string, and I don’t know exactly what that means (I’m going to look it up after this) the second is how do I collect data from multiple input boxes from the first form?
Label 1 grabs the name, but I still need address, city, state, etc. label1(lblUserName) gets the text from the first form but label 2(lblAddress) (thats all i have done so far) still does not grab the text from the first form/2 txtbox and eventually I need it to go to a listbox but one step at a time, and I still want to know how to do this anyway. Thanks for all your help!

Nothing better than the double posting that has shown up with the new forum layout. Hopefully, that will go away fairly soon.

I assumed that strTextBox was a textbox because that was in the name. Based on the error you are getting, strTextBox must be a string, not a Textbox. A string doesn't have a .Text property, which is what causes the error. Of course, that just makes it easier, as the code becomes:

frm.Label1.Text = strTextBox

As for the second half of your post, I can't quite understand what you are doing there. In the code you posted, Label1 gets text from an argument to the constructor. You could add a separate argument for each of the other items that form2 needs, but that seems kind of excessive. I was suggesting that you get rid of the arguments to the contructor, and do something like this (on Form1):

Code:

---

Private Sub btnSend_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnSend.Click

Dim frm As Form2 = New Form2()

frm.Label1.Text = labelUserName.Text
frm.Label2.Text = 'whatever goes in label 2'
'etc.
frm.Show()

End Sub

---

I don’t know why my teacher calls them labels when they are textboxes but he does and it confounds and confuses me, yes on frm1 there are 2 text boxes
lblUserName but what I would code is txtUserName
and
lblAddress txtAddress
on
frm2 I do have 2 labels
Label1
Label2
I am able to pass the text from lblUserName to Label1 no problem, shows up every time
I can’t get lblAddress to pass to Label2 at all!, when I tried the code you sent it kept throwing exceptions. Sometimes this stuff is really easy and logical, and sometimes it’s just so frustrating. I know once I can get 2 txt boxes to pass to 2 labels, I can do it as many times as I need to, but why cant I get the second text box to pass to the 2nd label? Thanks again!

What is the code that you are using for passing that second textbox? In what you posted, you were passing one string as an argument to the constructor, which is fine, but what are you doing for the second one?

thats what i cant figure out how to do, how do i pass the second txtbox(on frm1) to the 2nd label on the 2nd form

Ok, what were the exceptions you were getting with the code I showed?

If you were only passing one or two things, then using arguments to the constructor, as you did for the first item, would be reasonable. However, it sounds like you are potentially passing LOTS of things. You could still do that as arguments to the constructor, but it would get kind of crazy.