[RESOLVED] vb.Net guidence from a highly professioned vb.Nut such as myself.

[DavesChillaxin]

Attached is an update of what I've completed these past couple days.

That's the point.

If it was spelled correctly with a meaningful name, there would be little confusion as to what the purpose may have been.

I understand but there's a lot going on for myself to handle with little planning. While at the same time still getting a firm grip on .Net. Things change dramatically as I learn something new so again that could have been left over from what I had began with. The reason for having something like that I'm thinking was an attempt to fix my known issue with the boarder.. which still to this day hasn't been fixed. I'm actually procrastinating quite a bit with this because it involves numerous changes in every one of my equations for drawing the entire UI. I'm honestly leaning towards removing the boarder all together. But personally I think it looks funky without it. So ultimately I left it As-Is.

[Evil_Giraffe]

I understand but...

No, I'm not sure you do

The point people are trying to make is that if the name of the class clearly captures and communicates its intent ("capturing" meaning you pick a name that really reflects what this class' role in the system is, "Communicating" covers writing down that name correctly (spelling) so that when someone else (including you in the future) reads it, they can get the correct message), then it doesn't matter so much that things change.

Can I assume that by "boarder" you mean "border"? Thus, a class whose responsibility is to "revert" a "border", I would call it BorderReverter (note this is a noun, not a verb (such as RevertBorder)). (This is saying nothing about the wisdom of such a class. It seems an odd sort of setup, but I've not looked at your whole project, so have no context by which to judge that).

[Evil_Giraffe]

I'm actually procrastinating quite a bit with this because it involves numerous changes in every one of my equations for drawing the entire UI.

That right there is a Code Smell called Shotgun Surgery. It's a sign that you don't have coherent classes (it's kinda the flip side to Single Responsibility Principle - SRP says that a class should have only one reason to change (a single responsibility), the flip side is DRY (Don't Repeat Yourself): a concept (such as a UI layout equation) should be expressed Once and Once Only*. If you need to make a change, you should be able to do so without requiring changing many places).


* Well, twice actually. Once in the code and once (in a different form) in an automated test - if you're doing automated tests. The Once and Once Only phrase is taken to refer to the production code itself generally.

[gep13]

Hello,

Having had a quick read through this thread, I think it belongs in the Code It Better Forum, rather than in VB.Net, and I am moving it there.

If anyone disagrees, feel free to let me know.

Gary

[DavesChillaxin]

I think it belongs in the Code It Better Forum, rather than in VB.Net, and I am moving it there.
Gary

Sounds good to me. Wasn't even aware there was such a place.


As for this border nonsense...

I'm actually procrastinating quite a bit with this because it involves numerous changes in every one of my equations for drawing the entire UI.

What I had meant by this was while constructing my code to drawing the UI I wasn't taking in account that originally I wanted a property to change the borders thickness. In doing so controls are being drawn over top the boarder - Looks terrible. So to fix this I will need to from within my structures class, take in account for this extra thickness of pixels added to the border. In other words all my structures need to "shrink". Once my base equations accommodates the border thickness then everything else will be handle as everything resorts back to these structure properties. It's just the original structure equations have no involvement with the border or it's thickness. Which is how I wrote them in the beginning before I even considered adding in this feature.. At this point, I feel it's really not even worth it. A border thickness of 1px(by default) looks fine, so I'm just considering dropping it all together and leaving it as-is. HOWEVER if you've ran my application you will still see that my controls are being drawing over top the border, which still looks bad but not as bad as if the border thickness were 3px. So eventually I will need to fix this regardless.

..and as for this ReverBoarder. First I have no clue why I started writing boarder rather border. Secondly I still have no clue as to what this variable was used for. I feel it's going to haunt me for the rest of this project, so I may download my first upload, find, and ponder. Maybe I can figure it out. But if it has anything to do with my border than like I said before I may just drop it.

[Sitten Spynne]

Don't lose sleep. I figured out what it was used for quickly but don't like having to ask, "Why does this variable exist?" when reading code.

I don't remember the exact situation, but I can build an analogy. Component A had a border thickness, and you wanted component B to have a thickness slightly smaller than that one. This is how ReverBoarder was used:

Dim ReverBoarder As Integer = A.BorderThickness
A.BorderThickness = A.BorderThickness - 3
B.BorderThickness = A.BorderThickness
A.BorderThickness = ReverBoarder

The name was probably meant to evoke "RevertBorder", but even in that role it's silly. There was no need for a temporary variable:

B.BorderThickness = A.BorderThickness - 3

I'm still deciding if I want to work on this and how I want to approach it; time is short and it's a pretty big undertaking. It's not that I don't want to work on it, it's that it's hard to find the time. I get about 2 hours of good free time daily and that makes it pretty precious to me. A problem with getting motivated is I don't really understand the end goal of this control; what's that blank space in the middle contain? I can't click on many things; is that intended? I don't like fiddling with code if I don't understand how it's supposed to work in the end.

[DavesChillaxin]

I don't really understand the end goal of this control

That's because I've asked for help in this applications infancy. The main logic behind it is still in the works. My ultimate goal for this application is for use in my main application.. This here is just a control I'll be utilizing as a Appointment Book like control. The ScheduleGridBody will contain all the appointment blocks displayed in a grid with employees in the top columns and the time listed to the left just like a data grid would appear. However for this to function I must first create the source file that my control would read the the logic to handle the source being read. Before doing all that I feel I need a solid base in which to insert all this logic - which is where I'm at right now.


If it would be best for you then stop what your doing now.. I'll finish my last user interface, the actual schedule grid, then return for some advice. That way I'll have all interfaces interacting with one another. As well as the user interactions and how this control will ultimately function. I know at this current time from another persons perspective things seem confusing, but that was my intent for asking help. All I wanted was help with how I'm going about with this "class structure". I feel we got a little off topic but that was fine because I still learned a few things that could use correcting. But with this solid "back bone" if you will, I can then add all the logic.

Thanks you Sitten Spynne for all your helpful advice so far and I appreciate everything, but I'm really not up for taking any more of your limited free time either. I'll let you know when I've reached a further point in this control and see if there are any more problems I may encounter as I go. On that note I fixed my border problem simply by adding a UIContainer, then all the User Interfaces will be contained within this. That way all I'm required to do is adapt the one UIContainer to accommodate the extra pixel size. All others will follow upon resizing.

[DavesChillaxin]

Here's an update snap shot of what I've been able to accomplish since my last post.. for those who may still be fallowing.

[DavesChillaxin]

Boom baby. I'm quite proud of how far I've gotten here. Little stuck at the moment however. Just figuring out and discovering new and efficient methods of accomplishing certain tasks. Such as appointment selection. The way I'm drawing everything has proven most difficult in this matter.. I can select grid blocks, but not the entire appointment just yet.

I found keeping a To Do list is very helpful. I get my best ideas while building my ideas. When one pops up in my head, I add it to the list and assign it a priority.

[gep13]

Looks good

[koolsid]

DavesChillaxin: I have removed your two attachments as it contained Exes. If you want us to test something for you (which we will gladly do ), please zip and attach the source code only.

In case you no longer have the attachments with you, you can send me a PM. I have downloaded both the attachments and parked it safely with me and will send it to you.

Thank you for your co-operation