I need help with creating a payroll in visual basic

[Tee Baby]

create an application that displays payroll information. The application should allow the user to enter the following data for four employees:
number of hours worked
hourly pay rate
percentage to be withheld for state income tax
percentage to be withheld for federal income tax
percentage to be withheld fo FICA

The application should calculate and display the following data for each employee in a list box:
gross pay (the number of hours worked multiplied by hourly pay rate)
state income tax withholdings (gross pay multiplied by state income tax percentage)
federal income tax withholdings (gross pay multiplied by federal income tax percentage)
FICA withholdings (gross pay multiplied by FICA percentage)
net pay (the gross pay minus state income tax, federal income tax, and FICA)

When the calculations are performed, be sure to check for the following error:
if an employee's state income tax plus federal tax plus FICA is greater than the employee's gross pay, display an error message stating that the withholdings are too great.
Be sure to add appropriate ToolTips for each control on the form.

[MonkOFox]

So you have your requirements done, what code have you written so far?

[Tee Baby]

This is all I have done so far

[jayinthe813]

A picture of the UI != code

[Tee Baby]

[Shaggy Hiker]

But it is enough to know that it won't quite be sufficient.

That form would allow you to enter information for one employee, or to show information for one employee, but how will you use that to deal with four employees? How were you figuring you would move from one employee to the next? One of the things you'd have to do for that navigation is to be able to store the information for each employee. Technically, that's not so difficult, but since this is an assignment, you are probably limited to the things you have already learned. So, have you learned classes yet? If not, how about arrays or better yet, Lists?

[Shaggy Hiker]

Posting pictures isn't a good way to go here. Post the code directly, properly wrapped in [Code] [/CODE] tags.

[Tee Baby]

'input variable declaration.
Dim hoursWorked As Decimal
Dim payrate As Decimal
Dim stateincometax As Decimal
Dim federalincometax As Decimal
Dim FICA As Decimal


'Getting input.
strname = InputBox("Enter Name:", "Enter Input")
'Calculate grosspay, stateIncome, federalIncome, fica and netpay.
dblgrosspay = inthour * inthourRate
dblstateIncome = dblgrosspay * dblstate
dblfederalIncome = dblgrosspay * dblfederal
dblfica = dblgrosspay * fciaIn

[Shaggy Hiker]

Ok, that's something...but what? For one thing, you should wrap code in the tags that I mentioned.

Some people, and therefore some classes, still like warting variables, which is what you are doing with the prepended int and dbl. There isn't much point in that anymore, though I still do a small amount of it to make things group together in intellisense, and to tell me the scope of some variables. However, in this case it leads to a few questions:

1) If intHourRate really is an Integer, that's a problem. Few people are paid an integer amount as an hourly rate. More typically, they are paid a Decimal amount. If you are taking a Decimal value and stuffing it into an integer, you will lose the decimal portion of the number.

2)You have a few locally declared variables, such as Dim FICA As Decimal, but then you use fciaIn. Where did fciaIn come from? What is the point of declaring the FICA variable if you never put anything into it and never use it anywhere? The same could be said of dblState vs. stateincometax, and the rest.

3) When working with money, Decimal is the right type, but the warting suggests that you are turning much of this into type Double. It should all be Decimal and remain Decimal, otherwise you will get odd rounding issues in some cases.

4) Where are you storing the information for each person?

[Tee Baby]

could you write this in code? so I can understand it better

[Tee Baby]

can someone please help me out

[Shaggy Hiker]

Write what in code? I'm not sure I said anything that translates into much code. You have some variables that you don't appear to be declaring. Either they are declared at form scope and not in the method, or they are not declared at all. The latter would be a problem, but there isn't much writing to do for that.

[Tee Baby]

This is all I have written what should I do next is what am asking
Private Sub btnCalculate_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnCalculate.Click
'input variable declaration.
Dim hoursWorked As Decimal
Dim payrate As Decimal
Dim stateincometax As Decimal
Dim federalincometax As Decimal
Dim FICA, fciaIn As Decimal

[Shaggy Hiker]

Those look like variables to hold the inputs, so you would convert the inputs into the variables using Decimal.TryParse:

If Decimal.TryParse(someTextbox.Text, hoursWorked) Then
 'It was a decimal and was parsed into the hoursWorked variable.
Else
 'It was not a decimal, so put up a messagebox and exit the sub.
End If

Of course, I don't know what the names of the controls are, so I used a dummy value for the textbox name, but you know what the names are, so you can correct that.

[Tee Baby]

here is my code
Public Class Form1

Private Sub btnCalculate_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnCalculate.Click

'input variable declaration.
Dim Name As Decimal
Dim hoursWorked As Decimal
Dim payrate As Decimal
Dim stateincometax As Decimal
Dim federalincometax As Decimal
Dim FICA, fciaIn As Decimal

If Decimal.TryParse(txtname.Text, Name) Then
'it was a decimal and was parsed into the name variable.
Else
'It was not a decimal, so put a messagebox and exit the sub.
End If

If Decimal.TryParse(txthours.Text, hoursWorked) Then
'It was a decimal and was parsed into the hoursWorked variable.
Else
'It was not a decimal, so put up a messagebox and exit the sub.
End If

If Decimal.TryParse(txtrate.Text, payrate) Then
'It was a decimal and was parsed into the payrate variable.
Else
' It was not a decimal, so put up a messagebox and exit the sub.
End If

If Decimal.TryParse(txtstate.Text, stateincometax) Then
'It was a decimal and was parsed into the stateincometax variable.
Else
'It was not a decimal, so put a messagebox and exit the sub.

End If

If Decimal.TryParse(txtfederal.Text, federalincometax) Then
'It was a decimal and was parsed into the federalincometax variable.
Else
'It was not a decimal, so put a messagebox exit the sub.
End If
If Decimal.TryParse(txtFICA.Text, FICA) Then
'It was a decimal and was parsed into the FICA variable.
Else
'It was not a decimal, so put a messagebox exit the sub.

End If

If Decimal.TryParse(txtFICA.Text, fciaIn) Then
'It was a decimal and was parsed into the fciaIn variable.
Else
'It was not a decimal, so put a messagebox exit the sub.
End If
End Sub
Private Sub btnClear_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnClear.Click
txtstate.Text = " "
txtfederal.Text = " "
txtFICA.Text = " "
txthours.Text = " "
txtrate.Text = " "
txtName.Text = " "
IstOutput.Items.Clear()
txtName.Focus()
End Sub

Private Sub btnExit_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnExit.Click
Me.Close()
End Sub
End Class

clear and exit is working but calculate isnt

[dday9]

Hi t - baby, welcome to the forums.

I know shaggy mentioned earlier that you need to wrap your code in code tags: [code]'Hello World[/code] please do so. It properly formats your code, for example your btnClear and btnExit code wrapped in code tags look like this:

    Private Sub btnClear_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnClear.Click
        txtstate.Text = " "
        txtfederal.Text = " "
        txtFICA.Text = " "
        txthours.Text = " "
        txtrate.Text = " "
        txtname.Text = " "
        IstOutput.Items.Clear()
        txtname.Focus()
    End Sub

    Private Sub btnExit_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnExit.Click
        Me.Close()
    End Sub

As for the reason why your btnCalculate isn't working, it's because you haven't written any code for it. You just check if the user entered in a decimal, but then comment everything out.

Also, should name be declared as a decimal or should it be declared as a string?

[Tee Baby]

it should be written as string, can you help me with the code for calculate??

[dday9]

No because I'm not a math guy. Come up with the equations to calculate these four things:

1. hourly pay rate
2. percentage to be withheld for state income tax
3. percentage to be withheld for federal income tax
4. percentage to be withheld fo FICA

and I can help you convert those equations into code.

[Tee Baby]

hourly pay rate <= 20
percentage for state income tax = 2%
percentage for federal income tax = 5%
percentage for FICA = 3%
is this okay??

[dday9]

Well, that's not what I meant... Let's work this out. I would first change your code in the calculation. The first change is to the name:

        Dim Name As String = txtname.Text
        Dim hoursWorked As Decimal
        Dim payrate As Decimal
        Dim stateincometax As Decimal
        Dim federalincometax As Decimal
        Dim FICA, fciaIn As Decimal

The next change will be to use AndAlso when trying to convert the text to a decimal, and if any of them fail, let the user know:

        Dim Name As String = txtname.Text
        Dim hoursWorked As Decimal
        Dim payrate As Decimal
        Dim stateincometax As Decimal
        Dim federalincometax As Decimal
        Dim FICA, fciaIn As Decimal

        If Decimal.TryParse(txthours.Text, hoursWorked) AndAlso _
            Decimal.TryParse(txtrate.Text, payrate) AndAlso _
            Decimal.TryParse(txtstate.Text, stateincometax) AndAlso _
            Decimal.TryParse(txtfederal.Text, federalincometax) AndAlso _
            Decimal.TryParse(txtFICA.Text, FICA) Then

        Else
            MessageBox.Show("One or more text fields has an invalid input.")
        End If

Next, let's work on the equations:

1. gross pay (the number of hours worked multiplied by hourly pay rate)
2. state income tax withholdings (gross pay multiplied by state income tax percentage)
3. federal income tax withholdings (gross pay multiplied by federal income tax percentage)
4. FICA withholdings (gross pay multiplied by FICA percentage)
5. net pay (the gross pay minus state income tax, federal income tax, and FICA)

Those are simple equations:

        Dim Name As String = txtname.Text
        Dim hoursWorked As Decimal
        Dim payrate As Decimal
        Dim stateincometax As Decimal
        Dim federalincometax As Decimal
        Dim FICA, fciaIn As Decimal

        If Decimal.TryParse(txthours.Text, hoursWorked) AndAlso _
            Decimal.TryParse(txtrate.Text, payrate) AndAlso _
            Decimal.TryParse(txtstate.Text, stateincometax) AndAlso _
            Decimal.TryParse(txtfederal.Text, federalincometax) AndAlso _
            Decimal.TryParse(txtFICA.Text, FICA) Then

            Dim grosspay As Decimal
            Dim statewithholdings As Decimal
            Dim federalwithholdings As Decimal
            Dim ficawithholdings As Decimal
            Dim netpay As Decimal

            grosspay = hoursWorked * payrate
            statewithholdings = grosspay * stateincometax
            federalwithholdings = grosspay * federalincometax
            ficawithholdings = grosspay * FICA
            netpay = grosspay - statewithholdings - federalwithholdings - ficawithholdings
        Else
            MessageBox.Show("One or more text fields has an invalid input.")
        End If

So in the end, I wound up not even using the fciain variable nor the name variable.

[Tee Baby]

thanks, I did this but still the calculate button wont work..

[dday9]

Ok, so what have you tried to fix it?

[Tee Baby]

the 1stOutput is meant to show the calculations but its not showing anything.. how can i create a code for the 1stOutPut. This is the listbox where all calculations is meant to be happening

[Tee Baby]

I just created this and I added it too it.
lblOutput.Items.Add("Employee Name" + "Gross Pay State Income Tax" + "Federal Income Tax" + "FICA Net Pay"

[dday9]

I think at this point, it's painfully obvious that you don't have a good understanding of the basics. Before I'm going to help you out any more, I suggest that you look at: http://homeandlearn.co.uk/NET/vbNet.html

[Tee Baby]

alright thanks for your help and have a nice day

[Atenk]

This is how you must perform calculations.
Also I provided a solution how to put them in listbox.

[Private Sub btnCalc(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles btnCalc.Click
 
        Dim Message As String = "The withholdings are too great. "
 
        Dim hoursWorked As Decimal
        Dim federalTax As Decimal
        Dim hoursPayRate As Decimal
        Dim stateTax As Decimal
        Dim ficaTax As Decimal
        Dim federalTaxAmount As Decimal
        Dim stateTaxAmount As Decimal
        Dim ficaTaxAmount As Decimal
        Dim grossPay As Decimal
        Dim totalTax As Decimal
        Dim netPay As Decimal
 
 
 
        Decimal.TryParse(txtHoursWorked.Text, hoursWorked)
        Decimal.TryParse(txtFederalTax.Text, federalTax)
        Decimal.TryParse(txtHoursRate.Text, hoursPayRate)
        Decimal.TryParse(txtStateTax.Text, stateTax)
        Decimal.TryParse(txtFica.Text, ficaTax)
 
        federalTax = federalTax / 100
        stateTax = stateTax / 100
        ficaTax = ficaTax / 100
 
 
        grossPay = hoursWorked * hoursPayRate
        federalTaxAmount = grossPay * federalTax
        stateTaxAmount = grossPay * stateTax
        ficaTaxAmount = grossPay * ficaTax
        totalTax = federalTaxAmount + stateTaxAmount + ficaTaxAmount
 
        If totalTax > grossPay Then
            MessageBox.Show(Message, "Payroll information", MessageBoxButtons.OK, MessageBoxIcon.Information)
            Exit Sub
        Else
            netPay = grossPay - totalTax
 
           lstOutput.Items.Add("Gross pay: " & grossPay.ToString("N2").PadLeft(20))
            lstOutput.Items.Add("Federal income tax: " & federalTaxAmount.ToString("N2").PadLeft(15))
            lstOutput.Items.Add("State income tax: " & stateTaxAmount.ToString("N2").PadLeft(15))
            lstOutput.Items.Add("Fica withholdings tax: " & ficaTaxAmount.ToString("N2").PqdLeft(15))
            lstOutput.Items.Add("Net pay: " & netPay.ToString("N2").PadLeft(15))
        End If
 
    End Sub

Before, I couldn't wrap code until I saw a post of Jmcilhinney, thanks to him.