Checked List Boxes

[The Han]

A few things here. I am completely new to Visual Basic, in fact I am completely new to the wonderful world of programming(and forums for that matter).

Question one, this may seem dumb, but I am using Visual Basic on Visual Studio 2010 Professional; does that mean I am using Visual Basic.Net?

Question two:
I am playing with Checked List boxed in Windows forms for a gas price comparison project(assigned in my Intro to Problem Solving in Programming class that has not gone over half of the things I am playing with in this project).

I have created a checked list box, named it chkLstDiscounts (is that the correct conventional prefix?), and I entered the components Discount 1, Discount 2, and Discount 3.

In my code I am attempting to use each individual component as follows:
If (Discount 1 is checked) then
perform discount
EndIf
If (Discount 2 is checked) then
perform discount
EndIf
If (Discount 3 is checked) then
perform discount
EndIf

My question is what do I put in my if statement where I say "Discount X is checked".
So far I have found out that "chkLstDiscounts.CheckOnClick" will perform my calculations if ANY of the components are checked.

I have a button that will need to make these components checked or unchecked, how do I perform this.
Thanks for any and all advice.

[si_the_geek]

Welcome to VBForums

Question one, this may seem dumb, but I am using Visual Basic on Visual Studio 2010 Professional; does that mean I am using Visual Basic.Net?

It is VB.Net, but it isn't surprising that you weren't sure - Microsoft have been avoiding the name for a few years (these days they just call it VB, but make no secret that you need the .Net framework to use it or the programs it creates).

I have therefore moved this thread to the 'VB.Net' (VB2002 and later) forum.

[newbcoder]

The Han, having been in the same boat as you a few months ago, I understand how it feels.

First, I'm assuming that the "perform discount" part in your code block is a placeholder for each code based on which discount checkbox is picked?

Second, chkLstDiscounts.CheckOnClick is not an event handler, it is a property. Instead you can just double click on the box in design mode and the event handler for if any checkbox is selected, then use a case statement or if-then statements to hold code for which checkbox is checked (The whole thing may be easier using simple checkboxes instead of CheckedListBox as they have individual event handlers). If you double click the box you should see this code:

    Private Sub chkLstDiscounts_SelectedIndexChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles chkLstDiscounts.SelectedIndexChanged

    'Insert Code Here

    End Sub

Now, for the logic to determine which was selected, one way is this: (I like case statements more than if-then)

    Private Sub ChkLstDiscounts_SelectedIndexChanged(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _
        Handles chkLstDiscounts.SelectedIndexChanged

        Select Case chkLstDiscounts.SelectedItem.ToString
            Case "Discount 1"
                'What you want to happen if Discount 1 is selected
            Case "Discount 2"
                'What you want to happen if Discount 2 is selected
            Case "Discount 3"
                'What you want to happen if Discount 3 is selected
        End Select

    End Sub

You can also use chkLstDiscounts.SelectedItems to figure out if more than one is selected. If only one can be selected at a time, use radio boxes instead.

Learning vb.net may feel like it will take forever to figure out, but once you get down logic and design (which really doesn't take that long), simple UI applications are very simple. I found it really helps to find many different types of free tutorials and take the time to complete them, then make sure you understand what occurs on every line of code. Hope that at least helps a little...

[newbcoder]

Sorry, just caught your last lines, are you saying you want a button to clear the checks, or a button that checks them for you after you have selected the checkboxes you want to be selected?

Also, just to clarify, in my above code, chkLstDiscounts.SelectedItem.ToString has a string value of "Discount X", you should stick to your if statements though if you want multiple discounts (or whatever each code snippet does) to occur when more than one is selected (also need to use a button w/ click event handler otherwise each time you select a checkbox a discount may be applied even if it has been before).

[stanav]

How do you populate your CheckedListBox? And how do you relate "Discount 1" to an actual discount percentage or amount?
Normally, I'd create a Discount class with corresponding properties, i.e DisplayMember and ValueMember. To populate the checkedlistbox, i'd create a collection of Discount objects and bind that to the checkedlistbox.
The CheckedListBox has the CheckedItems property which returns a collection of the items being checked in it. You can also use the CheckedIndices, which returns a collection of the cheked items' indices. Note that if the checkedlistbox's CheckedOnClick property is False, those CheckedItems and CheckedIndices will include items that are in intermediate state also.

[stanav]

Here is a quick example I put together for you. You need a form (Form1), a CheckedListBox (CheckedListBox1) and a Button (Button1).

Public Class Form1
    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        Dim discounts As New List(Of Discount)
        discounts.Add(New Discount("Discount 1", Discount.DiscountTypes.Percentage, 0.1D, 0D))                  '10% discount - no min purchase
        discounts.Add(New Discount("Discount 2", Discount.DiscountTypes.DollarAmount, 5D, 5D))                  '$5.00 discount, min $5 purchase
        discounts.Add(New Discount("Discount 3", Discount.DiscountTypes.DollarOffPerXPurchased, 25D, 50D))      '$25.00 discount with min purchase of $50.00
        CheckedListBox1.CheckOnClick = True
        CheckedListBox1.Items.AddRange(discounts.ToArray)
    End Sub

    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Dim totalPurchased As Decimal = 99.03D
        Dim totalDiscount As Decimal = CalculateDiscounts(totalPurchased)
        MessageBox.Show(String.Format("Total purchase: {0}{3}Total discount: {1}{3}Net Due: {2}", _
                                      totalPurchased.ToString("C"), totalDiscount.ToString("C"), _
                                      (totalPurchased - totalDiscount).ToString("C"), Environment.NewLine))

    End Sub

    Public Function CalculateDiscounts(ByVal purchaseAmount As Decimal) As Decimal
        'You should have your own rules on how to calculate multiple discounts, i.e discount type precedence,
        'should the discount amount be taken off the purchase amount before applying the next discount...
        'In this example, I just do a simple discount by applying all discounts in whatever order theuy come in
        Dim discountAmount As Decimal = 0D
        Dim discountValue As Decimal = 0D
        Dim requiredAmt As Decimal = 0D
        For Each itm As Discount In CheckedListBox1.CheckedItems
            discountValue = itm.DiscountValue
            requiredAmt = itm.RequiredPurchaseAmount
            Select Case itm.DiscountType
                Case Discount.DiscountTypes.DollarAmount
                    If purchaseAmount >= discountAmount Then
                        discountAmount += discountValue
                        purchaseAmount -= discountValue
                    Else
                        discountAmount += purchaseAmount
                        purchaseAmount = 0D
                    End If
                Case Discount.DiscountTypes.DollarOffPerXPurchased
                    If purchaseAmount >= requiredAmt Then
                        discountAmount += discountValue
                        purchaseAmount -= discountValue
                    End If
                Case Discount.DiscountTypes.Percentage
                    discountAmount += purchaseAmount * discountValue
                    purchaseAmount -= purchaseAmount * discountValue
                Case Discount.DiscountTypes.PercentOffPerXPurchased
                    If purchaseAmount >= requiredAmt Then
                        discountAmount += purchaseAmount * discountValue
                        purchaseAmount -= purchaseAmount * discountValue
                    End If
            End Select
        Next
        Return discountAmount
    End Function

    Public Class Discount
        Public Enum DiscountTypes
            Percentage              'percent off the total purchase.
            PercentOffPerXPurchased 'percent off applied only when min purchase of X dollars reached.
            DollarAmount            'fixed dollar amount off the entire purchase
            DollarOffPerXPurchased  'fixed dollar amount off applied only when min purchase of X dollars reached
            'And so on....
        End Enum

        Public Property DiscountName() As String
        Public Property DiscountValue() As Decimal
        Public Property DiscountType As Discount.DiscountTypes
        Public Property RequiredPurchaseAmount As Decimal

        Public Sub New(ByVal txt As String, ByVal discntType As Discount.DiscountTypes, ByVal discount As Decimal, ByVal minPurchase As Decimal)
            Me.DiscountName = txt
            Me.DiscountType = discntType
            Me.DiscountValue = discount
            Me.RequiredPurchaseAmount = minPurchase
        End Sub

        Public Overrides Function ToString() As String
            Return String.Format("{0} - {1}: {2}", Me.DiscountName, Me.DiscountType.ToString, Me.DiscountValue.ToString("N2"))
        End Function

    End Class
End Class

[newbcoder]

Please make sure that you know exactly what @stanav 's code does, instead of cut/paste. I started out doing that (cut/paste technique) only to have to actually learn the logical flow when debugging even the smallest problems. It really does create less headache to learn it from the beginning, rather than create an entire program and not know how it does what it does.

[.paul.]

@stanav. good answer. i'm sure you know but:

this:

MessageBox.Show(String.Format("Total purchase: {0}{3}Total discount: {1}{3}Net Due: {2}", _
                                      totalPurchased.ToString("C"), totalDiscount.ToString("C"), _
                                      (totalPurchased - totalDiscount).ToString("C"), Environment.NewLine))

can be more efficiently written as this:

MessageBox.Show(String.Format("Total purchase: {0:C}{3}Total discount: {1:C}{3}Net Due: {2:C}", _
                              totalPurchased, totalDiscount, _
                              (totalPurchased - totalDiscount), Environment.NewLine))

[The Han]

Sorry it took me so long to update.
I haven't examined your posts yet, too tired to think and I got a little confused.

I am attaching a copy of the project I am turning in, Its quite rough but it does more than the class assignment asked for.

In the attached project I went with seperate checkboxes, I would like to learn how to make these into checked list boxes in this instance(two different boxes, one for each station).

Thanks for all the input so far(I look forward to reading your posts, when I can)