Create a meter/gauge on a form?

Hi,
I want to represent a percent value from 0 to 100 as an analog meter or gauge on a form.
I'm thinking I have to use the Line function to create the needle and Circle to create the arc.

Any ideas or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Al.

Why not to use ProgressBar control that comes with Microsoft Windows Common Controls? Of course, that control cannot create an analog representation as circle, but you can easily calculate the percentage.

put a picturebox on a form set border to none
place a circle in the picture box with bckstyle opaque and choose a back colour

size the circle to fit the picture box
use my drawNeedle() procedure passing the reqired percentage as a parameter

Code:

---

Option Explicit
'Mark Sreeves

Const PI = 3.14157
Private Function calcX(radius As Single, angle As Single) As Single
    calcX = radius * Cos(angle)
End Function
Private Function calcY(radius As Single, angle As Single) As Single
    calcY = radius * Sin(angle)
End Function



Private Function degToRad(degrees As Integer) As Single

degToRad = degrees * PI / 180

End Function

Private Sub drawNeedle(percentage As Single)
    Picture1.Cls
    Dim x As Single
    Dim y As Single
    Dim i As Integer
    Dim r As Single 'radius of arc in this instance it's the length of the needle
    Dim centreX As Single
    Dim centreY As Single
    Dim offset As Integer 'this sets where the line starts from

   
    r = Picture1.Height / 2
   
    centreX = Picture1.Width / 2
    centreY = Picture1.Height / 2
   
    offset = 180
   
    i = 360 / 100 * percentage 'convert percentage to degrees
       
    x = calcX(r, degToRad(i + offset)) + centreX
    y = calcY(r, degToRad(i + offset)) + centreY
    ' PSet (x, y)
       
    Picture1.Line (centreX, centreY)-(x, y), RGB(255, 0, 0)
   
End Sub

---

Hey Mark, Thanks. I would have spent a month-of-Sundays trying to figure this out.

Serge,
I'm always looking for a different way to supply upper management with the metrics they want. I already supply bar charts and line graphs.
Boring.
I thought I'd try to create something different for this new project, sort of an instrument panel type of measurement display.

Al.

Hi, Al!

Try ComponentWorks (National Instrument) controls library!
This is a very good controls.

HTH

You're welcome Al!

You will probably notice a similarity to the code I knocked-up for Venkat a few days ago!

http://www.vb-world.net/forums/showthread.php?threadid=10458