Is there a way to show an animated character on a form

Hi,

I have an application and when it starts all the controls on the form are DISABLED except one. Now as the user start to enter data in the first one few other control becomes ENABLED. I am told to show some thing on the screen by the controls that become ENABLED to point out that these ones are now ENABLED and then when more become ENABLED then move that thing to those newly available controls.

I want to either change the colors of those becoming ENABLED or show an animated little character of some kind to take the attention to those newly ENABLED controls. Is there a way to accomplish this? Have someone did this kind of thing who can DIRECT me to a correct path?

Thanks in advance.

There is an ENABLE property of forms, which greys out the field, and locks it from input. You can also change the .BackGround color of the textbox if you want to draw attention to it. You can also change the .ForeGround color of a textbox to let the user know if they've made a mistake.

also what u can do is once one field is filled, another shows up and the form resizes accordingly.

If you are making a game, then animation is fine.

If you are doing a business application, then I would avoid that and go with dglienna's suggestion.

(If any programmer in my shop ever put something animated on one of our screens (with the possible exception of a file moving from one folder to another simulating a copy/move), he/she would be lined up against a wall and unceremonously shot, hung, then fired. :D )

i think the poster is looking for something like a Helper (Clippit like in MS Word), which can draw your attention whenever something new or extraordinary happens.

@Hack, and Word is not a Game. ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Harsh Gupta

@Hack, and Word is not a Game. ;)

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Where do you see Word mentioned?

You can make images like arros or something and place the image boxes on the form accordingly. When the menu becomes enabled, you can have a timer run and set the visibility of the image for that menu item to TRUE for a few seconds and then set back to FALSE.

Something like an arrow and then you can make a label on the screen at like the bottom say something like "New MENU options are available"

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Hack

Where do you see Word mentioned?

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well i was trying to explain it by an example MS Word and i m really sorry, i misunderstood your previous post.

I have done this many times..

Like this:
Add a textbox.. Text1 Copy and paste it 8 times so you have an array 0 to 8

VB Code:

Private Sub Form_Load()
For x = 1 To 8
    Text1(x).BackColor = &H8000000F
    Text1(x).Enabled = False
Next
End Sub
 
Private Sub Text1_Validate(Index As Integer, Cancel As Boolean)
If Index = 0 Then
    For x = 1 To 4
        Text1(x).BackColor = &H80000005
        Text1(x).Enabled = True
    Next
    Text1(1).SetFocus
End If
If Index > 0 And Index < 5 Then
    For x = 5 To 8
        Text1(x).BackColor = &H80000005
        Text1(x).Enabled = True
    Next
    Text1(5).SetFocus
End If
End Sub

this greys them out at start.. and after you attempt to leave the first textbox..
at enables 1 thru 4 and sets them back to window background default..

the swithc from button background color to window color is enough to "show" the use more are ready for input..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Newtester

Hi,

I have an application and when it starts all the controls on the form are DISABLED except one. Now as the user start to enter data in the first one few other control becomes ENABLED. I am told to show some thing on the screen by the controls that become ENABLED to point out that these ones are now ENABLED and then when more become ENABLED then move that thing to those newly available controls.

I want to either change the colors of those becoming ENABLED or show an animated little character of some kind to take the attention to those newly ENABLED controls. Is there a way to accomplish this? Have someone did this kind of thing who can DIRECT me to a correct path?

Thanks in advance.

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Hi,
About animation you can also use the MouseEnter system EventsArgs and a ToolTip. ToolTip for a Text and the MouseEvent for playing a sound when passing over a Button for example!

Wkr,

saprrow1