VB6 QUESTION: How many here have rolled their own msgbox dialog boxes?

[yereverluvinuncleber]

I have found the standard msgbox dialog box to be limited in how I can control it. I rolled my own from a simple lookalike form with my own icons. I can place it where I like and style it too, some functionality that the old msgbox seemed to lack.



Do we all roll-our-own eventually? Is that what you did? I assume everyone eventually does so...

[dilettante]

We have TaskDialog now. Simple formats can easily be used from VB6, complex ones require a type library.

[Niya]

Do we all roll-our-own eventually? Is that what you did? I assume everyone eventually does so...

I passed through this phase at one time. I once write an entire message box class from scratch for some program I was writing in VB.Net many years ago. I wrote it specifically for reporting error messages when a program crashed. It would show all the call stack information, what the error was etc arranged visually in a very specific way that could not be replicated using the standard Windows message box. In those days I didn't know anything about WPF so I was writing the UI code the old fashion way which I learned to from writing similar UI logic back when I was in VB6. This required me writing all of the rendering code myself and it was a maintenance nightmare because it took too much time away from me working on what was actually important which was the program itself that was going to use it. I eventually abandoned it because it was too much of a time sink.

If I were to do this today, I'd just write it using WPF so it would take like 10% of the effort since I won't have to spend all this time calculating drawing rectangles, measuring text, measuring layouts and clipping and a whole bunch of other painstaking UI logic.

However, these days I don't really see a need anymore to write my own message box classes because if the standard one is not suitable for what I want, I would just write a normal UI interface for whatever it was I wanted to show. I guess back in earlier times I was just looking for an excuse to do it. It was fun and interesting but not practical from a productivity stand point. If I want to report error messages today, I would use a simple log file. As I've gotten older, I've grown allergic to assigning myself unnecessary workloads and custom message boxes fall into this category, at least for me. The standard Windows message box is sufficient nearly all the time.

[Elroy]

I still use the standard message box, but I virtually always use API calls to display it so I can control my button captions, put timers on it, and a few other things. I've never needed a "roll my own" from scratch though. And, for certain "specific" things (for instance, picking a printer), I just create a dedicated form to get the work done.

[baka]

yeah. a msgbox is basically just a form, that we put on top of the main-form.
I have added a few. mostly graphical. the latest is not even a form but just graphical. so I render on top of other stuff, but its still a msgbox.

[couttsj]

The biggest problem I had with the MsgBox is that it halted execution until it was responded to. So I came up with a form that would show itself in the lower right corner of the screen. The user could simply click on the form or use the "Esc" key to get it out of the way, and it would return 20 seconds later. To get rid of it completely, the user would click on the "X".

Option Explicit

Private Declare Function GetSystemMetrics Lib "user32" (ByVal nIndex As Long) As Long

Private Sub Form_Click()
    Hide
End Sub

Private Sub Form_KeyPress(KeyAscii As Integer)
    If KeyAscii = 27 Then Hide
End Sub

Private Sub Form_Load()
    Me.Left = (GetSystemMetrics(16) * Screen.TwipsPerPixelX) - Me.Width
    Me.Top = (GetSystemMetrics(17) * Screen.TwipsPerPixelY) - Me.Height
    'Set Icon = frmTray.Icon
End Sub


Private Sub Label1_Click()
    Hide
End Sub

Private Sub Timer1_Timer()
    frmNotify.Show
End Sub

The border style I used was "3-Fixed Dialog".

J.A. Coutts

[fafalone]

The Task Dialog is a much improved message box... it can also display a simple message no more complicated than a regular messagebox by just using minimal options.

I went a little nuts with a class that implements all it's features then bolts even more on top of it.

If something is more complicated than a Task Dialog can handle... well it's just a form, not really a custom message box. I haven't really done anything beyond that which I'd still call a message box instead of just a regular form, tool window, or dialog. Though before Task Dialog existed, of course... regular message box was far too limited, even the extended versions from API calls.

[yereverluvinuncleber]

I went a little nuts.

Bloody hell! You did, didn't you!

That is impressive. I do wish I'd known about it before I rolled my own puny attempt. I searched for the wrong thing... probably "msgbox replacement".

If I had known I would probably have used it, but then again, perhaps it would be massive overkill for my simple needs!

I'll keep a note for it in future. I am sure there will be something I can learn from it.

[fafalone]

That project was a followup to a much simpler version, if that's overkill. But of course, there's no need to use all the advanced options... it's still just a few lines to make a basic dialog once the class is added, e.g.

    .Init
    .MainInstruction = "You're about to do something stupid."
    .Content = "Are you absolutely sure you want to continue with this really bad idea?"
    .CommonButtons = TDCBF_YES_BUTTON Or TDCBF_NO_BUTTON
    .IconMain = TD_SHIELD_WARNING_ICON 'TD_INFORMATION_ICON
    .Title = "cTaskDialog Project"
    
    .ShowDialog

[wqweto]

Everyone does it. MS Office has a custom one too.

[yereverluvinuncleber]

In the end I rolled my own icons, a bit drastic but they look just as efficient as the originals when reduced to 48x48.