declaring object question

[softwareguy74]

Hi,

I'm not sure how to do this but here's what I'm trying to accomplish..

In a module, I need to reference a control on a form many times. Rather than keep typing Form1.Control.Whatever, I would like to create a name such as Control1 so that in my module, I can write:

With Control1
.Whatever
.Whatever1
End With

Any help on how to do this would be appreciated.

Dan

[Kaverin]

You can use a shortcut very close to what you have already said. Just dim a variable of type Object somewhere, and then set it to the control you want to keep referencing.
Say you had a particular textbox from somewhere you wanted to keep using:

Dim X As Object

'in the main loading form
Private Sub Form_Load()

   Set X = Form1.Text1

End Sub

Then you can just use X like it was a real textbox.

X.Text = "some text"

Or if you had a lot of things:

With X
   .Left = 0
   .Top = 0
   'etc
End With

When you're done using the variable:

Set X = Nothing

[Edited by Kaverin on 10-27-2000 at 01:02 PM]

[softwareguy74]

Thanks! I think that's what I was looking for but there is a small problem using that method..

None of the events, methods or properties are available for me to see when using the object.

For example, when I type:

frmMain.Winsock1.

the events, methods and properties of the Winsock control automatically pop up after the last "."

But, when doing the following:

Dim x as Object

Set x = frmMain.Winsock

x.

nothing pops up after the "."

Any idea on how to accomplish this? It's hard to remember all the methods, events and properties for each object..

Thanks,

Dan

[Kaverin]

I would assume that's because in the manner I described, X isn't anything yet (because it isn't valid until the program runs). You'll just have to learn all the things, or if you know what X is supposed to be (meaning at design time), just type out the class itself, and it should pop up. Something like Form. I can't check on this, so I could be going far off in left field This comp I'm on at the moment has no VB at all.

Just so you know, I think using a variable in this manner is called "late binding of an object". I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong heh heh.

[Frans C]

No, it's because you used late binding.
Instead of dimensioning the object variable as object, dimension it as textbox and the intellisense feature is back again.

So not:
Dim x as Object
but:
Dim x As TextBox

[Kaverin]

Been away studying for some exams... but anyway, I wanted to say something else. By all means, I think it would be better to actually dim the variable as the type it will reference in the future. Using plain old object is just a general way in the event you 1) don't know what it might be referencing 2) it will reference several different objects (at different times of course).