[VB6] - Usercontrol PropertySheet Enumeration Enhancement

[LaVolpe]

I was looking at a post on vbAccelerator on using a DLL and TLBs to customize the dropdown listing shown on IDE's property sheet for usercontrol properties. The project showed how a typical dropdown might look like the following and can be modified at will

Default Behavior        Modified Behavior
0 - vbLeftJustified      0 - Left Aligned
1 - vbRightJustified     1 - Right Aligned
2 - vbCenter             2 - Centered

I really liked the idea and thought about a different way of accomplishing the same thing without any ActiveX DLL or TLBs. The attached is my version of vbAccelerator's project.

Note that the methods used allow on-demand, dynamic, "enumerations" that can even be strings vs numerical enumerations. These enumerations are not true enumerations but rather an array of strings that act like enumerations within the property sheet, providing a dropdown list to select from.

For example. Let's say your user control needs to show a listing of available textboxes on the form. In the past, we would have to offer a property page that basically added all the textbox names to a listbox so the user can select one from it. Now, we can provide that list in a dropdown box that will be displayed on the property sheet and no need for a property page just for that purpose.

Anyway, I thought vbAccelerator project was interesting enough to try and replicate it a diffferent way. This is the different way.
Warning. Pretty advanced stuff for such little gain, IMO, but it does present a more "professional" and personal touch to how enumerations are offered to users in design time.