User customization

[anizam]

I want my user customize their form in runtime. I doesn't mean form size change or something like that

I mean how a enduser can change a item's place,
delete a unnecessary item, add a new item on the form

and how can I store this new form designed by my user.

Thank you

[V(ery) Basic]

You would probably use the Windows Registry.

The 'pure' VB functions so Save, Get, and Delete settings are these:

'Argument list
SaveSetting(Title, Section, Key, Value)
GetSetting(Title, Section, Key, Default)
DeleteSetting(Title, Section, Key)

'Used in practice:
'Save a setting
Call SaveSetting(App.EXEName, "Cmd1Pos", "Left", Cmd1.Left)
'Restore that setting later on
Cmd1.Left = GetSetting(App.EXEName, "Cmd1Pos", "Left", 200)
'Delete that setting
Call DeleteSetting(App.EXEName, "Cmd1Pos", "Left")

The registry saves values permanently, so these changes will last through the next boot etc. until you delete them.

If there are a lot of values which you need to store, a text file might be a better choice, because clogging up the registry gets impractical after a while.

Try this. Add a CommandButton (Command1) and set it's
Index to 0. When you click on it, it will bring up a
box asking you what you want the caption for a new button to
be. Enter anything and a button will be created in the
Top-Left corner. To Delete buttons, simply, select the button
you want deleted and press Delete. To drag buttons around
the Form, you must hold Alt and then drag it like you
would normally drag an object. The saving and loading is automatically
done when you load and unload the Form.

Private Declare Function SendMessage Lib "user32" Alias "SendMessageA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal wMsg As Long, ByVal wParam As Long, lParam As Any) As Long
Private Declare Function ReleaseCapture Lib "user32" () As Long
Const SC_MOVE_EX = &HF012
Const WM_SYSCOMMAND = &H112

Private Sub Command1_Click(Index As Integer)
    Dim iCount As Integer
    
    'Add new button
    Retval = InputBox("Enter caption for button")
    If Retval <> "" Then
        iCount = Command1.Count
        Load Command1(iCount)
        Command1(iCount).Caption = Retval
        Command1(iCount).Move 0, 0
        Command1(iCount).Visible = True
    End If
End Sub

Private Sub Command1_KeyDown(Index As Integer, KeyCode As Integer, Shift As Integer)
    'If Delete is pressed then the Button will be deleted
    If KeyCode = vbKeyDelete Then Unload Command1(Index)
End Sub

Private Sub Command1_MouseDown(Index As Integer, Button As Integer, Shift As Integer, X As Single, Y As Single)
    'While holding Alt, you can drag the control around
    If Shift = 4 Then
        If Button = 1 Then
            ReleaseCapture
            SendMessage Command1(Index).hwnd, WM_SYSCOMMAND, SC_MOVE_EX, 0
        End If
    End If
End Sub

Private Sub Form_Load()
    'Load our (if any) previous settings
    If Dir$("MyProgramSettings") <> "" Then
        Open "MyProgramSettings" For Input As #1
            Do While Not EOF(1)
                Input #1, tIndex, tCaption, tLeft, tTop
                If tIndex <> 0 Then Load Command1(tIndex)
                Command1(tIndex).Caption = tCaption
                Command1(tIndex).Left = tLeft
                Command1(tIndex).Top = tTop
                Command1(tIndex).Visible = True
            Loop
        Close #1
    End If
End Sub

Private Sub Form_Unload(Cancel As Integer)
    'Save our settings as we exit
    On Error Resume Next
    Open "MyProgramSettings" For Output As #1
        For I = 0 To Command1.Count
            Write #1, I, Command1(I).Caption, Command1(I).Left, Command1(I).Top
        Next I
    Close #1
End Sub