Hyperlinks in VB

[rjlohan]

I just whipped this up, thought it may be of use to people. add this code to a module, and you have the full functionality of a hyperlink in VB. Does display changes for MouseOver etc. Pass the LinkUp the function you want to call for the particular textbox 'link' and you're away. Have fun.

'Constants
Private Const HYPERLINK_HIGHLIGHT As Long = vbYellow
Private Const HYPERLINK_COLOUR As Long = vbBlue
 
'Hyperlink code selection flag
Private flgHyperLinkSelected As Boolean
 
'Depress textbox hyperlink
Public Sub LinkDown(txtLink As TextBox)
    'Remove focus from text box
    HideCaret txtLink.hwnd
    
    'Change label to selected colour
    txtLink.ForeColor = HYPERLINK_HIGHLIGHT
    
    'Enable option selected flag
    flgHyperLinkSelected = True
    
    'Remove focus from text box
    HideCaret txtLink.hwnd
End Sub
 
'Highlight textbox hyperlink
Public Sub LinkOver(txtLink As TextBox, X As Single, Y As Single)
    'Show highlight image when mouse moves over link text
    If Not (flgHyperLinkSelected) Then
        With txtLink
            If (X < 0) Or (Y < 0) Or (X > .Width) Or (Y > .Height) Then
                'Release picture handle
                ReleaseCapture
                'Unhighlight incident code
                txtLink.FontUnderline = True
                txtLink.ForeColor = HYPERLINK_COLOUR
            Else
                'Capture label handle
                SetCapture .hwnd
                'Highlight incident code
                txtLink.FontUnderline = False
                txtLink.ForeColor = HYPERLINK_HIGHLIGHT
            End If
        End With
    End If
    
    'Remove focus from text box
    HideCaret txtLink.hwnd
End Sub
 
'Click textbox hyperlink
Public Sub LinkUp(txtLink As TextBox, X As Single, Y As Single, objActionObj As Object, strActionFunc As String, Optional varArgs As Variant)
    'Remove focus from text box
    HideCaret txtLink.hwnd
    
    'Check mouse location
    If (X > 0 And X < txtLink.Width) And (Y > 0 And Y < txtLink.Height) Then
        'Call action function
        CallByName objActionObj, strActionFunc, VbMethod, varArgs
    End If
    
    'Disable selected flag
    flgHyperLinkSelected = False
    
    'Release label handle
    ReleaseCapture
    
    'Unhighlight incident code
    txtLink.FontUnderline = True
    txtLink.ForeColor = HYPERLINK_COLOUR
 
    'Remove focus from text box
    HideCaret txtLink.hwnd
End Sub

To use:

Private Sub Text1_MouseDown(Index As Integer, Button As Integer, Shift As Integer, X As Single, Y As Single)
    'Press link
    Call LinkDown(Text1(Index))
End Sub
 
Private Sub Text1_MouseMove(Index As Integer, Button As Integer, Shift As Integer, X As Single, Y As Single)
    'Highlight link
    Call LinkOver(Text1(Index), X, Y)
End Sub
 
Private Sub Text1_MouseUp(Index As Integer, Button As Integer, Shift As Integer, X As Single, Y As Single)
    'Call LinkUp when mouse up on textbox
    Call LinkUp(Text1(Index), X, Y, frmLesson, "FunctionName", Index)
End Sub

[amitabh]

jyotiraditya What rjlohan has done is to provide a mouse hover state for the hyperlink, with all the color changes that you see in a browser.

[rjlohan]

Indeed I have.
I imagine there was another post in this thread, right?

[amitabh]

Yes, there was a post which showed how to execute the hyperlink.

[SkiNLaB]

hey im using your code, but whats ReleaseCapture Meant to be? is it a sub that im missing?

[rjlohan]

Apparently I forgot to add the API functions...

ReleaseCapture and HideCaret are Windows API calls. USe the API viewer to find the full declarations.

[SkiNLaB]

ah i c, got 'em

ummm its good, although if u click in the textbox to type something it loses focus of the window and nothing happens, which makes it basically impossible to enter anything in the textbox, also if u want 2 edit the contents its impossible to click on the textbox (for editing) without it bringing up IE.

so itd be good if it were a link only when the mouse was over the text and not over the white of the textbox.

this sounds pretty impossible...

[rjlohan]

Well, that's not what this code was designed for. You have to think about design issues too. I have code here to turn a textbox into a hyperlink. Have you ever seen a hyperlink which also acts as an input box?

[Arc]

It would make much more since to use a label.

[rjlohan]

No it wouldn't, which is precisely why I didn't do that. A label doesn't have the requisite Mouse events available.

[James Stanich]

My example :

http://www.galahtech.com/forums/show...&threadid=1303

Different forum though...

[rjlohan]

Can't view it here - wanna give me a brief summary?

[Arc]

I see, well in that case a picturebox would make much more sense Set the border to 0 etc... works just like a label except with all the hwnd stuff.

[rjlohan]

That's even more absurd than your last idea... do you have any reason for your comments, or just like to think you're right?

What possible reason would using a picturebox to display text do? I can see no advantage in that.

[Arc]

Uhh why is it absurd? Whats absurd is using a textbox to display a URL... How many times have you seen a textbox used as a URL? URL's are usualy flat with no background and they dont give the user the urge to type inside of them

For the very reason that the guy was confused casue he couldnt type inside the textbox.... thats why I am saying to use a picturebox... Learn to take constructive critism you'll get alot further in life and might even have a friend or 2.

[SkiNLaB]

i rekon a hyperlink in a textbox would be good, for instance i have a form with a sponsor's details and one of the fields is for a website which can be edited, so if the user wishes to visit the website, view the details click on the text in the textbox, and done. if he wishes to edit the website address, click on the white inside the textbox and it is editable, where he then presses save. i guess ill have a button next to the textbox saying Launch or similar.

[Arc]

You fail to miss the point that the text inside the textbox is not editible.. Far as i can tell the textbox is merely a holder for the link... and serves no other purpose.

[rjlohan]

Arc, you haven't provided any 'constructive criticism'. All you've done is poonce about throwing around stupid comments with no justification.

Your stupid posts are just one of the many reasons this site continues to suck arse.

[Arc]

Wow...LOL. You really need help dude.

What is so stupid about my critism other then the fact your mind is totaly closed to admitting that your textbox hyperlink needs to be changed to more resemble a Hyperlink rather than a textbox?


You see if you use a picturebox with no border it will look like a link on the form rather than a textbox!


Lol, whatever dude...suite yerself.



P.S. just becasue you may not agree with my idea is really no reason to fly off the handle and call me stupid and say these forums suck cause of stupid people like me lol...going a little overboard there aint we? I feel as though you may have issues that need to be dealt with

[rjlohan]

So set the textbox properties: .BorderStyle to None, and set the .Appearance to Flat. Bet Microsoft are real glad a twit like you is proudly displaying his 'qualifications'...

[Arc]

WEll another advantage of the picture box is that you can have Faded text..etc.. You know like thiscouldbealink Overall the picture box offers many more possibilities than a text box if you choose to be creative.

[rjlohan]

And that requires creating pictures for every link. The textbox option is simpler. If someone really wants rainbow text, which is an utterly horrible design, they can make all the pictures they like.

This doesn't make a picturebox a better option though, does it?

[Arc]

Well how do you figure that requires pictures? You simply use some API and paint the text on the fly... there is no need for pictures. You could have the user pick 2 colors for each part...Link,Rollover and visited... In fact this wouldnt be a bad idea for an ocx. If you wanted to get real fancy you could even do Shadow/3d text... or Marquee style links that scroll..the skies the limit.

Granted the code is a bit complex, but if you're familiar with

Public Declare Function GradientFillRect Lib "msimg32"Alias " GradientFill" (ByVal hdc As Long, _
pVertex As TRIVERTEX, _
ByVal dwNumVertex As Long, _
pMesh As GRADIENT_RECT, _
ByVal dwNumMesh As Long, _
ByVal dwMode As Long) As Long

Then you should be able to accomplish it wihtout much difficulty.


You may think it's ugly or whatever but i actually think it would be quite innovative and alot of people like Faded text. Too bad theres no way to do it on the web... or maybe there is using xml or something.../shrug

[SkiNLaB]

Originally posted by Arc
You fail to miss the point that the text inside the textbox is not editible.. Far as i can tell the textbox is merely a holder for the link... and serves no other purpose.

no i didnt fail to miss that point, therein lies my problem.....

and maybe one day if i make an editable hyperlink textbox ill post it here and shut u both up!

[MikkyThomeon]

Doesn't MSAcess have a thing in a grid where you can edit a field that is also hyperlink (eg where the column is defined as type 'hyperlink')??? You click on the link when viewing the contents of the table...

[MarkT]

Someone posted this a while back and it seem pretty good.

Option Explicit
Dim blnClicked As Boolean
 
Private Sub Label1_DragDrop(Source As Control, X As Single, Y As Single)
'   Use this event instead of the click event
    blnClicked = True
    Me.Print "Clicked"
End Sub
 
Private Sub Label1_MouseMove(Button As Integer, Shift As Integer, X As Single, Y As Single)
    With Label1
        .ForeColor = vbBlue
        .Font.Underline = True
        'path to hand cursor
        .DragIcon = LoadPicture("C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio\Common\Graphics\Cursors\hand.cur")
        .Drag vbBeginDrag
    End With
End Sub
 
Private Sub Label1_DragOver(Source As Control, X As Single, Y As Single, State As Integer)
    If State = vbLeave Then
        With Label1
            .ForeColor = vbBlack
            .FontUnderline = False
            .Drag vbEndDrag
        End With
    End If
End Sub