newbie first steps

[paulheu]

Being new to VB in general I need some advice.

I am writing an application which should:

convert a file containing data separated by ";"

display this in a listview

allow me to select an row item and (in most cases) play the file it represents

Also I should be able to import XML and do the same as above..

I have the ";" separated data in a hashtable
I have the XML files displayed using a datagrid..

I have spent some time reading a number of books, but they all fall short on explaining how to set this up for me.. The best I found sofar is Mastering Visual Basic.NET, but I find the info to be lacking..

Also I need to learn to do simple stuff like having a window pop up when I select a certain item in a context menu.. I understand where this code has to go, but I just do not seem to be able to find a resource on these 'simple things'..

You might have guessed this should turn into an MP3 player, but I want to have the 'recordcase' working first..

So.. I would very much like to know where to look for a good book on these issues.. I found there's a lot of rubbish books out there that do me no good so I need some help here..

for that I thank you in advance..

[Memnoch1207]

Most books you will find won't cover more advanced areas, therefore it is usually left to the programmer/developer to use other resources (such as forums).

Break down exactly what you want it to do step by step and we can help you with it.

[paulheu]

OK.. problem 1:

broke up the original data (from the ";" separated file) and now I have a hashtable which contents I would like to show in a listview. As I understand it each row would consist of one item and a number of subitems.

As I know the keys in the hashtable I can get the right value from the hashtable and put them in the right sequence of subitems.

The problem is that I would like to show the Columheaders eventhough I have no items in the listview yet. my attempts sofar only show the headers if I start filling the listview. Or am I going the wrong way and should I create a schema and use a datagrid? But then the question is how do I get the data from the hashtable onto the datagrid? The only leads I found are using a database or XML and I have neither (yet) I guess I could create a XML file, but that's a de-tour of sorts..

The second problem is that it appears to me I cannot move colums around on a datagrid, I need a listview for that. That is where my reasoning I need a listview comes from..

Then I have an XML file which I need to display in the same way.. I can read the XML and put it on a datagrid without a problem, but then I seems to be unable to move colums around so ..

I'll leave it at that for now as its getting complicated quickly
Feel free to let me know if you think I am jumping in at the deep end and should learn to swim first..

[paulheu]

Oh and one other (small) issue at hand..

I want to open a dialog to set which colums to hide/show from a context menu in the 'main' listview.. I have the event for the menuitem, but fo rthe life of me I cannot figure how to do that.. I created another form so I guess I would 'just' call the new vb code with that second form but how? (flipping pages did not help me here either.. )


It's probably right in front of me.. but I can't see it

[paulheu]

Seems I hit a hard one here

[paulheu]

Originally posted by paulheu
Oh and one other (small) issue at hand..

I should really learn how to read manuals.. duh..

[paulheu]

OK.. problem 1:

The problem is that I would like to show the Columheaders eventhough I have no items in the listview yet.

I guess I'll answer my own questions.. selecting 'Details' as listbox mode might help here (Duh again.. )

The second problem is that it appears to me I cannot move colums around on a datagrid, I need a listview for that. That is where my reasoning I need a listview comes from..

I guess I do need to use a listbox instead of a datagrid..

What I would like to know is whether there is a way to get data from a XML into a listbox without having to decyfer the XML myself.. I guess I can use the dataset for that but I need some pointers here..

Funny how you learn a lot once you set your mind to it..

[Memnoch1207]

Maybe this will help

[paulheu]

tnx, I'll have a look at that code..