Sending an object to a form

[Frode]

I've written an add-in for MS Word which adds a commandbarbutton, and fires a form when clicked.

I'm having some trouble sending the Word application object to the form, so that it can work with my Word document.

Conceptual code looks like this:
file: connect.vb

public class
        Dim withevents SuperForm as Windows.Forms.Form
        Dim applicationObject as Object
         applicationObject = application

       private sub button_click(ByVal Ctrl As Microsoft.Office.Core.CommandBarButton, ByRef CancelDefault As Boolean) Handles Button.Click
            SuperForm = New Mainform
            SuperForm.Show()
        end sub
end class

file mainform.vb

Private Sub MainForm_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load

       Dim oWord As Word.Application
       oWord = CType(applicationObject, Word.Application)
...

How can I send the current Word application object to the new form I'm creating?

Is is correct to use something like this?:

Public MainForm(ByRef applicationObject As Object)
and 
SuperForm = new MainForm(applicationObject)

[vbdotnetboy]

either overload the forms new constructor or place the object in the current Sub New for the form then make a private variable for that forms scope. hope this make sense

[Frode]

Hmm, I'm not quite fluid in speaking vb.net yet... Could you show a code-example?

[vbdotnetboy]

ok first explain to me are you calling the same form again for the superform? or is the superform suppose to be in a seperate class? if not that's fine but personally i would make a seperate class that would inherit the mainform and just pass the word object...but agian i'm not 100% sure how you're coding this

[Frode]

Ok, here is the flow of the program.

It's written as an Add-in for Word, and consists only of one form. The idea is that my form is created and shown when the user clicks the commandbarbutton in Word.

The issue I'm struggeling with is that my form needs to be able to work with the Word application it was called from.

The superform is in a different class and a different .vb file.

I actually wrote the program as a normal program with a single form. It was afterwards that I wrapped the program with the Word Add-in extensibility.

[vbdotnetboy]

ok... so i'm assuming that in the event where you click the but that's

'This would be the code in the other class that is for MainForm.
 
Public Class MainForm : Inherits System.Windows.Forms
       Private oWord As Word.Application
 
       'This is in in the Form designer region
 
       Sub New()
             MyBase.New()
 
             'This call is required by the Windows Form Designer.
             InitializeComponent()
             'Add any initialization after the InitializeComponent() call
 
       End Sub
 
       Sub New(ByVal oWordApp As Word.Application)
             MyBase.New()
 
             'This call is required by the Windows Form Designer.
             InitializeComponent()
             'Add any initialization after the InitializeComponent() call
             oWord = oWordApp
       End Sub
 
End Class
 
'I would assume that this is within the word app
       private sub button_click(ByVal Ctrl As Microsoft.Office.Core.CommandBarButton, ByRef CancelDefault As Boolean) Handles Button.Click
            'I have never done an add-on but i would imagine that you have reference to 
            'the word app here so just pass reference for this app to the MainForm.
            SuperForm = New Mainform(Me)
            SuperForm.Show()
        end sub

i hope this helps

[Frode]

That was exactly what I was looking for, it solved my problem superbly! Thanks a million, vbdotnetboy!

[vbdotnetboy]

anytime...don't forget to mark it as resolved.

[Frode]

I'm having another, probably stupid, question.
I've written an eventhandler which handles SuperForm.Closed
Is this the correct way of disposing of my program/form?:

Private Dub FormClosed(ByVal sender as object, ByVal args as Eventargs) Handles SuperForm.Closed
SuperForm.dispose()
SuperForm = Nothing
End Sub

[vbdotnetboy]

just delete the superform = nothing...all you need is the dispose...however in that click event you may want to set superform = nothing.