Dynamic Pictureboxs

[manbearpig001]

Hey guys, im trying to make a program that consists of two forms.
One 'toolbox' form, and one 'pallet' form. The toolbox has components that you drag onto the pallet form. Once you drag them onto the pallet form, you should be able to move around the pictureboxes. Unfortunatley, since they are dynamic controls, i have no way of checking what picturebox you click on when there are multiple pictureboxes on the pallet at one time. they are in an arraylist, however i dont know how to check on my mouse_down routine what array index the picturebox is. any ideas?

[keystone_paul]

You don't need to worry about array indices etc... all events comes with a standard pair of arguments - "sender" and "e", for example

    Private Sub PictureBox1_MouseDown(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs) Handles PictureBox1.MouseDown

    End Sub

sender is a reference to whatever object raised the event, so you can just use "sender" to manipulate the picture box directly (you will probably want to cast from type object to picturebox first though.

Here's an example :

    Private Sub PictureBox1_MouseDown(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs)

        Dim MyPb As PictureBox = CType(sender, PictureBox)

        MyPb.Visible = False

    End Sub

[manbearpig001]

ok this is wat ive been trying to use. problem is, all of my pictureboxs are stored in an arraylist. how do i tell what one im clicking on?

[.paul.]

as you add the pictureboxes, add their index in the arraylist to their .tag property

[.paul.]

for movable / resizable runtime controls have a look at the link in my signature

[manbearpig001]

ok so ive tried using this now, and im still running into the same problem. when i click the picturebox, how do i check what tag it is?

[.paul.]

Private Sub PictureBox1_MouseDown(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs)
 
     Dim MyPb As PictureBox = CType(sender, PictureBox)
 
     msgbox(MyPb.tag.tostring)
End Sub

[manbearpig001]

hmm somethings wrong. i can create new pictureboxes with this:

Private Sub Label1_TextChanged(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Label1.TextChanged
        If Label1.Text = "pic1" Then
            Dim wall As New PictureBox
            wall.Location = MousePosition
            wall.BackColor = Color.Silver
            wall.Size = New Point(104, 16)
            If Form3.OpenFileDialog2.FileName = Nothing Then
                If Form3.ColorDialog2.Color = Nothing Then GoTo a
                wall.BackColor = Form3.ColorDialog2.Color
a:
            Else
                Dim img As Image = Image.FromFile(Form3.OpenFileDialog2.FileName)
                wall.Image = img
            End If
            walls.Add(wall)
            For Each PictureBox In walls
                Dim q As Integer = -1
                q = q + 1
                i = q
            Next
            drag = True
            wall.Tag = i.ToString
            Me.Controls.Add(wall)
            AddHandler wall.MouseDown, AddressOf wall_mousedown
        End If
    End Sub

and then i have the mouse_down sub thats for dynamic controls:

Dim wstr As String
    Private Sub wall_mousedown(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As MouseEventArgs)
        Dim wall As PictureBox = CType(sender, PictureBox)
        wstr = wall.Tag
        MsgBox(wstr)
        If drag = True Then
            drag = False
            Label1.Text = ""
        Else
            drag = True
        End If
    End Sub
End Class

and finally the mouse_move sub

Private Sub Form1_MouseMove(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.MouseEventArgs) Handles Me.MouseMove
        If wstr = Nothing = False Then
            If drag = True Then
                Dim g As Integer = Val(wstr)
                walls(g).Location = MousePosition
            End If

        End If

    End Sub

when i create two new picboxs, it still wants to move the first one when i add the second one.

[.paul.]

For Each PictureBox In walls
                Dim q As Integer = -1
                q = q + 1
                i = q
            Next
            drag = True
            wall.Tag = i.ToString

i is always 0

[manbearpig001]

oooh haha gotts dim g before loop... thanks

[virtueone]

It looks like your "wstr" variable is not global, so I don't see how you're expecting the get the correct value from that. Also, instead of using Form_MouseMove, create a new event for your picturebox control instead: wall_MouseMove, and add your code to that. Then the arguments from wall_MouseMove will tell you which picturebox has been clicked.

[.paul.]

i'll let you take over on this 1 virtueone

[manbearpig001]

good idea. thanks lemme try these ideas out

[virtueone]

i'll let you take over on this 1 virtueone

I was just testing out something very similar today while learning to build dynamic elements and such. I'm sure your responses would be much more educated paul.

[manbearpig001]

ok heres my code now;

Public Class Form1
 
    Private Sub Form1_Load(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        Form3.Show()
    End Sub
 
    Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Form3.Show()
        Button1.Visible = False
    End Sub
    Dim walls As New ArrayList
    Dim drag As Boolean = False
    Dim i As Integer = -1
    Dim i2 As Integer
    Private Sub Label1_TextChanged(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Label1.TextChanged
        If Label1.Text = "pic1" Then
            Dim wall As New PictureBox
            wall.Location = MousePosition
            wall.BackColor = Color.Silver
            wall.Size = New Point(104, 16)
            If Form3.OpenFileDialog2.FileName = Nothing Then
                If Form3.ColorDialog2.Color = Nothing Then GoTo a
                wall.BackColor = Form3.ColorDialog2.Color
a:
            Else
                Dim img As Image = Image.FromFile(Form3.OpenFileDialog2.FileName)
                wall.Image = img
            End If
            walls.Add(wall)
            For Each PictureBox In walls
                q1 = q1 + 1
                i = q1
            Next
            drag = True
            wall.Tag = i.ToString
            Me.Controls.Add(wall)
            AddHandler wall.MouseDown, AddressOf wall_mousedown
        End If
    End Sub
    Dim q1 As Integer = -1
    Private Sub wall_mousedown(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As MouseEventArgs)
        Dim wall As PictureBox = CType(sender, PictureBox)
        AddHandler wall.MouseMove, AddressOf wall_mousemove
        If drag = True Then
            drag = False
            Label1.Text = ""
        Else
            drag = True
 
        End If
    End Sub
    Private Sub wall_mousemove(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As MouseEventArgs)
        If drag = True Then
            Dim wall As PictureBox = CType(sender, PictureBox)
            wall.Location = New Point(MousePosition.X - 20, MousePosition.Y - 10)
        End If
    End Sub
End Class

the problems are that when i move the mouse too quickly, it goes outside the picturebox, and the wall_mousemove event stops firing off. Also, it does not distinguish what wall to move, so it moves whatever the mouse is over.

[virtueone]

The MouseMove event should only affect the controls that it is attached to, so I don't know why it would be moving other things.... Make sure the "sender" value matches the control that you want to move, if not, then obviously it wont move the correct control.

Try attaching the mousemove event along with the mousedown event:
AddHandler wall.MouseDown, AddressOf wall_mousedown
AddHandler wall.MouseMove, AddressOf wall_mousemove

Also, try using another method for moving the item, to avoid the out-of-bounds mouse over problem. Reference this recent post for help with that: http://www.vbforums.com/showthread.php?t=608131

Does this help you at all?

[manbearpig001]

hmm... a fix for my problems would be somehow clipping the mouseposition when drag = true, to the wall bounds. now, i need to be able to get the location and size of the wall i click on, then use something like a timer to check if the mouseposition is intersecting with the wall.

EDIT:
alright i fixed it. now i need help with one last problem. When im dragging a picturebox, and drag it over another picturebox, the one that im dragging swaps to the one that i mouse over. any way around this would help!

[virtueone]

Hey manbear, do you mind posting your updated code? For my own benefit, I'd like to know how you're handling the "snapping" to the wall bounds, but it would help me to help you resolve the last problem also. There is probably a couple simple ways to fix your problem...

Set a global variable for the control that is clicked.
So, on your mousedown event, add something like:

itemSelected = CType(sender, PictureBox)

Then on your mousemove event, move your control based of the "itemSelected" value, instead of relying on the "sender" value.

You could also just make the current selected control the front-most item, so that the mousemove should only affect that item (I think):

wall.BringToFront()

Hope this helps you!

[virtueone]

By the way, this is the program I made recently learning to build and move custom controls....

Dim Moveable As Boolean
Dim LastPos As Point

Dim newItemID As Integer
Dim itemSelect As Integer

Dim pbArray As New ArrayList

    Private Sub Form1_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Click

        newItemID = newItemID + 1

        Dim pb As PictureBox
        pb = New PictureBox
        pb.Name = newItemID

        pb.Location = Me.PointToClient(Cursor.Position)
        pb.Tag = newItemID
        pb.BorderStyle = 2
        AddHandler pb.MouseDown, AddressOf ClickPictureMouseDown
        AddHandler pb.MouseUp, AddressOf ClickPictureMouseUp
        AddHandler pb.MouseMove, AddressOf ClickPictureMouseMove
        Controls.Add(pb)

    End Sub

    Private Sub ClickPictureMouseDown(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As MouseEventArgs)
        itemSelect = DirectCast(sender, PictureBox).Tag.ToString

        Moveable = True
        Dim pos As Point = Cursor.Position
        pos.Offset(-DirectCast(sender, PictureBox).Location.X, -DirectCast(sender, PictureBox).Location.Y)
        LastPos = pos
        DirectCast(sender, PictureBox).BringToFront()

        If e.Button = MouseButtons.Right Then
            Controls.Remove(DirectCast(sender, PictureBox))
        End If
    End Sub

    Private Sub ClickPictureMouseUp(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
        Moveable = False
    End Sub

    Private Sub ClickPictureMouseMove(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
        If Moveable Then
            Dim pos As Point = Cursor.Position
            pos.Offset(-LastPos.X, -LastPos.Y)
            DirectCast(sender, PictureBox).Location = pos
        End If
    End Sub

This creates a new picturebox each time the user clicks on the form.
It allows the user to click on any added picturebox and darg it around.
Seems so simple, but I was quite satisfied when it worked!