ActiveX DLL with forms

[omarswan]

Hi,
I want to create a ActiveX DLL that also has a form in it.
So far, I keep getting some strange error messages. I want to be able to load a form from the ActiveX DLL that allows to user to enter data, that's all. Similar to a plugins used by Winamp. All I need are the basics. I know how to add a form to the ActiveX DLL as Design Time but I don't know how to use it at Runtime

any help or suggestions.

[Edited by omarswan on 05-24-2000 at 08:04 AM]

[Crazy D]

You need to write a wrapper class, a form is not visible from outside the dll, so you'll need to write a class which will expose the stuff you want to a calling application.
I use it for a general search window to search in a database and it works fine (even passing a parentform for the form works pretty well...)

[omarswan]

Hi,
Thanks for your reply. Do you have a simple exaple that you could give to me (code).

[omarswan]

Can someone offer me some help

[Paul282]

Originally posted by omarswan
Can someone offer me some help

Your request slipped off the top page so I thought I'd move it back up.

I think by wrapper class CrazyD means write a class with a public function or get property and have the class load your form as you would normally load it.

In an activeX dll, if a class or componant object doesn't call the form it won't load.

Is that what you meant CrazyD?

[Crazy D]

Forgot to check ;-)

Yeah the class as I wrote it has a few functions, one of them is show, to uhmm show the form. I return a boolean from that function, since my form is either "selected a record" or "cancelled". Also a few functions to init my form.
Declare an instance of your form in the class (eg Private m_frm as MyForm), and use m_frm to load and show the form. Note though that if you want to assign a parent form, it's a but of a pain. From within VB, I had to write a 2nd show function which doesn't have a parentobject as parameter (the original one had), but basically your class might look something like:

Private m_frm as MyForm

Private Sub Class_Initialize()
    Set m_frm = New MyForm
    Load m_frm
End Sub
Private Sub Class_Terminate()
    unload m_frm
Set m_frm = Nothing
End Sub

Public Property Let Caption(ByVal New_Caption As String)
    m_frm.Caption = New_Caption
End Property
Public Property Get Caption() As String
    Caption = m_frm.Caption
End Propert

Public Sub ShowForm(ByRef pParent As Object)
    m_frm.Show vbModal, pParent
End Sub

Depending on what you want you can add some fun stuff (passing Me (the class) to the form, so the form can call some Friend functions etc. to handle certain things, but basically it's kinda like above.
Hope this helps.

[Paul282]

Nice piece of code CrazyD

Think I'll borrow it!

[omarswan]

Thanks Alot Guys