Module: TextBox in Category Microsoft Visual Basic 6 : Controls from Total Visual SourceBook

Routines to extend the functionality of the standard Visual Basic 6 (VB6) TextBox control.

Some of these procedures expose features which are inherent in the Windows control, but are not exposed by VB6 (such as the ability to set a bounding rectangle, or to force input to a certain case). Other procedures add entirely new functionality such as filtering keystrokes, or selecting text.

Procedure List

Example Code for Using Module: TextBox

' Example of modTextBox
'
' To try this example, do the following:
' 1. Create a new form
' 2. Create a text box named 'txtTest'
'    Set the following properties
'    Multiline      true
' 3. Create a text box named 'txtTabs'
'    Set the following properties
'    Multiline      true
' 4. Create a text box named 'txtAlpha'
' 5. Create a text box named 'txtNumeric'
' 6. Create a text box named 'txtValues'
' 7. Create a command button 'cmdUndo'
' 8. Create a command button 'cmdTest'
' 9. Create a command button 'cmdToDisk'
' 10. Create a command button 'cmdFromDisk'
' 11. Paste all the code from this example to the new form's module.

' This example assumes that the sample files are located in the folder named by the following constant.
Private Const mcstrSamplePath As String = "C:\Total Visual SourceBook 2013\Samples\"

Private Sub Form_Load()
  cmdUndo.Caption = "Undo"
  cmdTest.Caption = "Test"
  cmdToDisk.Caption = "To Disk"
  cmdFromDisk.Caption = "From Disk"

  txtTest = "Mary had a little lamb" & vbCrLf & _
            "Whose fleece was white as snow" & vbCrLf & _
            "And everywhere that Mary went" & vbCrLf & _
            "That lamb was sure to go"

  txtAlpha = "abc"
  txtNumeric = "123"
  txtValues = "AX9"

  ' Change the style of txtAlpha to automatically force all entries to be in lower-case.
  SetTextBoxCase txtAlpha, 0

  ' Make the text box twice as wide and twice as tall as its actual dimensions.
  ' Note that values are scaled to Pixels rather than Twips
  SetTextBoxRect txtTest, 0, 0, ScaleX(txtTest.Width * 2, vbTwips, vbPixels), ScaleY(txtTest.Height * 2, vbTwips, vbPixels)

End Sub

Private Sub cmdTest_Click()

  Dim lngLines As Long
  Dim strLine As String

  lngLines = GetTextBoxLineCount(txtTest)
  MsgBox "txtTest lines: " & lngLines

  strLine = GetTextBoxLine(txtTest, 1)
  MsgBox "Second line is: " & strLine

  SetTextBoxTabStops txtTabs, 100, 100, 110
  txtTabs = "a" & vbTab & "b" & vbTab & "c"

End Sub

Private Sub cmdUndo_Click()
  ' Example of UndoTextBox
  UndoTextBox txtTest
End Sub

Private Sub txtAlpha_KeyPress(KeyAscii As Integer)
  ' Allow only alphabetic characters to be entered into the text box.

  KeyAscii = FilterKeyPressAlpha(KeyAscii)

End Sub

Private Sub txtNumeric_KeyPress(KeyAscii As Integer)
  ' Allow only numeric characters to be entered into the text box.

  KeyAscii = FilterKeyPressNumeric(KeyAscii)

End Sub

Private Sub txtTest_Change()
  ' Disable or enable the cmdUndo button based on whether or not there is anything to undo in the Text1 text box.

  cmdUndo.Enabled = CanUndoTextBox(txtTest)

End Sub

Private Sub txtTest_GotFocus()
  ' Select text in the text box when the user sets focus to the field.

  SelectText txtTest

End Sub

Private Sub txtTest_KeyPress(KeyAscii As Integer)
  ' If user presses {Return}, move focus to next control in the tab order.

  KeyAscii = CRToTab(KeyAscii)
End Sub

Private Sub txtValues_KeyPress(KeyAscii As Integer)
  ' Allow only specified characters to be entered into the text box.
  ' In this case valid values are the characters 'A', 'X' or '9' or the BkSpc key

  KeyAscii = FilterKeyPressValues(KeyAscii, vbKeyA, vbKeyX, vbKey9, vbKeyBack)

End Sub

Private Sub cmdFromDisk_Click()
  Dim strInput As String

  strInput = mcstrSamplePath & "test.txt"

  TextBoxFromDisk txtTest, strInput

End Sub

Private Sub cmdToDisk_Click()
  Dim strOutput As String

  strOutput = mcstrSamplePath & "text2dsk.txt"

  TextBoxToDisk txtTest, strOutput

End Sub

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