String Functions, Assign Arrays, Add Controls Dynamically

Visual Basic 6.0 introduced several improvements to the core language including string functions that allow you to convert an array to a string (Join), a string to an array (Split), reverse a string (StrReverse), Replace portions of the string, and search a string starting from the end (InStrRev) instead of the beginning. It also lets you to assign arrays to one another, pass them as the return value of a function and Filter out certain elements.

The Validate event lets you validate a control without having to do it in the LostFocus event then set focus back to that control. The CausesValidation property determines if the Validate event should be triggered or not. In this example the textbox's Validate event issues a message when the text property is empty. Clicking any button causes the validation to occur. Except when you click Quit. That is because its CausesValidation property is set False.

Other Visual Basic 6.0 features are the ability to add and remove controls dynamically at runtime and the Call By Name feature. Call By Name lets you access properties and methods of a control by specifying a string containing the name of the property or method, rather than by coding the name explicitly. My Dynamically Add Controls and Create a Scrollable Form page offers another approach to dynamically adding controls.

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The features illustrated here first became available in Visual Basic 6.0.

To add a control dynamically, create an object of the desired type:

  '
  ' Define an object variable of type Command button.
  ' The Withevents statement allows the button object
  ' to respond to events occurring on the new button.
  '
  Private WithEvents btnObj As CommandButton

Add it by setting its properties and adding it to the controls collection:

   Private Sub Form_Load()
     '
     ' Dynamically add a new button to the form. The
     ' item to add, a button in this case, must be a
     ' member of the VB object as displayed in the
     ' Object Browser. The second parameter is the
     ' the new control's name.
     '
     Set btnObj = Controls.Add("VB.CommandButton", "btnObj")
     With btnObj
        .Visible = True
        .Caption = "New Button"
        .Top = 720
        .Left = 120
        .Width = 2175
     End With
   End Sub

Deleted it by removing from the controls collection:

   Private Sub cmdRemove_Click()
      '
      ' Remove the new button and hide the Remove button.
      '  
      Form1.Controls.Remove ("btnObj")

      cmdRemove.Visible = False
   End Sub