Hints and Extra Credit: Program 7

1. The Working Model edition of VB will not support the creation of ActiveX controls, you must come to the lab at NKU to complete the last assignment.
2. Use the steps (1-7) on page VB 7.19 - VB 7.21 for the Buttons property but substitute for buttons your 3 properties Caption, Interval, and FontSize; you will not have the Buttons or Action property used in the chapter in your Flash Label.
3. Remember to use the proper prefixes for all your control names for all controls found on both the ActiveX control (FlashLabel) and the testing project!
4. Be sure to use the Hint: in your book at the top of page VB 7.69 to make the label flash, this code goes in the tmrFlash_Timer event of the ActiveX control.
5. Use the following code in the Resize event of the UserControl to cause the constituent label control to maintain the same size as the UserControl when its borders are dragged to resize the control when placed into a new project using the ActiveX control.
   lblFlash.Move 0, 0, ScaleWidth, ScaleHeight Review the boldfaced parameters provided by Visual Basic when typing the statement in the code window to help understand how the statement works or use the VB Help system.
6. Do not put any command buttons on the ActiveX control itself, it should only contain two controls a label and a timer control. The command buttons for Caption, FontSize, and Interval go into the application that tests the ActiveX Flash label.
7. Use the InputBox$ function to prompt the user for new values for the three new properties (Caption, Interval, and FontSize) added to the UserControl when testing the FlashLabel ActiveX control using the command buttons. (run the Web Page Program)
8. Before using the command buttons in the test application to change the three properties at run-time, check out the new properties of the Flashlabel at design-time by clicking on it in the test project going to the Properties Window and changing the values for Caption, FontSize, and Interval. If there is any problem putting in new values, you must go back and check the FlashLabel ActiveX control's Get, Let, ReadProperty, and WriteProperty procedures to set-up the property in error correctly!
9. Lab Users: Do not compile the ActiveX control (Flashlabel) into an .ocx file this will cause the control to be added to the System Registry of the machine. To test the FlashLabel create the ActiveX control first and save it to your floppy. Click the File menu then click the Add Project ... item, double-click Standard EXE icon to create a Visual Basic project in which to test your FlashLabel. Add the ActiveX control (FlashLabel) and 3 command buttons to your standard Visual Basic test project. Before running the test project right-click on the project window while pointing to the 2nd Project (Standard VB Project) icon, select Set As Start Up from the popup menu. Click the disk icon on the toolbar (Save Project Group ToolTipText will appear) save the test form to the floppy as TestFlashLabel in the Save File As dialog box, save the project as TestFlashLabel in the Save Project As dialog box, use the group name TestFlashLabel in the Save Project Group As dialog box. You are now ready to test the FlashLabel, click the start button on the toolbar.
10. For Extra Credit: Check the ranges for the Interval and FontSize values as indicated by the program on Web page. A loop structure needs to be created to allow the user to keep entering values until the correct range of values is entered.
11. For Extra Credit: Add additional properties to the FlashLabel that you find useful. (AutoSize is nice, but a little tricky, see if you can make it work just for fun)

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