| Chapter 3: VB6 EXE ActiveX Walk-Through |
|
The
following information demonstrates how to create your first Visual Basic
v6 / ProEssentials implementation. It discusses installation, adding ProEssentials
to a project, writing your first few lines of code, and shows the final
results.
|
| Project
/ Components... menu |
Installation... |
|
|
When installing
the ProEssentials evaluation and/or product, the setup program installs
the ProEssentials DLL and ActiveX interfaces into the system directory.
These files are:
|
PEGRP32D.DLL
|
ProEssentials
Pro DLL |
| PEGO32D.OCX
|
Graph Object |
| PESGO32D.OCX
|
Scientific
Graph Object |
| PE3DO32D.OCX
|
3D Scientific
Graph Object |
| PEPSO32D.OCX
|
Polar Object |
| PEPCO32D.OCX
|
Pie Chart
Object |
|
PEGRPDS.DLL
|
ProEssentials
Standard DLL |
| PEGODS.OCX
|
Graph Object |
| PESGODS.OCX
|
Scientific
Graph Object |
| PE3DODS.OCX
|
3D Scientific
Graph Object |
| PEPSODS.OCX
|
Polar Object |
| PEPCODS.OCX
|
Pie Chart
Object |
|
PEGRPDL.DLL
|
ProEssentials
Lite DLL |
| PEGODL.OCX
|
Graph Object |
| PESGODL.OCX
|
Scientific
Graph Object |
| PE3DODL.OCX
|
3D Scientific
Graph Object |
| PEPSODL.OCX
|
Polar Object |
| PEPCODL.OCX
|
Pie Chart
Object |
The setup
program also registers the ActiveXs with the operating system, which prepares
Visual Basic for inclusion of ProEssentials components. You can manually
register an ActiveX with "REGSVR32.EXE" found in your system/system32
dir. You can also use this utility to manually un-register an ActiveX
by using the "-u" command.
After
installation, launch Visual Basic and create a new "Standard EXE"
project.
Use the Project / Components... menu item
to open the "Components" dialog. |
| Components... Dialog |
Adding ProEssentials to a VB project... |
|
Within the [Components] Dialog, scroll down until you see the Gigasoft
entries and select those shown in the left image. Note that the [Controls]
tab is active.
Clicking
the [OK] button will close the
[Components] dialog and places
those items selected into Visual Basic's ToolBox as shown.
|
| Form1... |
Adding
ProEssentials to a Form... |
|
|
Click
the "Pego" control from the ToolBox
and then click and drag a rectangle selection on Form1's canvas.
Note,
ProEssentials Std uses control name "PegoStd"
and ProEssentials Lite uses control
name "PegoLite".
The adjacent image shows what you see. This
represents the default state of a ProEssentials Graph. The default state
has one subset with four data points. In the course of constructing your
own charts, you'll set the properties Subsets
and Points which define the quantity
of data your chart will hold. You'll then pass data via the YData(subset, point) two dimensional
property array. The following section shows example code of passing data.
Note, if we were constructing a Scientific Graph (Pesgo), we'd also set
XData(subset, point).
ProEssentials
uses the terms Subsets and Points but you can think of these as Rows and
Columns. Passing data is as simple as filling each Subset with Points
worth of data.
Use Visual Basic's View / Code menu to open
the Code Window. Then select [Form] from the top left drop-down combo box.
The event combobox on the top right will switch to [Load]. Enter the code as shown. Writing this
small amount of code will improve your
understanding and demonstrate the auto-code completion features supported
by ProEssentials. |
| Code
Window... |
Code Comments... |
|
The first
two lines set Subsets and Points. These define the amount of
data you'll be passing.
Next,
a nested For-Next loop passes random data into the YData(s,
p) property array.
Next,
MainTitle and SubTitle
are set. Note that setting SubTitle to an empty string hides the subtitle.
The YAxisLabel and XAxisLabel
are set similarly.
SubsetLabels sets the first subset label. (1) sets the
second subset label.
Next, we set various other properties controlling
visual aspects.
Finally,
PEactions is set to REINITIALIZE_RESETIMAGE
which tells ProEssentials you're done setting properties.
|
| Results... |
Congratulations... |
|
Use Visual Basic's Run / Start Menu (short
cut F5) and you'll see the resulting form to the left. Congratulations,
you've just completed your first Visual Basic / ProEssentials implementation.
This example is very simple and you'll likely
set other properties such as: Width/Height so that the control uses Form1's client
area as needed.
PointLabels which will replace
the "1,2,3..." along x axis.
SubsetLineTypes which controls
line styles.
SubsetColors which controls line
colors.
PlottingMethod
which controls the type of chart created, Line, Bar, Area, Point, etc.
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