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Image to follow focus

Hello all. I am programming a user app that requires the user to select from several different options and depending on the option selected the form will take shape. The positioning of the text boxes and labels is such that the form is somewhat confusing to follow. So what I would like to use is sort of a follow the bouncing ball kind of thing where the user would do simply that follow a ball or pointer from text box to combo and so on as each of the controls gets focus. I would like the image to appear on the side of the control or label....I figured this is an easy question for most of you, Thanks for the help.......

bpoff

A simpler way might be to set the text color of the label for each control as it becomes active.

Put something like this in each control's GotFocus event:

ControlName.ForeColor = vbRed

In the LostFocus event, put this:

ControlName.ForeColor = vbBlack

This helps you deal with problems where there might not be enough room to show some sort of image, yet gives the user the visual feedback to help them see what's going on.

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Gordonp

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Erick37

Or use a shape control for the "bouncing ball."
Option Explicit

Private Sub Check1_GotFocus()
BounceBall
End Sub

Private Sub Combo1_GotFocus()
BounceBall
End Sub

Private Sub Command1_GotFocus()
BounceBall
End Sub

Private Sub Form_Load()
Shape1.Width = 100
End Sub

Private Sub Text1_GotFocus()
BounceBall
End Sub

Sub BounceBall()
Shape1.Move ActiveControl.Left - Shape1.Width, _
ActiveControl.Top, 100, ActiveControl.Height
End Sub

Gordonp

Would it not be better to reorganise your form so the progression was more logical, or even to have several forms accessed sequentially.

If your form is laid out in such a manner that it requires help to follow the flow, then change the layout, rather than add "features" to lead a user through it.

Gordon

jjmartin

I would agree with Gordonp, visit this site for some suggestions:

http://iarchitect.com/shame.htm

PBuck

I had to do something like this once ... I decided to use a label [>>>](but the code should work just fine).

I would make sure all your Textboxes are an array (just chance the index property starting with 0 to however many you have). What I did was created a label with [>>>] to use as a pointer. Instead place the imagebox where you would like the image to appear making sure it has the same index as the textbox.

Set all your imagebox visible properties to FALSE.

Use the below code for your Textbox Gotfocus

Private Sub txtDIALOG__GotFocus(Index As Integer)
Dim X as Integer
For X = 0 To 20 'How many Textbox/Image you have??
Image1(X).Visible = False
Next X
Image1(Index).Visible = True
End Sub

*Whichever textbox has the focus, the appropriate image will appear next to it and all others will turn invisible.

Hope this is useful. Good Luck!

johnmhat

ASKER

Thanks for the help...I think I will go back and reorganize the form...It is a case of a project that was started about 6mos ago and now I know alot more about the language...But it is always fun to learn new methods, there is so much...Thanks again