asked on 5/21/2012

VB.Net - UI Design Suggestions

Good Day Experts!

I am freshly back into VB.net coding after a couple years off and had kind of a project design question from a UI viewpoint.

Here is a little bullet point of requirements:

1) One standalone .exe
2) Maitnenance type application for multiple tables in SQL Database
3) Make it "expandable"
4) Currently 10-15 "screens"

I am thinking of the menu pull down type look but then would have to manage open forms.

Currently I have started with the TabControl but would have to manage the actual tab size to accommodate if one maintenance "screen" needs to be bigger than the previous one viewable size. Plus the TabCotrol could get pretty wide.

Then with the TabControl is there someway to do a "home" one so I don't throw the user right onto the first tab when they login? Or is that ok?

As you can see I am open for design suggestions and/or resources to look at to assist with my decision making process.

Thanks for helping and I look forward to your ideas,
jimbo99999

Visual Basic.NET .NET Programming Microsoft Development

Last Comment

Jimbo99999

5/22/2012

Michael Fowler

5/22/2012

In one application I wrote I wanted different sized tabs and so I using the tab changed event I altered the size of the form and tab control as appropiate for the selected tab. This avoided having lots of blanks space on some tabs but not others.

Not sure what you mean by a "home" tab. If you want the form to open at the tab the users is currently at then you will need to store this information somewhere.

For a standalone exe just change the solution configuration to Release, run the application and then get the exe out of bin/release folder. This works so long as you do not have any dll's referenced. If you do reference any dll's then use ilmerge (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=17630) to combine the files.

Maybe instead of having tabs you could have a "Main" page. This page would have options for what the user would like to edit and when an option is selected the appropiate form would open to make the changes and when the form closes take the user back to the "Main" screen.

Michael

Jimbo99999

5/22/2012

ASKER

Thank you for your response. Your size changing idea is intriguing.

What I meant by "home" tab is when the application opens would I just show the first tab with all the textboxes, grids etc? Or is it typical to have a first tab labelled "home" or something with a logo or graphic?

Thanks,
jimbo99999

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Michael Fowler

5/22/2012