Declaring an instance of a form

shadowpug · June 22nd, 2003, 08:24 PM

Hi,

I have an application with 9 forms. All of my subroutines are contained withing my main form (form1). I have added another form and wish to access subroutines and objects on form1. I have NO problem accessing objects on forms #2-8 from form1, but for some reason, I cant figure out how to declare form1 so that I can reference objects within that form from other forms.

I have tried place in a module:

Public mainForm as form1 = New Form1()

Any many other variations of it. In some cases I get errors regarding having no instance of an object. In some cases, the I can call a subroutine on form1 but a lot of the variables return zero since its trying to access data from objects on form1.

The bottom line is that I need to figure out how to access the active instance of form1.

Any and all help truly appreciated..

Thank

Ray

Imar · June 23rd, 2003, 06:58 AM

Hi Ray,

As you found out, declaring and instantiating a new Form1 doesn't work. All you are doing is creating a second instance of Form1, which of course doesn't represent your first Form1.

Here's what you could do:

1. Declare a Public variable to hold your Form1 reference so it is available to all other forms as well.

Code:

    Dim MainForm As Form1

2. Add a Sub Main() to your project.

3. Add the following code to that method:

Code:

    Public Sub Main()
        MainForm = New Form1
        MainForm.ShowDialog()
    End Sub

4. Make the Main method the start-up object of your project. You can do that on the Properties dialog for the project.

Now whenever you start your app, the Main function runs. It creates a new Form1 and assigns a reference to it to the MainForm variable. All other forms should now be able to see your MainForm and access its controls.

HtH

Imar

----------------------------------------
Imar Spaanjaars
Everyone is unique, except for me.

shadowpug · June 23rd, 2003, 07:54 AM

Imar,

Harstke bedankt!

Thats exactly what I thought I was doing, creating a second instance of form1. I will follow your instructions.

Thanks again!

shadowpug · June 23rd, 2003, 11:10 AM

Imar,

Please bear with me.

1) I declared the public variable in a module. Is this correct?
2) When you say add Sub Main() to my project and then add the code you specified, is this two steps?? I just copied the code directly into the module. Is adding Sub Main() a step before adding the actual code, or is simple adding the code to the module correct?
3) I made the main method the start up object
4) My references to mainForm on other forms still give me an error that says mainForm is not declared.

If you find the time, I would appreciate another reply. Should I be adding this code to form1? The module? Where am I going wrong?

Thanks

Ray

shadowpug · June 23rd, 2003, 11:13 AM

Disregard,

I used Public instead of Dim and I got it to work. Thanks again!

Imar · June 23rd, 2003, 01:56 PM

Graag gedaan ;)

As you could see, by using Dim the variable is not available in your entire project. By making it Public, each individual form in your application can reach this variable.

You can use this setup to create a splash screen for your application as well. Use ShowDialog to bring up the Splash screen, have the Splash Screen unload itself and then run your main form from the Main method.

Cheers,

Imar

----------------------------------------
Imar Spaanjaars
Everyone is unique, except for me.