Using The ScrollBars On Panels

Hello People!

This is the second part of my how to create an instant messenger script with visual basic and php.

Please read the first part of the lesson before starting it. You can find link in the lesson or you can find it on this forum too :c-smile:

On Last Part We Have Created Our Main Form And Learnt How To Create Controls By Our Codes.

In This Part We Will Learn How To Make It Look Like A Instant Messenger.

At The End Of This Lesson, Our Main Form Will Be Like This;
Posted Image

Okay. So as you see in this picture;

We have some new objects in this lesson.

First, remove our old button and it's functions.

These are;

2 Panels. 1 Of Them Scrollable.
1 Statusbar

Well and i think vbChat name is good for it :)

And i have added read friends from a php file. But it is on next part.

Okay. So We must reforge our form properties first.

So Change them this way;

FormBorderStyle -> FixedSingle
MaximizeBox -> False
Name -> Hello! Welcome To vbChat

Now Create A StatusStrip on your form.

And add a StatusLabel Control to your strip.

Change it's properties like this;

Name -> status
BackColor -> Control
Text -> Status

Now it looks like that;
Posted Image

Okay. Now Create A Panel By These Properties;

Name -> header_panel
BackColor -> Wheat
BorderStyle -> FixedSingle
Dock -> Top
Location -> 0;0 (Automatically)
Size -> 344; 47

Well. Now create 2 Labels on your panel with these properties;

First Label

Name -> welcome_label
AutoSize -> On (Automatically)
Font -> Trebuchet MS; 9,75pt; style=Bold
Location -> 11; 8
Text -> Welcome To vbChat!

Second Label

Name -> buddies_label
AutoSize -> On (Automatically)
Font -> Trebuchet MS; 9,75pt; style=Bold
Location -> 163; 8
Text -> Your Buddies;

Okay. Now We Need The Panel Which Our Friends Will Be Shown.

Create A Panel On Your Form.

Name -> friends
AutoScroll -> True
BackColor -> CornflowerBlue
BorderStyle -> FixedSingle
Dock -> None (Automatically)
Location -> 0; 46
Size -> 344; 401

Well. It Is Looking Like This Now;
Posted Image

Yes. You dont have Version Label =D

Now We Must Do Some Change In Our Code.

Create a function named add_buddy by these;

Private Function add_buddy(ByVal name As String, ByVal status As String)
 Dim b As New Panel
 b.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(25, (which * 62) + 12)
 which += 1
 b.Name = "Panel" & which
 b.BorderStyle = BorderStyle.FixedSingle
 b.Size = New System.Drawing.Size(290, 50)
 b.TabIndex = which + 1
 b.BackColor = Color.Cornsilk
 friends.Controls.Add(b)

 Dim c As New Label
 c.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(40, 4)
 c.AutoSize = True
 Dim font As New Font("Trebuchet MS", 10, FontStyle.Regular)
 c.Font = font
 c.ForeColor = Color.DarkRed
 c.Text = name
 AddHandler c.MouseMove, AddressOf altciz
 AddHandler c.MouseLeave, AddressOf altciz_kaldir

 Dim d As New Label
 d.Location = New System.Drawing.Point(45, 22)
 d.AutoSize = True
 d.Text = status

 b.Controls.Add(c)
 b.Controls.Add(d)
 c.Visible = True
 b.Visible = True
 Return Nothing
 End Function

So, Old Version Was Adding The Controls Directly To Form. But This Is Adding It To The Panel With These Codes

friends.Controls.Add(b)

Well, You Can Test It By Typing These Codes To Your Form.Load Event;

For i As Integer = 0 To 10
 add_buddy("Buddy Name", "Buddy Description")
Next

Looks like that;
Posted Image

Right?

Just Keep Waiting For Next Part Of This Serie. We Will Contact With Internet And Add Buddies With The Information We Took From Internet.

Before This Dont Forget Installing XAMPP from Here for our tests if you dont have a host or something like that.

Thank you for reading my post.
You can find next parts and much more on this forum or on my site.