Form Designer

• Download source - 293 Kb
• Download demo executable - 188 Kb
• Download Redistributables - 1.03 MB
• Download demo project (MFC) - 66 Kb
• Download demo project (C#) - 62 Kb
• Download demo project (VB) - 33 Kb
• Download help file - 284 Kb

Please note that the demo executable requires the form designer source code to be built first unless the redistributables have been downloaded and registered in advance.

Introduction

If like me, you may have come across the situation where users of your product need to extend or customise the standard functionality provided by your application straight out of the box. For example, a database application may provide tools which allow users to create their own forms for viewing or entering data rather than having to go through the standard table view. Another example would be an installation package which allows each of the installation screens to be customised to suit virtually any type of install situation, no matter how diverse. What is needed then, is something that is either going to be extremely tightly coupled to the target application so as to make it unusable in any other circumstances, or, as presented here, a generic solution approaching a very simplistic programming environment where users can design their own forms and add functionality to them without having to go out and buy a copy of Visual Studio.

Components

Let's look at what we get with the form designer then.

Form editor

The form editor allows users to visibly design forms which will be executed at runtime. Each form is built up using a number of ActiveX controls. The ActiveX controls used on the form can either be selected from a bunch of controls installed on the users system, or from a number of intrinsic controls included with the form designer package. The form editor can be used to programmatically generate forms without any user interaction if required, this feature is extremely useful when forms need to be dynamically generated on the fly, or when the user has no knowledge of writing script code.

Key features of the form editor

• Creates forms up to 2500x2500 pixels
• Hosts an unlimited* wide range of ActiveX controls
• Provides standard clipboard operations
• Provides unlimited* undo and redo levels
• Includes many alignment, spacing, sizing and ordering options
• Supports both programmatic and manual form creation and manipulation
• Has a fully customizable colour scheme to suit the host application
• Flicker free operation

Unlimited* - is dependant on system resources.

Property frame

The property frame is where the appearance of the form can be totally customised. In addition to displaying a standard set of property pages for each control hosted on the form, the property frame also includes a property browser, which allows powerful manipulation of control properties, and an extended page, for setting miscellaneous control attributes, such as the control name.

The property browser supports the following property types

• String
• Numeric
• Boolean
• Enumerator
• Colour
• Font
• Picture

Context menu

Not really a separate component, but worth mentioning here. The context menu serves two main purposes. 1) To provide a shortcut to some of the more common form editor functions without having to go through menu items and toolbars. 2) To allow events which are sourced from the form, from controls on the form, and from exposed objects, to be navigated and handled by adding the appropriate subroutine blocks to the script.

The context menu provides access to the following functions

• Standard clipboard operations
• Control z-ordering (send to back, bring to front)
• Form event handling and navigation
• Control event handling and navigation
• Exposed object event handling and navigation
• Control creation and deletion
• Property frame activation

Script editor and 3rd party editor drivers

The script editor acts as a visual buffer for the script and provides a simple means to modify and expand the event handler subroutine blocks generated by the form editor. Since the interface between the script and script editor is completely based around COM interfaces, it is possible to use a specially written driver to substitute the default editor with preferred editor if required. The picture shows the CodeSense syntax highlighting editor being used as the script editor.

Drivers for the following editors are included with the form designer

• CodeMax (Version 2 only)
• CodeSense (Version 2 only)

Form viewer

The form viewer is used to display a previously saved form and run the associated script.

Control pack

The form designer includes a control pack which contains a number of useful ActiveX controls that can be used in the creation of custom forms.

The control pack contains the following ActiveX controls

• Label
• Picture
• Button
• Check box
• Radio button
• Text box
• List box
• Combo box
• Horizontal scrollbar
• Vertical scrollbar

Prerequisites

Before we can get started on building the form designer projects, there are a couple of files which are needed by the build process that may not be on your machine.

• Microsoft Windows Script Control (which can be found here[^])
• Windows Template Library 7.1 (which can be found here[^])

Building the core projects

The form designer core components are contained within two separate projects, DDPropPageAll and DDForms. Each of the projects should be built using Visual Studio .NET 2003, and in the order shown.

DDPropPageAll

This project contains the property browser implementation.

DDForms

This project contains the implementation of the form editor, form viewer, and a simple script editor.

Building the optional projects

The form designer optional components are contained within four separate projects, DDControlPack, CodeMaxDriver, CodeSenseDriver, and DDUnlock. Each of the projects should be built using Visual Studio .NET 2003, the order is unimportant.

DDControlPack

This project contains the implementation of a number of useful ActiveX controls which can be used in the creation of custom forms.

CodeMaxDriver

This project contains the implementation of the CodeMax driver which is used to replace the standard script editor with the CodeMax syntax highlighting editor. In order to build this project the CodeMax editor will need to be installed on the system in a location where the compiler is able to extract type information from it.

CodeSenseDriver

This project contains the implementation of the CodeSense driver which is used to replace the standard script editor with the CodeSense syntax highlighting editor. In order to build this project the CodeSense editor will need to be installed on the system in a location where the compiler is able to extract type information from it.

DDUnlock

This project contains the implementation on an unlock code generator which will be needed to unlock the form designer from evaluation mode into full mode.

Using the components

Introduction

Once all the projects have been successfully built up we can start looking at integrating the form designer into our own products. This section covers the steps involved in adding the form designer to a Visual Basic application. A new application is developed from scratch which provides minimalist form editing capabilities. In order to build up on the example, it is simply a case of exposing more of the component methods using toolbar buttons and menu items.

The finished application is shown below.

Step 1 - Add a reference to the form designer

The first thing we need to do it tell Visual Basic about the form designer components. From the Visual Basic components dialog, select DaeDoe Forms and then click OK. This will add the form designer components to the current project. You will notice that a number of new icons appear on the Visual Basic control palette, these icons allow the form designer components to be added to a Visual Basic form.

Control Pallet Icon	Component
	Form Editor
	Form Viewer
	Script Editor

Step 2 - Insert the form editor and script editor components

Next, the form editor and script editor components should be added to the main form. This can be done by using the new form editor and script editor icons displayed on the Visual Basic control palette. As can be seen, each component is displayed on the same form, but this is not essential. In order for the form editor to function correctly it needs to be linked to the script editor, the link is not automatic and must be set up by the host application at run time. An ideal place to perform this connection is as part of the Form's Load event processing.

' Form load event handler
Private Sub Form_Load()

' Connect the script to the script editor
FormEditor1.Script.Editor = SimpleScriptEditor1.Object

End Sub

Step 3 - Expose objects

Object exposing is described in a later section, but basically the form editor needs to know about any objects which the script will have access to at runtime. An instance of each of these objects must be exposed to the form editor in order for them to appear in the Exposed Objects section of the form editor context menu. An ideal place to perform the object exposing is as part of the Form's Load event processing. Note that in order to successfully expose Visual Basic classes, the project needs to be set up as an ActiveX project otherwise type information for each class is not automatically generated.

' Create an instance of MyClass
Public MyClassInstance As New MyClass

' Form load event handler
Private Sub Form_Load()

' Expose to the form editor an instance of MyClass
' The instance will be referenced by the name "MyClass" from the script
FormEditor1.Expose "MyClass", MyClassInstance

End Sub

Step 4 - Add required functionality

Depending on the nature of the host application, as much or as little functionality of the form editor and script editor components can be presented to the end user as required. Most of the component methods will map directly onto toolbar buttons and menu items with a minimal of amount of additional coding. In the example, load and save buttons have been added to the main form, along with a file name edit box. Pressing the load or save buttons will direct the form editor to serialise the form as appropriate.

' Load button click event handler
Private Sub Load_Click()

' Load the saved form
FormEditor1.LoadFromFile FileName

End Sub

' Save button click event handler
Private Sub Save_Click()

' Save the current form
FormEditor1.SaveToFile FileName

End Sub

Step 5 - Insert the form viewer component

Now that the form editing side of things has been completed, it is time to add a form viewer to the project. The form viewer will allow us to display a form which has been previously saved to disk by the form editor. The form viewer component should be added to a separate popup window. This can be done by using the new form viewer icon displayed on the Visual Basic control palette.

Step 6 - Load and display a saved form

In the final step, a preview button has been added to the main form. Pressing this button will bring up the form viewer window created in the previous step and load in the form whose name appears in the file name edit box. Again, you may notice from the code snippet another magical reference to object exposing, don't worry about this for now, this will all be explained in a later section.

' Preview button click event handler
Private Sub Preview_Click()

' Expose all objects to the form viewer which need to be accessible from the script
Form2.FormViewer1.Expose "MyClass", MyClassInstance

' Load the form
Form2.FormViewer1.LoadFromFile FileName

' Optionally set the background colour of the form viewer to match that of the form
Form2.FormViewer1.BackColor = Form2.FormViewer1.Form.BackColor

' Display the popup window
Form2.Show vbModal

End Sub

Using the mouse

Before we take a look at using the form designer to create a custom form, let us spend a few moments looking at how the mouse is used in the form editor. There are a small number of form editor operations which can only be performed using the mouse, and these operations are discussed below.

Selecting controls

A control can selected by clicking it with the mouse. To select multiple controls, the ctrl key should be held down while clicking each control in turn. An alternative method of selecting either single or multiple controls is to use a selection box. A selection box is created by clicking the form, and then dragging the mouse over the controls which require selecting. Any control which is fully enclosed by the selection box will be selected.

Sizing and moving controls

When a control is selected, a drag frame containing drag handles will appear around its borders. To size a control, the mouse should be positioned over an enabled drag handle and dragged until the control is set to the required size. The corner drag handles will resize the control both horizontally and vertically, while the side drag handles resize only in one direction. To move a control, the mouse should be used to drag the control to a new location. If the grid is visible, all sizing and moving operations will snap to the grid, to prevent this, the alt key should be held down while moving the mouse.

Ordering controls

In order to set the z-order in which controls are displayed on the form, the form editor must be switched into tab ordering mode. When in this mode, each control will display a number in the top left corner indicating the control tab number. Each control should then be clicked in turn, with the first control clicked representing the bottom most control, and the last control clicked representing the top most. The form editor will remain in tab ordering mode until the area outside of a control is clicked.

Selecting and sizing the form

The form can be selected and sized in a way similar to that described in the preceding sections covering controls.

Displaying the context menu

The context menu can displayed by right clicking on the form or a control.

Creating custom forms

Introduction

This section covers the steps involved in creating custom forms using a form designer enabled application. We will look at developing a simple media player which utilizes the Microsoft Windows Media Player ActiveX control. The host application is assumed to be the standard demonstration application (downloadable at the top of this article) as this provides a complete set of form creation, editing and viewing tools.

The finished form is shown below.

Step 1 - Create the interface

The form provides a foundation on which an interface can be built. An interface is constructed by adding one or more controls to the form, these controls can be sized and positioned within the form boundaries as required.

At this stage, the following controls should be added to the form.

Button	Item
	Text box
	Button
	Check box
	ActiveX control (Microsoft Windows Media Player)

Since the Microsoft Windows Media Player is not made available through a toolbar button, it must be added by selecting it from a list of ActiveX controls installed on the system. The resulting form should look something like the one shown below.

Step 2 - Set the properties

The look and feel of an interface can be changed to suit any particular application by manipulating the properties of the form, and of the controls contained within the form. To allow easy property manipulation, the form editor will display a property frame containing a set of property pages for the current selection in response to either selecting the properties menu item from the form editor context menu or by clicking the properties button (shown below).

In addition to displaying a standard set of property pages, the property frame also includes two additional pages implemented by the form editor. A property browser, which allows powerful property manipulation, and an extended page, for setting miscellaneous attributes. The property browser appears on the all tab and is shown below, while the extended page appears on the extended tab.

At this stage, the following item properties should be set. Note that the Name property is accessible from the extended tab.

Text box

Property	Value
Name	FileName

Button

Property	Value
Name	Play
Text	Play

Check box

Property	Value
Name	AutoRepeat
Text	Auto Repeat

Microsoft Windows Media Player

Property	Value
Name	MediaPlayer
ShowControls	False

The resulting form should now look something like the one shown below.

Step 3 - Write the code

In order to add functionality to an interface, it is necessary to develop script code (using VBScript syntax) which performs tasks in response to events fired from various sources. The possible sources of events are, the form, controls contained within the form, and exposed objects. The form editor provides generation of skeletal event handlers which can be modified and expanded as required using the script editor.

To add an event handler to the script for a form or control generated event

1. Right click the event source within the form editor in order to display the context menu.
2. Highlight the Events menu item, a sub menu will be displayed listing all the events for the source.
3. Select the event which requires handling.

A typical form or item event menu is shown below.

To add an event handler to the script for an exposed object generated event

1. Right click anywhere within the form editor in order to display the context menu.
2. Highlight the Exposed Objects menu item, a sub menu will be displayed listing all the exposed objects.
3. Highlight the exposed object which is the event source, a sub menu will be displayed listing all the events for the exposed object.
4. Select the event which requires handling.

A typical exposed object event menu is shown below.

Once an event handler has been added to the script, an tick will appear next to the relevant event menu item, clicking this will cause the script editor to jump to the first line of the event handler.

Referencing the form

The form can be referenced from the script by using the form name. The form name is fixed as "Form". For example

Form.DoSomething

Referencing controls

A control can be referenced from the script by using the control name. The control name can be set from the extended tab of the control property frame. For example

Button1.DoSomething

Referencing exposed objects

An exposed object can be referenced from the script by using the object name which was used when exposing the object. For example

Object1.DoSomething

Checking for errors

Once the code has been written, it should be checked for errors since it is not be possible to load a form containing erroneous code into the form viewer. Pressing the button shown below will perform the required checks and report any errors found.

Now that we understand all about writing script code, the following event handlers should now be added to the script.

Form - Load event handler

'@@DDF_EVENT_HANDLER_BEGIN(Form,Load)
Sub Form_Load ( )

' Enable the auto repeat option
AutoRepeat = 1

End Sub
'@@DDF_EVENT_HANDLER_END(Form,Load)

Play - Click event handler

'@@DDF_EVENT_HANDLER_BEGIN(Play,Click)
Sub Play_Click ( )

' Play the specified media clip
MediaPlayer.FileName = FileName

End Sub
'@@DDF_EVENT_HANDLER_END(Play,Click)

AutoRepeat - Click event handler

'@@DDF_EVENT_HANDLER_BEGIN(AutoRepeat,Click)
Sub AutoRepeat_Click ( )

' Enable auto repeat
If AutoRepeat = 1 Then MediaPlayer.PlayCount = 0

' Disable auto repeat
If AutoRepeat = 0 Then MediaPlayer.PlayCount = 1

End Sub
'@@DDF_EVENT_HANDLER_END(AutoRepeat,Click)

The resulting form should look something like the one shown below when playing a media clip.

Script constants reference

The following constants are defined in the script and can be used in place of hard coded values.

Visual Basic programmers will probably find many of these constants very familiar.

Key codes

Constant	Meaning
ddKeyLButton	Left mouse button
ddKeyRButton	Right mouse button
ddKeyCancel	CANCEL key
ddKeyMButton	Middle mouse button
ddKeyBack	BACKSPACE key
ddKeyTab	TAB key
ddKeyClear	CLEAR key
ddKeyReturn	ENTER key
ddKeyShift	SHIFT key
ddKeyControl	CTRL key
ddKeyMenu	MENU key
ddKeyPause	PAUSE key
ddKeyCapital	CAPS LOCK key
ddKeyEscape	ESC key
ddKeySpace	SPACEBAR key
ddKeyPageUp	PAGE UP key
ddKeyPageDown	PAGE DOWN key
ddKeyEnd	END key
ddKeyHome	HOME key
ddKeyLeft	LEFT ARROW key
ddKeyUp	UP ARROW key
ddKeyRight	RIGHT ARROW key
ddKeyDown	DOWN ARROW key
ddKeySelect	SELECT key
ddKeyPrint	PRINT SCREEN key
ddKeyExecute	EXECUTE key
ddKeySnapshot	SNAPSHOT key
ddKeyInsert	INSERT key
ddKeyDelete	DELETE key
ddKeyHelp	HELP key
ddKeyNumlock	NUM LOCK key
ddKeyA	A key
ddKeyB	B key
ddKeyC	C key
ddKeyD	D key
ddKeyE	E key
ddKeyF	F key
ddKeyG	G key
ddKeyH	H key
ddKeyI	I key
ddKeyJ	J key
ddKeyK	K key
ddKeyL	L key
ddKeyM	M key
ddKeyN	N key
ddKeyO	O key
ddKeyP	P key
ddKeyQ	Q key
ddKeyR	R key
ddKeyS	S key
ddKeyT	T key
ddKeyU	U key
ddKeyV	V key
ddKeyW	W key
ddKeyX	X key
ddKeyY	Y key
ddKeyZ	Z key
ddKey0	0 key
ddKey1	1 key
ddKey2	2 key
ddKey3	3 key
ddKey4	4 key
ddKey5	5 key
ddKey6	6 key
ddKey7	7 key
ddKey8	8 key
ddKey9	9 key
ddKeyNumpad0	0 key
ddKeyNumpad1	1 key
ddKeyNumpad2	2 key
ddKeyNumpad3	3 key
ddKeyNumpad4	4 key
ddKeyNumpad5	5 key
ddKeyNumpad6	6 key
ddKeyNumpad7	7 key
ddKeyNumpad8	8 key
ddKeyNumpad9	9 key
ddKeyMultiply	MULTIPLICATION SIGN (*) key
ddKeyAdd	PLUS SIGN (+) key
ddKeySeparator	ENTER key
ddKeySubtract	MINUS SIGN (-) key
ddKeyDecimal	DECIMAL POINT (.) key
ddKeyDivide	DIVISION SIGN (/) key
ddKeyF1	F1 key
ddKeyF2	F2 key
ddKeyF3	F3 key
ddKeyF4	F4 key
ddKeyF5	F5 key
ddKeyF6	F6 key
ddKeyF7	F7 key
ddKeyF8	F8 key
ddKeyF9	F9 key
ddKeyF10	F10 key
ddKeyF11	F11 key
ddKeyF12	F12 key
ddKeyF13	F13 key
ddKeyF14	F14 key
ddKeyF15	F15 key
ddKeyF16	F16 key

Shift key masks

Constant	Meaning
ddShiftMask	Shift key mask
ddCtrlMask	Ctrl key mask
ddAltMask	Alt key mask

Mouse buttons

Constant	Meaning
ddLeftButton	Left mouse button
ddRightButton	Right mouse button
ddMiddleButton	Middle mouse button

Exposing host application objects

So far we have created a nice little form which displays a media clip, but this isn't very useful if the idea was to develop something which integrates tightly with the host application. At this point you may be wondering how the form can communicate with objects contained within the host application? The answer to this is very simple, and is all to do with object exposing.

Accessing the object model

It is possible for the script to access any COM object contained within the host application by simply telling the form viewer about these objects when a form is loaded. When an object is exposed, it is given a name by which the script can reference the object. For example, if the host application were a word processor built around the standard Application->Documents->Windows object model, you may wish to expose the Application root object to the script, in this case the script would be able to manipulate all aspects of the Application object along with the associated Documents and Windows objects too. The script writer would be able to save out all documents by writing code something like this

Dim doc As Object
For Each doc In Application.Documents
    doc.Save "Filename.txt"

This simple example would probably expose too much of your applications internal functionality though, and for security reasons you may choose instead to expose some lesser part of the object model. An alternative would be to expose a proxy COM object which would internally communicate with the application object model in a safe manner, this approach is also useful if the host application is not built around COM objects.

Handling object model events

We have seen how easy it is to access objects which exist within the host application using object exposing, but the integration is not yet complete. A way is also needed to handle events in the script which are fired by objects contained within the host application. Fortunately, the form editor takes care of these complexities for us. You may recall that as part of the form editor initialisation, it was necessary to inform the form editor about all objects the script would have access too at run time. Well, now the purpose of this mysterious step suddenly becomes clear. When an object is exposed to the form editor, a list of events which the object fires appears under the Exposed Objects menu item. By choosing an event from the menu, an event handler is added to the script, and the relevant code to handle the event can then be added by the script writer.

3rd party editor support

While the script editor provided with the form designer may be sufficient for many applications, it is also possible to use a number of third party editors in place of this which provide extended functionality such as syntax highlighting, auto indentation, text searching, etc. A number of drivers which allow several popular third party editors to be used as the script editor are provided with the form designer. These drivers are implemented as simple COM components which act to proxy all communications between the required script editor interfaces and the available third party editor interfaces. An example of using the CodeMax editor and CodeMax driver combination is given below. Since each of the drivers operate in an identical manner this example can be extended to included all editor and driver combinations.

As you may recall from the section on creating a sample Visual Basic host application, normally the host application will connect the script editor to the script directly.

' Connect the script editor to the script
FormEditor.Script.Editor = SimpleScriptEditor.Object

To use the CodeMax editor, it is necessary to first connect the CodeMax editor to the CodeMax driver, and then connect the CodeMax driver to the script instead. Once this has been done the script will be able to successfully communicate with the CodeMax editor through the CodeMax driver.

' Create the CodeMax driver
Dim CodeMaxDriver As New CodeMaxDriver.Driver

' Connect the CodeMax editor to the CodeMax driver
CodeMaxDriver.Editor = CodeMax.Object

' Connect the CodeMax driver to the script
FormEditor.Script.Editor = CodeMaxDriver

MFC host application considerations

So far we have only looked at using the form designer components within a Visual Basic host application, when using them as part of an MFC host application things stay pretty much the same, except for when it comes to handling the keyboard, and in this case it is necessary to bypass or extend the internal handling of keyboard input to ensure the components have chance to translate keyboard accelerators, and also to allow keyboard input to arrive at the correct destination without interference. Regardless of class, the component parent window should override PreTranslateMessage in order to provide this logic.

The example shows an override of PreTranslateMessage in a CView derived class, and provides sufficient functionality for most applications. The example assumes each component has been wrapped in an MFC generated class. You can probably work out what is happening here.

// ignore none keyboard messages
if(pMsg->message < WM_KEYFIRST || pMsg->message > WM_KEYLAST)
{
    return CView::PreTranslateMessage(pMsg);
}
// obtain a pointer to the message target window
CWnd *pWndMsg=FromHandle(pMsg->hwnd);
if(pWndMsg==NULL)
{
    return CView::PreTranslateMessage(pMsg);
}
// determine which component the target window belongs to
CComPtr<IUnknown> spUnknown;
if(IsWindow(m_FormEditor))          // form editor
{
    if(*pWndMsg==m_FormEditor || 
        m_FormEditor.IsChild(pWndMsg))
    {
        spUnknown=m_FormEditor.GetControlUnknown();
    }
}
if(IsWindow(m_SimpleScriptEditor))  // script editor
{
    if(*pWndMsg==m_SimpleScriptEditor || 
        m_SimpleScriptEditor.IsChild(pWndMsg))
    {
        spUnknown=m_SimpleScriptEditor.GetControlUnknown();
    }
}
if(IsWindow(m_FormViewer))          // form viewer
{
    if(*pWndMsg==m_FormViewer || 
        m_FormViewer.IsChild(pWndMsg))
    {
        spUnknown=m_FormViewer.GetControlUnknown();
    }
}
// if we need to handle the message
if(spUnknown!=NULL)
{
    // allow tooltip messages to be filtered
    if(CWnd::PreTranslateMessage(pMsg))
    {
        return TRUE;    // message handled
    }
    // give the component chance to translate accelerators
    CComQIPtr<IOleInPlaceActiveObject> spOleInPlaceActiveObject(spUnknown);
    if(spOleInPlaceActiveObject!=NULL &&
        spOleInPlaceActiveObject->TranslateAccelerator(pMsg)!=S_FALSE)
    {
        return TRUE;    // message handled
    }
    // if required give the host chance to translate accelerators, for example
    // if(TranslateAccelerator(*AfxGetMainWnd(),m_hAccel,pMsg)!=0)
    // {
    //     return TRUE;    // message handled
    // }
    // m_hAccel should contain a handle to the application accelerator table
    ASSERT(FALSE);
    // let the component consume all input
    (void)TranslateMessage(pMsg);
    (void)pWndMsg->SendMessage(pMsg->message,pMsg->wParam,pMsg->lParam);
    return TRUE;        // message handled
}
return CView::PreTranslateMessage(pMsg);

Unlocking the full version

The form designer component is locked down by default, and imposes a few restrictions unless it is unlocked at run time. The unlocking process is fairly straightforward and involves generating an unlock code which needs to be passed to a hidden method on the form editor each time it is run to remove the restrictions. The DDUnlock project can be used to create your own personal unlock codes, or you can just choose one from the short list below.

Data1=355EFB54-55385022, Data2=019954C1-4ED0972B
Data1=BA1C035F-E0DD33E5, Data2=BB27F80A-20A88BFF
Data1=69704745-21B4BE50, Data2=32F981BA-759362D5
Data1=3BE83CBE-F79F5195, Data2=B1CFCB3C-D0AB703E
Data1=730B783B-CD0C524E, Data2=C33CDC3D-9DA352F2
Data1=33000250-5F3FA3EB, Data2=D8CAE4F7-9F0F9D2D
Data1=0E401D8F-5DE8DE3B, Data2=9320BBA9-37DD2788
Data1=53133F9B-435D6FBB, Data2=C5C480C2-709A6B65

Once you have selected a code, simply call the DDUnlock method on the form editor passing in each of the 32-bit unlock components. For example, using the first unlock code, DDUnlock would be called with the following four parameters, 0x355EFB54, 0x55385022, 0x019954C1, 0x4ED0972B. Note that the numbers are in hexadecimal format so a suitable prefix needs to be added depending on which programming language is in use.

Distribution

This section covers the form designer redistributables and prerequisites.

Please note that only binaries from official packages located at my website[^] can be distributed at this time. But also see the section on customised distribution if you need the flexibility to distribute your own packages.

Core redistributables

In order to successfully execute form designer enabled applications, it is vital that the target system contains the following files.

DDFORMS.DLLContains the form editor, form viewer, and script editor components.
(This file should be registered using regsvr32)

DDPROPPAGEALL.DLLContains the property browser.
(This file should be registered using regsvr32)

Optional redistributables

The following files can optionally be installed on the target system.

DDCONTROLPACK.DLLContains a number of controls which can be used to create custom forms.
(This file should be registered using regsvr32)

CODEMAXDRIVER.DLLContains the CodeMax syntax highlighting editor driver.
(This file should be registered using regsvr32)

CODESENSEDRIVER.DLLContains the CodeSense syntax highlighting editor driver.
(This file should be registered using regsvr32)

Prerequisites

In order for form designer redistributables to function correctly, it is vital that the target system contains the following files.

MSSCRIPT.OCXMicrosoft Script Control.
(This file should be registered using regsvr32)

Customised distribution

Should you wish to make radical (or even small) changes to the form designer projects and distribute the modified version, then please feel free to do so, however, you must agree to change all Guids, ClassIds, AppIds, ProgIds, or anything else that would interfere with official binaries located at my website[^].

Demonstration executable

There is a demonstration executable available which demonstrates all the features of the form designer, and is downloadable at the top of this article. In order for the executable to function correctly it is important that the core form designer projects are built up and registered on the system, this is required since the generated ActiveX controls are needed for the executable to run.

Sample Projects

There are a number of sample projects available which make use of the form designer components, and are downloadable at the top of this article. Each project produces the same basic demonstration application, but are all written using a different programming language. The samples currently available were developed using MFC, C#, and Visual Basic.

Help file

There is a help file available which is associated with the form designer components, and is downloadable at the top of this article. Most of the information contained within the help file is pretty much covered by this article, but there is a detailed description of the properties, methods and events of each of the components should you be serious about using them in your own products.

History

I started work on the form designer back in December 2001, by October 2003 I had something which was close to what I had hoped for. There are still lots of nice features which I would like to add, but hopefully these will all come in time.

17 October 2003, Version 1.07 completed.

Acknowledgements

Vladimir Shcherbakov[^] for the property browser[^] article which was very useful for this project.

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Project update? jlraffin 3:50 18 Aug '09   Hello, First of all congratulation for all this work. Working on a software for industrial applications, I would like to provide to my customers a way of creating simple interfaces. Your components could be a nice solution. I just would like to know if you are still working on that project. I saw on your website that the last version was made in 2006. Also, do you know if there is a way of having the same features with less coding, for example by reusing the designer from Visual Studio... Thanks in advance, Jean-Luc Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 1.00/5 (1 vote) Redistributables DaveShep 5:03 1 Aug '09   Hi Guys Sorry for any trouble in downloading the redistributables from my site. I have now included them as part of the article so they can be downloaded straight from CodeProject. The download link is at the top of this article Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink link still broken for the redistributable dlls FatalError0x4c 12:13 4 Feb '09   link still broken for the redistributable dlls Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink This link is broken for the dll. robmar 10:09 12 Nov '08   Why don't you just include them in the project. You can't do anything without them. Thanks Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Frankly I'm amazed at the level of functionality. JoshSprabary2 13:51 22 Jul '08   I am considering doing something like this but for the web. Where regular users (like in Marketing) can drag and drop html elements to make a aspx form (Where I take care of the data behind the sc enes). I'm certainly inspired by this great article. Thanks! Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Correction with VS 2005. Correccions per al VS 2005. desde Catalunya freecruckje 6:04 17 Jan '08   daedoe Form Designer for vs2005 1 All "for (l=1;......)" change to "for ( int l=1;......)" 2 MyMacros.h ? NOCOPY // prevents a class from being copied #define NOCOPY(c) \ private: \ c(const c&) \ {} \ operator=(const c&) \ {} Change to // prevents a class from being copied #define NOCOPY(c) \ private: \ c(const c&) \ {} \ c& operator=(const c&) \ {} 3 MenuHelpers.cpp // MenuHelpers.cpp if(Menu.AppendMenu( UINT(MF_STRING|MF_GRAYED),0,W2CT(BSTR2W(Text)))==FALSE) Change to if(Menu.AppendMenu( UINT(MF_STRING|MF_GRAYED),UINT_PTR(0),W2CT(BSTR2W(Text)))==FALSE) 4 FormEditor.cpp ? all for( iter=ItemInfoPtrList.begin(); change to for(CItemInfoPtrList::iterator iter=ItemInfoPtrList.begin(); 4 CopyPolicies.h _CopyInterfaceFromAdaptInterface static HRESULT copy(T **p1,CAdapt ...) _CopyVariantFromAdaptIUnknown static HRESULT copy(VARIANT *p1, CAdapt ...); _CopyVariantFromAdaptIDispatch static HRESULT copy(VARIANT *p1, CAdapt ...); Change for _CopyInterfaceFromAdaptInterface static HRESULT copy(T **p1,const CAdapt ...) _CopyVariantFromAdaptIUnknown static HRESULT copy(VARIANT *p1, const CAdapt...); _CopyVariantFromAdaptIDispatch static HRESULT copy(VARIANT *p1,const CAdapt ...); Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 3.20/5 (5 votes) Re: Correction with VS 2005. Correccions per al VS 2005. desde Catalunya homerhuang 23:30 2 Jun '09   Please send me a copy of this dlls,thanks! Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink about control.setfocus vbstudio 18:28 26 Jun '07   in vb script we can setfocus by control.setfocus in our script how to do??? thanks great code!! Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 3.00/5 (1 vote) Vs2005 KArmanwala 2:11 4 Apr '07   Hi When you are converting this in Vs2005. When ever you do this please tell me. thanks ali Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 2.00/5 (1 vote) How can a controler on the Form gets FormEditor's Unknown or Dispatch Gwanho 21:24 1 Apr '07   How can a controler on the form gets FormEditor's Unknown or Dispatch? Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 1.00/5 (1 vote) Too dificult! a_osoriod 11:36 19 Nov '06   Its dificult evaluate demo without dlls associates, if you haven't VS.net 2003, sorry i have 2005, You must suply dlls if your "home page" is down, it look a great work but i can't look working good luck! Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Re: Too dificult! DaveShep 1:35 21 Nov '06   Hi Sorry the website was down again. I have updated forwarding so it should be back shortly. In the meantime you can go directly here[^] to get the DLLs. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 3.00/5 (1 vote) Re: Too dificult! homerhuang 22:59 2 Jun '09   Please send me a copy of this dlls.I cant get it from your website.Thanks! Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 1.00/5 (1 vote) Is possible Compile with VS2005? freecruckje 0:52 2 Sep '06   Thanks Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Re: Is possible Compile with VS2005? DaveShep 1:39 21 Nov '06   Hi At the moment it’s not possible to compile the projects with Visual Studio 2005. I don’t think there are any major changes required though. As part of the next update I will be changing all the source code to work with this version of compiler. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 1.25/5 (3 votes) How can i use CodeMax in mfc? csvj 21:40 14 Mar '06   I compiled the CodeMaxDriver and registered it successful,but i can't find it in "insert activex controls",how can i insert it to your mfc demo? Help me,please! Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Re: How can i use CodeMax in mfc? DaveShep 11:31 16 Mar '06   Hi The CodeMax driver is not an ActiveX control. To use it with MFC you need to “#import” the DLL into your project and have the compiler generate the interface to the library for you. Details of the #import directive can be found in MSDN, but I will try and get some information about this in the article for the next update. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Re: How can i use CodeMax in mfc? csvj 16:30 16 Mar '06   Thanks for your excellent code!!! Thanks for your passional answer!!! I thirst for your article for the next update! I'll found it in MSDN at once! Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 1.00/5 (1 vote) does it work with windows previous to XP FatalError0x4c 20:28 13 Feb '06   hello. i made a program that uses your distributable DLLs. its certainly the best part of the program lol. unfortunatelly , only people with winXP seems to make the form designer to work ( the setup installs the dlls , and everybody who tested had script engine ) Its very likely that im doing something wrong, anyway, have u or anybody used it on other systems, like windows 98 ? bye the way. i have made a "clone" of the sample but using only WTL ( no MFC ) if u have any interest i can clean up the code and send it to you Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Re: does it work with windows previous to XP DaveShep 4:34 18 Feb '06   Hi The form designer should work fine on versions of Windows other than XP. You will need to register at minimum the ANSI versions of DDForms.dll and DDPropPageAll.dll. Msscript.ocx should also be registered on the system. I have this setup working fine on clean installs of Windows 98 / Windows Me / Windows 2K. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Re: does it work with windows previous to XP FatalError0x4c 21:15 4 Mar '06   do the users need to have the .NET language runtime? sorry im not familiar with .NET and common language runtime as i still use vc 6. thanks in advance Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink Re: does it work with windows previous to XP DaveShep 3:54 5 Mar '06   There is no dependency on the .NET runtime. It should be possible to copy the components onto a clean machine (along with the prerequisites) and everything should work fine. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 5.00/5 (1 vote) thanks Yilmaz YÖRÜK 1:29 25 Jan '06   hi, it is really excellent work. thanks for code.. Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 2.00/5 (1 vote) Re: thanks DaveShep 10:46 26 Jan '06   You’re welcome Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 5.00/5 (1 vote) DaeDoe Website Miguel Hasse de Oliveira 2:33 6 Jan '06   First of all I'd like to congratulate Dave on his excellent work... What happened to de DaeDoe website (www.daedoe.com)? Miguel Hasse Sign In·View Thread·PermaLink 2.00/5 (1 vote)

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