Introduction to Controls

Controls Fundamentals   Introduction By itself, a form means nothing. Its role is revealed in the objects it holds. You can add such objects to a form or the body of a spreadsheet.     Practical Learning: Introducing Properties Start Microsoft Excel On the Ribbon, click Developer In the Code section, click Visual Basic The Spreadsheet When working in Microsoft Excel, you can use Windows controls either on the work area or in a form in Microsoft Visual Basic. Therefore, just like a form, a spreadsheet also is a container of controls. Introduction to Windows Controls The main objects used to help a person interact with the computer are Windows controls. There are two main ways you can access these objects when working with Microsoft Excel. If you are working in Microsoft Excel, you can add or position some Windows controls on the document. To do that, on the Ribbon, click Developer. In the Control section, click Insert: This would display the list of controls available in Microsoft Excel. The controls appear in two sections: Form Controls and ActiveX Controls. If you are working on a spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel, you should use only the controls in the ActiveX Controls section. If you are working on a form in Microsoft Visual Basic, a Toolbox equipped with various controls will appear. Practical Learning: Accessing Windows Controls To create a form, on the main menu, click Insert -> UserForm To access its associated module, right-click the form and click View Code To return to the form, on the main menu, click Window and click the menu item that has (UserForm). In Microsoft Visual Basic, notice that a Toolbox appears next to the form To return to Microsoft Excel, on the Taskbar, click Microsoft Excel To display the controls, in the Controls section of the Ribbon, click Insert Using Additional Objects The Developer tab of the Ribbon in Microsoft Excel provides the most regularly used controls. These controls are enough for any normal spreadsheet you are developing. Besides these objects, other controls are left out but are still available. To use one or more of these left out controls, in the Controls section of the Ribbon, click Insert and click the More Controls button: This would open the More Controls dialog box: You can scroll up and down in the window to locate the desired control. If you see a control you want to use, click it and click OK. In Microsoft Visual Basic, to access more controls, on the main menu, you can click Tools -> Additional Controls... This would open the Additional Controls dialog box: To select a control, you can click its check box. After selecting the controls, click OK. The Names of Controls Every control in the Developer tab of the Ribbon or in the Toolbox of Microsoft Visual Basic has a specific name. You may be familiar with some of these controls. If you are not sure, you can position the mouse on a control and a tool tip would come up. In our lessons, we will use the tool tip of a control to name it. The names we will use are: ActiveX Controls Name Forms Controls Name Command Button Label Combo Box Toggle Button Check Box     List Box TabStrip Text Box MultiPage Scroll Bar ScrollBar Spin Button Text Box Option Button Image Label RefEdit Image Frame Toggle Button     Adding a Control to a Container   Adding One Control To use one of the controls from the Ribbon or the Toolbox, you can click it. If you then simply click its container, the control would be added where you clicked and with some default dimensions. In Microsoft Excel, if you click the button control in the Form Controls section and click the work area, just after the control has been added the Assign Macro dialog box would come up: In our lessons, when working in Microsoft Excel, we will avoid using the objects in the Form Controls section. If you want, instead of clicking and releasing the mouse, you can click and drag. This allows you to "draw" the control and give the dimensions of your choice. If the control has already been added but you want it to assume different dimensions, you can click it to select it and then drag one of its border handles. To programmatically add a control to a spreadsheet, use the following formula: Private Sub Exercise() Worksheets(1).OLEObjects.Add "Forms.ControlName.1" End Sub   The only thing you need to know and change about this formula is the ControlName factor. We will learn about Worksheets(1) in Lesson 12. Use the following names: Use this Name To Get a   Use this Name To Get CheckBox Check Box   ComboBox Combo Box CommandButton Command Button   Label Label ListBox List Box   Image Image OptionButton Option Button   ScrollBar Scroll Bar SpinButton Spin Button   TextBox Text Box ToggleButton Toggle Button       Here is an example that creates and positions a text box on a spreadsheet: Private Sub Exercise() Worksheets(1).OLEObjects.Add "Forms.TextBox.1" End Sub   Adding Many Controls The above technique is used to add one control at a time. If you want to add the same control again, you must click it on the Ribbon or in the Toolbox and click its container again. If you plan to add the same control many times, in the Toolbox of Microsoft Visual Basic, double-click the control and click the form as many times as necessary. When you have reached the desired number of copies of that control, to dismiss it, in the Toolbox, click the same control again, click another control, or click the Select Objects button. Practical Learning: Accessing Windows Controls To add a control to the document, Under ActiveX Controls, click the Command Button button and click a box (any box in the work area) To add another control, in the Controls section of the Ribbon, click the arrow under Insert and click the Combo Box button and click somewhere in the work area away from the previously added button On the Taskbar, click Microsoft Visual Basic to return to it On the Toolbox, click the CommandButton and click somewhere in the top-left section of the form (no need for precision at this time) On the Toolbox, click the ComboBox and click somewhere in the middle-center section of the form (no need for precision at this time) On the Toolbox, click the CheckBox and click somewhere in the lower-right section of the form (no need for precision at this time) To return to Microsoft Excel, click the View Microsoft Excel button

 

Control Selection   Single Control Selection After you have added a control to a container, in order to perform any type of configuration on the control, you must first select it. Sometimes you will need to select a group of controls. To select a control in the work area in Microsoft Excel, first, in the Controls section of the Ribbon, click the Design Mode button . After clicking it, right-click the control and press Esc. If you are working in Visual Basic, to select a control, click it on the form. In Microsoft Excel, when a control is selected, it is surrounded by 8 small circles, also called handles. Here is an example: In Microsoft Visual Basic, when a control is selected, it is surrounded by 8 small squares: Practical Learning: Selecting Controls Position the mouse on CommandBut that was positioned on the form and click. Notice that you are able to select the button In the Controls section of the Ribbon, click the Design Mode button In the work area, click the CommandBut button again Click the combo box. Notice that, this time, you cannot select the controls To return to controls to edit mode, in the Controls section of the Ribbon, click the Design Mode button To return to Microsoft Visual Basic, in the Code section of the Ribbon, click the Visual Basic button Multiple Control Selection To select more than one control on a spreahsheet, click the first. Press and hold Shift. Then click each of the desired controls. If you click a control that should not be selected, click it again. After selecting the group of controls, release Shift: If you are working on a form in Microsoft Visual Basic, first click one of the controls you want to select, then press and hold Ctrl. Click each of the desired controls. If you click a control that should not be selected, click it again. After selecting the group of controls, release Ctrl that you were holding. As another technique you can use to select various controls, click an unoccupied area on the form, hold the mouse down, drawing a fake rectangle that would either include each of the desired controls or would touch each, then release the mouse: Every control touched by the fake rectangle or included in it would be selected: When a group of controls is selected, the first selected control displays 8 handles but its handles are white while the others are dark. Practical Learning: Selecting and Using Various Controls On the form, click one of the controls Press and hold Ctrl Click one of the other controls Release Ctrl To dismiss the selection, press Esc Control Deletion If there is a control on your form or your work area but you don't need it, you can remove it. To delete a control, first select it and then press Delete. You can also right-click a control and click Cut. To remove a group of controls, first select them, then press Delete or right-click the selection and click Cut. Practical Learning: Deleting Controls While still in Microsoft Visual Basic, press Ctrl + A to select all controls Press Delete to remove them To display them again, press Ctrl + Z To return to Microsoft Excel, click the View Microsoft Excel button