In this lesson, I’ll show you how you can use form templates in order to make your project work easier.
What is a form template?
A form template is a ready-made form designed for a specific task for the programmer.
After adding a form to your current project, you generally need to design it as per your needs, and then the coding starts. But there are some common types of forms on which you should not waste your time for designing them. To give you this benefit, the Visual Basic environment has provided some form templates which you may use in your current project with no modification or a little enhancement if you want. For instance, after choosing a login form template, change the company logo and Brand name and some other text or design a little if necessary. In fine, it makes your task a lot easier. Doesn’t it?
How to add a form template?
Go to project from the Menu Bar, click Add Form, and then choose a form template from the list shown in the window. Then the form will be added to your existing project.
What are the different form templates available?
The form templates available in the VB6 IDE are Login Dialog, Splash Screen, About Dialog, Web Browser, Tip of the Day, Options Dialog and ODBC Login Form.
The most relevant form templates are explained below.
Splash Screen
Among the form templates, splash screen is the one which I consider as the most important, and you can use it frequently in your projects with just little adjustments. Adding a splash screen enhances the graphical interface of your software. There will be a lesson later in the series to learn about splash screens in detail with a sample.
Tip of the Day
Most probably you have seen Tip of the Day form in many software applications. Haven’t you? And a practical example is the IDM (Internet Download Manager). Tip-of-the-Day form template is used in the IDM. When you open the software, a tip of the day form appears on the screen telling you some tips and useful techniques about using their software. So it’s also an important thing that you can add to your own software when you develop one.
About Dialog
The About Dialog form is used to give some information to the user of the software either about the Application, the software company, or both along with most important pieces of information like App name, version, copyright warning, and the official website of the vendor.
Log in Dialog
The Login Form template can be useful because the login forms don’t vary so much in designs. So you can use the ready-made login form template in your project with little modification of the design if you want.
Apart from the above form templates, the others like Dialog, Web Browser, Options Dialog and so forth are comparatively the less used form templates in the VB6 community.