COP4226, Homework 1

Due Wednesday, October 10 (not late until 8am 10/11)

Zip your entire project and upload on the web. Exclude the Debug and Release directories.
Submitting Homework Online.

Be sure to include your control library in your uploaded file.

Create a dialog based application.

Avoid long methods. Each method that you create should be short, to promote encapsulation. If you have a method that is longer than 25 lines, then it probably needs to be divided into smaller methods.

Do not create a new data structure if one that already exists that will solve the problem.

Settings

Add to the project settings. These settings will be used to control the appearance of the main panel in your application. In the program, you will use properties to encapsulate the settings.

• Create an integer user setting that will contain the width of a label.
• Create an integer user setting that will contain the height of a label.
• Create an integer user setting that will contain the spacing between labels.

Resources

Add to the project resources.

• Use the resource editor to create an icon.
• The icon will be used in a notify icon, described later.
• The icon in the system tray is the 32x32 icon.
• Create an icon that contains your initials.

Label Interface

Create an interface. Interfaces will be used for all dialogs in this course. The only way that the main form should access the data from a dialog is through the interface of its public properties.

• Add three properties to the interface.
  • LabelWidth
  • LabelHeight
  • LabelSpacing

Preferences Dialog

Create a dialog that will be used to gather information from the user.

• Set the default, background image of the form to an image that is only added to this dialog's resources, not to the project resources
• Create a dialog that has three labels and three text boxes for entering the width of a label, height of a label and label spacing.
• Add an OK and Cancel button to the form. There should also be an Apply buuton that only appears when the form is opened modelessly.
  • Set the OK button as the button that is clicked when the Enter key is pressed on the form.
  • Set the Cancel button as the button that is clicked when the Esc key is pressed on the form.
• Perform validation.
  • Do not let the OK button proceed if there are errors.
    • Display an error icon next to the OK button, if there is an error when it is clicked.
  • Allow the focus to be moved from a box that has an invalid value.
  • Validate all the text boxes.
    • Validate that the width is between 75 and 200.
    • Validate that the height is between 20 and 35.
    • Validate that the spacing is between 1 and 8.
  • Use an error icon to display an error icon and tooltip next to each invalid field.
    • Use an icon from SystemIcons, other than the default icon for error providers.
    • Be sure the icon will disappear when the error is fixed.
• Set the minimum size of the form so that none of the controls ever disappear.
• Anchor the labels and text boxes so that they are located horizontally in the center of the form. They should remain centered when the form is resized.
• Anchor the OK and Cancel buttons so that they remain in the lower right area of the form when the form is resized.
• Extend the dialog from the label interface. Implement the properties so that they encapsulate the text property of the corresponding text box.
• The dialog may not access any members from the main form or system properties.

Login Dialog

Display a message box before the application is run.

• Before the application is run, display a warning message box with the buttons Yes and No. Make up a creative warning for users that are about to run your code.
• If the user selects Yes, then proceed to run the application. If the user selects No, then do not call Application.Run.

Control Library

Add a control library to the solution. Only add one control library: it will contain three controls.

• Add a control that contains your full name. Use a new font, size and color for your name.
  • Choose a background color for the control. This color should always be displayed when the control is added to a parent control.
  • Dock it so that it covers the entire control.
• Add a control that contains the course name and section of the course. Use the same font and color as was used for your name.
  • Make the font size of the course smaller than the font size of the name control.
  • Make the font size of the section smaller than the font size of the course.
  • This control should use the background color and background image of the parent control that it is added to.
  • Dock these so that one is above the other and they cover the entire control.
• Add a control that contains the following.

  I attest that the homework I am uploading was done by me. 
  
  I understand that if it is determined that I shared my 
  assignment with another person or copied my assignment 
  from another person's work, then I and the other person 
  will suffer the consequences that are defined in the syllabus.

Main Form

Modify the main form for the project.

• Extend the main form from the label interface.
  • The properties should encapsulate access to the user settings.
  • The only place that the width, height and spacing user settings should be referenced is from within these properties.
• Create a context menu with the following options.
  • Open Preferences Modally - open the preferences dialog as a modal dialog. Be sure that its resources are released when you are done with it.
    • Before the dialog is shown, the main form should use the label interface methods of the dialog to update the properties for the width, height and spacing.
    • If the user selects OK and closes the dialog, then the main form should retrieve the width, height and spacing values from the dialog, using the label interface methods of the dialog. Repopulate the panel (described below).
  • Open Preferences Modelessly - open the preferences dialog as a modeless dialog. Be sure that its resources are released when you are done with it.
    • Before the dialog is shown, the main form should use the label interface methods of the dialog to update the properties for the width, height and spacing.
    • If the user selects OK or Apply, then the main form should retrieve the width, height and spacing values from the dialog, using the label interface methods of the dialog. Repopulate the panel (described below). On OK, close the dialog. Do not close the dialog on Apply.
    • If the user selects Cancel, ESC, Alt-F4, X button, revert to the orignal values when the dialog was opened.
  • Save Preferences - save the user settings
  • Reload Preferences - reload the user settings. Repopulate the panel (described below).
  • Reset Preferences - reset the user settings. Repopulate the panel (described below).
• Add a status bar.
• Add a menu to the form.
  • Add a top level menu named Help.
    • Add a menu Oath to the Help menu.
      • Add a menu item named New Dialog to the Oath menu.
        • When clicked, display a new modeless form.
        • Allow multiple Oath dialogs to be opened.
        • Position the first Oath dialog to the right of main window:  the right border of the main window should abut the left border of the new window; the tops of the windows should be at the same height from the top of the screen.
        • Cascade additional Oath dialogs on top of the previous Oath dialogs.
        • When the main form is moved or resized, maintain the Oath dialogs to the right of the main window: the right border of the main window should abut the left border of the first Oath dialog; the tops of the windows should be at the same height from the top of the screen. Additional open Oath dialogs should cascade on top of the previous Oath dialogs.
        • The new form may not access any properties of the main form.
        • Make this an owned form.
        • Center the user control for the name at the top of the form. The name should remain centered when the form is resized.
        • Center the user control for the course and section below the name. The course and section should remain centered when the form is resized.
        • Center the user control that contains the oath below the section. The user control should remain centered when the form is resized.
      • Add a menu item named Close All to the Oath menu. When clicked, close all of the open Oath dialogs.
    • Add a menu item named About to the Help menu.
      • When clicked, display a new modeless form.
      • Position the window below the main window:  the bottom border of the main window should abut the top border of the new window; the left borders of the windows should be at the same distance from the left edge of the screen.
      • The new form may not access any properties of the main form.
      • Only allow one of these windows to be open at a time.
      • Make this an owned form.
      • When the main form is moved or resized, maintain the position of this dialog below the main window.
      • Center the user control for the name at the top of the form.
      • Center the user control for the course and section below the name.
      • Add a label that describes this assignment.
  • Add the context menu to the main menu.
• Center your name, from the control library, at the top of the form. When the form is resized, the name should remain centered.
• Set the minimum size for the form so that the name never disappears.
• Add a panel that fills the space between the menu and the status bar, no matter what size the form has.
  • Add labels to the panel.
    • Each label should have the width and height from the label interface properties.
    • Lay out the labels in rows and columns. The space between a row and a column should be from the label interface properties.
    • Each label should have a three-dimesional border.
    • Add enough labels so that the panel is filled with labels.
    • Do not overlap labels.
    • Only add a label if the entire label and its spacing will fit in the panel.
    • The text of the label should contain the location of the label in the panel coordinates. Center the text in the label.
    • When the mouse is moved over the label, update the title of the main form with the number of labels in the panel and the row and column where this label is located.
    • Do not use a FlowLayout.
  • When the form is resized, the panel should be resized. Repopulate the panel with labels whenever the form is resized.
    • You may need to remove labels from the panel, if they can no longer be displayed completely.
    • You may need to add labels to the panel, if there is empty space that can fit labels.
    • You may change the location, size and text of a label whenever the labels are repopulated.
    • Be efficient. Reuse labels that have already been created, when possible.
  • When the mouse moves in the panel, update the status bar with the current location of the mouse.
    • This should work wherever the mouse is in the panel, including if it is over a label.
    • You will find the PointToClient and PointToScreen methods very useful here.
• Add a notify icon.
  • Use your icon with your initials for the icon.
  • Use your context menu for it.
• When the form is deactivated, make the form partially transparent. When the form is activated, make the form opaque.
• When the form closes, ask the user if they really want to close the application. Only close the application if the user confirms.

Screen Shots

Login Screen, Open Dialogs, Open Preferences Dialog, Notify Icon