I. The User Control
1.) On Visual Studio click on 
to create a 'New Project'. The dialog below will appear, choose Installed Templates > Visual Basic then pick Class Library . Fill up the Name field as <YourName>Controls (e.g. JeremiahControls) then hit OK.
to create a 'New Project'. The dialog below will appear, choose Installed Templates > Visual Basic then pick Class Library . Fill up the Name field as <YourName>Controls (e.g. JeremiahControls) then hit OK.
2.) Rename the Class1.vb to WaterMarkEffect.vb located on the given Project.
3.) Right click the Project, then choose Add Reference... The dialog below will appear look for 'System.Windows.Forms' then Hit OK.
4.) Type the code below for WaterMarkEffect.vb
Imports System.Windows.Forms
Imports System.Drawing
Public Class WaterMarkEffect
Public ReadOnly Property SearchLabel() As String
Get
Return "Type text here."
End Get
End Property
Friend WithEvents _textBox As TextBox
Private Property TextBox() As TextBox
Get
Return _textBox
End Get
Set(ByVal value As TextBox)
_textBox = value
End Set
End Property
Public Sub WaterMark(textBox As TextBox)
Me.TextBox = textBox
Me.TextBox.ForeColor = Color.Gray
Me.TextBox.Font = New Font("Microsoft Sans Serif", 8.25, Drawing.FontStyle.Italic)
Me.TextBox.Text = SearchLabel
End Sub
Private Sub TextBox_Enter(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles _textBox.Enter
With Me.TextBox
If .Text.Length > 0 And .Text = SearchLabel Then
.Text = String.Empty
End If
.ForeColor = Color.Black
.Font = New Font("Microsoft Sans Serif", 8.25, Drawing.FontStyle.Regular)
End With
End Sub
Private Sub TextBox_Leave(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles _textBox.Leave
With Me.TextBox
If .Text.Length = 0 Then
.ForeColor = Color.Gray
.Font = New Font("Microsoft Sans Serif", 8.25, Drawing.FontStyle.Italic)
.Text = SearchLabel
End If
End With
End Sub
End Class
5.) Some lines of codes will be on mark with 'error squiggles', just hover your mouse on the object property (e.g. ForeColor) then use the 'Error Correction Options'.
6.) Right click the Project, then choose Add > New Item... The dialog below will appear look for 'User Contol', Fill up the Name field as SearchFrame then Hit OK.
7.) Design the UI just like below, name the TextBox as SearchBox and Button as SearchButton.
9.) Type the code below for SearchFrame.vb
Public Class SearchFrame
Public Event SearchButtonClicked(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs)
Private wt As New WaterMarkEffect()
Private Sub SearchFrame_Load(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
wt.WaterMark(SearchBox)
End Sub
Private Sub SearchBox_KeyPress(sender As System.Object, e As System.Windows.Forms.KeyPressEventArgs) Handles SearchBox.KeyPress
If (e.KeyChar = vbCr And SearchBox.Text.Length > 0) Then
SearchButton.PerformClick()
End If
End Sub
Private Sub SearchButton_Clicked(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs) Handles SearchButton.Click
If Me.SearchBox.Text.Length <> 0 And Me.SearchBox.Text <> wt.SearchLabel Then
RaiseEvent SearchButtonClicked(sender, e)
End If
End Sub
Public ReadOnly Property SearchFrameText() As String
Get
Return Me.SearchBox.Text
End Get
End Property
End Class
*** SearchFrameText - Text property of the SearchFrame's TextBox.
*** SearchButtonClicked - Click event of the SearchFrame's Button.
9.) On your Visual Studio choose Release from the Solution Configuration ComboBox, then do Build the project (This will create a <YourName>Controls.dll file on the '\bin\Release' directory of the project).
II. The Main Application
1.) On Visual Studio click on to create a 'New Project'. The dialog below will appear, choose Installed Templates > Visual Basic then pick Windows Forms, then hit OK.
to create a 'New Project'. The dialog below will appear, choose Installed Templates > Visual Basic then pick Windows Forms, then hit OK.
2.) Right click on the Toolbox Pane, then choose Add Tab, specify a tab name (e.g. Custom User Controls).
3.) Right click anywhere inside your custom tab, then pick Choose Items...
4.) A dialog below will appear, click on 'Browse..' to locate the <YourName>Controls.dll.
5.) If you found the user control, hit the Open, then OK to finish.
6.) 'SearchFrame' should be now on the Toolbox Pane.
7.) For demo purposes, drag a ListBox and the SearchFrame to the form.
8.) Attach a 'SearchButtonClicked' for the control named SearchFrame1.
9.) Type the code below...
Public Class Form1
Private Sub SearchFrame1_SearchButtonClicked(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles SearchFrame1.SearchButtonClicked
If SearchFrame1.SearchFrameText = "Jesus" Then
ListBox1.Items.Clear()
ListBox1.Items.Add("God")
ListBox1.Items.Add("Bless")
ListBox1.Items.Add("Us")
End If
End Sub
End Class
10.) Output should look like below.
To see video demo click here.
