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**Tim Kiebert** · 12-25-2007, 11:56 PM

Re: Open form executes for OnPush event for button, but errors on DblClick for Tree

Bob,

I do not have any experience mixing xbasic and ActiveX but will offer this in case it triggers something for you.

Firstly as far as the xbasic goes and using form.load make sure you also add frm.close() to close the form that is still in memory. Form.load() loads the form into memory. At this point you can manipulate the form and its objects using the frm pointer. frm.show() displays the form and activates it. (so you don't need frm.activate()) At this point the xbasic is halted until the form is closed by the user. (Which is another reason frm.activate() is not only redundent but I have seen it cause problems by having it there because it is trying to activate a form that is still resident in memory but not visible.) After the form is closed by the user you still have access to it via the form pointer 'frm', useful for grabbing form values to use further in the script. The user's action of closing the form doesn't really close it but sort of unshows it. when you are truly finished with it then use frm.close().

Now for my attempt at your ActiveX problem. At first I figured trying to run xbasic code from within an activex would not work because it was in the wrong context or scope but then you said that the msgbox() function does work. So unless the ctTree activex also has a msgbox() function lets assume for the moment that you can indeed call xbasic functions from the ctTree activeX. In that case save your form calling function as a global function in the code tab of alpha5 and call it say 'Load_Form'

Code:

function Load_Form as v (FormName as c)
   debug(1)
   dim frm as P  
   frm = Form.Load(FormName) 
   frm.Show()  
   frm.close() 
   debug(0)    
end function

You may want to test that the function works by invoking it from the Interactive window first with Load_Form("frmTest")

Then replace 'msgbox("The control was double clicked")' in your ActiveX code with Load_Form("frmTest")

This is purely guess work as I do not have ctTree or similar to work with. Hopefully Marcel or Ira or Dr. Wayne will chime in and give you proper advice.

Cheers and good luck

**rmcgaffic** · 01-01-2008, 11:05 AM

Re: Open form executes for OnPush event for button, but errors on DblClick for Tree

Tim,

Thank you for your code suggestion, but it appears that Alpha Five is still having problems. But there may be another issue if you can read the entire message.

The same error messages are received regardless of whether the code to open a form is directly executed from the DblClick event or the code is indirectly executed from a function executed from the DblClick event.

Here's what I did and the results.

1. Create a function

FUNCTION LOAD_FORM AS V (FormName as C)
dim frm as P
frm = Form.Load(FormName)
frm.Show()
frm.Activate()
END FUNCTION

2. Call that function with XBasic as follows:

Load_Form("frmTest")

This worked just fine when I put the code behind a Alpha Five button for the OnPush event. So far, so good.

Then as you suggested, I inserted the code into the DblClick event for the ctTree control (3rd party ActiveX control from dbi-tech.com). Doing so gave me basically the same errors as before:

Load_Form("frmTest"):
An error occured while running a script
Object does not support requested interface

I hit enter key and the debugger then launched into the function code

Dim frm as P
No error message received

frm = Form.Load(FormName)
An error occured while running a script
Object does not support requested interface

frm.Show()
An error occured while running a script
Argument is incorrect data type
An error occured while running a script
Property is write only
frmShow method not found

frmActive()
An error occurred while running a script
Argument is incorrect data type

'---------------------------------------------------------------------
I tried something new:

I placed ctButton (3rd party ActiveX button control from dbi-tech) on my Alpha Five form and placed the following "simple" XBasic code behind it:

function click as V()
dim frm as P
frm = Form.Load("frmTest")
frm.Show()
frm.Activate()
end function

It works! The form frmTest was successfully opened.

'-------------------------------------------------------------------------
So now I am faced with an even broader question: Why does the "simple" code succeed when used with ctButton and fail when used with ctTree, as noted in my original post?

Both ctButton and ctTree are from the same 3rd party firm dbi-tech.com.
The only difference is the event: for ctButton I used event Click and for ctTree I used event DblClick.

Any ideas of what to do next? Needless to say, I am perplexed!

Thanks,
Bob
Pittsburgh

**michaelwpayton** · 01-01-2008, 11:30 AM

Re: Open form executes for OnPush event for button, but errors on DblClick for Tree

Perhaps someone associated with dbi-tech can shed some light on why code specified in one of their events/controls executes properly... but the same code in another one of their events/controls does not.

After thought:

Does the tree control have a click event? As you say, that seems to be "the only difference," if we are to assume (big assumtion) that dbi-tech's code execution logic is consistent across controls.

**rmcgaffic** · 01-21-2008, 04:05 PM

DBI responds: Alpha Five IDE issue?

Guys,

You've come through before, and I would sure appreciate your help in how to accomplish "set the timer to active and have it launch the form" as suggested in the response from the ctTree ActiveX control software firm below.

I have also attached a screen shot of my result so far, which is similar to Steve Woods (AlphaToGo) posting "Pseudo-collapsible navigation menu" posted just two days ago. Note that my approach should present to the user a true collapsible navigation menu. Right now I am building the Tree from Code, but plan to eventually build its nodes and form references from a database file.

Finally, I have attached a fairly descriptive description of the issue laden with screen shots that I submitted to DBI-Tech support, for those of you who may be interested in further details. When I get all the pieces assembled, I plan to post the details to keep someone else from reinventing the wheel.

Tech support answer:

Often IDE's can have issues instantiating forms from the ActiveX container, this is most noteable in FoxPro.

It would appear the issue would be indicative (as Alpha5 is not of our listed products I can't test this myself) but it would appear that may indeed be further code executing that may throw the error after the doubleclick.

As the Tree control is a bit more complex than the ctButton, this may be the issue (for example, we may have code to check for node status after the double click).

As such, we recommend opening forms from Timers on the main form in any IDE (except VB6, it just works, gotta love all the different implementations of ActiveX containers).

Essentially (and I'm not even sure if Alpha 5 has a timer) we put a disabled timer on the form with the code to launch your second form.

During our dblclick event set the timer to active and have it launch the form. Once again, speaking generically (VFP9 is the basis) once the
form is launched from a timer, it is essentially attached to the main form doing the calling as opposed to the ActiveX container. So give that a shot and see if it will clear that up.

On a side note, it is always interesting to hear about the different dev
environments trying our controls, can you forward me a link to the Alpha5 dev environment page so I can take a peek?

**Peter.Wayne** · 01-21-2008, 10:08 PM

Re: Open form executes for OnPush event for button, but errors on DblClick for Tree

Bob,
I don't know anything about the ActiveX control you're using, but I haven't had any trouble getting the Microsoft Tree Control to call a form, using the same dblclick() code:

Code:

tree.events=<<%code%
function dblclick as v()
	if tree.object.selectedItem.text="Launch" then
	    frm=form.load("alpha mail")
	    frm.show()
	    frm.activate()
	end if
end function
%code%

So it makes me wonder whether the fault is with your ActiveX control. Particulary if they also have issues with Foxpro and other environments.

**rmcgaffic** · 01-24-2008, 04:05 PM

Alpha Five produces same errors this time with a total different 3rd party ActiveX

Alpha Five produces the same errors with a different ActiveX control from a different company.

I'm running out of ideas: this is twice that Alpha Five has choked with the same errors, which leads me to now think that there is something wrong with A5, not the controls.

It fails with ctTree from DBI Tech and now with FMSTimer from FMS Inc., both respected ActiveX control firms. Any suggestions for next steps? What attracted me intially to A5 was its promise of application with minimal coding and the ability to incorporate ActiveX controls.

For those who may be new to this thread, let�s summarize our findings thus far:

1. We are attempting to open an Alpha Five form from a collapsible menu
using a third party ActiveX control ctTree from DBI Tech (dbi-tech.com)

2. Alpha Five errors when XBasic code is used to open a form by double
clicking on ctTree.

3. Alpha Five does NOT error when XBasic code is used to open a form by
clicking using a different third party ActiveX control ctButton, also from
DBI tech.

4. Tim Kiebert in this thread suggested calling a function instead of
executing the code directly to open the form.

a. Tim�s suggestion worked when the function was called from
ctButton
b. Tim�s suggestion did not work when the function was called from
ctTree

5. Michael Payton in this thread cautioned not to assume that these
controls behaved the same way, even though they were from the same
company.

6. Peter Wayne in this thread reported that he had no problem opening an
Alpha Five form from a Microsoft TreeView control.

Now let�s continue our saga:

1. I followed Peter Wayne�s suggestion and placed two controls side by
side on my form: a Microsoft Tree View control and DBI tech ctTree
control.

I did not populate either of these controls with any nodes, but inserted
my simple code to open an Alpha Five form.

When the tree controls were displayed, both were blank.

When I doubled clicked on the MS Tree View control, true to Peter
Wayne�s comment, the Alpha Five form successfully opened.

When I double clicked on the DBI-tech ctTree control, all the same
errors as previously reported, were encountered.

2. I filed a support request for DBI tech, and they suggested that FoxPro
presented similar problems, and the best work around was to place a
timer control on the form and to execute the open Alpha Five form
from the timer control, not the ctTree control.

3. This gets better. Alpha Five does not offer a timer control to place on a
form. Interestingly, neither does DBI Tech as a part of its Component
Toolbox 7.0 package of Active X controls.

4. I placed an activeX timer control from another firm, FMS Inc., on
my form. For those of you who may not be familiar with FMS
(fmsinc.com), they specialize in controls for Microsoft Access, that are
extremely easy to use.

5. The timer control has one property and one event, defined as below.
Property Interval The interval between OnTimer events
Event OnTimer Called when the time specified by the interval
has elapsed.

Time timer control has only one property and one event. Using this control is
as simple as setting the interval control to the desired millisecond value and
writing code to handle the OnTimer event.

Setting the interval property to zero stops the timer.

6. When I couldn�t get the timer to work with the ctTree control, I decided to test it using an Alpha Five button control.

7. Here�s exactly what I did (shown in screen print attachment)

a. Placed a Alpha Five button on my form with the text �Trigger timer�

b. Placed a FMS timer control on my form and in its ActiveX properties,
set the interval to zero. This keeps the timer from executing its code immediately.

c. Placed the following code behind the Alpha Five button�s OnPush event:

Code:

                         dim FMStimer as P
		FMStimer = Activex2.ActiveX.this
		msgbox("before set interval")
		FMStimer.interval = 200
		msgbox("after set interval")

Note that Activex2 is the FMS timer control.

d. Placed the following code behind the FMS timer
control�s OnTimer event:

Code:

                         function ontimer as v ()
	               debug(1)
	               dim frm as P  
                            frm = Form.Load("frmTest") 
                            frm.Show()  
                            frm.Activate() 	
		end function

e. Executed the form and clicked on the Alpha Five button. The results are
screen printed in the attachment and summarized below:

Messagebox: before set interval
Messagebox: after set interval

Debugger launched

dim frm as P
No errors encountered

frm = Form.Load(�frmTest�)
Error: Object does not support requested interface

frm.Show()
Error: Argument is incorrect data type
Error: Property is write only. Frm.Show method not found

frm.Activate()
Error: Argument is incorrect data type
Error: Property is write only. Frm.Activate method not
found

Note that these are the very same error messages I reported as the original problem in this message. What is unsettling is that these messages occurred with a totally different ActiveX control from a different company.

Here were DBI tech�s responses to three questions I posed:

Why does ctTree not work, but ctButton does?

Because the control is more complex, as mentioned in the previous request, there may be code firing after the double click event, while the code may never actually be used, ie) IF..Then statements or other internal event firings such as redraw or node open/closed calculations, may be interfering with the new form being instantiated. As mentioned, this is IDE dependent, not specific to the control (we can open forms just fine in VB6 and even Access, however VFP has issues hence the timer workaround).

Why does ctTree not work, but MS TreeView does?

Because they are completely different architectures.

Why does the suggestion from DBI Tech support blow up?

Because you need to set the timer.Interval = 0 at the start of your timerevent code or it will recursively call itself.

I have forwarded your note on to the marketing department, and rest assured, we aren't abandoning the ActiveX product line, in fact there are plans to implement some of the Vista styles into the controls for the next release of the Component
Toolbox line.

Why is this relevant to Alpha Five users? Because in these days of everything .net, DBI plans to continue to improve and support activeX controls, which can give A5 applications a more professional, polished appearance than possible with just A5 controls.

**MikeC** · 01-25-2008, 02:02 AM

Re: Open form executes for OnPush event for button, but errors on DblClick for Tree

Robert,

Just curious...why won't a form's Timer event do as you want??

**Peter.Wayne** · 01-25-2008, 08:09 AM

Re: Open form executes for OnPush event for button, but errors on DblClick for Tree

In the same vein as Mike, try something like this:

put this code in the OnTimer event of the form containing the ActiveX object:

Code:

dim global doIt as L
if doIt then
    f=form.load("someForm")
    f.show()
    f.activate()
    doIt=.f.
end if

and then set the entire form's Timer interval to 1 second.

In the dblclick event of the activeX component, insert

Code:

dim global doIt as L
doIt=.t.

That should work.

**rmcgaffic** · 01-30-2008, 09:33 AM

Re: Open form executes for OnPush event for button, but errors on DblClick for Tree

Peter,

Thanks for your suggestion. I'm pleased to confirm that it works fine; the only change I made was to change the internal from 1 sec to .01 second, which makes the form opening nearly instantaneous.

I am still concerned that Alpha Five did not work with FMSTimer, whose controls are geared to the Access 2003 and Access 2007 crowd.

Alpha Five's claims to use ActiveX controls may be overstated if my experience is any indication:

ctButton from DBI Tech -- Works with Alpha Five

ctTree from DBI Tech -- Does not work with Alpha Five
FMSTimer from FMS Inc. -- Does not work with Alpha Five
ctSplitter from DBI Tech -- Does not work with Alpha Five
FMSSplitter from FMS Inc. -- Does not work with Alpha Five

Do we need a listing of third party ActiveX controls that work with
Alpha Five? I would be interested from hearing from other users as to what
works natively, what works with a workaround (your suggestion above), what simply does not work with Alpha Five.

Bob
Pittsburgh

**Peter.Wayne** · 01-30-2008, 01:34 PM

Re: Open form executes for OnPush event for button, but errors on DblClick for Tree

One question is whether the ActiveX controls you are using are geared specifically to Access forms. You mention that they may not work with Visual Foxpro, which is a Microsoft product, as you know. Also, the (admittedly limited) Microsoft tree control works fine with Alpha Five, although the dbi cTree control doesn't. Is this Alpha's fault, or dbi's?
My guess is that the controls you are having trouble with are making direct calls to Access forms. That's just a guess.
- Peter

**rmcgaffic** · 01-30-2008, 03:21 PM

Re: Open form executes for OnPush event for button, but errors on DblClick for Tree

Peter,

Thanks for your insight. I wasn't trying to blame or fault anyone, just
trying to understand how users might better understand which 3rd party ActiveX controls have been proven to work with Alpha Five.

I am looking for a splitter control for placement directly on an Alpha Five form, rather than to create a form from code using XDialog.

But I also would like to see a more attractive Tab control (such as the ones Alpha Five uses itself).

Does anyone know of any?

Wouldn't it be great if Alpha Five maintained a inventory of ActiveX controls that have been certified to work with it. My assumption was that an ActiveX control is an ActiveX control, and that if it works with Visual Basic or Access, it would with Alpha Five.

Thanks,
Bob
Pittsburgh

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Open form executes for OnPush event for button, but errors on DblClick for Tree

Open form executes for OnPush event for button, but errors on DblClick for Tree

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