Chapter 6: Windows Forms: Buttons, Checkboxes, Radio Buttons, Panels, and Group Boxes

Main Page

    Buttons
    Checkboxes
    Radio Buttons
    Panels
    Group Boxes
    Immediate Solutions: All About Buttons
    Setting a Button's Caption
    Setting a Button's Foreground and Background Color
    Setting Button Fonts
    Handling Button Clicks
    Imitating Control Arrays
    Resetting the Focus after a Button Click
    Giving Buttons and Other Controls Access Characters
    Setting Button Tab Order
    Disabling Buttons
    Showing and Hiding Buttons
    Resizing and Moving Buttons from Code
    Adding a Picture to a Button
    Adding Buttons at Run Time
    Passing Buttons to Procedures
    Handling Button Releases
    Using the Checkbox Class
    Creating Checkboxes
    Getting a Checkbox's State
    Setting a Checkbox's State
    Creating Three-State Checkboxes
    Using the RadioButton Class
    Creating Radio Buttons
    Getting a Radio Button's State
    Setting a Radio Button's State
    Creating Toggle Buttons
    Using the Panel Class
    Creating Panels
    Adding Controls to Panels in Code
    Using the GroupBox Class
    Creating Group Boxes
    Adding Controls to Group Boxes in Code

In Depth

In this chapter, we're going to look at what are arguably the most popular controls in Visual Basic: buttons. This includes buttons, checkboxes, and radio buttons. I'll also take a look at two grouping controls—panels and group controls. You use panels and group controls to enclose other controls, and that's particularly important with controls such as radio buttons, which operate in groups. I'll start with an overview of buttons.