Visual Studio 2013 Lesson 20: Using Check Box

We have learned how to use some of the controls in Visual Studio 2013 in lesson 5, lesson 6 and lesson 7. In this lesson, we shall learn a very useful control in Visual Studio 2013 , the check box. The Check box allows the user to select one or more items by checking the check box or check boxes concerned. For example, in the Font dialog box of any Microsoft Text editor like FrontPage, there are many check boxes under the Effects section such as that shown in the diagram below. The user can choose underline, subscript, small caps, superscript, blink and etc. In Visual Studio 2013 , you may create a shopping cart where the user can click on check boxes that correspond to the items they intend to buy, and the total payment can be computed at the same time.

Example 20.1: Shopping Cart

In this example, we add a few labels, two buttons and six check boxes. We declare the price of each item using the Const keyword. If a check box is being ticked, its state is True else its state is False. To calculate the total amount of purchase, we use the mathematical operator +=. For example, sum+=BN is actually sum=sum+BN. Finally, we use the ToString method to display the the amount in currency.

The Code

Public Class Form1

Private Sub BtnCal_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles BtnCal.Click
Const LX As Integer = 100
Const BN As Integer = 500
Const SD As Integer = 200
Const HD As Integer = 80
Const HM As Integer = 300
Const AM As Integer = 150
Dim sum As Integer
If CheckBox1.Checked = True Then
sum += LX
End If

If CheckBox2.Checked = True Then
sum += BN
End If

If CheckBox3.Checked = True Then
sum += SD
End If
If CheckBox4.Checked = True Then
sum += HD
End If

If CheckBox5.Checked = True Then
sum += HM
End If

If CheckBox6.Checked = True Then
sum += AM
End If
LblTotal.Text = sum.ToString(“c”)
End Sub

Private Sub BtnReset_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles BtnReset.Click
CheckBox1.Checked = False
CheckBox2.Checked = False
CheckBox3.Checked = False
CheckBox4.Checked = False
CheckBox5.Checked = False
CheckBox6.Checked = False

End Sub
End Class

The Runtime Interface

 Figure 20.1: Shopping Cart

 

Here is another example

Example 20.2

Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click

Const large As Integer = 10.0
Const medium As Integer = 8
Const small As Integer = 5
Dim sum As Integer

If CheckBox1.Checked = True Then
sum += large
End If

If CheckBox2.Checked = True Then
sum += medium
End If

If CheckBox3.Checked = True Then
sum += small
End If
Label5.Text = sum.ToString(“c”)

End Sub

Example 20.3

In this example, the text on the label can be formatting using the three check boxes that represent bold, italic and underline.

The Code

Public Class Form1

Private Sub ChkBold_CheckedChanged(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles ChkBold.CheckedChanged
If ChkBold.Checked Then
LblDisplay.Font = New Font(LblDisplay.Font, LblDisplay.Font.Style Or FontStyle.Bold)
Else
LblDisplay.Font = New Font(LblDisplay.Font, LblDisplay.Font.Style And Not FontStyle.Bold)

End If
End Sub

Private Sub ChkItalic_CheckedChanged(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles ChkItalic.CheckedChanged
If ChkItalic.Checked Then
LblDisplay.Font = New Font(LblDisplay.Font, LblDisplay.Font.Style Or FontStyle.Italic)
Else
LblDisplay.Font = New Font(LblDisplay.Font, LblDisplay.Font.Style And Not FontStyle.Italic)

End If
End Sub

Private Sub ChkUnder_CheckedChanged(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles ChkUnder.CheckedChanged
If ChkUnder.Checked Then
LblDisplay.Font = New Font(LblDisplay.Font, LblDisplay.Font.Style Or FontStyle.Underline)
Else
LblDisplay.Font = New Font(LblDisplay.Font, LblDisplay.Font.Style And Not FontStyle.Underline)

End If
End Sub
End Class

* The above program uses the CheckedChanged event to respond to the user selection by checking a particular check box, it is similar to the click event. The statement

LblDisplay.Font = New Font(LblDisplay.Font, LblDisplay.Font.Style Or FontStyle.Italic)

will retain the original font type but change it to italic font style.

LblDisplay.Font = New Font(LblDisplay.Font, LblDisplay.Font.Style And Not FontStyle.Italic)

will also retain the original font type but change it to regular font style. (The other statements employ the same logic)

The Output