CommonDialog/Direct

Take control over all the Windows Common Dialogs with this component

Common Dialog/Direct is a new DLL or class library which shows how to completely replace COMDLG32.OCX through Visual Basic code. The main advantage of this is you no longer need to put a control on a form to use common dialogs - just declare an instance of the class and you have a straight replacement. You can also incorporate the Common Dialog/Direct code straight into your own project if you want to reduce dependency files when you ship your project.

Features

There are a number of areas where Common Dialog/Direct improves upon the implementation of COMDLG32.OCX supplied with VB:

• Common Dialog hooks are supported. It is possible to:
  • Confirm files being chosen before a file dialog is closed
  • Centre dialogs accurately to any object
  • Incorporate a common dialog into your own form, like the Add Form and New Project dialogs in VB5.
  • Templates are supported.
• The file dialogs return the selected filter index when the user chooses a file.
• You can get and set the custom colours set up in the colour dialog.
• It is possible to show the Page Setup dialog for the printer.

Here is a sample of how to use Common Dialog/Direct:

    Dim c As New cCommonDialog 
    With c 
        .DialogTitle = "Choose Text FIle" 
        .CancelError = True 
        .hWnd = Me.hWnd 
        .flags = OFN_FILEMUSTEXIST Or OFN_PATHMUSTEXIST 
        .InitDir = "C:\STEVEMAC" 
        .Filter = "Internet documents (*.HTM)|*.HTM|Text files (*.TXT)|*.TXT|All Files (*.*)|*.*" 
        .FilterIndex = 1 
        .ShowOpen 
        
        txtFileName = .filename 
        txtFilter = .Filter 
        txtContents = GetFileText(.filename) 
        
    End With 

The sample code in the download exercises all the different dialogs.