Track and Scroll Bars

Introduction to Track Bars

Introduction

A track bar is a control used to slide a small bar or pointer, also called a thumb, along a continuous line. In the following dialog box, there is an example of a track bar under Adjust the slider...:

To use the track bar, the user can drag the thumb in one of two directions. This changes the position of the thumb. The user can also click a position along the control line to place the thumb at a desired location. Alternatively, when the track bar has focus, the user can use the arrow keys to move the thumb.

As far as appearances are concerned, there are two types of track bars, depending on the orientation: horizontal or vertical. Here is an example of a vertical track bar on the left side of Medium:

A track bar is configured with a set of values from a minimum to a maximum. Therefore, the user can make a selection included in that range. Optionally, a track bar can be equipped with small marks called ticks. These can visually guide the user for the available positions of the thumb.

A track bar can be used as a progress control to help the user monitor an activity. A track bar also allows the user to specify a value that conforms to a range. When equipped with small indicators, also called ticks, a track bar can be used to control exact values that the user can select in a range, preventing the user from setting just any value.

To support track bars, the .NET Framework provides the TrackBar class. At design time, to add a track bar to your application, from the Toolbox, you can click the TrackBar button and click the form or a container. The TrackBar class is derived from the Control class. To programmatically create a track bar, declare a variable of type TrackBar, use the new operator to allocate memory for the variable, and add it to the Controls property of its parent. Here is an example of creating a track bar:

Imports System.Drawing
Imports System.Windows.Forms

Module Exercise

    Public Class Starter
        Inherits Form

        Private tbrSlider As TrackBar

        Dim components As System.ComponentModel.Container

        Public Sub New()
            InitializeComponent()
        End Sub

        Public Sub InitializeComponent()

            tbrSlider = New TrackBar()

            Controls.Add(tbrSlider)

        End Sub

    End Class

    Function Main() As Integer

        Dim frmStart As Starter = New Starter

        Application.Run(frmStart)

        Return 0
    End Function

End Module

This would produce:

1. Start a new Windows Application named CarInventory1
2. Copy the pictures of the cars and paste them in the CarInventory1\CarInventory1\bin\debug folder of the current project
3. On the main menu, click Project -> Add Class...
4. Set the Name to Car and click Add
5. Create the following members of the class:
    

   Public Class Car Public Make As String Public Model As String Public Year As Integer Public Price As Double Public Picture As String End Class

6. In the Solution Explorer, right-click Form1.vb and click Rename
7. Set the name to CarInventory.vb and press Enter twice

After placing a TrackBar control on a form or other container, by default, its assumes a horizontal position. The position of the track bar is controlled by Orientation property implemented through the Orientation enumeration that has two members. To change the direction of the control, on the Properties window, set the Orientation property to the desired value. For example, to make it vertical, change the field from Horizontal to Vertical. To change this property at runtime, assign the desired value to the property. Here is an example:

Public Sub InitializeComponent()

            tbrSlider = New TrackBar()
            tbrSlider.Location = New Point(12, 12)

            tbrSlider.Orientation = Orientation.Vertical

            Controls.Add(tbrSlider)

End Sub

This would produce:

The dimensions of the track bars we have displayed so far don't appear practical. This is because we were using the default values. Like every control, the track bar has default dimensions and like many controls, these default values are usually not suitable. This means that every time you create a track bar, make sure you specify either its Size property or its Width and its Height properties. Here is an example:

Public Sub InitializeComponent()

            tbrSlider = New TrackBar()
            tbrSlider.Location = New Point(12, 12)

            tbrSlider.Width = 180

            Controls.Add(tbrSlider)

End Sub

This would produce:

1. Design the form as follows:
    

   Control Text Name Additional Properties GroupBox Car Description     Label Make:     TextBox Honda txtMake   Label Model:     TextBox   txtModel   Label Year:     TextBox   txtYear TextAlign: Right Label Price:     TextBox   txtPrice TextAlign: Right PictureBox   pbxCarImage SizeMode: CenterImage TrackBar   tbrImages Orientation: Vertical TrackBar   tbrReview   Button Close btnClose

2. Execute the application to test the form
3. Close the form and return to your programming environment

As mentioned already, to use the track bar, the user must change the position of the thumb. To change this position, the user can drag the thumb, click the slider line, press one of the arrow keys, or press the Page Up or Page Down keys. As the user drags the thumb, the control fires a Scroll event. This event is of type EventArgs. Because this is the default event of the control, to generate its skeleton code, you can double-click the track bar on the control

When the user drags the thumb, the control holds a new value known as the Value property. You also can assign a value to this property to change the position of the thumb. The value of the Value property must be an integer. After the user has changed it, to know the value of the track bar, you can access its Value property. Here is an example:

Public Sub InitializeComponent()

            tbrSlider = New TrackBar()
            tbrSlider.Location = New Point(12, 12)
            tbrSlider.Width = 180

            tbrSlider.Value = 6

            Controls.Add(tbrSlider)

End Sub

This would produce:

However the user moves the thumb, it must assume a value between the limits allowed on the control. The Minimum property is the lowest value that the thumb can assume within the track. The Maximum value controls the opposite. The user is allowed to slide only between these two values. These two properties are set in the Properties window using their respective fields. By default, the minimum value is set to 0 and the maximum is 10. To change the minimum or maximum values programmatically, assign the desired value to the appropriate property. Here is an example:

Public Sub InitializeComponent()

            tbrSlider = New TrackBar()
            tbrSlider.Location = New Point(12, 12)
            tbrSlider.Width = 480

            tbrSlider.Minimum = 8
            tbrSlider.Maximum = 140

            tbrSlider.Value = 86

            Controls.Add(tbrSlider)

End Sub

This would produce:

You can also set the minimum and the maximum values by calling the TrackBar.SetRange() method. Its syntax is:

Public Sub SetRange(minValue As Integer, maxValue As Integer)

The first argument is the same as the Minimum property and the second argument is the same as the Maximum property. Here is an example:

Public Sub InitializeComponent()

            tbrSlider = New TrackBar()
            tbrSlider.Location = New Point(12, 12)
            tbrSlider.Width = 480

            tbrSlider.SetRange(8, 140)

            tbrSlider.Value = 86

            Controls.Add(tbrSlider)

End Sub

Always make sure that the minimum value is lower than the maximum. This safe measure will allow you to better control the current value of the control. At design time, if you set the Minimum property to a value higher than that of the Maximum, for example setting Minimum to 66 while Maximum=10, the value of the Maximum would be set to that of the Minimum. In this case, both properties would have the same value. This makes the control unusable: if the Minimum and the Maximum properties hold the same values, the user cannot move the thumb. In the same way, at run time, avoid assigning unpractical values to these properties.

A track bar is equipped with small bars “|” that serve as indicators of the position occupied by the thumb. These bars are called ticks. The ticks are positioned at same distances from each other. The number of ticks available on a track bar, or the number of ticks you can see, depend on the difference between the Minimum and the Maximum values The higher the Maximum - Minimum difference, the more ticks available. The lower this value, the fewer the ticks but this should not be the reason you use a lower Minimum or a higher Maximum.

If the difference between the Maximum and the Minimum properties causes the control to display too many ticks. Consider the following example:

Public Sub InitializeComponent()

            tbrSlider = New TrackBar()
            tbrSlider.Location = New Point(12, 12)
            tbrSlider.Width = 400
            tbrSlider.SetRange(8, 255)
            tbrSlider.Value = 125

            Controls.Add(tbrSlider)

End Sub

When this happens, you can reduce the number of ticks. This is done using the TickFrequency property. Here is an example:

Public Sub InitializeComponent()

            tbrSlider = New TrackBar()
            tbrSlider.Location = New Point(12, 12)
            tbrSlider.Width = 400
            tbrSlider.SetRange(8, 255)
            tbrSlider.Value = 125

            tbrSlider.TickFrequency = 10

            Controls.Add(tbrSlider)

End Sub

This would produce:

The thumb’s visual display appears as a small standing pentagon with two straight borders. Its appearance is set using the TickStyle property which is based on the TickStyle enumeration. When you add a new TrackBar control to a form, it is horizontally oriented, the thumb points down, the tick marks are positioned under the sliding field. In this setting, the TickStyle property is set to BottomRight. To place the tick marks above the sliding field, change the value of the TickStyle property to TopLeft this also has the effect of reversing the direction of the slider. Here is an example:

Public Sub InitializeComponent()

            tbrSlider = New TrackBar()
            tbrSlider.Location = New Point(12, 12)
            tbrSlider.Width = 400
            tbrSlider.SetRange(8, 255)
            tbrSlider.Value = 125
            tbrSlider.TickFrequency = 10

            tbrSlider.TickStyle = TickStyle.TopLeft

            Controls.Add(tbrSlider)

End Sub

This would produce:

As a third option, you can have the tick marks on both sides of the slider. To get this, set the TickStyle property to Both. With this value, the thumb becomes a small rectangle (changing from its pentagon shape):

1. On the form, click the right track bar
2. In the Properties window, click TickStyle and select Both from its combo box
3. On the form, click the bottom track bar
4. In the Properties window, click TickStyle and select TopLeft from its combo box
    
   
5. Save all

When the user presses one of the arrow keys, the thumb moves by one tick. This unit is known as the SmallChange property. If you want the thumb to move by more than one tick, you can assign the desired value to this property. Alternatively, you can calculate a fraction of the difference between the Minimum and the Maximum values then use it as the SmallChange.

When the user presses either the Page Up (PgUp) or the Page Down (PgDn) keys, the thumb moves by a value represented by the LargeChange property. If the default value of this property is not convenient for your application, you can change it to a new desired value or you can use a fraction of the difference between the Minimum and the Maximum properties then use it as the LargeChange.

1. Right-click the form and click View Code
2. Declare the following variables:
    

   Public Class CarInventory Private ReviewPosition As Integer Private Cars(15) As Car ' We will not use the commented arrays. ' They are only mentioned here for reference Private Pictures0() As String Private Pictures1(5) As String Private Pictures2(3) As String ' Private pictures3(0) As String Private Pictures4(3) As String Private Pictures5(3) As String Private Pictures6(3) As String ' Private pictures7(0) As String ' Private pictures8(0) As String ' Private pictures9(0) As String Private Pictures10(3) As String Private Pictures11(4) As String ' Private pictures12(0) As String Private Pictures13(7) As String Private Pictures14(2) As String End Class

3. In the Class Name combo box, select tbrReview
4. In the Method Name combo box, select Scroll and implement the event as follows:
    

   Private Sub tbrReview_Scroll(ByVal sender As Object, _ ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _ Handles tbrReview.Scroll ' Get the index of the current value of the track bar ReviewPosition = tbrReview.Value ' Based on the current index, retrieve the values of the ' current car and assign each to the corresponding control txtMake.Text = Cars(ReviewPosition).Make txtModel.Text = Cars(ReviewPosition).Model txtYear.Text = Cars(ReviewPosition).Year.ToString() txtPrice.Text = Cars(ReviewPosition).Price.ToString() pbxCarImage.Image = Image.FromFile(Cars(ReviewPosition).Picture) ' To make the right track bar aware of the number ' of pictures of each car, set its maximum property ' according to the number of pictures (- 1) Select Case ReviewPosition Case 0 tbrImages.Maximum = 8 Case 1 tbrImages.Maximum = 5 Case 2 tbrImages.Maximum = 3 Case 3 tbrImages.Maximum = 0 Case 4 tbrImages.Maximum = 3 Case 5 tbrImages.Maximum = 3 Case 6 tbrImages.Maximum = 3 Case 7 tbrImages.Maximum = 0 Case 8 tbrImages.Maximum = 0 Case 9 tbrImages.Maximum = 0 Case 10 tbrImages.Maximum = 3 Case 11 tbrImages.Maximum = 4 Case 12 tbrImages.Maximum = 0 Case 13 tbrImages.Maximum = 7 Case 14 tbrImages.Maximum = 1 Case Else End Select tbrImages.Value = 0 End Sub

5. In the Class Name combo box, select tbrImages
6. In the Method Name combo box, select Scroll and implement the event as follows:
    

   Private Sub tbrImages_Scroll(ByVal sender As Object, _ ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _ Handles tbrImages.Scroll ' Check the position of the bottom track bar ' Then, use the value of the right track bar ' to locate the right picture Select Case ReviewPosition Case 0 pbxCarImage.Image = Image.FromFile(Pictures0(tbrImages.Value)) Case 1 pbxCarImage.Image = Image.FromFile(Pictures1(tbrImages.Value)) Case 2 pbxCarImage.Image = Image.FromFile(Pictures2(tbrImages.Value)) Case 4 pbxCarImage.Image = Image.FromFile(Pictures4(tbrImages.Value)) Case 5 pbxCarImage.Image = Image.FromFile(Pictures5(tbrImages.Value)) Case 6 pbxCarImage.Image = Image.FromFile(Pictures6(tbrImages.Value)) Case 10 pbxCarImage.Image = Image.FromFile(Pictures10(tbrImages.Value)) Case 11 pbxCarImage.Image = Image.FromFile(Pictures11(tbrImages.Value)) Case 13 pbxCarImage.Image = Image.FromFile(Pictures13(tbrImages.Value)) Case 14 pbxCarImage.Image = Image.FromFile(Pictures14(tbrImages.Value)) Case Else End Select End Sub

7. In the Class Name combo box, select (CarInventory Events)
8. In the Method Name combo box, select Load and implement the event as follows:
    

   Private Sub CarInventory_Load(ByVal sender As Object, _ ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _ Handles Me.Load ' Create the list of cars Cars(0) = New Car() Cars(0).Make = "BMW" Cars(0).Model = "335i" Cars(0).Year = 2007 Cars(0).Price = 42580 Cars(0).Picture = "335iA.gif" Cars(1) = New Car() Cars(1).Make = "Honda" Cars(1).Model = "Accord" Cars(1).Year = 2007 Cars(1).Price = 24550 Cars(1).Picture = "Accord1.gif" Cars(2) = New Car() Cars(2).Make = "Chevrolet" Cars(2).Model = "Avalanche" Cars(2).Year = 2007 Cars(2).Price = 36880 Cars(2).Picture = "Avalanche1.gif" Cars(3) = New Car() Cars(3).Make = "Volvo" Cars(3).Model = "C70" Cars(3).Year = 1997 Cars(3).Price = 42320 Cars(3).Picture = "C70.gif" Cars(4) = New Car() Cars(4).Make = "Land Rover" Cars(4).Model = "LR3" Cars(4).Year = 2007 Cars(4).Price = 46245 Cars(4).Picture = "LR3a.gif" Cars(5) = New Car() Cars(5).Make = "Honda" Cars(5).Model = "Civic" Cars(5).Year = 2000 Cars(5).Price = 22665 Cars(5).Picture = "Civic1.gif" Cars(6) = New Car() Cars(6).Make = "Mazda" Cars(6).Model = "Mazda5" Cars(6).Year = 2007 Cars(6).Price = 20845 Cars(6).Picture = "Mazda5a.gif" Cars(7) = New Car() Cars(7).Make = "Ford" Cars(7).Model = "Escape" Cars(7).Year = 1997 Cars(7).Price = 22445 Cars(7).Picture = "Escape.gif" Cars(8) = New Car() Cars(8).Make = "Acura" Cars(8).Model = "TSX" Cars(8).Year = 2006 Cars(8).Price = 26445 Cars(8).Picture = "TSX.gif" Cars(9) = New Car() Cars(9).Make = "Mazda" Cars(9).Model = "Miata" Cars(9).Year = 2008 Cars(9).Price = 24180 Cars(9).Picture = "Miata.gif" Cars(10) = New Car() Cars(10).Make = "Ford" Cars(10).Model = "F-150" Cars(10).Year = 2006 Cars(10).Price = 20475 Cars(10).Picture = "F150a.gif" Cars(11) = New Car() Cars(11).Make = "Volvo" Cars(11).Model = "S40" Cars(11).Year = 2008 Cars(11).Price = 25285 Cars(11).Picture = "S40a.gif" Cars(12) = New Car() Cars(12).Make = "BMW" Cars(12).Model = "750i" Cars(12).Year = 2007 Cars(12).Price = 88925 Cars(12).Picture = "750Li.gif" Cars(13) = New Car() Cars(13).Make = "Buick" Cars(13).Model = "LaCrosse" Cars(13).Year = 2002 Cars(13).Price = 28685 Cars(13).Picture = "LaCrosse1.gif" Cars(14) = New Car() Cars(14).Make = "Ford" Cars(14).Model = "E-150 XL" Cars(14).Year = 2002 Cars(14).Price = 26660 Cars(14).Picture = "E150XLa.gif" ' Create the list of pictures for each car Pictures0 = New String() { _ "335iA.gif", "335iB.gif", "335iC.gif", _ "335iD.gif", "335iE.gif", "335iF.gif", _ "335iG.gif", "335iH.gif", "335iI.gif"} Pictures1 = New String() { _ "Accord1.gif", "Accord2.gif", "Accord3.gif", _ "Accord4.gif", "Accord5.gif", "Accord6.gif"} Pictures2 = New String() { _ "Avalanche1.gif", "Avalanche2.gif", _ "Avalanche3.gif", "Avalanche4.gif"} Pictures4 = New String() { _ "LR3a.gif", "LR3b.gif", _ "LR3b.gif", "LR3d.gif"} Pictures5 = New String() { _ "Civic1.gif", "Civic2.gif", _ "Civic3.gif", "Civic4.gif"} Pictures6 = New String() { _ "Mazda5a.gif", "Mazda5b.gif", _ "Mazda5c.gif", "Mazda5d.gif"} Pictures10 = New String() { _ "F150a.gif", "F150b.gif", _ "F150c.gif", "F150d.gif"} Pictures11 = New String() { _ "S40a.gif", "S40b.gif", _ "S40c.gif", "S40d.gif", "S40e.gif"} Pictures13 = New String() { _ "LaCrosse1.gif", "LaCrosse2.gif", "LaCrosse3.gif", _ "LaCrosse4.gif", "LaCrosse5.gif", "LaCrosse6.gif", _ "LaCrosse7.gif", "LaCrosse8.gif"} Pictures14 = New String() { _ "E150XLa.gif", "E150XLb.gif"} ' Call the Scroll event of the bottom track bar ' as if it had been scrolled tbrReview_Scroll(sender, e) End Sub

9. In the Class Name combo box, select btnClose
10. In the Method Name combo box, select Click and implement the event as follows:
     

    Private Sub btnClose_Click(ByVal sender As Object, _ ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _ Handles btnClose.Click End End Sub

11. Execute the application and test the track bar:
     
12. Close the form and return to your programming environment

A scrollbar is a control that allows the user to navigate a document in two directions by clicking a button that displays an arrow. The control is equipped with one button at each of its ends. Between the buttons, there is a (long) bar and on the bar, there is sliding object called a thumb:

To use a scroll bar, the user can click one of the arrows. This causes the thumb to move towards the button that was clicked. The user can also click and hold the mouse on a button. This causes the thumb to move continuously, as long as the button is held down, towards the button, until the thumb cannot move any farther. The user can also drag the thumb in one direction to move it or click between a button and the thumb. This causes the thumb to move faster than clicking a button. The thumb of a scroll bar can be positioned only along the scroll bar, between the scroll bar’s button.

Based on their orientation, there are two types of scroll bars: horizontal and vertical. The horizontal scroll bar allows the user to navigate a document left and right. The vertical scroll bar allows navigating up and down.

Based on their relationship with the parent control or owner, there are two types of scroll bars: those that are (automatically) associated with their parent or owner and scroll bar controls that are manually added by the programmer.

To effectively implement their functionality, some controls must be equipped with one or two scroll bars. As we will see with list-based controls such as list boxes, combo boxes, tree views, list views, etc, when the items of their list exceed the allocated client area of the control, the list should display a scroll bar to give access to the hidden part of their list. This type of automatically added scroll bar is usually positioned on the right side of the control for most Latin-based languages including US English.

The Palette property page of Borland C++ Builder’s Environment Options dialog box shows the Pages list box and the Components list view. Because each control has a long list that it cannot show completely, it is equipped with a vertical scroll bar. This allows the user to display the hidden list when needed.

These types of scroll bars are automatically added by the operating system to the control that needs it, unless the programmer explicitly prevented their showing.

Some controls are ready to display a scroll bar upon request, that is, if you want them to. Such controls are the form, the text box, the rich text box, and the panel. When designing one of these controls, you can ask it to display or hide either or both scroll bars as you see fit.

Although they are the most used containers, by default, the form and the panel control don't display scroll bars, even if you add controls that exceed their allocated client area:

If you have controls that exceed the client area of a form or a panel and if you want them to display scroll bars so the user can navigate to the hidden parts of the container, change the value of the form or the panel's AutoScroll Boolean property. By default, this property is set to False. If you set its value to true, the control container would be equipped with one or both of the scroll bars as necessary:

The text box and the rich text box controls are equipped with a property called ScrollBars.

Because they are always likely to display a long text, the multi-line text box and the rich text box controls are natively ready to display either or both scroll bars. This is easily done using the ScrollBars property. It provides four options as follows:

Thanks to rapid application development (RAD) and object-oriented programming (OOP), you do not have to permanently set the scroll bar(s). You can act in response to the user doing something and decide when to display or hide either or both scroll bars.

Microsoft Windows provides two other types of scroll bars, considered complete controls in their own right. Like all other controls, these ones must be explicitly created that is, they are not added automatically but they provide most of the same basic functionality as if the operating system's automatically added the scroll bars.

To create a scroll bar control, on the Toolbox, you can click either the VScrollBar or the HScrollBar button then click a container. The scroll bar is one of the earliest controls of the Microsoft Windows operating system. Each control is implemented through a class of the same name. The VScrollBar and the HScrollBar classes are based on the ScrollBar class that essentially provides all of their functionalities.

1. Start a new Windows Application named HTMLBodyTag1
2. In the Solution Explorer, right-click Form1.vb and click Rename
3. Type BodyTag.vb and press Enter
4. Design the form as follows:
    

   Control Name Text Other Properties GroupBox   Body Attributes   RadioButton rdoBackground Background Checked: True TextBox txtBackground #000000   RadioButton rdoText Text   TextBox txtText #0000FF   RadioButton rdoLink Link   TextBox txtLink #FF0000   RadioButton rdoActiveLink Active Link   TextBox txtActiveLink #008000   RadioButton rdoVisitedLink Visited Link   TextBox txtVisitedLink #800000   Panel pnlPreview   BackColor: White BorderStyle: Fixed3D VScrollBar scrRed     VScrollBar scrGreen     VScrollBar scrBlue     Label   R   Label   G   Label   B   Panel pnlBody   BackColor: White BorderStyle: Fixed3D TextBox txtTextPreview Body tag formatter and colorizer BorderStyle: None ForeColor: Blue TextAlign: Center TextBox txtLinkPreview Sample text as link BorderStyle: None ForeColor: Red TextAlign: Center TextBox txtALinkPreview Current active link BorderStyle: None ForeColor: Green TextAlign: Center TextBox txtVLinkPreview This link has been visited BorderStyle: None ForeColor: Maroon TextAlign: Center GroupBox   Color's Values   Label   Red:   TextBox txtRed 0   Label   Green:   TextBox txtGreen 0   Label   Blue:   TextBox txtBlue 0   Button btnCopy Copy   Button btnClose Close   TextBox txtResult <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#0000FF" link="#FF0000" alink="#008000" vlink="#800000">

5. Save all

When using a scroll bar, the user can navigate from one end of the control to the other end. These are the control’s minimum and maximum values represented respectively by the Minimum and the Maximum properties. For a horizontal scrollbar, the minimum is the far left position that the bar can assume. For a vertical scrollbar, this would be the most top position:

As you can see from this illustration, the minimum value of a vertical scroll bar is on top. This is the way the vertical scroll bar control of the .NET Framework is configured. On a regular application, the minimum of a vertical scroll is in the bottom section of the control.

The maximum would be the opposite. By default, a newly added scrollbar allows scrolling from 0 to 100. To change these values at design time, type a natural number for each field in the Properties window.

1. On the form, click one of the scroll bars
2. Press and hold Ctrl
3. Click the other two scroll bars and release Ctrl
4. In the Properties window, click Maximum, type 255, and press Enter
5. Click an unoccupied area of the form to make sure no control is selected

The primary technique the user applies to a scrollbar is to click one of the arrows at the ends of the control. As the bar slides inside of the control, it assumes an integer position from Minimum to Maximum. At one time, the position that the bar has is the Value property. At design time, you can use the Value property to set the position that the scrollbar would assume when the form opens. If you set the Value to a value less than the Minimum, you would receive an error of Invalid Property Value:

In the same way, if you set the value of Value to a value higher than the Maximum, you would receive an Invalid Property Value error. To programmatically set the position of the bar, assign the desired value, which must be between Minimum and Maximum, to the Value property.

At run time, when the user scrolls the control, you can find the position of the bar by getting the value of the Value property.

When the user clicks an arrow of a scrollbar, the bar slides by one unit. This unit is represented by the SmallChange property and is set to 1 by default. If you want the bar to slide more than one unit, change the value of the SmallChange property to a natural number between Minimum and Maximum. The higher the value, the faster the sliding would occur because the bar would jump by SmallChange units.

There are two main ways the user can scroll faster using scrollbars: by pressing either page buttons or by clicking the scrolling region. The amount covered using this technique is controlled by the LargeChange property. Once again, the user can scroll only between Minimum and Maximum. To find the scrolling amount, the compiler would divide the actual scrolling range (the difference between Maximum and Minimum) by the LargeChange value. When the user clicks in the scrolling region or presses the Page Up or Page Down keys, the bar would jump by LargeChange up to the scrolling amount value. You can also change the LargeChange property programmatically.

1. On the form, click one of the scroll bars
2. Press and hold Ctrl
3. Click the other two scroll bars and release Ctrl
4. In the Properties window, click LargeChange, type 1, and press Enter
    
   
5. Right-click the form and click View Code
6. Change the file as follows:
    

   Public Class BodyTag Private HexBG As String Private HexText As String Private HexLink As String Private HexALink As String Private HexVLink As String Private Sub ApplyColor() ' Retrieve the current hexadecimal colors from their Edit controls HexBG = txtBackground.Text HexText = txtText.Text HexLink = txtLink.Text HexALink = txtActiveLink.Text HexVLink = txtVisitedLink.Text ' Get the integral position of each ScrollBar control Dim strRed As String = CStr(255 - scrRed.Value) Dim strGreen As String = CStr(255 - scrGreen.Value) Dim strBlue As String = CStr(255 - scrBlue.Value) ' Display the position of each ScrollBar ' in its corresponding Edit control txtRed.Text = strRed txtGreen.Text = strGreen txtBlue.Text = strBlue ' Change the color of the Preview panel ' according to the values of the ScrollBar positions pnlPreview.BackColor = Color.FromArgb(255 - scrRed.Value, _ 255 - scrGreen.Value, _ 255 - scrBlue.Value) Dim FmtRed As String = (255 - scrRed.Value).ToString("X") If FmtRed.Length = 1 Then FmtRed = "0" & FmtRed Dim FmtGreen As String = (255 - scrGreen.Value).ToString("X") If FmtGreen.Length = 1 Then FmtGreen = "0" & FmtGreen Dim FmtBlue As String = (255 - scrBlue.Value).ToString("X") If FmtBlue.Length = 1 Then FmtBlue = "0" & FmtBlue ' Get the position of each ScrollBar control ' Create a hexadecimal color starting with # ' And display the color in the appropriate Edit control If rdoBackground.Checked = True Then Dim BG As String = "#" BG = BG & FmtRed BG = BG & FmtGreen BG = BG & FmtBlue txtBackground.Text = BG pnlBody.BackColor = pnlPreview.BackColor txtTextPreview.BackColor = pnlPreview.BackColor txtLinkPreview.BackColor = pnlPreview.BackColor txtALinkPreview.BackColor = pnlPreview.BackColor txtVLinkPreview.BackColor = pnlPreview.BackColor HexBG = txtBackground.Text ElseIf rdoText.Checked = True Then Dim Txt As String = "#" Txt = Txt & FmtRed Txt = Txt & FmtGreen Txt = Txt & FmtBlue txtText.Text = Txt txtTextPreview.ForeColor = Color.FromArgb(255 - scrRed.Value, _ 255 - scrGreen.Value, _ 255 - scrBlue.Value) HexText = txtText.Text ElseIf rdoLink.Checked = True Then Dim TL As String = "#" TL = TL & FmtRed TL = TL & FmtGreen TL = TL & FmtBlue txtLink.Text = TL txtLinkPreview.ForeColor = Color.FromArgb(255 - scrRed.Value, _ 255 - scrGreen.Value, _ 255 - scrBlue.Value) HexLink = txtLink.Text ElseIf rdoActiveLink.Checked = True Then Dim AL As String = "#" AL = AL & FmtRed AL = AL & FmtGreen AL = AL & FmtBlue txtActiveLink.Text = AL txtALinkPreview.ForeColor = Color.FromArgb(255 - scrRed.Value, _ 255 - scrGreen.Value, _ 255 - scrBlue.Value) HexALink = txtActiveLink.Text ElseIf rdoVisitedLink.Checked = True Then Dim VL As String = "#" VL = VL & FmtRed VL = VL & FmtGreen VL = VL & FmtBlue txtVisitedLink.Text = VL txtVLinkPreview.ForeColor = Color.FromArgb(255 - scrRed.Value, _ 255 - scrGreen.Value, _ 255 - scrBlue.Value) HexVLink = txtVisitedLink.Text End If ' Update the contents of the bottom text box Dim BD As String = "<body bgcolor=""" BD = BD & HexBG BD = BD & """ text=""" BD = BD & HexText BD = BD & """ link=""" BD = BD & HexLink BD = BD & """ alink=""" BD = BD & HexALink BD = BD & """ vlink=""" BD = BD & HexVLink BD = BD & "">" txtResult.Text = BD End Sub End Class

7. In the Class Name combo box, select scrRed
8. In the Method Name combo box, select Scroll and implement the event as follows:
    

   Private Sub scrRed_Scroll(ByVal sender As Object, _ ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.ScrollEventArgs) _ Handles scrRed.Scroll ApplyColor() End Sub

9. In the Class Name combo box, select scrGreen
10. In the Method Name combo box, select Scroll and implement the event as follows:
     

    Private Sub scrGreen_Scroll(ByVal sender As Object, _ ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.ScrollEventArgs) _ Handles scrGreen.Scroll ApplyColor() End Sub

11. In the Class Name combo box, select scrBlue
12. In the Method Name combo box, select Scroll and implement the event as follows:
     

    Private Sub scrBlue_Scroll(ByVal sender As Object, _ ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.ScrollEventArgs) _ Handles scrBlue.Scroll ApplyColor() End Sub

13. Execute the application to test the form
14. Close the form and return to your programming environment
15. When the user clicks a radio button from the Body Attributes group box, we need to display its color on the Preview panel. When a particular button is clicked, we will retrieve the color of its font from the Body text box, translate that color into red, green, and blue values, and then use those values to automatically update the scroll bars and the edit boxes. While we are at it, we also need to update the corresponding text box in the Body Attributes group box. Since this functionality will be used by all radio buttons in the group, we will use a global function to which we can pass two variables.
    When the user clicks a particular radio button, that button is represented by a text box in the lower-left Body section. We need to get the color of that edit box and pass it to our function. Since the clicked radio button has a corresponding text box in the Body Attributes group box, we need to change/update that value with the hexadecimal value of the first argument. Therefore, we will pass a string argument to our function.
    In the Code Editor, just after the End Sub line of the scrBlue_Scroll event, create the following procedure:
     

    Private Sub ClickOption(ByVal Clr As Color, _ ByVal Result As String) ' These variables will hold the red, green, and blue ' values of the passed color Dim red As Integer Dim green As Integer Dim blue As Integer ' Colorize the Preview panel with the passed color pnlPreview.BackColor = Clr ' Get the red value of the color of the Preview panel red = 255 - pnlPreview.BackColor.R ' Get the green value of the color of the Preview panel green = 255 - pnlPreview.BackColor.G ' Get the blue value of the color of the Preview panel blue = 255 - pnlPreview.BackColor.B ' Now that we have the red, green, and blue values of the color, ' Update the scroll bars with the new values scrRed.Value = red scrGreen.Value = green scrBlue.Value = blue ' Update the red, green, and blue values ' of the Numeric Values group box txtRed.Text = red.ToString() txtGreen.Text = green.ToString() txtBlue.Text = blue.ToString() ' Update the string that was passed using ' the retrieved red, green, and blue values Result = Result & "#" Result = Result & red.ToString("X") Result = Result & green.ToString("X") Result = Result & blue.ToString("X") End Sub

16. In the Class Name combo box, select rdoBackground 
17. In the Method Name combo box, select CheckedChanged and implement the event as follows:
     

    Private Sub rdoBackground_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As Object, _ ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _ Handles rdoBackground.CheckedChanged ' If the user clicks Background radio button ' set color of the panel to that of the radio button Dim BGColor As Color = pnlBody.BackColor pnlBody.BackColor = BGColor ' Call the ClickOption() method to calculate ' the hexadecimal value of the color ClickOption(pnlBody.BackColor, txtBackground.Text) HexBG = txtBackground.Text End Sub

18. In the Class Name combo box, select rdoText
19. In the Method Name combo box, select CheckedChanged and implement the event as follows:
     

    Private Sub rdoText_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As Object, _ ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _ Handles rdoText.CheckedChanged Dim BGColor As Color = pnlBody.BackColor txtTextPreview.BackColor = BGColor ClickOption(txtTextPreview.ForeColor, txtText.Text) HexText = txtText.Text End Sub

20. In the Class Name combo box, select rdoLink
21. In the Method Name combo box, select CheckedChanged and implement the event as follows:
     

    Private Sub rdoLink_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As Object, _ ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _ Handles rdoLink.CheckedChanged Dim BGColor As Color = pnlBody.BackColor txtLinkPreview.BackColor = BGColor ClickOption(txtLinkPreview.ForeColor, txtLink.Text) HexLink = txtLink.Text End Sub

22. In the Class Name combo box, select rdoActiveLink
23. In the Method Name combo box, select CheckedChanged and implement the event as follows:
     

    Private Sub rdoActiveLink_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As Object, _ ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _ Handles rdoActiveLink.CheckedChanged Dim BGColor As Color = pnlBody.BackColor txtALinkPreview.BackColor = BGColor ClickOption(txtALinkPreview.ForeColor, txtActiveLink.Text) HexALink = txtActiveLink.Text End Sub

24. In the Class Name combo box, select rdoVisitedLink
25. In the Method Name combo box, select CheckedChanged and implement the event as follows:
     

    Private Sub rdoVisitedLink_CheckedChanged(ByVal sender As Object, _ ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _ Handles rdoVisitedLink.CheckedChanged Dim BGColor As Color = pnlBody.BackColor txtVLinkPreview.BackColor = BGColor ClickOption(txtVLinkPreview.ForeColor, txtVisitedLink.Text) HexVLink = txtVisitedLink.Text End Sub

26. In the Class Name combo box, select btnCopy
27. In the Method Name combo box, select Click and implement the event as follows:
     

    Private Sub btnCopy_Click(ByVal sender As Object, _ ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _ Handles btnCopy.Click txtResult.SelectAll() txtResult.Copy() End Sub

28. In the Class Name combo box, select btnClose
29. In the Method Name combo box, select Click and implement the event as follows:
     

    Private Sub btnClose_Click(ByVal sender As Object, _ ByVal e As System.EventArgs) _ Handles btnClose.Click End End Sub

30. Execute the application
     
    
31. Close the form