GEOG 490/590: GIS Programming
Lab1. Hello World
Due Oct 9 before class.
Introduction:
You will use an ESRI Virtual
Campus course to learn MicroSoft Visual Basic (VB6)
programming language. We don’t have VB6 on our lab computers, so you will
do the exercise in ArcMap VBA environment. VB6 and VBA
have almost identical IDEs. However, there are major
differences between VB6 and VBA. For example, if you don’t have VB6
installed on your computer, then you don’t have access to many commonly
used GUI controls. As a result, we will skip several lab exercises in the
Virtual Campus course. Please frequently refer to the Lab Instructions Update
below while working on this lab.
Although many of the lab
instructions do not ask you to repeat (or experiment with) the tasks, it will
help you understand the topic if you do it and experiment with it. Also,
don’t be shy from using MicroSoft Visual Basic
Help that comes with ArcMap VBA. It’s a good
starting point when you need help with VB codes. EDN has a huge
collections on ArcObjects and VB(A)
references. That’s the place you have to check out.
Make sure you put your lab data
in a folder in the C:\Users folder and regularly back up your data to your H
drive or portable device.
Instructions:
You will use your access code to take the “Introduction to Visual Basic 6” course online. For Lab1, you only need to finish modules 1 and 2. Since we are using VBA instead of VB6, please follow the steps below to access the VBA IDE in ArcMap.
1. Start ArcMap.
2. Select Tools from the pull-down menu, then select Macro, and then Visual Basic Editor. The VBA IDE appears.
3. You first insert a form into your project. Select Insert -> UserForm to insert the form. Now you will see a form and a toolbox containing several Controls that you can add to the form. Hover the mouse cursor over these Controls and see what they are.
4. Now you can take the ESRI online course and experiment with VB codes.
5. To save your VB programs, just close the VBA IDE window and save the ArcMap project (e.g., Lab1.mxd).
Once you have ArcMap VBA environment setup, use following instructions to access the course on ESRI Virtual Campus.
1.
Go to http://training.esri.com. Click "Go to My Training." Under
My Courses click "My Virtual Campus Courses." If you already have an
ESRI Global Account, log in using your username and password. If you do not,
click "Create New Account."
2.
Click "Start a new course". Type your 14-character Course
Access Code in the field provided and click "Go." Follow the
instructions on your screen. See the table at the end of the instruction for
your Access Code.
3.
From your course list, click the course title “Introduction to
Visual Basic 6” to begin.
Lab Instructions Update:
In Module 1:
1.
Skip Explore
the slide show application.
2.
Skip Saving
Visual Basic projects.
3.
Skip Design
the form to browse files.
4.
In the
Object Browser topic, select a different library (e.g., VBA) and continue with
the instructions.
5.
Skip Browse
and add files for the slide show application.
In Module 2:
1.
Skip Add a
toolbar using Toolbar and Imagelist Controls.
2.
Skip Code
the buttons on the toolbar.
Lab Deliverables:
Submit the documents listed below in a zipped file. To
create a zipped file in Windows XP, go to your work folder and click the
right-mouse-button. Select New and then “Zipped (Compressed)
Folder” to create a zipped folder. You can just copy and paste the files
into the zipped folder.
1.
Your mxd file that contains the AP that has the following
functions..
1)
A UserForm containing the DMS to DD function.
2)
A second UserForm that has a ListBox and
two buttons: Add text and Clear. When the Add text button is clicked, an InputBox pops up and let users enter some texts and then
add the texts to the ListBox. When users click the
Clear button, all the texts in the ListBox disappear.
3)
Each line
of your code in the first and second UserForms must
have a comment describing what the code is about.
4)
A third UserForm containing the complete Retirement Fund Calculator.
2.
A report of
the following questions:
1)
You used MsgBox function to display messages. In one of the example,
the text uses a constant called “vbYesNo.”
What value does the constant represent? What are the possible return values
when you used the vbYesNo button setting in the MsgBox function? Please use the ArcMap
VBA online help or write a small program to find the answer.
2)
Describe
the effect and purpose of “Option Explicit” statement.
Introduction to VB6 Access Codes:
|
Student |
Access Code |
|
Alejandro |
|
|
Amarina |
|
|
Caroline |
|
|
|
|
|
Charles |
|
|
Chris |
|
|
Craig |
|
|
Heath |
|
|
Jessica |
|
|
Karen |
|
|
Loren |
|
|
Luis |
|
|
Rob Menke |
|
|
Robert Chappell |
|
|
Ron |
|
|
Thomas |
|
|
|
|