StrataFrame Forum » StrataFrame Application Framework - V1 » WinForms (How do I?) » Handling Form Inheritance

Handling Form Inheritance

Thomas Holste — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 06:35:53 GMT

Hi there,

I am going to set up the forms I will be using in my project, encountered some problems, solved them and would like to ask you, if my way will work or if there are pitfalls I have not seen yet.

I made a baseform ("MyBaseFRM") which inherits from the strataframe-standardform. There is a themed panel on it and the form has some properties and methods all forms will have. I created new forms by selecting "New Item/Windows-Form/Inherited Form" (I hope this is right translated, I use a german version of VS2010).

Then I created a form, let's name it "MySimplegridFRM" which inherits from "MyBaseFRM" and thought, I could create Forms from this Inherited Form the same way to. But this does not work.

Setting up a new form by choosing any kind of form and setting the inheritance-statement did not work too. Or creating a class which inherits from "MySimpleGridFRM".

Finally I ended up creating templates. I made a template from my "MySimpleGridFRM" and now everything works fine. I tested adding some properties in "MyBaseFRM" and could see that this changes were reflected in the inherited "MySimpleGridFRM". So everything works like I expected it to be but as I am new to inheritance in VB. I would like to ask you if this will work or if there are things I have not considered yet. I should add that all the forms I will need will inherit from "MyBaseFRM", "deeper" inheritance is not needed for my forms.

Thanks in Advance

Thomas

RE: Handling Form Inheritance

Ivan George Borges — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 06:35:53 GMT

You're welcome, Thomas. ;)

RE: Handling Form Inheritance

Thomas Holste — Sun, 15 Aug 2010 06:33:42 GMT

Hi Ivan,

thank you for showing me the possibilities. I will try to subclass a BO and see if I can make it run. Les Pinter has an example on subclassing a BO on his website (that is where I discovered Strataframe) I will try to follow.

Best regards

Thomas

RE: Handling Form Inheritance

Ivan George Borges — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 14:42:44 GMT

Yes, dropping them on the forms will work great, but with time you could start thinking about having a generic fill method, or a rule that all BOs should follow, you might need a new property that all BOs should have so you could set different states, a generic SetDefaultValues so if all your tables have a CreatedBy column, then all BOs would generate the content for this column without you having to set it to every BO you create. There are many possibilities, so I guess it is worth starting this way at this point of your developing stage.

RE: Handling Form Inheritance

Thomas Holste — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 14:28:50 GMT

Hi Ivan,

thanks for your reply. What is the advantage of subclassing a business-object?

What kind of additions or modifications have you made with this base-BO-class?

I have not done so much with BOs except dropping them on a form and being happy how easy everything works.

Best regards

Thomas

RE: Handling Form Inheritance

Ivan George Borges — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 11:06:27 GMT

Hi Thomas.

Yep, this is the way to go.

I have a BaseForm that inherits from StrataFrame StandardForm and I have an item template inheriting from it. I also have a MaintenanceForm that inherits from MY BaseForm and I also have an item template that inherits from it.

Another thing you should consider is to have a BaseBO that inherits from MicroFour.StrataFrame.Business.BusinessLayer and then I also have an item template that inherits from my BaseBO.