Function

Unit 5

Function
Introduction
MsgBox is used to create a pop-up message box and prompt the user to
click on a command button before continues. InputBox( ) function display
a message box where the user can enter a value or a message in the form
of text. In this unit, we are going to learn two useful internal functions of
Visual basic, i.e. the MsgBox( ) and InputBox ( ) functions.

Lesson 5.1 – 5.2

MsgBox( ) and InputBox ( ) functions.

Upon completion of this unit you will be able to:

 Use dialogs to display messages.

Outcomes

MsgBox ( ) Function
The objective of MsgBox is to create a pop-up message box and prompt
the user to click on a command button before he /she can continues.
This format is as follows:
Msg=MsgBox(Prompt, Style Value, Title)
The first argument, Prompt, will display the message in the message box.
The Style Value will determine what type of command buttons appear on
the message box (Table 1) for types of command button displayed. The
Title argument will display the title of the message board.
Table 1: Style Values

Style Named Constant Buttons Displayed

Value
0 vbOkOnly Ok button
1 vbOkCancel Ok and Cancel buttons

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2 vbAbortRetryIgnore Abort, Retry and Ignore

buttons.
3 vbYesNoCancel Yes, No and Cancel buttons
4 vbYesNo Yes and No buttons
5 vbRetryCancel Retry and Cancel buttons

We can use named constants in place of integers for the second argument
to make the programs more readable.
Example:
testmsg = MsgBox("Click OK to Proceed", 1, "Startup")
and testmsg = MsgBox("Click OK to Proceed",
vbOKCancel, "Startup") are the same.
testmsg is a variable that holds values that are returned by the MsgBox ( )
function. The values are determined by the type of buttons being clicked
by the users. Table .2 shows the values, the corresponding named
constant and buttons.
Table 2: Return Values and Command Buttons

Value Named Button Clicked

Constant
1 vbOk Ok button
2 vbCancel Cancel button
3 vbAbort Abort button
4 vbRetry Retry button
5 vbIgnore Ignore button
6 vbYes Yes button
7 vbNo No button

Example
Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
Dim testmsg As Integer
testmsg = MsgBox("Click OK to Proceed", 1, "Startup")
If testmsg = 1 Then
MessageBox.Show("You have clicked the OK button")
Else
MessageBox.Show("You have clicked the Cancel button")
End If
End Sub

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MsgBox( ) and InputBox ( ) functions.

To make the message box looks more stylish, you can add an icon besides
the message. There are four types of icons available in VB2008 as shown
in Table 3
Text displayed in a dialog should be descriptive and as short as possible.

Tip
Table 3: Icons

Value Named Icon Description

Constant
16 vbCritical Typically used to alert the user to
errors or critical situations

32 vbQuestion Typically used to ask the user a

question.

48 vbExclamation Typically used to caution the user

against potential problems.

64 vbInformation Typically used to display information

about the state of the application.

The InputBox( ) Function

An InputBox( ) function will display a message box where the user can
enter a value or a message in the form of text. You can use the following
format:
Microsoft.VisualBasic.InputBox(Prompt, Title, default_text, x-position,
y-position)
The arguments are explained as follows:
Prompt - The message displayed normally as a question asked.

Title - The title of the Input Box.

default-text - The default text that appears in the input field where users
can use it as his intended input or he may change to the message he wish
to enter. x-position and y-position - the position or the coordinates of the
input box.

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Example
Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As
System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles
Button1.Click
Dim testmsg As String
testmsg =
Microsoft.VisualBasic.InputBox("Write your message?",
"input box test", "write your messge here", 500, 700)

If testmsg <> "" Then

MessageBox.Show(testmsg)
Else
MessageBox.Show("No Message")
End If
End Sub

The inputbox will appear as shown in the figure below when you press
the command button

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MsgBox( ) and InputBox ( ) functions.

Assessment
MCQ
1. User can enter a value or a message in the form of text in
Assessment a) An InputBox( ) function
b) MsgBox ( ) Function
c) Both
d) None
2. Which constant, when passed to method MessageBox.Show, indicates
that a question is being asked?
a) MessageBox.Question
b)MessageBoxIcon.QuestionMark
c) MessageBox.QuestionMark
d)MessageBoxIcon.Question
3. The first argument passed to method MessageBox. Show is ____
a) the text displayed in the dialog‘s title bar
b) a constant representing the Buttons displayed in the dialog
c) the text displayed inside the dialog
d) a constant representing the icon that appears in the dialog
4. You can specify the Button(s) and icon to be displayed in a message
dialog by using the MessageBoxButtons and_____ constants.
a) MessageIcon b)MessageBoxImages
c) MessageBoxPicture d)MessageBoxIcon
Short Questions
1. What are Message Boxes? Discuss about the 'Msgbox' command with
example.
2. Which of the followings are same?
i. testmsg = MsgBox("Click yes to Proceed", 4, "Startup")
ii. testmsg = MsgBox("Click yes to Proceed", vbOkOnly, "Startup")
iii. testmsg = MsgBox("Click yes to Proceed", vbYesNo, "Startup")

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Lesson 5.3 – 5.4

String Manipulation
Upon completion of this unit you will be able to:

 Learn how to manipulate Strings.

Outcomes

String Manipulation Using + and & signs

String manipulation is an important part of programming because it helps
to process data that come in the form of non-numeric types such as name,
address, city, book title and etc. Strings can be manipulated using the &
sign and the + sign, both perform the string concatenation which means
combining two or more smaller strings into larger strings.
For example
"ABC" & "1234" ‗Displays "ABC1234"
we can join "Bangladesh" and "Open University" into " Bangladesh
Open University " using " Bangladesh "&" Open University " or "
Bangladesh "+" Open University ", as shown in the example below

Example 8.1
Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As
System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles
Button1.Click
Dim text1, text2, text3 As String
text1 = "Bangladesh"
text2 = " Open University"
text3 = text1 + text2
TextBox3.Text = text3
End Sub

The line text3=text1+ text2 can be replaced by text3=text1 & text2 and
produced the same output. However, if one of the variables is declared as
numeric data type, you cannot use the + sign, you can only use the &
sign. An error occurs if you do not following rule, as shown in the
following example.

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String Manipulation

Private Sub Button2_Click(ByVal sender As

System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles
Button2.Click
Dim text1, text3 As String
Dim text2 As Integer
text1 = "Visual Basic"
text2 = " 2008"
text3 = text1 + text2
TextBox3.Text = text3

End Sub

This code will produce an error because of data mismatch.

However, using & instead of + will be all right.

Private Sub Button2_Click(ByVal sender As
System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles
Button2.Click
Dim text1, text3 As String
Dim text2 As Integer
text1 = "Visual Basic "
text2 = " 2008"
text3 = text1 & text2
TextBox3.Text = text3
End Sub

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String Manipulation Using VB2008 Built-in Functions

There are many string manipulation functions that are built into VB2008
some of that are-
Len Function
The length function returns an integer value which is the length of a
phrase or a sentence, including the empty spaces. The format is
Len (―Phrase‖)
For example,
Len (Visual Basic) = 12
Len (Welcome to Open University) = 26
Example
Private Sub Button3_Click(ByVal sender As
System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles
Button3.Click
TextBox3.Text = Len(TextBox1.Text)
End Sub
Or
Private Sub Button3_Click(ByVal sender As
System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles
Button3.Click
TextBox3.Text = Len("Welcome to Open
University")
End Sub

Right Function
The Right function extracts the right portion of a phrase. The format is
Right ("Phrase",n)
Where n is the starting position from the right of the phase where the
portion of the phrase is going to be extracted.
For example,
Microsoft.VisualBasic .Right (―Visual Basic‖, 5) = Basic
Let us look at another example.
Private Sub Button4_Click(ByVal sender As

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String Manipulation

System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles

Button4.Click
Dim text1 As String
text1 = TextBox1.Text
TextBox3.Text =
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Right(text1, 5)
End Sub
The above program will return four right most characters of the phrase
entered into the textbox, as shown in following figure

Left Function
The Left function extract the left portion of a phrase. The format is
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Left("Phrase",n)
Where n is the starting position from the left of the phase where the
portion of the phrase is going to be extracted. For example,
Microsoft.VisualBasic.Left (―Visual Basic‖, 6) = Visual.

Mid Function
The Mid function is used to retrieve a part of text form a given phrase.
The syntax of the Mid Function is

Mid(phrase, position,n)

Where

 phrase is the string from which a part of text is to be retrieved.

 position is the starting position of the phrase from which the

retrieving process begins.

 n is the number of characters to retrieve.

Example
Private Sub Button5_Click(ByVal sender As
System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles
Button5.Click
Dim mtext As String
mtext = TextBox1.Text

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TextBox3.Text = Mid(mtext, 12, 4)

End Sub

The Trim Function

The Trim function trims the empty spaces on both side of the phrase. The
syntax is

Trim(“Phrase”)

For example, Trim (― Visual Basic ‖) = Visual basic

Example
Private Sub Button6_Click(ByVal sender As
System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles
Button6.Click
Dim mtext As String
mtext = TextBox1.Text
TextBox3.Text = Trim(mtext)
End Sub

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String Manipulation

The Ltrim Function

The Ltrim function trims the empty spaces of the left portion of the
phrase. The syntax is

Ltrim(“Phrase”)

For example,

Ltrim (― Visual Basic‖) = Visual basic

The Rtrim Function

The Rtrim function trims the empty spaces of the right portion of the
phrase. The syntax is
Rtrim(“Phrase”)
For example,
Rtrim (―Visual Basic ‖) = Visual Basic
Ucase and the Lcase Functions
The Ucase function converts all the characters of a string to capital
letters. On the other hand, the Lcase function converts all the characters
of a string to small letters.
The syntax is
UCase(Phrase)
LCase(Phrase)

For example,
Private Sub Button7_Click(ByVal sender As
System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles
Button7.Click
Dim mtext As String
mtext = TextBox1.Text
TextBox2.Text = LCase(mtext)
TextBox3.Text = UCase(mtext)
End Sub

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Assessment
MCQ
1. Which of the following function returns an integer value which is the
length of a phrase or a sentence?
Assessment
a) len function
b) trim function
c) rtrim function
d) mid function

Short Questions
1. Which notes of the followings are same?
i. Len function
ii. Ucse and Lcase function
iii. Trim function

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