Learn Visual Basic 6.0

3. Exploring the Visual Basic Toolbox

The Message Box

1. One of the best functions in Visual Basic is the message box. The message box displays a message, optional icon, and selected set of command buttons. The user responds by clicking a button.
   
   
2. The statement form of the message box returns no value (it simply displays the box):
   
   MsgBox Message, Type, Title
   
   where
   
   

   Message	Text message to be displayed
   Type	Type of message box (discussed in a bit)
   Title	Text in title bar of message box

   
   You have no control over where the message box appears on the screen.
   
   
3. The function form of the message box returns an integer value (corresponding to the button clicked by the user). Example of use (Response is returned value):
   
   Dim Response as Integer
   Response = MsgBox(Message, Type, Title)
   
   
4. The Type argument is formed by summing four values corresponding to the buttons to display, any icon to show, which button is the default response, and the modality of the message box.
   
   
5. The first component of the Type value specifies the buttons to display:
   
   

   Value	Meaning	Symbolic Constant
   0	OK button only	vbOKOnly
   1	OK/Cancel buttons	vbOKCancel
   2	Abort/Retry/Ignore buttons	vbAbortRetryIgnore
   3	Yes/No/Cancel buttons	vbYesNoCancel
   4	Yes/No buttons	vbYesNo
   5	Retry/Cancel buttons	vbRetryCancel

   
   
6. The second component of Type specifies the icon to display in the message box:
   
   

   Value	Meaning	Symbolic Constant
   0	No icon	(None)
   16	Critical icon	vbCritical
   32	Question mark	vbQuestion
   48	Exclamation point	vbExclamation
   64	Information icon	vbInformation

   
   
7. The third component of Type specifies which button is default (i.e. pressing Enter is the same as clicking the default button):
   
   

   Value	Meaning	Symbolic Constant
   0	First button default	vbDefaultButton1
   256	Second button default	vbDefaultButton2
   512	Third button default	vbDefaultButton3

   
   
8. The fourth and final component of Type specifies the modality:
   
   

   Value	Meaning	Symbolic Constant
   0	Application modal	vbApplicationModal
   4096	System modal	vbSystemModal

   
   If the box is Application Modal, the user must respond to the box before continuing work in the current application. If the box is System Modal, all applications are suspended until the user responds to the message box.
   
   
9. Note for each option in Type, there are numeric values listed and symbolic constants. Recall, it is strongly suggested that the symbolic constants be used instead of the numeric values. You should agree that vbOKOnly means more than the number 0 when selecting the button type.
   
   
10. The value returned by the function form of the message box is related to the button clicked:
    
    

    Value	Meaning	Symbolic Constant
    1	OK button selected	vbOK
    2	Cancel button selected	vbCancel
    3	Abort button selected	vbAbort
    4	Retry button selected	vbRetry
    5	Ignore button selected	vbIgnore
    5	Yes button selected	vbYes
    5	No button selected	vbNo

    
    
11. Message Box Example:
    
    MsgBox "This is an example of a message box", vbOKCancel + vbInformation, "Message Box Example"
    
    
    
    
    
    
12. You've seen message boxes if you've ever used a Windows application. Think of all the examples you've seen. For example, message boxes are used to ask you if you wish to save a file before exiting and to warn you if a disk drive is not ready

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