VB Shaped Form Creator

VB Shaped Form Creator is a program which allows you to create shaped forms for Visual Basic 4. A shaped form is one which is not rectangular, such as the round clock in Microsoft Power Toys.

VB Shaped Form Creator supports versions 4 (32 bit only), 5 and 6. For the most part it deals with these identicaly; the only difference is in the saving of a new form. In this case you must choose either a VB4 Form or a VB5/6 form from the drop down "File Type" list in the save form. Visual Basic versions 5 and 6 both use the same form file format.

Since version 6, VB Shaped Form Creator has had the ability to produce Delphi (version 2) forms and C++ source files.

VB Shaped Form Creator allows you to draw out the shape you want for the form using a combination of rectangle, rounded rectangle, oval and polygon tools. It also offers 4 different combination methods.

Once you have drawn the shape for the form you have the option of either saving it as an entirely new form, which can then be used in your Visual Basic project using VB's "Add File" command, or it can modify an existing form to take on the shape you have drawn. The shape will not be apparant in design mode, but when you run the program, it will show up as expected.

In order to facilitate interface design the shape designed can be exported as a bitmap. This can then be temporarily used as the forms background picture so that you can see when you are positioning controls outside the visible area. You could also use the bitmap in your favourite paint program to design a background for the program, such as the light blue raised effect used in the example program earlier.

You can customise VB Shaped Form Creator to your individual style of drawing, as it offers the option of either "Two-Click" or "Click-and-Drag" drawing, and whether to draw filled or outlined. Circles can be drawn from the center, or from the corners of an imaginary containing rectangle. The fill colour of the shape, and a background image can both be specified.

New for version 2 and above is the Edge Tracer. This tool will let you load a bitmap and trace its outline into a polygon object.

There is also a database-style editor which will give you detailed precision control over the exact locations and sizes of every object you draw to build up the final shape. New to version 4 and above is a graphical editor which lets you make changes in an easy, intuitive way.

New for version 5 is a customisable interface, and a Zoom Window.

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