How to Create Your Own Slider Bar in Visual Basic 3.0

MORE INFORMATION

Visual Basic for Windows supplies Horizontal and Vertical Scroll bars, but it does not offer the ability to customize the appearance of these Scroll bars. The example code in this article uses Picture and Image controls to create a Slide bar which can be customized to include Bitmaps, background colors, and more.

Step-by-Step Example

1. Start a new project in Visual Basic. Form1 is created by default.
2. Add a timer (Timer1) and a picture control (Picture1) to Form1.
3. Select Picture1 by clicking it once. Now select the image control from the Toolbox and draw it onto Picture1. This new image control (Image1) should be contained by Picture1. You should not be able to drag Image1 off Picture1.
4. Add the following code to the appropriate event procedures in Form1:

      ' Add the following to the general declarations section:
      Dim Mouse_Button As Integer
      Dim Mouse_X As Single
      Dim PicFrame As Integer
   
      Sub Form_Load ()
         Timer1.Enabled = False
         Timer1.Interval = 10
         Image1.Picture = LoadPicture("C:\VB\ICONS\ELEMENTS\EARTH.ICO")
         PicFrame = 2 * Screen.TwipsPerPixelY
         Image1.Top = 0
         Image1.Left = 0
         Picture1.Height = Image1.Height + PicFrame
      End Sub
   
      ' Enter the following two lines as one, single line of code:
      Sub Image1_MouseDown (Button As Integer, Shift As Integer, X As Single,
        Y As Single)
        Timer1.Enabled = True
        Mouse_Button = Button
        Mouse_X = Image1.Left + X
      End Sub
   
      ' Enter the following two lines as one, single line of code:
      Sub Image1_MouseMove (Button As Integer, Shift As Integer, X As Single,
         Y As Single)
         Mouse_Button = Button
         Mouse_X = Image1.Left + X
      End Sub
   
      ' Enter the following two lines as one, single line of code:
      Sub Image1_MouseUp (Button As Integer, Shift As Integer, X As Single,
         Y As Single)
         Timer1.Enabled = False
         Mouse_Button = Button
         Mouse_X = Image1.Left + X
      End Sub
   
      Sub Timer1_Timer ()
         Dim TempLeft As Integer
         If Mouse_Button = 1 Then
            TempLeft = Image1.Left
            TempLeft = Mouse_X - TempWidth / 2
            If TempLeft + Image1.Width > Picture1.Width Then
               TempLeft = Picture1.Width - Image1.Width - PicFrame
            End If
            If TempLeft < 0 Then TempLeft = 0
         End If
         If Image1.Left <> TempLeft Then Image1.Left = TempLeft
      End Sub
   						

5. From the Run menu, choose Start (ALT, R, S), or press the F5 key to run the program.

Select the Earth icon with your Mouse and hold the mouse button down while you move the mouse. The Earth icon will move left and right within the Picture control as you move your mouse.