Creating a Dynamo with VBA Scripts

Transcription

1 Creating a Dynamo with VBA Scripts Creating a Dynamo with VBA 1

2 Table of Contents 1. CREATING A DYNAMO WITH VBA NAMING CONVENTIONS FOR DYNAMO OBJECTS CREATING A DYNAMO DESIGNING THE DYNAMO USER INTERFACE BUILDING THE DYNAMO S USER INTERFACE Creating the User Interface Entering the VBA Script Setting up the Public Property Routines Setting up the User Interface Changing Dynamo Properties with User Input Making Modifications to the Expression Editor Control ADDING A DYNAMO TO A DYNAMO SET ADVANCED TOPICS SETTING INTELLIGENT DEFAULTS FOR DATA SOURCES LETTING USERS SET INPUT AND OUTPUT LIMITS VALIDATING A DATA SOURCE AND LAUNCHING THE FIX DYNAMICS QUICK ADD DIALOG ACCESSING A DYNAMO FROM OUTSIDE ITS FORM USING THE GLOBAL COLOR BY FORM IN DYNAMOS Creating a Dynamo with VBA

3 1. Creating a Dynamo with VBA This document steps you through an example of how to create a dynamo and its user interface using Visual Basic for Applications scripts. In this example, we will develop a simple tank dynamo. We will create a user interface for the dynamo that will allow the user to:? Change the color of the tank s contents? Animate the vertical fill percentage of the tank s contents based on a database tag The first section describes the basics for creating dynamos with scripts. The next section, Advanced Topics, gives instructions for adding functionality to your dynamo to make it more powerfu l and versatile. Topics in this section include:? Naming Conventions for Dynamo Objects? Creating a Dynamo Object? Designing the Dynamo User Interface? Building the Dynamo User Interface? Adding a Dynamo to a Dynamo Set 1.1 Naming Conventions for Dynamo Objects A Dynamo is really an object made from a group of objects. Because you will be accessing the objects that make up your dynamo in VBA, it is very important that you adhere to a naming convention for these objects. The technique described in this document for developing Dynamos allows multiple instances of the same Dynamo in a picture to use the same forms and scripts. To do this you must make sure that you use partial names of objects that make up the dynamo when you call the FindLocalObject method (explained in section Setting up the Public Property Routines) in your scripts. When you refer to an object by its full name in a VBA script, it is automatically registered in VBA. If you make reference to that same object again in another code module, VBA automatically creates another instance of that code module and gives it an incremental number. Therefore, if you don t use a partial name when calling FindLocalObject in your scripts, each time you drop the same Dynamo in a picture, VBA will create another instance of the form or code module. Creating a Dynamo with VBA 3

4 The Dynamos that Intellution supplies provide a good example of naming conventions for Dynamos. Figure 1 shows the objects that make up the TanksAnim1 Dynamo. Note that all are indexed with a unique number. If you need to call FindLocalObject for AnimatedTankLevel21 in your Dynamo scripts, you can use the partial name AnimatedTankLevel. Figure 1. Objects that make up the TanksAnim1Dynamo 1.2 Creating a Dynamo First, we will create a simple tank object with 5 rectangles, an oval, and a pie as show below: 4 Creating a Dynamo with VBA

5 Figure 2. Objects that make up the Tank Dynamo For this dynamo, we want to allow users to animate the horizontal fill percentage property of the large rectangle that makes up the tank container section. Give this rectangle a unique name such as TankMain1. You can name an object using the property window or the Animations dialog. For dynamo animations, it is best to use animation object connections rather than direct connections. When you animate an object with an animation connection, you connect the object to an animation object which is in turn connected to the data source. Because we want to animate this rectangle s vertical fill percentage, we will attach a linear animation object to its vertical fill percentage. Then, when we want to change the data source, all we have to do is change this animation object s data source. To do this: [1] Double click on the TankMain1 rectangle. The Animations dialog appears. [2] Select the Fill tab. [3] Select the Vertical Fill Percentage check box and enter a dummy tag name in the Data Source field such as: Fix32.node.TankLevel.f_cv. [4] Click OK and Use Anyway in the Animations dialog. [5] You will see the new animation object displayed under the selected object in the System Tree as shown in Figure 3 below. Rename the animation object to a unique name such as TankAnimationVerticalFill1. Creating a Dynamo with VBA 5

6 Now, group the objects and name the group. The name you assign to the group is the dynamo s name. For this example, we will name the dynamo BigTank. Look to the system tree. You should see the BigTank group and its members as shown below. Figure 3. BigTank Dynamo and its members 1.3 Designing the Dynamo User Interface It is a good idea to sketch out your ideas on paper before jumping into the code. Try your paper designs and decide exactly what you want your form to do. This will ultimately save time in coding in that it will decrease the amount of changes you need to make due to uncertainties in your design. In our BigTank dynamo, we only want to allow users to select database tags as data sources. The design criteria for our example will be that when the user launches the expression builder with the Expression Editor control, they only see the Database tab. Knowing this criteria before you start developing your dynamo is very important. Design Criteria for BigTank Dynamo:? The user interface should appear any time a user drags and drops the dynamo from a dynamo set to a picture or from a picture to another picture. The user interface should also appear when the user double clicks on the dynamo thereby overriding the Animations dialog. 6 Creating a Dynamo with VBA

7 ? The user interface should allow the user to set a database tag to control the vertical fill of the tank.? The user interface should allow the user to change the color of the contents of the tank. This change should take place in the Configuration environment. The color is not to be animated. 1.4 Building the Dynamo s User Interface Once you are confident about your design, you can start developing your dynamo using FIX Dynamics VBA. We will first address the criteria that the user interface should appear on a drag-and-drop or a double click. Initiating our code on the BigTank s Edit event will do the trick. To see how this works, follow these steps: [1] Right mouse click on the BigTank object. A drop down menu appears. [2] Select Edit Script. The Visual Basic Editor appears with the cursor situated in the BigTank s Click event as shown below: Private Sub BigTank_Click() [3] Notice the two drop down list boxes at the top of the code window. Click the drop down arrow on the right drop down list box and select Edit. Now BigTank s Edit event appears. [4] Type code to display a message box under the BigTank s Edit event: Private Sub BigTank_Edit() MsgBox "HI" [5] Switch to the Workspace and double click on the BigTank group. The message box appears. We will enter script to display the user interface on the Edit event. Creating a Dynamo with VBA 7

8 1.4.1 Creating the User Interface For this dynamo, we want to create a form that allows the user to:? Select a color for the tank s contents? Select a database tag to control the tank s vertical fill Fix Dynamics supplies two controls that we can use for these functions: the Color Button control and the Expression Editor. The Color Button control launches a color box allowing a user to select a color. The Expression Editor launches the Expression Builder dialog which allows you to select a data source from a list of nodes, tags, and fields. See documentation in FIX Dynamics Electronic Books for Color Button and Expression Editor. A rough sketch for our form is shown below: Use the following steps to create the form: [1] Right mouse click on the BigTank group an select Edit Script from the drop down menu. The Visual Basic Editor appears. [2] In VBE, select UserForm from the Insert menu. A new user form appears. [3] Insert the Expression Editor control, the Color Button control and the appropriate labels as shown below: 8 Creating a Dynamo with VBA

9 If the Expression Editor and Color Button do not appear on the Toolbox of controls in VBE, select Additional Controls from the VBE Tools menu. Select Intellution FD Color Control and Intellution FD Expression Editor Control from the Additional Controls dialog. [4] Assign the User form the name frmbigtankdynamo, assign the OK button the name cmdok, and assign the Cancel button the name cmdcancel. At this point, there are many different choices you could make that would work. Intellution suggests you think of your dynamo as a new object with its own properties that you define. For example, the rectangle object has properties such as height, width, horizontalfillpercentage, verticalfillpercentage, and rotation angle. In this example, we are going to assign our BigTank two of it s own properties: TankContentsColor and TankDataSource. TankContentsColor is the color of the contents, TankDataSource is the database tag that controls the Tank s vertical fill percentage. We will do this in the dynamo s form. Creating a Dynamo with VBA 9

10 1.4.2 Entering the VBA Script Because we will be doing most of the work on our dynamo from within the form, we will have to pass the BigTank group to the form. Once we pass the BigTank group to the form, it knows which object to apply changes to. Use the following steps to pass the BigTank group to the form: [1] Double click on the form to display its code window. [2] Select General Declarations in the form s code window [3] Enter: Public Tank as Object In the General Declarations section. This makes the Tank object (the BigTank group) a public object. It can be manipulated from any location. Now, we will create a subroutine in the form that will initialize the Tank object in the form. To do this, type in the following: Public Sub InitializeDynamo(DynamoName As Object) Set Tank = DynamoName This is a public subroutine that accepts the dynamo object and sets the public Tank object equal to that object. Now, go back to the picture code window and replace the message box text you entered with the following: Private Sub BigTank_Edit() 10 Creating a Dynamo with VBA

11 Call the Initialize Dynamo subroutine in the frmbigtankdynamo form to initialize the dynamo object for use in the form code. frmbigtankdynamo.initializedynamo BigTank Display the frmbigtankdynamo form frmbigtankdynamo.show Try double clicking on the BigTank group now. Your new form should appear. Click on the x in the upper right corner to make it disappear Setting up the Public Property Routines Now, we will create the TankDataSource and TankColor property functions. We will make these functions public so users to get to them from outside the dynamo. Setting up Public Properties for dynamos provide the following benefits: 1. It keeps you code modular. If you need to make a change to the dynamo s functionality, you only have to change the code in one place. 2. Scripts that are not part of the dynamo can access these public properties to modify the dynamo. The dynamo can be manipulated without any knowledge of its code or how it was built. Creating a Dynamo with VBA 11

12 Before we get into the code, we should talk a little about the Global function FindLocalObject. This function is one of the FIX Dynamics Global Subroutines. The following is a topic describing FindLocalObject that you can find in the FIXVBA.hlp. FindLocalObject Finds an object inside a group based on the object s partial name. The group could be a Picture, DynamoSet or a Group of shapes. Syntax FindLocalObject (StartObject, PartialName) The FindLocalObject subroutine syntax has these parts: Part Description StartObject PartialName Return Value Object. The name of the Picture or Group were the object you are looking for is contained. String. A partial name for the object to be found. For example, if the object s full name is PipeColorAnim1, you can pass in PipeColorA, or PipeC. Object. The first object in the Group whose name contains what is entered for PartialName. Remarks For example, if, through scripting, you want to get an object inside a Group in order to animate that particular object s vertical fill, use FindLocalObject with the group s name and just a partial name of the object to fill. FindLocalObject is typically used for Dynamo sets where dynamo s share common names for all of their objects, the only difference being the numeric ending. Forms and subroutines that call this subroutine make use of the partial name to operate on all similar Dynamos so that all similar Dynamos in a picture can use the same subroutines and forms. This assumes that the Dynamo builder defines a naming convention for the objects in the Dynamo. Example Dim PipeSectObj As Object Set PipeSectObj = FindLocalObject(Pipe, "PipeColorAnimation") This subroutine is used extensively in dynamos. You can use it to find an object inside a group based on the object s partial name. This explains the importance of naming convention. FindLocalObject has two parameters: StartObject as Object, PartialName as String? StartObject - The object in which the desired object is contained.? PartialName - A partial name for the object to be found. 12 Creating a Dynamo with VBA

13 Now, we will enter the following Property procedure for retrieving the Tank s data source in the Big Tank Dynamo s user form. A Property procedure lets you create and manipulate custom properties. For more information on Property procedures, see Microsoft s VBA help. All of the following code belongs in the Big Tank Dynamo s User Form in the General Declarations section. Public Property Get TankDataSource() As String Dim AnimatedTankLevel As Object Set the object AnimatedTankLevel equal to the return value of FindLocalObject. Notice that we are passing in the Public object Tank that was set in the InitializeDynamo subroutine. Tank = BigTank. We are also passing in the partial name of the Vertical Fill Animation object that we created called TankAnimatedVerticalFill1. This means that AnimatedTankLevel is set to the Vertical Fill animation object. Set AnimatedTankLevel = FindLocalObject(Tank, "TankAnimatedVerticalFill") Now, we return the data source of animation object. The first time around, it will be the dummy tag that we entered when we created the animation object. After that, it will a valid data source that the user enters in the Expression Editor control. TankDataSource = AnimatedTankLevel.Source End Property Next, we enter the following property procedure for setting the Tank s data source. Here we use the Let Property procedure because we want to set the value of the property. The Set Property procedure sets a reference to an object. See Microsoft VBA documentation for more information on Get, Let, and Set Procedure properties. Public Property Let TankDataSource(DataSource As String) Dim TankDataSource As Object As with the Get TankDataSource Property procedure, we set an object equal to the tank s animation object. Creating a Dynamo with VBA 13

14 Set TankDataSource = FindLocalObject(Tank, "TankAnimatedVerticalFill") Now we use the SetSource procedure to set the TankDataSource property to the DataSource that gets passed to this procedure. The data source will be what the user enters in the Expression Editor. This procedure gets called in the On_OK subroutine that will be described in the Competing the UI Code section. TankDataSource.SetSource DataSource End Property Next, we will enter Property procedures for the Tank s contents color. First, the Get Property procedure: Public Property Get TankContentsColor() As Long Dim TankCore As Object Set TankCore = FindLocalObject(Tank, "TankMain") TankContentsColor = TankCore.ForegroundColor End Property Now, the Let Property procedure: Public Property Let TankContentsColor(Color As Long) Dim TankCore As Object Set TankCore = FindLocalObject(Tank, "TankMain") TankCore.ForegroundColor = ColorButton1.Color End Property 14 Creating a Dynamo with VBA

15 1.4.4 Setting up the User Interface The next step is to get the correct values into the User Interface when it is launched. Because we have already set up the Get Property procedures, this is a simple task. All we have to do is make calls to these procedures and they will get us the Tank s data source and color properties then, we put the values in the appropriate controls. We will want enter data into the user interface when the user interface is activated. Therefore, this code belongs in the UserForm_Activate event. Private Sub UserForm_Activate() 'Initialize the User Interface for BigTank Dynamo Get the TankDataSource property and put it in the Expression Editor control. The following statement calls the TankDataSource Property Get procedure we created in the previous section. ExpressionEditor1.EditText = TankDataSource Get the TankContentsColor property and put it in the Color Button control. The following statement calls the TankContentsColor Property Get procedure we created in the previous section. ColorButton1.Color = TankContentsColor Now, try double clicking on the BigTank group. The following should appear: Creating a Dynamo with VBA 15

16 The dummy database tag we created for the vertical fill animation object is in the Expression Editor and the Color Button is now the color of BigTank s main section Changing Dynamo Properties with User Input Now, we want what the user enters into our form to affect the BigTank dynamo. What should happen if the user selects Cancel? For this dynamo, we want its properties to remain unchanged. Therefore, all we have to when the user clicks Cancel is to close the form. We want to put the code to unload the form on the Cancel button s Click event as show below: Private Sub cmdcancel_click() Unload Me Try double clicking on BigTank again and then select the Cancel button. The form should disappear as expected. We only have the OK button left. The following is what should happen when the user clicks OK:? The vertical fill animation object s data source should change to what the user entered in the Expression Editor.? The BigTank contents section should change color to match the user s selection. 16 Creating a Dynamo with VBA

17 To accomplish these tasks, we will enter the following code in the OK button s Click event: Private Sub cmdok_click() 'Call the Let Property procedure for TankDataSource to set the TankDataSource property TankDataSource = ExpressionEditor1.EditText 'Call the Let Property procedure for TankContentsColor to set the TankContentsColor property. TankContentsColor = ColorButton1.Color Unload Me Making Modifications to the Expression Editor Control There is one more design criteria that we have not accounted for. We only want the Data Source tab to appear when the user launches Expression Builder with the Expression Editor control. The Expression Editor control has the following properties for this purpose:? ShowDatabaseTab? ShowGlobalsTab? ShowHistoricalTab? ShowPicturesTab Knowing this, on the UserForm_Activate event, we can set the Expression Editor control to only show the Database Tab by setting all but the ShowDatabaseTab properties to true. Now, the code behind the UserForm Activate event looks like this: Private Sub UserForm_Activate() Creating a Dynamo with VBA 17

18 'Initialize form interface 'Set up the Expression Editor tabs ExpressionEditor1.ShowDatabaseTab = True ExpressionEditor1.ShowGlobalsTab = False ExpressionEditor1.ShowHistoricalTab = False ExpressionEditor1.ShowPicturesTab = False 'Set the contents of ExpressionEditor1 equal to the TankDataSource property ExpressionEditor1.EditText = TankDataSource 'Set the color of ColorButton1 equal to the TankContentsColor property ColorButton1.Color = TankContentsColor The complete code for the form is as follows: Option Explicit Public Tank As Object Public Sub InitializeDynamo(DynamoName As Object) Set Tank = DynamoName Public Property Get TankDataSource() As String Dim AnimatedTankLevel As Object 18 Creating a Dynamo with VBA

19 Set AnimatedTankLevel = FindLocalObject(Tank, "TankAnimatedVerticalFill") TankDataSource = AnimatedTankLevel.Source End Property Public Property Let TankDataSource(DataSource As String) Dim TankDataSource As Object Set TankDataSource = FindLocalObject(Tank, "TankAnimatedVerticalFill") TankDataSource.SetSource DataSource End Property Public Property Get TankContentsColor() As Variant Dim TankCore As Object Set TankCore = FindLocalObject(Tank, "TankMain") TankContentsColor = TankCore.ForegroundColor End Property Public Property Let TankContentsColor(Color As Variant) Dim TankCore As Object Set TankCore = FindLocalObject(Tank, "TankMain") Creating a Dynamo with VBA 19

20 TankCore.ForegroundColor = ColorButton1.Color End Property Private Sub cmdcancel_click() Unload Me Private Sub cmdok_click() 'Call the Let Property procedure for TankDataSource to set the 'TankDataSource property TankDataSource = ExpressionEditor1.EditText 'Call the Let Property procedure for TankContentsColor to set the 'TankContentsColor property. TankContentsColor = ColorButton1.Color Unload Me Private Sub UserForm_Activate() 'Initialize form interface 'Set up the Expression Editor tabs ExpressionEditor1.ShowDatabaseTab = True ExpressionEditor1.ShowGlobalsTab = False ExpressionEditor1.ShowHistoricalTab = False 20 Creating a Dynamo with VBA

21 ExpressionEditor1.ShowPicturesTab = False ExpressionEditor1.EditText = TankDataSource ColorButton1.Color = TankContentsColor 1.5 Adding a Dynamo to a Dynamo Set The final step in building a dynamo is adding it to a dynamo set so that you can reuse it again and again. This process is very simple: [1] Select New from the File menu. A drop down menu appears. [2] Select Dynamo Set from the drop down menu. A new dynamo set is created. [3] Save the dynamo set as MyDynamoSet. [4] Drag the BigTank group that you created from the picture to the dynamo set. [5] Save MyDynamoSet. You have created a new dynamo in a new dynamo set. You could also have added the BigTank group to an existing dynamo set. Creating a Dynamo with VBA 21

22 2. Advanced Topics Once you are comfortable with the concepts in creating a dynamo, you will probably want to do something a little more complex. The following sections show you how to: Set an intelligent default for a data source when a user tabs off of the data source field. Fetch and set limits from a data source in your dynamos. Use the Advanced Color Form in your dynamos. Use the FIX Dynamics dynamo Color By form in your dynamos. 2.1 Setting Intelligent Defaults for Data Sources Sometimes, a user may know the database tag they want to connect to without launching the Expression Builder. The user may not want to type in the full NODE.TAG.FIELD name especially if it is lengthy. By setting an intelligent default for the data source, you can allow the user to type in only the tagname and then automatically fill in the rest. In this section, we will add this functionality to our Big Tank Dynamo. All you have to do to add this useful functionality is to make a call to the GlobalSubroutine, FetchLimits. FetchLimits returns: The High and Low EGUs of the specified data source along with the fully qualified name for the data source. To add the call to your dynamo form: [1] In the dynamo set you just created, MyDynamoSet, select the BigTank dynamo. [2] Right mouse click and select the Edit Script command from the drop down menu. The Visual Basic Editor appears. [3] Double click on the frmbigtankdynamo form in the dynamo set project to display your dynamo form. [4] Double click on ExpressionEditor1 to get to the ExpressionEditor_AfterKillFocus event. [5] Enter the following code on this event: Private Sub ExpressionEditor1_AfterKillFocus() Dim strdatasource As String Dim HiLimit As Single 22 Creating a Dynamo with VBA

23 Dim LoLimit As Single Dim err As Integer strdatasource = ExpressionEditor1.EditText Call FetchLimits(strDataSource, HiLimit, LoLimit, err) The FetchLimits subroutine returns the fully qualified string name in the first parameter. ExpressionEditor1.EditText = strdatasource 2.2 Letting Users Set Input and Output Limits If you plan to let your users select a data source, you may want to allow them to set the input and output limits. The FetchLimits subroutine described in the section above that allows you to do that. We will have to add some textboxes to our form to display the input and output limits. In Visual Basic editor under your dynamo set project, open up the frmbigtankdynamo again. Add frames, labels, and text boxes as shown below: Creating a Dynamo with VBA 23

24 We will add this functionality to the ExpressionEditor_OnKillFocus event so that when the user tabs off or exits this control after entering their database tag, the input ranges automatically fill in. We add on to the code we entered in the AfterKillFocus event as follows: Private Sub ExpressionEditor1_AfterKillFocus() Dim err As Integer Dim HiLimit As Single, LoLimit As Single Dim ds As String ds = ExpressionEditor1.EditText Call FetchLimits(ds, HiLimit, LoLimit, err) If (err = 0) Then txtloin.value = LoLimit txthiin.value = HiLimit OldDataSource = ds ExpressionEditor1.EditText = ds 24 Creating a Dynamo with VBA

25 If a valid data source does not exist, use the default values of 0 and 100. ElseIf (err = 2) Then End If err = Validating a Data Source and Launching the FIX Dynamics Quick Add Dialog You will notice that many of the FIX Dynamics standard dynamos allow you to add tags to your data source while configuring the dynamo. You can easily apply this functionality to your own dynamos by using the Global Function QuickAdd. This function takes a data source string as a parameter and returns an integer based on the state of the data source. If the data source does not exist but can be created, the QuickAdd function launches the FIX Dynamics Quick Add dialog allowing the user to add a tag to the database. The syntax for QuickAdd is as follows: QuickAdd (ByVal DataSource As String) As Integer Example: Dim inttemp inttemp = QuickAdd String name for data source The return values are as follows: 0 = OK. Data source exists. 1 = Invalid syntax for data source 2 = Data source did not yet exist. Quick Add dialog was launched and user added a database tag. 3 = Data Type mismatch 4 = Data Source did not exist. User did not choose to add tag but chose to Use Anyway 5 = Data Source did not exist. User did not choose to add tag or Use Anyway. Creating a Dynamo with VBA 25

26 2.4 Accessing a Dynamo from Outside its Form One of the most important features of this method of developing dynamos is that you can access the dynamo s properties that you set up from outside the dynamo and its form. For example, if you wanted to change a the tank s data source to FIX32.FIX.AI1.F_CV and the tank s vertical fill color to red when you click on a button in run mode, you could do the following: [1] With the BigTank dynamo in a picture, insert a command button in the picture. [2] Right mouse click on the command button and select Edit Script. The Visual Basic Editor appears. [3] Enter the following code in button s click event: Private Sub CommandButton1_Click() Initialize the BigTank dynamo object with the form. frmbigtankdynamo.initializedynamo BigTank Set the value for the BigTank s TankDataSource property. frmbigtankdynamo.tankdatasource = "FIX32.FIX.AI1.F_CV" Set the value for the BigTank s TankContentsColor property. frmbigtankdynamo.tankcontentscolor = 255 [4] Switch to run and click the button. The fill color changes to red and the data source is now FIX32.FIX.AI1.F_CV. Remember that when you change properties of an object in run mode, the object will only hold those properties during that run session. If you switch back to configure mode or exit the workspace, the properties return to their original configuration. 26 Creating a Dynamo with VBA

27 2.5 Using the Global Color By Form in Dynamos Intellution provides a global Color By form that you can access and use with your dynamos. The global Color By form lets you animate the color of a section of your dynamo with a data source. It looks like and behaves like the Color Expert in the Workspace. Many of the standard Intellution dynamos that are animated (TanksAnim1, TanksAnim2, ValvesAnim, PipesAnim) use the global Color By form for animating color. Lets go back to our BigTank form and add in a control that allows us to animate the color of the top portion of the tank. First, lets rebuild our dynamo: [1] Open the MyDynamoSet dynamo set that you created then open a new picture. [2] Drag the BigTank dynamo from MyDynamoSet into the new picture. When the form appears, just click Cancel. [3] Ungroup the dynamo and rename the pie object TankTop. [4] Regroup the dynamo and rename it back to BigTank. [5] Close MyDynamoSet. Now, we will add the button that will launch the global Color By form to the BigTank s form. [1] Right mouse click on the BigTank dynamo in the picture and click Edit Script. VBE appears. [2] Double click on the frmbigtank form in the new picture s project. Your BigTank user form appears. Creating a Dynamo with VBA 27

28 [3] Reduce the size of the Tank Contents Color button and add a command button and label as shown below. You will code the command button s click event to launch the Color By form. [4] Name the command button cmdcolorby. Now, to add the code that lets you access the global Color By form. First, you will need to add the following variables to the General Declarations section in the form s code: frmdynamocolor - to be set to an instance of the Color By form blncolorformshow to determine if the Color By form has already been launched. BlnColorFormCancel to determine if user selected Cancel in the Color By form. In the General Declarations section of the form s code, add: Private blncolorformshow as Boolean Private frmdynamocolor As Object Private blncolorformcancel As Boolean Private blnformactivate As Boolean Now, on the command button s click event, enter the following code: Private Sub cmdcolorby_click() Dim TopObj As Object Dim blnhasconnection As Boolean 28 Creating a Dynamo with VBA

29 Dim lngindex As Long Dim lngstatus As Long 'If the global ColorBy form has been activated, we don't want activate it again. If blncolorformshow = False Then 'Set the flag as to whether the form was shown to True then, create a local instance of the DynamoColorBy form End If blncolorformshow = True GetFormDynamoColor frmdynamocolor Set the object TopObj equal to the pie piece of the Tank called TankTop. Set TopObj = FindLocalObject(Tank, "TankT") Initialize the TopObj to the Color By form. frmdynamocolor.initializecolorbyform TopObj, frmbigtank, blncolorformcancel frmdynamocolor.show Because you have created an instance of the Color By form, you have to make sure that you close it when you leave the dynamo form. Add the following to the OK and Cancel button click events: Private Sub cmdok_click() 'Call the Let Property procedure for TankDataSource to set the TankDataSource property TankDataSource = ExpressionEditor1.EditText 'Call the Let Property procedure for 'TankContentsColor to set the TankContentsColor 'property. Creating a Dynamo with VBA 29

30 TankContentsColor = ColorButton1.Color 'Check it an instance of the global Color By form was created. If it was, unload it. If TypeName(frmDynamoColor) <> "Nothing" Then End If Unload Me For the Cancel button: Unload frmdynamocolor Private Sub cmdcancel_click() 'Check it an instance of the global Color By form was created. If it was, unload it. If TypeName(frmDynamoColor) <> "Nothing" Then End If Unload frmdynamocolor Unload Me Now, try out your addition. [1] Reopen open your MyDynamoSet dynamo set and delete the old BigTank dynamo. [2] Right mouse click in the dynamo set and select Edit Script. Make sure you remove the old frmbigtank from the MyDynamoSet VBE project. [3] Drag the new BigTank dynamo into the MyDynamoSet dynamo set. [4] Open a new picture and drag the BigTank dynamo into the new picture. [5] Set the Data Base Tag, the Tank Contents Color, and the Animate Tank Top color animation. [6] Switch to run mode to verify your results. 30 Creating a Dynamo with VBA