Lab 2.1 – CA-2

Goals:

w Make the project multi-form

w Use the Listbox control to choose CA size

w Allow user to choose initial configuration by clicking.

__1. Begin by adapting the project from Lab 2.0.

w Make a new copy of the entire folder of that project.

v Open the folder that contains the project folder

(not the project folder itself).

v Click on the project folder to highlight it.

v From the Edit menu choose Copy.

v Again from the Edit menu choose Paste. A new folder should

appear, named Copy of <x>, where <x> is the name of your

project folder.

v Click on the new folder to highlight it.

v From the File menu choose Rename. Notice that the name,

Copy of <x>, is now highlighted.

v Type in a new name for your folder.

w Open the new folder.

w Using the same process as above, make a new copy of the project’s

form file and rename it.

__2. Make your project multi-form.

w Open the project.

w Add the new copy of the form file you made in Step1 to your project.

(We will have to trick the VB environment to accomplish our goal).

v Temporarily change the name of the project’s only form. You can

simply add a letter at the end of its current name. Do not save

the project or the form at this point.

v In the toolbar, click on the Add Form icon (it is the 2nd from the

left).

v Click on the Existing tab.

v Change the name of the newly added form to match its external

name. For example, if in Step1 you named your new form

frmFredNew, that is its external name. Change the internal name

to match.

v Now change the name of the old form back to its original.

v And from the File menu choose Save Project.

w Why was it necessary to “trick” VB when adding a second copy of

the cellular automaton form?

w Go through all the code of the new form and update any references to

the form to make them refer to the new form, instead of the old one.

w Add a “main” form to your project.

v Again click on the Add Form icon.

v The New tab should already be chosen. Click on Open.

v Rename the form to be frmMain.

v From the File menu choose Save Project.

__3. Implement the multi-form aspect of your project.

w Place labels on the two matching forms to identify them as they come

up on the screen.

w Place two command buttons on the main form, with captions Old and

New & Improved.

w Place a third command button on the main form and make it the Exit

button.

w For each command button write code to go from the main form to

the appropriate cellular automaton form. For example, if your new

form is named frmFredNew, your code would look like the code

below.

Private Sub cmdNew_Click()

frmMain.Hide

frmFredNew.Show

End Sub

w On each of the cellular automaton forms place a command button

with code to return the program back to the main form. Again, if

your new form is named frmFredNew, your code would look like the

code below.

Private Sub cmdBack_Click()

frmFredNew.Hide

frmMain.Show

End Sub

w And now make frmMain your start up form.

v From the Project menu choose <x> Properties . . ., where <x> is the

name of your project.

v In the upper right hand of the dialogue box that pops up find the

little window labeled StartUp Object:.

v Click on the scroll arrow to bring up your choices. Choose

frmMain.

v Click on OK.

w Run the project. Verify that you can move freely among all 3 forms.

w If we had not made the above change, which form would have been

the start up form? Why (i.e., which form is the default start up form

in a multi-form project)?

__4. Now give the user a choice of cellular automaton sizes.

w Add a listbox to the new cellular automaton form, naming it lbxSizes.

w Add the following code to Form_Load.

For i = 5 To 39

lbxSizes.AddItem Str(i) & " x " & Str(i)

Next i

w Test this code to verify that the choices come up in the listbox.

w Replace this declaration

Const NumRows = 39

with this declaration

Dim NumRows As Integer

w Make a general procedure, InitGrid. Move code from Form_Load and

from cdmRunIt_Click to produce the following code for InitGrid.

Public Sub InitGrid()

Dim cellsize As Integer

Dim i As Integer

Dim row As Integer

Dim col As Integer

fgdCA.Rows = NumRows

fgdCA.Cols = NumRows

cellsize = Round15(Int(Gridsize / NumRows))

fgdCA.Height = cellsize * NumRows + NumRows * Log(NumRows)

fgdCA.Width = cellsize * NumRows + NumRows * Log(NumRows)

For i = 0 To NumRows - 1

fgdCA.ColWidth(i) = cellsize

fgdCA.RowHeight(i) = cellsize

Next i

For row = 0 To casize - 1

For col = 0 To casize - 1

old(row, col) = 0

Next col

Next row

old(casize \ 2 - 1, casize \ 2 - 1) = 1

old(casize \ 2, casize \ 2 - 1) = 1

old(casize \ 2 - 1, casize \ 2) = 1

Call DisplayCA

End Sub

w Notice that this code incorporates a correction to Lab 2.0 in the

initialization of the array old.

w Add this code to Form_Load.

NumRows = 39

casize = 39

Call InitGrid

w Run the program. Click on command button RunIt of the new form to

verify that it still works.

w Place this code under lbxSizes_Click.

NumRows = lbxSizes.ListIndex + 5

casize = NumRows

Call InitGrid

w Run the program. Try it out for various sizes.

w Why was the first line of code not as below?

NumRows = lbxSizes.ListIndex

__5. Allow user to select initial configuration.

w Move some code around to permit a more generic initialization and display.

v Create a general procedure, StandardConfig.

v Move the 3 lines below from InitGrid to StandardConfig.

old(casize \ 2 - 1, casize \ 2 - 1) = 1

old(casize \ 2, casize \ 2 - 1) = 1

old(casize \ 2 - 1, casize \ 2) = 1

v Find every place from which InitGrid is called.

{This should be Form_Load and lbxSizes_Click}.

v Immediately following those calls to InitGrid, place calls to StandardConfig

and to DisplayCA. When you are finished you should have the following

three lines in place of the single line calling InitGrid.

Call InitGrid

Call StandardConfig

Call DisplayCA

v Remove from InitGrid the call to DisplayCA.

v Run your program to verify that it still works the same as before.

w Place another command button onto the new CA form. Give it this code.

Call InitGrid

Call DisplayCA

fgdCA.GridLines = 2

w Give fgdCA_Click this code.

Private Sub fgdCA_Click()

Dim r As Integer

Dim c As Integer

r = fgdCA.row

c = fgdCA.col

old(r, c) = (old(r, c) +1) Mod 2

fgdCA.CellBackColor = hue(old(r, c))

End Sub

w Since you are clicking on a cell to turn it from white to blue, why do we take

the new value Mod 2? Why not just add 1 to the old value?

w Run the program. Try out various initial configurations and various CA sizes.

w Notice that once we turn the gridlines on, they stay on. Take steps to enable

the user to turn the gridlines off after choosing the initial configuration. Try out

your solution.

w How did you solve this problem?