Absolute Beginner's Guide to Programming, Third Edition

Using Shapes

You will need to draw circles, squares, and other shapes on your form because a picture is not always the most effective graphic. For example, you can place an oval around your company name to highlight the name at the top of your form.

The Shape control works to draw all kinds of shapes such as boxes and other figures on your form. By placing controls and setting appropriate properties, you'll be adding flair to your application. The properties of each control that you place on the form determine exactly what kind of image the control becomes.

Here are the primary graphics images that you can draw with the Shape control:

• Rectangles

• Squares

• Ovals

• Circles

• Rounded rectangles

• Rounded squares

Figure 9.1 shows a Visual Basic form with a sampling ...