Programming Visual Basic for the Palm OS

Basic Application Layout Example

Our first application’s purpose will be to set up a typical base window with a title bar and a command button. Our goals for this application are to:

• Introduce the Shape, Label, and Command button ingots

• Compile and run in Visual Basic

• Generate a PRC file and run it on a Palm device

Start by opening an AppForge project in Visual Basic. Your first form, like regular Visual Basic applications, will be autogenerated. What you will see is a form that’s 160 x 160 pixels in size, with a blank title bar. Of course, Windows-style title bars do not exist in the Palm OS. This title bar is there to provide you with a means to drag the window around your desktop and close the form if you are test-running it in the Visual Basic IDE. This size and color of the title bar provide a common foundation for developing forms for the typical Palm or Pocket PC device that match the actual screen size of those devices. Change the name to frmBase.

The next step is to add a title bar that is common to almost all Palm applications. There are two methods to produce a title bar, custom or automatic. First, let’s look at creating a custom title bar. There are only a few reasons why you may want to create your own custom title bar, and you’ll most likely find that letting AppForge create it automatically will meet your needs. But it’s worth a quick review just in case you do want to create your own. (Automatic title bar creation was introduced in AppForge version 2.0.) We are ...