Class FormDesigner

Namespace

RDCore.SDK.Workspace.Forms

Assembly

RDCore.SDK.dll

Reads what a form module's designer declares: the form's class and designer properties, and its controls.

public static class FormDesigner

Inheritance

object

FormDesigner

Inherited Members

object.Equals(object)

object.Equals(object, object)

object.GetHashCode()

object.GetType()

object.MemberwiseClone()

object.ReferenceEquals(object, object)

object.ToString()

Remarks

A form module (.frm) opens on a VERSION 5.00 header line and a designer block: Begin <class> <name> … End, before its code-behind. What the block holds depends on the designer that wrote it:

• A VBA UserForm (Begin {C62A69F0-16DC-11CE-9E98-00AA00574A4F} UserForm1) holds the form's own properties only. Its controls are in the designer data Microsoft Forms persisted, which the VBE exports to the companion .frx file at the OleObjectBlob property's offset: a 24-byte blob header, whose bytes 4 to 7 are the length of what follows it, then a compound file ([MS-CFB]) holding the form's storage ([MS-OFORMS] 2.1.2). The blob header is not documented; its layout is what the VBE writes.
• A Visual Basic 6.0 form (Begin VB.Form Form1) holds its controls too, as nested Begin … End blocks, each with its properties; BeginProperty … EndProperty blocks group a property's own properties (a Font). Its .frx file holds binary property values (pictures, lists), which the controls' declarations do not need.

The reader takes the companion file's content from its caller, which owns the file system: CompanionOf(string?) says which file and where.

Fields

MSFormsClassId

The class identifier of the Microsoft Forms 2.0 designer, which names a VBA UserForm's designer block.

public static readonly Guid MSFormsClassId

Field Value

Guid

MSFormsLibrary

The name of the Microsoft Forms type library, which qualifies the classes of a UserForm and of its controls (MSForms.TextBox).

public const string MSFormsLibrary = "MSForms"

Field Value

string

Methods

CompanionOf(string?)

Where the designer data of the form module source is, or null when the module is not a form module or keeps no designer data in a companion file (its OleObjectBlob property).

public static FormDesignerReference? CompanionOf(string? source)

Parameters

source string

The form module's source.

Returns

FormDesignerReference

Exceptions

FormDesignerFormatException

The designer block is not terminated.

Read(string?, ReadOnlyMemory<byte>)

What the form module source declares, or null when it is not a form module (it has no designer block).

public static FormDescriptor? Read(string? source, ReadOnlyMemory<byte> companion = default)

Parameters

source string

The form module's source.

companion ReadOnlyMemory<byte>

The content of the module's companion file (CompanionOf(string?)), when the module keeps designer data there; ignored when it does not.

Returns

FormDescriptor

Exceptions

FormDesignerFormatException

The designer block is not terminated, the module keeps designer data in a companion file and companion is empty, or that designer data cannot be read.

StateOf(string?, ReadOnlyMemory<byte>)

The designer's state of the form module source: for a VBA UserForm, the compound file its companion file keeps at the offset its OleObjectBlob says, which is what Microsoft Forms loads a form from (IPersistStorage). Empty when the module keeps no designer data in a companion file.

public static ReadOnlyMemory<byte> StateOf(string? source, ReadOnlyMemory<byte> companion)

Parameters

source string

The form module's source.

companion ReadOnlyMemory<byte>

The content of the module's companion file (CompanionOf(string?)).

Returns

ReadOnlyMemory<byte>

Remarks

The state is opaque here: Read(string?, ReadOnlyMemory<byte>) reads what a form declares from it, and the form host hands it, as it is, to the library that hosts the form.

Exceptions

FormDesignerFormatException

The designer block is not terminated, the module keeps designer data in a companion file and companion is empty, or the designer data is not where it says.