Viewing the Control Toolbox in Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 MFC

Unlike other application and development tools, Visual C++ does not permit viewing some of its Integrated Development Environment (IDE) components such as dialog box or control toolbox using the View menu. Unintentionally closing an IDE component could result to total disarray. To show one of its important components, the Control toolbox, use any of the following methods:

Method 1:

1. Right-click an empty pane in the Microsoft Visual C++ toolbar. A pop-up menu containing several options will be displayed>Select Controls option.

Note: The Controls option only appears on the pop-up menu if your dialog-based application is shown on the screen. If you dialog-box is hidden, click the resource tab on the right pane of you Visual C++ IDE> Expand the Dialog tree control item>Double-click IDD_Nameofyouproject_DIALOG.

Or

Method 2:

1. Click on the tools menu>Customize>Click the toolbars tab.

2. Check Controls from the toolbars list box>Click the close button.

ISAPLHA and ISDIGIT functions in Visual FoxPro 9

ISALPHA function is one of the powerful functions in Visual FoxPro 9 that can be used to test if the inputted data is a string or character. By default, ISALPHA has a false value and returns a true value when the Expression is a string data. It is very helpful in filtering illegal inputs:

Syntax:
ISALPHA(Expression)

Where;
1. Expression can be a variable, a text, or a control. ISAPLHA can be entered in any capitalization.

Examples:
ISALPHA(“John”)
ISALPHA(strname)
ISALPHA(Thisform.NameTextbox.Value)

To see ISALPHA in action, follow these steps:

1. Click Start>All Programs>Microsoft Visual FoxPro 9.0.
2. Click File>New>Form>New File.
3. Design your interface as follows:



4. Double-click the control named OkButton then enter the following codes:



5.Press F5 to test our sample application.

Another useful input validation function in Visual FoxPro 9.0 is the ISDIGIT function. It works like ISNUMERIC function in PHP wherein it allows you to test whether the input is a numeric data. Just like the ISALPHA function, the default value of is numeric function is false and it returns true whenever the contents of the expression is a numeric value.

Syntax:
IDIGIT (Expression)

Where;
1. Expression can be a variable, a number, or a control. ISDIGIT can be entered in any capitalization.

Examples:
ISDIGIT (“John”)
ISDIGIT (intage)
ISDIGIT (Thisform.AgeTextbox.Value)

The following example demonstrates the capability of ISDIGIT function:

1. Click Start>All Programs>Microsoft Visual FoxPro 9.0.
2. Click File>New>Form>New File.
3. Design your interface as follows:



4. Double-click the OkButton then enter the following:



5. Press F5 to test our sample application.

Those are the two powerful input validation functions in Visual FoxPro 9. Hope you learn something from it. Till next time.