ActiveThreed(TM) Plus

ActiveX(TM) Controls

Version 3.03
January, 2001
(C) Copyright Infragistics, Inc., 1997-2001
2540 Route 130
Cranbury, NJ 08512 USA
Voice (609) 655-5000
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Internet http://www.infragistics.com
 

This document contains release notes for ActiveThreed Plus. Information in this document is more current than the on-line Help.

Included Samples

The Samples sub-folder of your product installation folder contains various samples demonstrating the use of the product. Brief descriptions of these can be found in the file Samples Descriptions.htm, located in the Samples folder.

Upgrade Information:

For Users of ActiveThreed:

It is possible to upgrade existing projects using ActiveThreed controls (THREED20.OCX and SPLITTER.OCX) to ActiveThreed Plus (ssa3d30.OCX and sssplt30.OCX) by editing the project (VBP) file in a text editor, such as Notepad. You must make the following modification:

In the old VBP file, find the following lines:

Object={0BA686C6-F7D3-101A-993E-0000C0EF6F5E}#2.0#0; THREED20.OCX

Object={F7BA9F11-0A5D-11D0-97C9-0000C09400C4}#2.0#0; SPLITTER.OCX

and change them so they read as follows:

Object={065E6FD1-1BF9-11D2-BAE8-00104B9E0792}#3.0#0; ssa3d30.ocx

Object={8C3D4AA0-2599-11D2-BAF1-00104B9E0792}#3.0#0; sssplt30.ocx

Save the file using your text editor, and then open the project as you normally would.

Alternatively, you can use the conversion utility supplied with the controls. Just run the file Conversion.exe.  

Control Notes

New method added to SSResizer control:
A new method, Reset has been added to the SSResizer control, and when invoked resets the proportions used by the control when resizing other controls. 

New property added to SSSplitter control:
A new property, AllowMdiChildForms has been added to the SSSplitter control, and when set to True allows MdiChild forms to be set in a pane. This will allow focus to work correctly for this project with the caveat that you can't press the End key on any error dialog or you will get a GPF.

Splitter Panes containing forms:
You can now place a form inside a Splitter pane by using the Panes Control property at run-time. To do this remove the Caption and ControlBox from the form and in code set the Pane.Control property to the Form.hWnd property. See the ActiveSuite example for sample code.

When attempting to set focus to a form in a Splitter pane please note that since there is no way to set the container of a Form in VB, we are forced to use the Form's hwnd and re-parent using the Windows API SetParent.  Unfortunately, this prevents VB from being notified of the re-parenting resulting in control focus issues occurring.  One side effect is being unable to set focus to a control on a Splitter Form on the first mouse click.  Another side effect is that tab order of the main Form and the re-parented Form are separate.  You cannot tab from control on one Form to controls on the other.

Zorder Issues with Frame and Panel controls:
There is a known problem pertaining to Zorder with the Frame and Panel controls at design time in Visual Basic when the BackStyle property is set to ‘Transparent’. Unfortunately there is no current solution to this problem. For some reason when Visual Basic has a transparent control on a form it seems to reverse the Zorder of the transparent controls. NOTE: This only occurs at design time, at run time the correct Zorder is maintained.

Windowless property default value has been changed:
In ActiveThreed Plus the Windowless property now defaults to FALSE. This causes the control to have a window. If you prefer to have the control Windowless, set the property to TRUE. Note that there are limitations with Visual Basic 5's support of windowless controls. If you experience problems with windowless controls reset the Windowless property back to FALSE.

Delay values:
Note that when setting PictureAnimationDelay and MarqueeDelay properties the resolution under Windows 95 is 55 milliseconds, under Windows NT it is 10ms. If the delay is set to less than the resolution, the delay is equivalent to 0 and will be affected by any other applications using timers.

Transparency issues:
If you place a transparent control on top of another control (for example, a transparent SSPanel on top of a command button) the user of your application will be able to see the control, but will not be able to access it. You should avoid placing transparent controls on top of other controls.

Using Resizer with nested Microsoft Tabbed Dialog controls:
When using nested Microsoft Tabbed Dialog controls in VB it is possible to have the fonts of the tab controls resize improperly. This is a known issue with the tabbed dialog control. If you experience this problem simply change the fonts of the tabbed dialog controls to any other font and then switch back to the original font immediately after placing them on a form.

Transitioning certain controls does not work:
The way the Transition control works is that it sends a WM_PAINT message to all of its child controls with a memory dc in the wParam. Almost all controls correctly render themselves into this dc. However, certain controls don’t behave properly and unfortunately there is nothing that the Transition control can do to get around the problem.

The most notable example is the version 6 ListView control that ships with VB6. The version 5 control works fine, it seems the problem was introduced in version 6. If you encounter this problem with either the ListView or another 3rd party control one workaround is to perform a SSTransition.Refresh or a ListView.Refresh after the transition finishes. This won’t show the control during the transition but will force a refresh afterward. You may also want to contact the control vendor to report the problem.

Too complex regions for SSSplash, SSRibbon and SSCommand:
The SSSplash control uses its Picture property to create an irregularly shaped region for its parent form. The SSRibbon and SSCommand controls use their Shape property (which is also a picture) to create an irregularly shaped region for their windows. There are situations where the region can be too complex for the OS to handle. This is especially true under Windows 95 and 98 in 256-color mode. If you have an image with large areas of a dithered color and one of the solid colors that makes up the dither is the transparent color (which is taken from the bottom/left corner pixel of the control) then the creation of the region may fail. When this happens at design time the SSSplash control will display the following message:

“The window region could not be created which may indicate that it is too complex.

The ActiveSplash control uses the color value of the lower left corner pixel as the transparent color. If this color is also used as part of a dithered color that covers a large area of the image the region may contain too many very small transparent areas. This happens most often in 256-color mode.

If the control's Picture property is set to an icon or metafile try setting the BackColor property to a SOLID color that is not used in dithered areas of the image.

If the Picture property is set to a bitmap try changing the lower left corner pixel to a color that isn't used in dithered areas."

Note: If you are developing under NT the window region creation may succeed but may fail when the application is run under 95 or 98. When this happens at runtime, no error message is displayed and the window reverts to being rectangular.

 For more detailed information, consult the Known Control Issues section of the help file (THREED30.HLP).

Container controls (SSFrame, SSPanel, SSSplitter, SSSplash, SSTransition and SSScroll) require a host environment that supports the ISimpleFrameSite interface in order to contain child controls. 

 Windowless controls (SSCheck, SSCommand, SSOption, SSRibbon) require a host environment that supports the IWindowlessControlSite interface (such as Visual Basic 5 or 6) in order to operate in windowless mode. In all other environments, the controls will operate in windowed mode; i.e. they will have a window handle.

 

Problems Corrected By This Release (1.03.003.06) February, 2001:

- New Product Activation Wizard now checks and notifies developer of new product builds

Problems Corrected By This Release (3.03.003) January, 2001:

5152 - VB IDE goes into infinite loop with sssplitter control and transparent panels, in design time.
5140 - Resizer on VB form in Win2000 allows user to size form less than min height/width.
5139 - Pegasus Software FXImage/Shape visibility through transparency.
5136 - Application slows to a crawl when repeatedly splitting Panes in the Splitter.
5135 - Transparent Panel control does not show display visible objects that are underneath it. Builds 3.02.0007, 3.02.0008 only.
5129 - Painting problem with threedPlus panel and frame controls when BackStyle set to transparent and the control is overlayed by an invisible control.
5128 - Controls placed on opaque panel appears on transparent panel when opaque panel is made invisible.
5121 - PaneFromControl method raises runtime error when passing form as parameter.
5113 - Transparent ssPanel appears as completely white at design time if overlayed by a control that is invisible at runtime.
5112 - Nested ssPanel does not appear transparent if nested within another transparent that contains a slider control and is partially overlayed by it.
5108 - Reset method not working properly.
5106 - A transparent SSPanel that is visible will display any SSPanels that it is overlaying, even though those SSPanels are not visible.

Problems Corrected By This Release (3.02.005) May, 2000:

5099 - Resizing a Scroll control does not adjust the HPosition, VPosition, or scrollbars.
5095 - Transparent CommandButton with focus does not paint when the container's backcolor is changed.
5093 - Application GPFs when closing a form containing an ActiveToolbars Plus, the ActiveThreed Plus Splitter, ActiveTreeview, and ActiveListbar.
5092 - VB slows and then crashes when using v3.02.003 of ssa3d30.ocx.
5091 - Overlaying tranparent panels causes VB to shut down.

Problems Corrected By This Release (3.02.003) March, 2000:

4747 - Error 31012 when trying to LoadLayout on a Splitter, even when you remove all the controls from it at run-time.
4764 - Some of the BackColor properties do not work properly for the panel in Plus, customer states that they worked in previous version and they do work for other VB controls.
4780 - Controls on the SSTab control disappear when the Resizer control resizes the control.
4786 - When the display settings are set to 256 colors, and the SSFrame is set to BackStyle=Transparent, it is not displaying correctly.
4889 - Click event of a command button does not fire if the control is on a form brought into a splitter pane on a MDIChild form.
4894 - Transparent Panel flickers when changing the caption.
4895 - Autosize of ssButtonToPicture does not work correctly with icons of sizes other than 32x32.
4897 - Using an option button bound to an ADODC will lock up the application.
4898 - Regression bug: If you have a transparent control on a transparent container, the container does not repaint when you make the control invisible. 
4904 - A GPF occurs when placing a breakpoint in the BeforeResize event of the Resizer.
4906 - The Form's Height can be set to a value lower than the Resizer's MinHeight property.
4908 - Caption does not erase at design time if the button is Windowless and Transparent. 
4912 - A command button whose ButtonStyle is 'ActiveBorders' flickers when moving the mouse over the control.
4916 - Error occurs when setting any of the Max or Min properties (MaxHeight,etc) in the VB IDE if VB is in MDI mode.
4919 - A border appears on the top and on the right of the Ribbon Button control, when moving another window over the ribbon control and its parent form.
4920 - GPF when exiting a project containing ActiveTreeView, ActiveToolBars, ActiveSplitter, and ActiveScroll.
4921 - The PictureDnDisabledFrames do not get changed to 1 if the Form file contains a 0.
4922 - A control being overlaid does not properly move to the open pane.
4923 - If a control is added to a pane that already has a control, the original cannot be removed.
4925 - The Background of a Transparent command button does not always paint correctly if it is on a scroll control. 
4926 - Setting the value of an option button through code fires the click event multiple times. 
4929 - Form resizes improperly viewed on system set to Large Fonts compiled on system set to Small Fonts.
4930 - A form attached to a pane can get unattached from the pane when resizing the form.
4932 - If transparent SSCommand has ActiveColors and ActiveBorders, border does not return to none after another control is clicked.
4938 - When you exit a project with a Splitter and TreeView and an ActiveToolbar, VB6 crashes.
4940 - With Hotfix build 16, a bad painting problem at design occurs when drawing SSSplitter on form. You only see the sizing handles of the control.
4946 - Setting the height of Panes in the MDIForm_Load event no longer works.
4947 - Upper right and lower left corners of the SSFrame do not connect when the ShadowStyle property is set to ssInsetShadow.
4948 - When you place a user control with a SSResizer in it, onto a form with an SSResizer, the contents of the user control do not resize at all.
4950 - If AutoRepeat=True, the SSCommand button seems to keep focus when clicking in a WebBrowser control.
4952 - Online Help - The Clear method is listed for the Panes collection, but no such method exists.
4956 - Online Help - The last sentence of the Remarks section of the Pane.Left property is grammatically incorrect.
4957 - SSCommand has GDI Leakage problem.
4958 - Controls placed on a container control within a splitter pane becomes invisible when splitter has the focus.
4962 - Label on an ssPanel, which is in a pane of the splitter, disappears when the splitter bar is moved.
4967 - Resizing a form with a MinHeight and MinWidth causes massive flickering followed by a lockup. 
4968 - Cannot toggle any of the ActiveThreedPlus Boolean properties via the Visual Basic "Not" operator.
4969 - Online Help - BevelWidth property needs to be updated with correct default values for the Panel, Command and Ribbon controls.
4970 - Online Help - Outline property needs to be updated with correct default values for the Panel, Command and Ribbon controls.
4971 - Resizer on the form with a Crystal Reports v6.0 and v7.0 control will cause a crash.
4972 - Frame and Panel do not appear transparent on a form with a gradient painted by a ctFormFX control.
4974 - Controls no longer remain in panes if a form is maximized and a VSFlexGrid is contained in the splitter and the autosize property is set to fillcontainer.
4975 - Sum of the height of the panes (plus splitterbar and border widths) no longer add up to the height of the control.
4977 - Online Help - ScrollingHeight and ScrollingWidth need to be modified.
4981 - Removing image from Picture property doesn't repaint control.
4982 - Changing BackColor at design or run time doesn't repaint control.
4983 - Crash in web page that hosts an ATL Lite Composite Control that contains an SSSplitter
4985 - Paint problems with panels in 3.01.0017 (and 3.01.0020)
5002 - Setting the AutoSize property to ssAutoSizeFillContainer has no effect on the control at design time or runtime.
5004 - Regression: Splitter does not align properly in 3.01 build 0017.
5005 - When you add the control to a project, VB displays a dialog that says the control is not registered.
5008 - Nag dialog appears when using build 21.
5009 - Scaleheight of a picturebox is not correct when a picturebox is within a pane of splitter.
5011 - Resource leak with ActiveColors.
5012 - Placing a panel on a VB user control causes a infinite loop when used in MFC.
5013 - When a VB usercontrol containing a splitter is used on a VC DIALOG the resources go to 100% and the dialog freezes.
5014 - Splitter resizes controls incorrectly when used with an ActiveToolBar.
5015 - Can paste 2 or more SSResizer controls on a container.
5018 - The help gives an incorrect description of the way the Picture Frame property behaves.
5020 - Transparent SSPanels show the background of the form instead of the control they are positioned over.
5025 - The INF files in the CAB files for our products do not include a DefaultInstall section.
5028 - Setting the enabled property of the ssCommand causes a resource leak.
5031 - Can't use more than one resizer in a C++ project.
5032 - The resizer, does not resize windowless ActiveX user controls on a form.
5036 - Using the MouseEnter Event to unload the current form causes a internal error and closes VB.
5037 - You are unable to resize controls on a form in VC++ in a MFC EXE project.
5039 - You will receive errors when trying to view 2 or more forms (each with a Resizer) at design time only in a C++ project.
5040 - Attempting to change the width of a pane which is adjacent to a pane that has its lockwidth set to true , width doesn't get set correctly.
5047 - sscheck/ssoption controls don't refresh when setting their font3d property.
5049 - Splitter within an ATL container does not shutdown if a control was put into a pane.
5050 - SSScroll does not repaint properly when placed in a Splitter pane.
5051 - Properties help text for the AutoSize property incorrectly references the Splitter Control.
5054 - ButtonStyle for an ssCommand appears as Win3.1 style when set to Follow OS and run under Win2000.
5055 - Loading a generic CWnd control into a pane of the splitter causes the application to hang when the control is clicked on.
5056 - Debug Assertion occurs when moving the mouse over a splitter bar when used in an ATL project.
5057 - Control does not repaint properly in response to sizing through API calls.
5063 - Autosize set to ssWidthToCaption does not work with multiline text. 
5064 - Transparent label on a transparent frame does not repaint correctly when the Caption is changed.
5067 - The ExitFocus event of a user control will not fire if the Caption of the SSCommand on the user control is blank.
5069 - GPF When a resizer is on the form with an OLE Control and you double click on the OLE Control, launching the associated program.
5077 - Controls are not being repositioned correctly after the Form is Maximized and then Minimized 2 or more times.
5081 - One of the Transitions Styles is not working - Split Horizontal Out.
5083 - Resizer is corrupting the Splitter when the Form is Maximized and then Restored.

Problems Corrected By This Release (3.01.10) April, 1999: