KnowledgeBase Archive

An Archive of Early Microsoft KnowledgeBase Articles

View on GitHub

Q206904: BUG: Copying the Tab Control Does Not Display All Child Controls

Article: Q206904
Product(s): Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows
Version(s): 5.0,6.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbCtrl kbTabCtrl kbVBp kbVBp500bug kbVBp600bug kbGrpDSVB kbDSupport
Last Modified: 04-MAR-2002

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Visual Basic Learning Edition for Windows, versions 5.0, 6.0 
- Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition for Windows, versions 5.0, 6.0 
- Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition for Windows, versions 5.0, 6.0 
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SYMPTOMS
========

When you use the Microsoft Tabbed Dialog control (SP3) on a form and copy it,
the control displays all of the child controls on the active tab on the
resulting paste operation, but the child controls are not displayed on any other
tab. The Left property is still set at a Left -75000 offset.

CAUSE
=====

The SSTab control keeps an internal list of child controls on each tab. It also
keeps a count of the child controls on each tab. If Form1 is saved and then
examined in a text editor, such as Notepad, the number of controls on Tab 0 is 0
instead of 1.

The SSTab control builds a list of information about the controls contained on
it, including the name of each of the controls. When the SSTab control is
copied, its persisted data contains this array of control information. When the
new tabctl is created by a Paste operation, the persisted data from the first
control is used. The problem is that the controls that are created by Visual
Basic with the second SSTab have different names than those in the persisted
data: Command2 becomes Command3, and so forth. So when the SSTab tries to
rebuild the controls dispid's array, it cannot find any matching names.
Therefore, if the SSTab is pasted onto a different form that does not contain
controls with the same names as its child controls, they all appear normal.

RESOLUTION
==========

The workaround is to reset the Left properties of each control after the paste
operation, while its parent tab is selected. This task can be simplified by
placing the controls on each tab in a container control, such as a PictureBox or
Frame control. Now only one control per tab must be repositioned after a paste,
because the Left property of contained controls is not affected by the paste.

Another approach is to replace the SSTab control with the TabStrip control from
the Microsoft Windows Common Controls.

STATUS
======

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products that are
listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION
================

Steps to Reproduce the Problem
------------------------------

1. Start a new Visual Basic Standard EXE project. Form1 is created by default.

2. On the Project menu, select Components. Mark the Microsoft Tabbed Dialog
  control and click OK.

3. Add an SSTab control to Form1.

4. Place a CommandButton on Tab 0.

5. Select Tab 1 and place a CommandButton on it.

6. Copy the tab control by selecting it and pressing the CTRL+C key combination.

7. Paste the tab control by selecting Form1 and entering the CTRL+V key
  combination. Note that you are asked you want to create a control array. The
  problem occurs either way, but click No for each prompt.

8. Click Tab 0 on the new control. The CommandButton is not visible on Tab 0.

REFERENCES
==========

MSDN Library Visual Studio 6.0, Index "SSTab Control," "SSTab Control - MSTab
Control"

Additional query words:

======================================================================
Keywords          : kbCtrl kbTabCtrl kbVBp kbVBp500bug kbVBp600bug kbGrpDSVB kbDSupport 
Technology        : kbVBSearch kbAudDeveloper kbZNotKeyword6 kbZNotKeyword2 kbVB500Search kbVB600Search kbVB500 kbVB600
Version           : :5.0,6.0
Issue type        : kbbug

=============================================================================

THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THE MICROSOFT KNOWLEDGE BASE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. MICROSOFT DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY.