Custom Forms for Jiwa 6.5.13 and Jiwa 7

[SBarnes]

Hi All,

Is there a way to launch a .net form from inside Jiwa 6.5.13 that with minimal modification that would then be available in Jiwa 7, I need to get a custom form working in Jiwa 6.5.13 and then would like it be able to work in Jiwa 7 with minimal rework when the system is upgraded in the next 12 months?

Basically all I need help with will be launching the form and gettting access to the database object particularly under 6.5.13, as I'll use the infragistic controls themselves within the form.

I had posted the question in Jiwa 6 forum under the link below but got not response and I was unsure if that part of the forums was still active and I am respositing the question here.

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=107

[Mike.Sheen]

Is there a way to launch a .net form from inside Jiwa 6.5.13 that with minimal modification that would then be available in Jiwa 7, I need to get a custom form working in Jiwa 6.5.13 and then would like it be able to work in Jiwa 7 with minimal rework when the system is upgraded in the next 12 months?

The best guidance I can give is to create a .NET interop usercontrol, and have that be pretty much your whole form - and then make a 06.05.13 VB6 form which has that .NET interop usercontrol on it. Your VB6 form will need to follow all the conventions that existed for version 6.5.13.

This requires the Interop Forms Toolkit. I've not dabbled with this before, so I can't give you a definite if it will work or not - but from my Googling around I know that you MUST use the usercontrol approach as VB6 won't be able to load a .NET form as a MDI Child.

Messy stuff - good luck!

Mike

[SBarnes]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the reply you have pretty much confirmed what I had also discovered, in terms of using the toolkit and have decided that going back and using VB6 may be the easier option, and I've already gotten 6.5.13 to show the form thanks to your example and have a legitimate copy of spread 7 com for the grid that I need on the form. VB6 is about as appealing as the user control route, yuck.

One question I have though, the MDExtender Control that you guys used to allow you call a form from within an activeX DLL and use it as MDI is this control is no longer available for purchase (I contacted the vendor) but you can actually use the one under the Jiwa 6.5.13 install, it just bring up a nag screen about being for trial use inside VB6, do you know if in trial mode it will expire or you just get the nag screen as this is the only show stopper I have at the moment is terms of making the screen work?

[Mike.Sheen]

you can actually use the one under the Jiwa 6.5.13 install, it just bring up a nag screen about being for trial use inside VB6, do you know if in trial mode it will expire or you just get the nag screen as this is the only show stopper I have at the moment is terms of making the screen work?

I don't know if the licence will stop after a certain point in time, instead of the nag screen being presented - I've never tried, sorry. Despite it being a discontinued product, we're not permitted to provide our licence for that now defunct product to anyone else - which would solve your problem - you'll either have to take the risk that it will just be a nag screen and won't have a kill switch, or commit to an upgrade to version 7 of Jiwa.

The last version of Jiwa 6 is now almost 7 years old, and the MDIExtender product support ended well before that - it's a big ask to get such old components working in modern environments. There is a very real risk that Jiwa 6 or the components it depends on simply will stop working on modern operating systems, and the stake holders of organisations still using version 6 of Jiwa should be made aware of that fact.

Your issues with the MDIExtender component highlights the reality of this risk.

[SBarnes]

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the reply unfortunately at this point there is a timeframe which will require getting some work completed in 6.5.13 first, the client then intends to upgrade within the next 12 monthes, the current work unfortunately is time sensitive.

What I think I will have to do is use the form without the control, it comes up over the top of Jiwa but works, and then try adding the control as the last thing in case there is a trial period, it also means there will need to be rework when they move to version 7 but I don't think there is going to be any other way of doing this given the control is no longer available for purchase. The only other option will be to build the screen as a stand alone app which is equally as messy.

Just so you know the vendor stopped selling the MDIExtender 10 years ago.

As an aside I am still not getting email notifications off the forums for anything posted (new or old such as either reponse you have made in the last 24 hours)?

[Mike.Sheen]

As an aside I am still not getting email notifications off the forums for anything posted (new or old such as either reponse you have made in the last 24 hours)?

You'll get an email notification containing a URL when someone posts in a forum you are subscribed to. If you don't visit that URL, you won't get any more email notifications - this is how the phpbb forums we use are designed - it's to prevent users being spammed with notifications - they should get one for the first submission, and none until they visit the forum (signed in) again.

I'll send you a test email via forums to see if you are getting any emails at all - if you don't get it, then we need to troubleshoot further.

[SBarnes]

Hi Mike,

I didn't get anything at all if you've done this already, I had let Beth know when I changed my email address the system had locked me out and Rene fixed the problem but it's actually since then I haven't gotten anything off the forums if this helps identify the gremlin.

I checked everything under the accout / profiles settings and everything looked fine, thanks for looking into this.

[Mike.Sheen]

Hi Mike,

I didn't get anything at all if you've done this already, I had let Beth know when I changed my email address the system had locked me out and Rene fixed the problem but it's actually since then I haven't gotten anything off the forums if this helps identify the gremlin.

I checked everything under the accout / profiles settings and everything looked fine, thanks for looking into this.

Yes, I sent the email from forums to you on May 17 - I'll look into this further.