mDialog module

Holds the constants, the four structure types and the eight conversion functions that the dialog classes of the package share. The conversions change between inches, millimetres, points and twips, and between an HTML colour text and its red, green and blue parts.

Functions: HtmlToRGB, InchesToMM, InchesToPoints, InchesToTwips, MMToInches, PointsToInches, RGBToHtml, TwipsToInches.

Constants: MM_PER_INCH, POINTS_PER_INCH, TWIPS_PER_INCH and the eight paper sizes.

Types: COMDLG_FILTERSPEC, GUID, POINT, RECT.

The members of mDialog are global: a program writes InchesToMM(1) and also mDialog.InchesToMM(1).

Debug.Print InchesToMM(8.5)         ' 215.9
Debug.Print InchesToPoints(1)       ' 72
Debug.Print InchesToTwips(1.5)      ' 2160
Debug.Print RGBToHtml(255, 128, 0)  ' #FF8000

Dim r As Long, g As Long, b As Long
HtmlToRGB "#00ff7f", r, g, b
Debug.Print r; g; b                 '  0  255  127

Functions

HtmlToRGB

Splits an HTML colour text into its red, green and blue parts.

Syntax: HtmlToRGB ( htmlColor, r, g, b )

htmlColor: required A String of six hexadecimal digits, with a leading # or without one, and with or without spaces at its ends: #FF8000, ff8000.
r, g, b: required Long variables, passed by reference. They receive the red, green and blue parts, each from 0 to 255.

The text must have exactly six characters after the optional #. Any other text sets all three variables to 0: three-digit colours (#FFF), eight-digit colours (#FF8000FF), colour names, an empty string and text with characters that are not hexadecimal digits (#GG0000) give black, and no error is raised. A text with a sign character (#-10000, #+12345) gives black too. A space inside six characters is not always rejected: #1 2345 gives 1, 35 and 69.

InchesToMM

Converts inches to millimetres.

Syntax: InchesToMM ( inches ) As Double

Returns inches multiplied by 25.4: 215.9 for 8.5.

InchesToPoints

Converts inches to points.

Syntax: InchesToPoints ( inches ) As Double

Returns inches multiplied by 72: 72 for 1.

InchesToTwips

Converts inches to twips.

Syntax: InchesToTwips ( inches ) As Long

Returns inches multiplied by 1,440, rounded to the nearest whole number with CLng: 2160 for 1.5, 0 for 0.0003 and 1 for 0.0004.

MMToInches

Converts millimetres to inches.

Syntax: MMToInches ( mm ) As Double

Returns mm divided by 25.4: 1 for 25.4, and 8.26771653543307 for 210.

PointsToInches

Converts points to inches.

Syntax: PointsToInches ( points ) As Double

Returns points divided by 72: 0.5 for 36.

RGBToHtml

Builds an HTML colour text from red, green and blue parts.

Syntax: RGBToHtml ( r, g, b ) As String

Each argument is a Long. The function takes the lowest eight bits of each (And &HFF), writes each as two upper-case hexadecimal digits and puts a # first. A value outside 0 to 255 is not rejected: it wraps, so RGBToHtml(256, -1, 300) gives #00FF2C.

TwipsToInches

Converts twips to inches.

Syntax: TwipsToInches ( twips ) As Double

twips is a Long. Returns it divided by 1,440: 0.5 for 720.

Constants

Constant	Type	Value
MM_PER_INCH	Double	25.4
POINTS_PER_INCH	Long	72
TWIPS_PER_INCH	Long	1440

Paper sizes

Paper sizes in inches, all Double. The A sizes are rounded to two decimals.

Constant	Value
PAPER_LETTER_WIDTH, PAPER_LETTER_HEIGHT	8.5, 11
PAPER_LEGAL_WIDTH, PAPER_LEGAL_HEIGHT	8.5, 14
PAPER_A4_WIDTH, PAPER_A4_HEIGHT	8.27, 11.69
PAPER_A3_WIDTH, PAPER_A3_HEIGHT	11.69, 16.54

Types

The structures are those of the Windows API, written for the dialog classes of the package.

Type	Members	Size, 32-bit and 64-bit
COMDLG_FILTERSPEC	pszName and pszSpec, both LongPtr	8 and 16 bytes
GUID	Data1 (Long), Data2 and Data3 (Integer), Data4 (8 Byte values)	16 bytes
POINT	X and Y, both Long	8 bytes
RECT	Left, Top, Right and Bottom, all Long	16 bytes

Declare GUID as mDialog.GUID: the name GUID alone refers to another type, and Dim g As GUID is refused with error TB5106 in a project that references the package. Writing the module name before RECT, POINT and COMDLG_FILTERSPEC as well makes sure that the type of the package is the one used.

Dim g As mDialog.GUID
Dim rc As mDialog.RECT

g.Data1 = 5
rc.Left = 2
rc.Right = 9
Debug.Print g.Data1                ' 5
Debug.Print rc.Right - rc.Left     ' 7
Debug.Print LenB(rc)               ' 16