Something really weird is happening when I try to add the name of a shape to a combo box using VB 6.0. Below is an example that reproduces the error. I created a single form with one command button and one combo box (cmbTest) then attached the following code to the command button. g_oApp was previously attached to the MapPoint object.

Code:

Private Sub Command2_Click()
    Dim oMap As MapPoint.Map
    Dim oShape As MapPoint.Shape
    
    Set oMap = g_oApp.ActiveMap
    
    oMap.FindResults("Pacific Ocean")(1).GoTo

    Dim locLA, locTokyo As MapPoint.Location
    Set locLA = oMap.FindResults("Los Angeles, California")(1)
    Set locTokyo = oMap.FindResults("Tokyo, Japan")(1)

    ' Create and name the shape
    Set oShape = oMap.Shapes.AddLine(locLA, locTokyo)
    oShape.Name = "Tokyo Route"
    
    Me.cmbTest.AddItem oShape.Name

End Sub

You would think that "Tokyo Route" would appear in the combo box.. but instead I get "T". I can't figure it out. If I do a "MsgBox oShape.Name" I get the full name but the combo box only shows the first letter. I have found a work around but it is very annoying and doesn't make any sense.

Code:

Private Sub Command2_Click()
    Dim oMap As MapPoint.Map
    Dim oShape As MapPoint.Shape
    Dim iNameA, iNameB As String

    Set oMap = g_oApp.ActiveMap
    
    oMap.FindResults("Pacific Ocean")(1).GoTo

    Dim locLA, locTokyo As MapPoint.Location
    Set locLA = oMap.FindResults("Los Angeles, California")(1)
    Set locTokyo = oMap.FindResults("Tokyo, Japan")(1)

    ' Create and name the shape
    Set oShape = oMap.Shapes.AddLine(locLA, locTokyo)
    oShape.Name = "Tokyo Route"
    
    iNameA = mpShape.Name
    iNameB = iNameA  
    Me.cmbTest.AddItem iNameB

End Sub

Can anyone else confirm this. Is it just my computer. I suspect there is some weird compilation error. Or am I just missing something.

I ran your code (the first sample) and I got "Tokyo Route" in the combo box. I don't know what to tell you? Sorry...

Originally Posted by John Meyer

I ran your code (the first sample) and I got "Tokyo Route" in the combo box. I don't know what to tell you? Sorry...

What version of VB are you using?

VB 6.0

This may help explain some weird behavior:

Dim iNameA, iNameB As String

does not declare two variables of type String. Instead, iNameA has actually declared as a variant. Unlike other languages, VB 6 does not interpret a declaration like the following

Dim i, j, k as Integer

to be a declaration of 3 integers. Instead, "i" and "j", since they are not explicitly assigned a type, are automatically typed as variants. In effect, the code above is equivalent to

Dim i
Dim j
Dim k as integer.

You can check out what I am saying with the following code:

Public Sub Test()

Dim i as Variant
Dim j, k as integer

Debug.Print TypeName(i)
Debug.Print TypeName(j)
Debug.Print TypeName(k)

End Sub

Originally Posted by Bob Chase

This may help explain some weird behavior:

Dim iNameA, iNameB As String

does not declare two variables of type String. Instead, iNameA has actually declared as a variant. Unlike other languages, VB 6 does not interpret a declaration like the following

Dim i, j, k as Integer

to be a declaration of 3 integers. Instead, "i" and "j", since they are not explicitly assigned a type, are automatically typed as variants. In effect, the code above is equivalent to

Dim i
Dim j
Dim k as integer.

You can check out what I am saying with the following code:

Public Sub Test()

Dim i as Variant
Dim j, k as integer

Debug.Print TypeName(i)
Debug.Print TypeName(j)
Debug.Print TypeName(k)

End Sub

That does help somewhat. It looks to me that for some odd reason my version of VB (or it could be MapPoint) is returning strange names for the shapes. Coping the shapes name into a variant seams to correct the problem. So the following code works but I still don't know what is wrong with my shape names.

Code:

Private Sub Command2_Click()
    Dim oMap As MapPoint.Map
    Dim oShape As MapPoint.Shape
    Dim iNameA As Variant
    
    Set oMap = g_oApp.ActiveMap
    
    oMap.FindResults("Pacific Ocean")(1).GoTo

    Dim locLA, locTokyo As MapPoint.Location
    Set locLA = oMap.FindResults("Los Angeles, California")(1)
    Set locTokyo = oMap.FindResults("Tokyo, Japan")(1)

    ' Create and name the shape
    Set oShape = oMap.Shapes.AddLine(locLA, locTokyo)
    oShape.Name = "Tokyo Route"
    
    iNameA = oShape.Name
    Me.cmbTest.AddItem iNameA

End Sub

BTW... John are you using SP5?

yes, SP5

Try using the ActiveX control and see if it makes a difference.

Code:

Dim oMap As MapPointctl.Map
Set oMap = MappointControl1.ActiveMap
Dim oShape As MapPointctl.Shape
    
oMap.FindResults("Pacific Ocean")(1).GoTo

Dim locLA, locTokyo As MapPointctl.Location
Set locLA = oMap.FindResults("Los Angeles, California")(1)
Set locTokyo = oMap.FindResults("Tokyo, Japan")(1)

' Create and name the shape
Set oShape = oMap.Shapes.AddLine(locLA, locTokyo)
oShape.Name = "Tokyo Route"
    
Me.cmbTest.AddItem oShape.Name