Documentation for The Home Finder

The Home Finder is a dynamic query system to find homes available in a given city. The program was created using Canmore as the search city. The user selects various search criteria using slider and selection controls and the map of Canmore is automatically updated with the matching real estate properties.

Visual variables are used in the representation of each real estate property on the map. The visual variables allow you to gain information about each property without seeing textual descriptions. A more detailed textual description is available however, by moving your mouse over a property.

House Symbol

Each property's symbol uses an ActiveX Control with the following properties:

Most properties are standard. Cost, size, and shape have been added to facilitate needed visual variables.

• Style - alters the shape
  • 0 = House (square)
  • 1 = Condo (rectangle)
  • 2 = Mobile (circle)
• Cost - alters the color of the shape
  • 0 = very cheap (lightest green)
  • 1 = cheap (light green)
  • 2 = moderate (green)
  • 3 = expensive (dark green)
  • 4 = very expensive (very dark green)
• Size - alters the size of the shape and user control
  • any floating point value
  • the original size of the shape is multiplied by this value to obtain a new size

Range Slider

A range slider is used for various selections and is also an ActiveX Control. It is based on an ActiveX slider control written by Saul Greenberg. The following properties are included in this modified range slider:

Most properties are standard. Range, RangeLeft, and RangeRight have been added to manage both pointers.

• Range - the range of values the slider can hold
• RangeLeft - the value of the left slider
• RangeRight - the value of the right slider

Zoom Lens

To view overlapping shapes, a zoom box was added. The zoom box displays a magnified view of the map in a small square region. The size of each house does not change, therefore allowing the user to see each individual shape more clearly.

The zoom box was accomplished by placing an image box showing the Canmore map inside a picture box. The zoom box moves over the map when the mouse is clicked and dragged. The picture box is simply moving while the image box inside of it stays in place. The image box's stretch property is used to gain the magnification.

The size of the zoom box can be modified with a slider bar in the control portion of the window. The zoom depth is not modifiable.

No additional API was used in this project.