Lucky Lotto

This is another simple game allowing you to choose your Lotto Numbers, features Drawing, Coloured Balls, Random Number generation and more!

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Step 1

Start Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition, then select File then New Project... Choose Windows Application from the New Project Window, enter a name for the Project and then click OK, see below:

Step 2

A Blank Form named Form1 should then appear, see below:

Step 3

Then from the Windows Forms components tab select the PictureBox control:

Step 4

Draw a PictureBox on the Form as indicated below:

Step 5

Then from the Windows Forms components tab select the Button control:

Step 6

Draw a Button on the Form, see below:

Step 7

Then goto the Properties box and change the Text property to Choose, see below:

Step 8

Right click on the Form and select the View Code option then in the code view type in below Public Class Form1 the following:

Dim DrawBrush As Brush
Dim DrawBitmap As Bitmap
Dim DrawGraphics As Graphics
Dim MyFont As New System.Drawing.Font("Arial", 12, _
FontStyle.Regular, GraphicsUnit.Point)

Dim arrNumber(0 To 5) As Integer
Dim intNumber As Integer

See Below:

Step 9

While still in the Code view type below the Declarations entered in the previous step (anything starting with Dim) the following:

' Selects Numbers
Private Sub ChooseNumbers()
  Dim x, y As Integer
  For x = 0 To 5
Start:
    Randomize()
    intNumber = Int((49 * Rnd()) + 1) ' Random number 1 to 49
    For y = 0 To 5
      ' If number already been selected select another one
      If intNumber = arrNumber(y) Then
        GoTo Start
      End If
    Next y
    arrNumber(x) = intNumber
  Next x
End Sub

See Below:

Step 10

After the ChooseNumbers() Sub has been typed in, type below it the following:

' Determines what colour the ball should be based on the Value
Private Function BallColour(ByVal Value As Integer) As Brush
  If Value > 0 And Value < 10 Then
    DrawBrush = Brushes.White
  ElseIf Value > 10 And Value < 20 Then
    DrawBrush = Brushes.SkyBlue
  ElseIf Value > 20 And Value < 30 Then
    DrawBrush = Brushes.Magenta
  ElseIf Value > 30 And Value < 40 Then
    DrawBrush = Brushes.LawnGreen
  ElseIf Value > 40 And Value < 50 Then
    DrawBrush = Brushes.Yellow
  End If
  Return DrawBrush
End Function

See Below:

Step 11

After the BallColour() Function type in the following ball rendering routines:

' Draws a Ball with a colour and value
Private Sub DrawBall(ByVal Number As String, ByVal Left As Integer)
  Dim pos As Integer
  If Number.Length = 2 Then pos = 9 Else pos = 13 ' Postion for Single or Double Digit
  DrawGraphics.SmoothingMode = Drawing2D.SmoothingMode.HighQuality ' Smooth Drawing
  DrawGraphics.FillEllipse(BallColour(CInt(Number)), Left, 1, 40, 40) ' Draw Ball
  DrawGraphics.DrawString(Number, MyFont, Brushes.Black, Left + pos, 13)  ' Draw Number
End Sub

' Outputs all Balls to the PictureBox
Private Sub RenderBalls()
  Dim i As Integer
  Dim intLeft As Integer
  intLeft = 1
  DrawBitmap = New Bitmap(PictureBox1.Width, PictureBox1.Height)
  DrawGraphics = Graphics.FromImage(DrawBitmap)
  For i = 0 To 5
    DrawBall(arrNumber(i), intLeft)
    intLeft = intLeft + 45
  Next
  PictureBox1.Image = DrawBitmap
End Sub

See Below:

Step 12

Right click on the Code View and select the View Designer option then Double Click on the Button and type the following in Button1_Click method:

ChooseNumbers()
RenderBalls()

See Below:

Step 13

Save the Project as you have now finished the application, then click on Start:

When you do the following will appear:

Step 14

Click the Choose button to select your Lotto Numbers, see below:

Step 15

Click on the Close button on the top right of Form1 to end the application.

You have just created a simple Lotto Number selector featuring a random number generator and graphics! You could customise the ball colours the ones selected are for the UK Lottery if your local Lottery has different ball colours, try customising this program to match those. You can make many changes such as showing the balls in ascending order and more!