AutoHotkey Community

[Rubberduck]

@Chris: You have added a Glabel to the Edit-Control, that is
called if a change was made to the edit-content. So in DELPHI
this is an on_change_event.

Now my problem: Assume I want the User to enter Floats in an
Edit-Control. That means only +-.0123456789 are allowed chars.

E.G I must check, if the "+-" is entered at the beginning of the float
or where the . (dot) was entered, or if there is already a dot in the float.
In Delphi I do this with something like on_key_event. The Key is NOT YET SHOWN in the edit-control !!

Then I check WHAT KEY was pressed and WHERE the Input-Cursor was
and react on that. Assume the - (minus) was pressed somewhere within
the input (Cursorpos>1) then I send a beep and do nothing, but if
the Minus-key was pressed at Cursorposition 1 (and there is not yet a
Minus), I can allow it and place it in the edit at Position 1.

I thougt about something like that (pseudocode):

[Nemroth]

@Rubberduck : I'm perfectly agree with you. This improvement of the edit control would allow to programm a masked edit control, as I asked for in the Masked edit control in GUI topic. I'm so also agree with your proposition of the internal A_EditPos & A_Editchar variables.

@Chris : If it's possible to do that for the edit control, may it can be done for others controls in witch it can be usefull, for example in DateTime, & DropDownList

[Laszlo]

I agree, it could be useful. Your example of key entry restrictions is followed by some commercial programs. But I hate it. If I enter a number, and realize that there was a wrong decimal point earlier, I cannot enter the right one where the cursor is and go back later to erase the wrong point. I have to first go erase the wrong point and than go back where I was to enter the right one. I prefer to be able to enter whatever mess I wish, and fix it before I submit the field. Especially, if data is pasted, too. Also, two '-' signs are allowed: -3e-6. The second one can be anywhere, but immediately after an 'e' or 'E' or whatever you choose for designating the exponent. You need a quite complex finite state machine to do an on-line syntax check.

[Rubberduck]

I am really happy that at least one time I seem to have a good idea.

If my ideas are implemented, I will write some functions for
different input-things (float-input, integer-input, date-input...)

A short update to my idea: ANY Key that is pressed should be stored in the internal variable also Keys like CursorRight.

If there are Key-combinations like CTRL-CursorRight maybe they
could also be stored in the internal variable, maybe in a delimited-string like "CTRL|CursorRight", but of course in AHK-Hotkey-Syntax.

===================================
I have thrown a look in the AHK-Todo-List. There is a point

-Support for moving the caret in an Edit control, and optionally selecting part of the text (if possible).

Moving the caret would be obsolet, if the User can handle it by himself
by reacting on Keys like Cursor-Movement or Ctrl-Right (Word-jumping).

The idea of selecting partial text in the edit is quite good, but then it
should be easy not only to select text, but also receive if there is already
a selected text, maybe with internal variables like
A_EditSelStart, A_EditSelEnd (I know those from Delphi).
_________________
Wer keine Antworten hat muss nicht dumm sein,
dumm ist nur der welcher keine Fragen hat.

[Chris]

[Rubberduck]

I really thought this was a goog idea
Sorry, never posting any idea again
_________________
Wer keine Antworten hat muss nicht dumm sein,
dumm ist nur der welcher keine Fragen hat.

[Chris]

The idea is good but notifying the script after the text has changed is sometimes (perhaps even most of the time) more desirable than doing it beforehand. Further evidence of this is that the OS provides no built-in means to do pre-notification but does offer post-notification.

It's also a question of complexity. Since code size and development time are limited resources, a feeble effort is made to conserve them by prioritizing based on cost+benefit.

[Rubberduck]

Again I say "If it is so, then it is so"

I assume DELHPI is using its own controls that allows much more
control over the controls and there events.

Sorry, but I again and again try to improve AHK, and I only know what
I can do with DELPHI (this is my programming-background).

It was really easy for me to program any formatted or masked input
in Delphi by reacting on input before it is shown, and so I thought
this would really be useful for AHK, because it would be easy to do
nearly every Input-Thing a User might want to implement.

Your code-snippet

[Chris]

[JBensimon]