_GUICtrlRichEdit_AppendText steals focus

[Habland0]

I am writing text to a RichEdit control using _GUICtrlRichEdit_AppendText(). If my script currently doesn't have focus, the next call to_GUICtrlRichEdit_AppendText() causes the script to steal focus. However, if I then switch to another app again (thus causing my script to lose focus), the problem no longer occurs and any subsequent calls to _GUICtrlRichEdit_AppendText() are silently written to the RichEdit control.

How can I make it so _GUICtrlRichEdit_AppendText() never steals focus in the first place?

For fun I even set the window to @SW_HIDE and it still stole focus when I invoked _GUICtrlRichEdit_AppendText()

Here is a script you can compile to quickly test it yourself:

#include <GuiRichEdit.au3>
#include <GUIConstantsEx.au3>
#include <WindowsConstants.au3>

    Global $hGui, $hRichEdit, $iMsg
    $hGui = GUICreate("Example (" & StringTrimRight(@ScriptName,4) &")", 320, 350, -1, -1)
    $hRichEdit = _GUICtrlRichEdit_Create($hGui, "", 10, 10, 300, 220, _
            BitOR($ES_MULTILINE, $WS_VSCROLL, $ES_AUTOVSCROLL))
    GUISetState()

    For $i = 0 To 5
    _GUICtrlRichEdit_AppendText($hRichEdit, @CR & "Switch to another application and wait 5 seconds...")
    Sleep(5000)
    Next

Edited August 14, 2010 by Habland0

[Habland0]

Executing this sequence on script start works to prevent focus stealing by _GUICtrlRichEdit_AppendText(), but it's dirty.

GUISetState(@SW_SHOW)
GUISetState(@SW_MINIMIZE)
GUISetState(@SW_RESTORE)

[smashly]

Hi,

After looking through the GuiRichEdit.au3 I can see where the default behavior is coming from.

_GUICtrlRichEdit_Create() has a few Styles added regardless of what style you set, these forced styles make the richedit behave as it should.

Seems like there are a couple of ways to overide the styles, but each way has it's quirks.

The 2 forced styles that seem to cause the default steel focus behavior seem to be WS_CHILD and WS_VISIBLE.

Cheap workaround, but also has it's own quirks..

#include <GuiRichEdit.au3>
#include <GUIConstantsEx.au3>
#include <WindowsConstants.au3>
#Include <WinAPI.au3>
#Include <Constants.au3>

Global $hGui, $hRichEdit, $iMsg

$hGui = GUICreate("Example (" & StringTrimRight(@ScriptName,4) &")", 320, 350, -1, -1)
$hRichEdit = _GUICtrlRichEdit_Create($hGui, "", 10, 10, 300, 220, -1, -1)
_WinAPI_SetWindowLong($hRichEdit, $GWL_STYLE, BitOR($ES_MULTILINE, $ES_WANTRETURN))
WinSetState($hRichEdit, "", @SW_SHOW)
GUISetState(@SW_SHOW)

For $i = 0 To 5
    _GUICtrlRichEdit_AppendText($hRichEdit, @CR & "Switch to another application and wait 5 seconds...")
    Sleep(5000)
Next

_GUICtrlRichEdit_Destroy($hRichEdit)

Cheers

[Habland0]

The 2 forced styles that seem to cause the default steel focus behavior seem to be WS_CHILD and WS_VISIBLE.

Pretty clever workaround by removing the forced attributes and then @SW_SHOW it anyway. I suppose this way Windows still assumes the control is not visible and therefor no focus stealing occurs. Smashing

Edit: does have the drawback that the RichEdit control loses the ability to autoscroll or show any scrollbars (even when the required styles are added). Nevertheless, thanks for enlightening me on this issue. It's great to see different approaches.

Edited August 14, 2010 by Habland0