Static Marquee

[Jefrey]

Hi!

I needed a simple marquee for a project. There are very good Marquee UDFs here on the forum that rely on a IEFrame on your GUI, but I had some systems restrictions that lead me to make this quick and dirty only.

I might revisit this UDF in the future but so far it works for my needs as is. It doesn't work by scrolling the text as a real marquee should do, but by cutting letters of the string.

The usage is very simple:

Start by creating a standard label:

GUICtrlCreateLabel("Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipiscing elit...", 3, 3, 200, 16)

Now use the _GUICtrlStaticMarquee_Create function instead:

_GUICtrlStaticMarquee_Create("Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipiscing elit...", 3, 3, 200, 16)

As you can see, the functions accepts the same arguments. This also means that the two GUICtrlCreateLabel optional arguments (style and exStyle) also function. Yet, both functions will return you a handle to the label, so you can use it to change colors, fonts etc, just like with a standard label.

But two additional parameters are accepted: 

• $iScrollDelay: how many ms between one update and another (default: 300)
• $iScrollAmount: how many characters to scroll per update (default: 1)

For specifying these parameters, remember to include GUICtrlCreateLabel's style and exStyle (you can pass the keyword Default).

_GUICtrlStaticMarquee_Create("Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet consectetur adipiscing elit...", 3, 3, 200, 16, Default, Default, 500, 2)

You can also change the marquee text (don't do it with GUICtrlSetData) and the above two parameters using the function below. Remember you can always use the Default keyword for keeping one parameter untouched.

_GUICtrlStaticMarquee_SetData($hWnd, $sText, $iScrollDelay, $iScrollAmount)

Here's the UDF:

expandcollapse popup

#include-once

Global $__GUICtrlStaticMarquee_Controls = [0]
Global $__GUICtrlStaticMarquee_IsAdlibEnabled = False

#cs
    $__GUICtrlStaticMarquee_Controls will contain all created static marquees.
    Each one will be an array with the following items:
    [
        $hWnd
        $iLastUpdateTimestampMs
        $iScrollDelay
        $iScrollAmount
        $sText
        $iStep
    ]
#ce

Func _GUICtrlStaticMarquee_Create($sText, $iLeft, $iTop, $iWidth = Default, $iHeight = Default, $iStyle = Default, $iExStyle = Default, $iScrollDelay = 300, $iScrollAmount = 1)
    Local $hWnd = GUICtrlCreateLabel($sText, $iLeft, $iTop, $iWidth, $iHeight, $iStyle, $iExStyle)

    ; add new item to controls array
    Local $aItem[] = [ _
        $hWnd, _
        TimerInit(), _
        $iScrollDelay, _
        $iScrollAmount, _
        $sText, _
        0 _
    ]

    Local $iOldLength = $__GUICtrlStaticMarquee_Controls[0]
    ReDim $__GUICtrlStaticMarquee_Controls[$iOldLength + 2]
    $__GUICtrlStaticMarquee_Controls[0] = $iOldLength + 1
    $__GUICtrlStaticMarquee_Controls[$iOldLength + 1] = $aItem

    If Not $__GUICtrlStaticMarquee_IsAdlibEnabled Then
        __GUICtrlStaticMarquee_StartInterval()
    EndIf

    Return $hWnd
EndFunc

Func _GUICtrlStaticMarquee_SetData($hWnd, $sText = Default, $iScrollDelay = Default, $iScrollAmount = Default)
    For $iControl = 1 To $__GUICtrlStaticMarquee_Controls[0]
        Local $aControl = $__GUICtrlStaticMarquee_Controls[$iControl]
        If $aControl[0] = $hWnd Then
            $aControl[1] = TimerInit()

            If $sText <> Default Then $aControl[4] = $sText
            If $iScrollDelay <> Default Then $aControl[2] = $iScrollDelay
            If $iScrollAmount <> Default Then $aControl[3] = $iScrollAmount
            If $sText <> Default Then
                $aControl[4] = $sText
                GUICtrlSetData($hWnd, $sText)
            EndIf

            $aControl[5] = 0

            $__GUICtrlStaticMarquee_Controls[$iControl] = $aControl

            Return True
        EndIf
    Next
    Return False
EndFunc

Func __GUICtrlStaticMarquee_StartInterval($iDelay = 100)
    $__GUICtrlStaticMarquee_IsAdlibEnabled = True
    AdlibRegister("__GUICtrlStaticMarquee_Loop", $iDelay)
EndFunc

Func __GUICtrlStaticMarquee_Loop()
    If UBound($__GUICtrlStaticMarquee_Controls) = 1 Then
        Return
    EndIf

    For $iControl = 1 To $__GUICtrlStaticMarquee_Controls[0]
        Local $aControl = $__GUICtrlStaticMarquee_Controls[$iControl]

        If Not GUICtrlGetHandle($aControl[0]) Then
            ; item was removed
            ContinueLoop
        EndIf

        If TimerDiff($aControl[1]) > $aControl[2] Then
            Local $sCurrentText = GUICtrlRead($aControl[0])
            ; update text
            Local $iTotalSteps = Floor(StringLen($aControl[4]) / $aControl[3])
            Local $iNextStep = $aControl[5] + 1
            ; reached end of string, reset to position 0
            If ($iNextStep > $iTotalSteps) Then
                $iNextStep = 0
            EndIf

            $sNewText = __GUICtrlStaticMarquee_CalcText($aControl[4], $iNextStep, $aControl[3])

            Local $aItem = $__GUICtrlStaticMarquee_Controls[$iControl]
            ; save current step
            $aItem[5] = $iNextStep

            ; set text to input
            GUICtrlSetData($aControl[0], $sNewText)

            $__GUICtrlStaticMarquee_Controls[$iControl] = $aItem
        EndIf
    Next
EndFunc

Func __GUICtrlStaticMarquee_CalcText($sText, $iStep, $iScrollAmount)
    Return StringTrimLeft($sText, $iStep * $iScrollAmount) & ' ' & StringLeft($sText, $iStep * $iScrollAmount)
EndFunc

Example:

#include <GUIConstantsEx.au3>
#include "GUICtrlStaticMarquee.au3"

$Form1 = GUICreate("Example", 300, 200, 300, 200)
$Label1 = _GUICtrlStaticMarquee_Create("Hello world", 3, 3, 200, 16)
GUISetState(@SW_SHOW)

; changing text:
Sleep(5500)
_GUICtrlStaticMarquee_SetData($Label1, "Ola mundo!")

While 1
    $nMsg = GUIGetMsg()
    Switch $nMsg
        Case $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE
            Exit

    EndSwitch
WEnd

 

Edited July 26, 2022 by Jefrey
Improvement by @AutoBert

[AutoBert]

Thanks, a usefull tool. I changed:

Func __GUICtrlStaticMarquee_CalcText($sText, $iStep, $iScrollAmount)
    Return StringTrimLeft($sText, $iStep * $iScrollAmount) & ' ' & StringLeft($sText, $iStep * $iScrollAmount
EndFunc

 

and tested it with a longer text:

expandcollapse popup

#Region ;**** Directives created by AutoIt3Wrapper_GUI ****
#AutoIt3Wrapper_Add_Constants=n
#EndRegion ;**** Directives created by AutoIt3Wrapper_GUI ****
#include <WindowsConstants.au3>
#include <GUIConstantsEx.au3>
#include <StaticMarquee.au3>

$sText = '###!!!### AutoIt v3 is a freeware BASIC-like scripting language designed for automating the Windows GUI and general scripting. It uses a combination of simulated keystrokes, mouse movement and window/control manipulation in order to automate tasks in a way not possible or reliable with other languages (e.g. VBScript and SendKeys). AutoIt is also very small, self-contained and will run on all versions of Windows out-of-the-box with no annoying "runtimes" required! ### AutoIt was initially designed for PC "roll out" situations to reliably automate and configure thousands of PCs. Over time it has become a powerful language that supports complex expressions, user functions, loops and everything else that veteran scripters would expect.'

$hGui = GUICreate("", 800, 450, -1, -1, BitOR($WS_POPUP, $WS_MINIMIZEBOX, $WS_SYSMENU))
GUISetBkColor(0x404040)

$closebutton = GUICtrlCreateButton("X", 770, 2, 25, 25)
GUICtrlSetBkColor(-1, 0xff0000)
GUICtrlSetResizing(-1, $GUI_DOCKTOP + $GUI_DOCKHEIGHT + $GUI_DOCKWIDTH + $GUI_DOCKRIGHT)

$maxbutton = GUICtrlCreateButton("M", 742, 2, 25, 25)
GUICtrlSetResizing(-1, $GUI_DOCKTOP + $GUI_DOCKHEIGHT + $GUI_DOCKWIDTH + $GUI_DOCKRIGHT)
_GUICtrlStaticMarquee_Create($sText, 0, 330, 900, 16)   ;the width is greater than Guiwidth
GUICtrlSetBkColor(-1, 0xff0000)
GUICtrlSetResizing(-1, $GUI_DOCKBOTTOM + $GUI_DOCKLEFT + $GUI_DOCKHEIGHT + $GUI_DOCKRIGHT)

$lblBottom = GUICtrlCreateLabel("", 0, 420, 800, 30)
GUICtrlSetBkColor(-1, 0xff0000)
GUICtrlSetResizing(-1, $GUI_DOCKBOTTOM + $GUI_DOCKLEFT + $GUI_DOCKHEIGHT + $GUI_DOCKRIGHT)

GUISetState()
$iMaximize = 0
While 1
    Switch GUIGetMsg()
        Case $closebutton, $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE
            Exit

    Case $maxbutton
        If $iMaximize = 0 Then
            GUISetState(@SW_MAXIMIZE, $hGui)
            $iMaximize = 1
        Else
            GUISetState(@SW_RESTORE, $hGui)
            $iMaximize = 0
        EndIf
    EndSwitch
WEnd

 

[Jefrey]

Pretty cool @AutoBert ! I added your change to the main post