Write text to form background?

[littlebigman]

Hello,

When all I need is to display text in a GUI window, is it possible somehow to write to a form's window directly, ie. not to an edit widget?

#Region #GUI section
Local $gui = GUICreate("Test", 360, 333)
;TITLE BAR ControlSetText("", "", $gui, "blah")
;NOTHING GUICtrlSetData($gui, "blah")
GUISetState()
#EndRegion

While GuiGetMsg() <> $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE
  ;do stuff, including output to window
WEnd

Thank you.

[Andreik]

You can use GDI to draw whatever you want in a GUI but it doesn't worth when you can create a label in a single line of code.

[littlebigman]

I was hoping for a one-liner, but it does look more complicated.

Thank you.

---

Edit: How much data can a label store? And an edit widget? The GUICtrlCreate*() don't say.

Edited December 9, 2023 by littlebigman

[Subz]

It all depends on the size of the Window, if you want text longer than the size of the window, you would probably require a scrollbar to read it, GuiCtrlCreateEdit is better suited for this.  You can also use label but this is suitable when the data doesn't require scrollbars.  GuCtrlCreateEdit example:

#NoTrayIcon
#include <EditConstants.au3>
#include <GUIConstantsEx.au3>
#include <GuiEdit.au3>
#include <ScrollBarsConstants.au3>
#include <WindowsConstants.au3>

Global $hGui = GUICreate("Test", 300, 300)
Global $idEdit = GUICtrlCreateEdit(@YEAR & "/" & @MON & "/" & @MDAY & " " & @HOUR & ":" & @MIN & ":" & @SEC, 5, 5, 290, 290, BitOR($ES_READONLY, $ES_MULTILINE, $WS_VSCROLL))
    _GUICtrlEdit_Scroll($idEdit, $SB_SCROLLCARET)
GUISetState()

AdlibRegister('_UpdateEdit', 1000)

While 1
    Switch GuiGetMsg()
        Case $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE
            Exit
    EndSwitch
WEnd

Func _UpdateEdit()
    Local $sMoreText =  @YEAR & "/" & @MON & "/" & @MDAY & " " & @HOUR & ":" & @MIN & ":" & @SEC
    GUICtrlSetData($idEdit, GUICtrlRead($idEdit) & @CRLF & $sMoreText)
    _GUICtrlEdit_Scroll($idEdit, $SB_SCROLLCARET)
EndFunc

 

[littlebigman]

Thanks for the info. I did end up using an Edit widget.

By "How much data", I meant how many bytes can it hold before AutoIt deletes old data to make space for new stuff?

[argumentum]

9 minutes ago, littlebigman said:

AutoIt deletes old data to make space for new stuff?

Nope. Once full, is full. You handle that. You change the contents of the control ( or widget as you call it ).

[littlebigman]

How can I tell it's full?

[Andreik]

What do you mean it's full?

[littlebigman]

How can I tell the control can hold no more data, and it's useless to keep writing to it — so I should find a way to remove the oldest data to make room for more ?

 

33 minutes ago, argumentum said:

Once full, is full. You handle that. You change the contents of the control ( or widget as you call it ).

[Nine]

Here a list of maxima :

https://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/docs/appendix/LimitsDefaults.htm

Start deleting when it gets close to 1GB, so there is room to maneuver 

FYI you can use :

GUICtrlSetData($idEdit, $sMoreText & @CRLF, 1)

to add to the end if the carret stays at end. 

Edited December 10, 2023 by Nine

[littlebigman]

Thanks much