How difficult would it be to create a "deluxe" edition of the Message Box which supports a large amount of text? What I mean is, an "OK" button, and a text field with scrollbars that could hold reasonably a larger amount of text than an ordinary Message Box. Take for instance the dialog seen in many Windows installers, to display the License Agreement, and usually has two buttons: "I agree" or "I decline". Just offer the one button to get out of the dialog.
It would be a good alternative to the "SCREEN 0" to show more stuff that could fit on that screen. The problem could be how large to make the window and the scrollable text holder.
Code: (Select All)
/------------------------------------------------\
| +-----------------------------------+ |
| |This is an example of text. ^| |
| | I| +-----+ |
| | I| | OK | |
| | I| +-----+ |
| | I| |
| |<================================>V| |
| +-----------------------------------+ |
\------------------------------------------------/
I have taken the idea from the Purebasic Code Archive, which used WinAPI, and created a version of it with Autohotkey. It should be doable with TinyFileDialog library. Of course, this is something that should be supported on all platforms.
I have also created a scrollable window that works with the mouse but some of you would find it clunky.
(02-11-2023, 08:41 PM)mnrvovrfc Wrote: How difficult would it be to create a "deluxe" edition of the Message Box which supports a large amount of text? What I mean is, an "OK" button, and a text field with scrollbars that could hold reasonably a larger amount of text than an ordinary Message Box. Take for instance the dialog seen in many Windows installers, to display the License Agreement, and usually has two buttons: "I agree" or "I decline". Just offer the one button to get out of the dialog.
It would be a good alternative to the "SCREEN 0" to show more stuff that could fit on that screen. The problem could be how large to make the window and the scrollable text holder.
Code: (Select All)
/------------------------------------------------\
| +-----------------------------------+ |
| |This is an example of text. ^| |
| | I| +-----+ |
| | I| | OK | |
| | I| +-----+ |
| | I| |
| |<================================>V| |
| +-----------------------------------+ |
\------------------------------------------------/
I have taken the idea from the Purebasic Code Archive, which used WinAPI, and created a version of it with Autohotkey. It should be doable with TinyFileDialog library. Of course, this is something that should be supported on all platforms.
I have also created a scrollable window that works with the mouse but some of you would find it clunky.
Can you show some screenshots of the version you made? That might give us an idea of what functions we should be calling.
02-13-2023, 06:18 PM (This post was last modified: 02-13-2023, 06:29 PM by mnrvovrfc.
Edit Reason: Provided code in Purebasic
)
Horizontal scroll is only a possibility, not a requirement.
The example code I have is in Purebasic, do you still want to see it?
I just remembered I also have a "Tinyscreendialog" which is not the implementation used by QB64PE, but was a Freebasic "library" by someone else. It was by one of the early contributors of the QB64 Wiki. Allowed to build simple dialogs much like Autohotkey. With that I was able to build an extended message box which had a text field that could scroll vertically, and otherwise "OK" button.
As I've said, it was derrived from Purebasic Code Archive. The size of the dialog is hardcoded because it was meant to be a demonstration of using "any" amount of text as the message. Of course it could be made larger, until the limits of the screen, up to the programmer. It uses pipe "|" character to delimit a newline, so there was no need to inject a CHR$(13). It might have to be adjusted, however, to send the right newline combination depending on operating system.
EDIT #2: AH screenshots! Will have to go back to Windows LOL and dig even deeper into my backups for an EXE file created with that programming system. Or the only program I wrote with Freebasic which only gives tag information to an OGG Vorbis file.
I'm not going to install Purebasic only to do a screenshot, in fact never again. Sorry.
I was unable to find the "utility" which uses "vorbiscomment" program from the OGG Vorbis tools, with the "Tinydialog" library for Freebasic, I think it was written by stylin?
Welp, I created something that could work on any platform, but it's not quite the same as I requested on this topic.
Code: (Select All)
OPTION _EXPLICIT
DIM txt$, a$, ff AS LONG
DIM SHARED crlf$
crlf$ = CHR$(13)
$IF WIN THEN
crlf$ = crlf$ + chr$(10)
$ELSEIF LINUX THEN
crlf$ = CHR$(10)
$END IF
ff = FREEFILE
txt$ = ""
OPEN "fd13.bas" FOR INPUT AS ff
DO UNTIL EOF(ff)
LINE INPUT #ff, a$
txt$ = txt$ + a$ + crlf$
LOOP
CLOSE ff
readtextwindow txt$
SYSTEM
SUB readtextwindowex (s$, wantwidth, wantheigh, wantcolorf, wantcolorb)
STATIC prevwindow AS LONG
DIM breakaway AS _UNSIGNED _BIT
DIM update AS _UNSIGNED _BIT
DIM a$, na$, ke$, ch AS INTEGER, kk AS INTEGER
DIM AS LONG wantminus, wantchrwd, faketextwindow, numele, l, u, uu, p, up, lastline, top, numnum, y, otop
IF s$ = "" THEN EXIT SUB
prevwindow = _COPYIMAGE(0)
IF wantwidth < 40 OR wantwidth > 160 THEN wantwidth = 120
IF wantheigh < 20 OR wantheigh > 50 THEN wantheigh = 40
wantminus = 10
wantchrwd = wantwidth - wantminus
IF wantcolorf < 0 OR wantcolorf > 15 THEN wantcolorf = 0
IF wantcolorb < 0 OR wantcolorb > 15 THEN wantcolorb = 7
IF wantcolorf = wantcolorb THEN wantcolorf = 0: wantcolorb = 7
faketextwindow = _NEWIMAGE(wantwidth, wantheigh, 0)
SCREEN faketextwindow
COLOR wantcolorf, wantcolorb
CLS
_SCREENMOVE _MIDDLE
numele = 1000
REDIM sf(1 TO numele) AS STRING
breakaway = 0
l = 0
u = INSTR(s$, crlf$)
uu = 1
DO
IF u = 0 THEN breakaway = NOT breakaway
IF breakaway THEN
a$ = MID$(s$, uu)
na$ = _TRIM$(a$)
IF na$ = "" THEN EXIT DO
ELSE
a$ = SEG1$(s$, uu, u)
na$ = _TRIM$(a$)
IF a$ <> na$ THEN a$ = na$
p = INSTR(a$, crlf$)
DO WHILE p > 0
a$ = LEFT$(a$, p - 1) + MID$(a$, p + 1)
p = INSTR(a$, crlf$)
LOOP
END IF
l = l + 1
IF l > numele THEN
numele = numele + 1000
REDIM _PRESERVE sf(1 TO numele) AS STRING
END IF
p = LEN(a$)
IF p > wantchrwd THEN
up = wantchrwd + 1
ch = ASC(a$, up)
DO UNTIL ch = 32
up = up - 1
ch = ASC(a$, up)
LOOP
sf(l) = LEFT$(a$, up - 1)
a$ = MID$(a$, up + 1)
p = LEN(a$)
DO WHILE p > wantchrwd
l = l + 1
IF l > numele THEN
numele = numele + 1000
REDIM _PRESERVE sf(1 TO numele) AS STRING
END IF
up = wantchrwd + 1
ch = ASC(a$, up)
DO UNTIL ch = 32
up = up - 1
ch = ASC(a$, up)
LOOP
sf(l) = LEFT$(a$, up - 1)
a$ = MID$(a$, up + 1)
p = LEN(a$)
LOOP
l = l + 1
IF l > numele THEN
numele = numele + 1000
REDIM _PRESERVE sf(1 TO numele) AS STRING
END IF
END IF
sf(l) = a$
IF breakaway THEN EXIT DO
uu = u + LEN(crlf$)
u = INSTR(uu, s$, crlf$)
LOOP UNTIL breakaway
lastline = l - wantheigh
top = 1
update = 1
numnum = 0
DO
_LIMIT 1000
IF update THEN
update = 0
CLS
p = top
FOR y = 1 TO wantheigh
LOCATE y, 1
PRINT sf(p);
p = p + 1
IF p > l THEN EXIT FOR
NEXT
END IF
ke$ = INKEY$
IF ke$ <> "" THEN
kk = ASC(ke$)
IF kk = 0 THEN kk = ASC(ke$, 2) * -1
SELECT CASE kk
CASE -81, 32
update = 1
otop = top
top = top + wantheigh - 2
IF top > lastline THEN top = lastline
IF top < 1 OR top > l THEN update = 0: top = otop
CASE -80, -77, 13
otop = top
top = top + 1
IF top > lastline THEN top = lastline ELSE update = 1
IF top < 1 OR top > l THEN update = 0: top = otop
CASE -79
update = 1
top = lastline
CASE -72, -75
top = top - 1
IF top < 1 THEN top = 1 ELSE update = 1
CASE -73
update = 1
top = top - wantheigh - 2
IF top < 1 THEN top = 1
CASE -71
update = 1
top = 1
CASE 27: EXIT DO
CASE 48 TO 57
IF numnum = 0 THEN
numnum = VAL(ke$)
ELSE
numnum = VAL(ke$) * 10 + numnum
END IF
IF numnum < 1 OR numnum > lastline THEN
numnum = 0
ELSE
update = 1
top = numnum
END IF
END SELECT
END IF
LOOP
ERASE sf
SCREEN prevwindow
_FREEIMAGE faketextwindow
END SUB
SUB readtextwindow2ex (sa() AS STRING, wantwidth, wantheigh, wantcolorf, wantcolorb)
STATIC a$
DIM AS LONG lb, ub, i
lb = LBOUND(sa)
ub = UBOUND(sa)
FOR i = lb TO ub
a$ = a$ + sa(i)
IF i < ub THEN a$ = a$ + crlf$
NEXT
readtextwindowex a$, wantwidth, wantheigh, wantcolorf, wantcolorb
a$ = ""
END SUB
SUB readtextwindow (s$)
readtextwindowex s$, -1, -1, -1, -1
END SUB
SUB readtextwindow2 (sa() AS STRING)
readtextwindow2ex sa(), -1, -1, -1, -1
END SUB
FUNCTION SEG1$ (astr$, stapos AS LONG, endpos AS LONG)
DIM sp AS LONG, ep AS LONG, l AS LONG
IF astr$ = "" THEN SEG1$ = "": EXIT FUNCTION
sp = stapos
ep = endpos
l = LEN(astr$)
IF sp < 1 THEN sp = l + sp
IF ep < 1 THEN ep = l + ep
IF (sp < 1 AND ep < 1) OR (sp > l AND ep > l) THEN SEG1$ = "": EXIT FUNCTION
IF sp < 1 THEN sp = 1
IF ep < 1 THEN ep = 1
IF sp > l THEN sp = l
IF ep > l THEN ep = l
IF sp > ep THEN SWAP sp, ep
SEG1$ = MID$(astr$, sp, ep - sp + 1)
END FUNCTION
Change the text filename to the one you want on the line with "OPEN" statement.
For a string variable delimited by newline characters, call "readtextwindow". If it's a string array, call "readtextwindow2". If you want control over the screen colors and the screen dimensions, use the ordinary subprogram call. Note this is SCREEN 0, not graphics screen. Also I believe in the second version of this, which now I can't find in my backups, had mouse support. This presented one, however, supports the arrow keys.
I still want one which looks like standard dialogs out of an operating system desktop.
02-14-2023, 10:03 AM (This post was last modified: 02-14-2023, 10:11 AM by aurel.)
I have PureBasic ..but i don't see a point why i do that
looks to me like discovery of hot water..
message box in winApi is derived from Dialog class and as such have some great points and limitations
u can simply use Toolwindow -> class and make custom message box
(02-14-2023, 10:03 AM)aurel Wrote: I have PureBasic ..but i don't see a point why i do that
looks to me like discovery of hot water..
Thank you mate!
But I wrote a version somewhere (then that should have been with Autohotkey) where the "OK" button was on the left-hand side of the dialog, leaving the text box as high inside the window as possible. That is better because most people expect word-wrap going from left to right. Maybe it's the same eg. for those that write in Arabic but right to left...
Well this requires Yad. It could probably be done with Zenity but that's about it for Linux. Windows could well do this as I've already demonstrated although poorly. I still want this.
![[Image: PB-Message-Window.png]](https://i.ibb.co/VMg9ZRZ/PB-Message-Window.png)
![[Image: spiral-kde-yad-ext-msgbox.png]](https://i.ibb.co/YZcDjxp/spiral-kde-yad-ext-msgbox.png)