Use of colors in multiline listbox

General
1

I am using multiline in my listbox and I am using several colors, depending of the type of event I am receiving.

When I do not touch the listbox everything goes well and you see multiline multicolored events. However, when I scroll the mouse or use keydown then all colors disappear and all the text in all rows are getting the last color which was used.

Is there a way to keep the colors per event. The color is chosen by the eventname in the celltag, so per row the eventname is always available.

I use an earlier described solution on this forum for multiline rows in my listbox

Note: I do the same with a single line listbox and there I do not have this problem, every row keeps its color. I think this is multiline related.

2

Where are-you changing the colors ?

3

Not really sure what you mean here, but let us assume that
EVENTNAME is text, that there are maybe 3 values, and each has a unique color

Ignoring the effect of changing color when a row is SELECTED, the
CellBackgroundPaint event just needs a select case

[code]dim thecol as color
if row < me.listcount then
Select case me.rowtag(row)
case “EVENT1”
thecol = &cff0000

case “EVENT2”
thecol = &c00FF00

case “EVENT3”
thecol = &c0000FF

case else
thecol = &cFFFFFF
end select
g.forecolor = thecol
g.fillrect 0,0,g.width, g.height

end if[/code]

Multiline shouldnt make any difference

4

Thank you for your answer, Jeff, but also with your solution (for the background color, I use only colored text on a black background) does show the same. When scrolling the listbox the background will be black. Just as the text.

@Emile, I do this in the CellTextPaint of the listbox

5

Show us your code. An example would be best. I use custom colours, too, in listboxes and have never seen such an effect.

6

Ok, this is the code I have in the cellTextPaint:

[code] Dim arr() As String = Split(Me.Cell(row, column), EndOfLine)
Dim CellTagCapture as string
Dim bcolor as Color

If Row > -1 And Row < Me.ListCount Then
CellTagCapture = me.CellTag(row,0)
CellTagCapture = me.RowTag(row)
CellTagCapture = me.ColumnTag(column)
if me.CellTag(row,0)=“me” then
me.CellAlignment(Me.LastIndex,0) = me.AlignRight
bColor = dcBlue
elseif me.CellTag(row,0)=“human” then
me.CellAlignment(me.LastIndex,0) = me.AlignRight
bColor = LBlue
end if

me.CellTag(row,column)=me.cell(row,column)
For i As Integer = 0 To ubound(arr)
  g.foreColor=bColor
  g.DrawString(arr(i), x, y - g.TextHeight + i * g.TextHeight)
Next
Return True

end if
[/code]

The return true was a trial to keep the colors

8

@Beatrix Willius , I have this only with multiline listboxes, not with singleline listboxes

9

In this code you are testing for “me” and for “human”
if the celltag is not one of those, bColor will not be set, and will remain as black or whatever color is was set to last.

if me.CellTag(row,0)="me" then me.CellAlignment(Me.LastIndex,0) = me.AlignRight bColor = dcBlue elseif me.CellTag(row,0)="human" then me.CellAlignment(me.LastIndex,0) = me.AlignRight bColor = LBlue end if

try this instead:

[code]select case me.CellTag(row,0)

case “me”
me.CellAlignment(Me.LastIndex,0) = me.AlignRight
bColor = dcBlue
case “human”
me.CellAlignment(me.LastIndex,0) = me.AlignRight
bColor = LBlue
case else
me.CellAlignment(me.LastIndex,0) = me.AlignRight
bColor = &cff0000 //red
end select[/code]

And then, you actually change the contents of the celltag inside the loop… so next time it refreshes it may not even have the same tag second time around?

me.CellTag(row,column)=me.cell(row,column)

10

I suggest not changing cellAlignment in the paint event. It will cause a refresh under certain circumstances. That’s something you should do when the data is added to the listbox.

11

Also, the alignment is being set for the LAST ADDED row, regardless of which row you are painting.

me.CellAlignment(Me.LastIndex,0)
I would have expected it to be me.CellAlignment(row,0)

You can fudge this by drawing the text yourself (thats why it is CellTextPaint), but surely it is best to set it once at the time you add the row.

12

Have-you read ListBox.CellBackgroundPaint ?

13

The alignment goes well now, thanks Greg. No clue why I put it there, in other apps it was also outside the celltextpaint.

Yes, Emile, but it is not about the background color, that one is always black to make it readable. It is all about the CellTextPaint color and I am afraid it is this part in the code which does give the problem:

In CellTextPaint:

Dim arr() As String = Split(Me.Cell(row, column), EndOfLine) 

    For i As Integer = 0 To ubound(arr)
      g.foreColor=bColor
      g.DrawString(arr(i), x, y - g.TextHeight + i * g.TextHeight)
    Next

What was done, we split up long text into a max length per line and after every maxlenth one put an EndOfLine. The above code will split the line on the EndOfLine markers and draw it on the next line.

For instance here is the code which is working fine for single line events:
in CellTextPaint:

  If Row > -1 And Row < Me.ListCount Then
    if me.CellTag(row,2)="eq" then
      If val(Me.CellTag(row,1)) < 3 then
        DisColor1=white
      elseif  val(Me.CellTag(row,1)) >= 3 and  val(Me.CellTag(row,1)) < 4 then
        DisColor1 = LYellow
      elseif  val(Me.CellTag(row,1)) >= 4 and  val(Me.CellTag(row,1))<5 then
        DisColor1 = dGreen
      elseif val(Me.CellTag(row,1))  >= 5 and  val(Me.CellTag(row,1))<6 then
        DisColor1 = Yellow
      elseif  val(Me.CellTag(row,1))  >= 6 and  val(Me.CellTag(row,1)) <7 then
        DisColor1 = Orange
      elseif  val(Me.CellTag(row,1)) >= 7 and  val(Me.CellTag(row,1))<8 then
        DisColor1 = Red
      elseif  val(Me.CellTag(row,1)) >= 8 then
        DisColor1 = Purple
      end if
    elseif me.CellTag(row,2)="ts" or me.CellTag(row,2)="hu" or me.CellTag(row,2)="fl" then
      Discolor1=LBlue
    elseif me.CellTag(row,2)="ls" then
      Discolor1 = LRed
    elseif me.CellTag(row,2)="fi" or me.CellTag(row,2)="li" then
      DisColor1=dRed
    elseif me.CellTag(row,2)="vu" then
      DisColor1=LOrange
    Else
      Discolor1 = LGrey
    End If
    g.foreColor=Discolor1
  end if

Moving up/down with the mouse over the text, using the mouse wheel to roll up/down the list does not affect the colors, each event does keep the color I assigned to it (in the if statement)

14

@Jeff Tullin : your select statement will only show the last command (human) and response (me) in the listbox. All earlier command/responses will appear in red

15

If you’d like a full working implementation, why not post the project? We can only help with bits of code and make assumptions over the forum. If you were to provide us with a project that operates and shows the error, it would significantly simplify the process of helping you find out what’s going wrong.

From the code bits you’ve posted, I fear it’s more than just one issue.

16

Thats the point. I wanted uncaught values to show up and cause some thinking.

17

@Tim Parnell The only part which gives me the problem is the multiline part which I put down the code above. All other code I put here for the single line, maybe it deserves not a price for clean coding, but I am busy to rewrite it. This single line part works as a champ for 4-5 years. I wrote that short after I stepped over to Xojo. Now I am more experienced with Xojo I am rewriting parts.

18

Off topic… Am I the only one who finds

if elseif elseif

almost impossible to follow?

val(Me.CellTag(row,1)) >= 3 and val(Me.CellTag(row,1)) < 4 etc.

Hugely simplified using a Select case

[code]
Select Me.CellTag(row,1)
case “3”

case “4”

case “5”,“6”
end select

select case me.CellTag(row,2)
case “ts” ,“hu” ,“fl”
Discolor1=LBlue
case “ls”
Discolor1 = LRed
case “fi”,“li”
DisColor1=dRed
case “vu”
DisColor1=LOrange
case Else
Discolor1 = LGrey
end select[/code]

19

I found my problem, I was changing color in the celltag, but because I only use one cell I should use rowtag to hold the color.

I changed celltag to rowtag in my code and the multiline text in my listbox does not change of color anymore, but keeps always the color I assigned to it.

Thank you very much for your responses.