DateTimePicker component, C++ Builder 6 - datetimepicker

What should I do to make it possible to enter a year with a keyboard in the marked window? Since only arrows are allowed by default, and it's not very convenient.

TDateTimePicker is just a thin wrapper for the standard Win32 DTP control. The standard DTP control simply does not support the functionality you are asking for. The Year can only be set using the arrows when the control is expanded. See About Date and Time Picker Controls and About Month Calendar Controls for the types of keyboard input that are natively supported.
That being said, what you are asking for would require you to manually access the picker's drop-down Month-Calendar control (see DTN_DROPDOWN and DTM_GETMONTHCAL) and then inject an Up-Down control directly into it where needed (not sure if there is an API to determine exactly where the calendar displays its current year, maybe MCM_GETCALENDARGRIDINFO or MCM_HITTEST can be used for that?), and then subclass the calendar to handle the UD control's UDN_DELTAPOS notification so you can update the calendar accordingly.
That is a LOT of work for very little gain.

Related

VBA Adding a User Defined Control to Userform at Runtime

So I've made the following control in Design Mode then added the control to a new page Custom in my toolbox.
Now, what would I use for the progID parameter in Controls.Add()? How do I look up this value? Controls.Add("Forms.Frame.1") adds a regular frame, not the desired custom control.
As far as I am aware, you do not generate a new progID with a custom control. Per the MSDN documentation for custom/modified controls:
Note: When you drag a control onto the Control Toolbox, you only transfer the advanced property values.
So only the properties are transferred; the actual control is still of the same type/s as the one you created it from. Further, it looks like this progID is "a unique system-wide string that the Windows operating system can use to identify your control's type." So unless you are up to coding your own control, it looks as though you're just passing properties to the custom toolbox controls you create there.
You'll have to just replicate the custom control each time you want to add it. Just create a sub with all the correct properties and call it. Not what you were looking for, but it'll get the job done.

UiPath wont recognize textbox and other controls within userform

I have been working on UiPath for quite some time and I have a form where I need to input certain details.
UiPath won't recognize the controls within the form. This form is designed using power builder and the selector looks something as below
<wnd app='pcemain.exe' cls='FNWNS390' title='Open' />
<wnd cls='pbdw90' />
Since the items and their order in the list won't change; you should be able to use the Send Hotkey activity or Type into activity, or a combination of the two.
In some dropdowns, you can type the whole name of the item.
My tip for these kinds of situations, where the (mouse) controls are
challenging, is to try to do the action manually without using the
mouse (or use it as little as possible). When finding a solution, do
it in UiPath

MFC Custom Keyboard DLL Accessed from Application Dialog Box

The overall goal is to be able to access a pop-up keyboard through an application that I am making in MFC.
I have created a dialog box with an empty text field. I would like to be able to click the empty field and have an onscreen keyboard to enter in the data field.
Is there list of functions or tutorials that anyone can provide me with to be able to perform this function? Ultimate I will be making the keyboard from scratch, so any guidance would be useful.
My first thoughts (I might be wrong someone might correct me if i am wrong.)
1)Create your Keyboard Ui in an MFC DLL and export the KeyBoard Functions like LaunchKB(Int screenx,int screeny) and CloseKB()
functions.
2)I would subClass CEdit and CRichedit such that when the edit control gains or loses focus it would call LaunchKB() function with windows ScreenX coordinates where the keyboard has to be displayed or CloseKB().
3) A callback function registered to dll ,which would get called for every click on the keyboard with characters clicked and these characters are to be displayed in the edit control.
This is just my thought ,there may be better ways to implement as well.

Do not require attention for ShowDialog

I had a question about Dialogs in VB.NET. I am working on a point of sale program, and at one point during a sale, I have a few windows that pop up. For example, a user will go into a sale that is window A. In window A, they have the option of entering products, etc., and if they choose a 'repair' product, it opens window B, allowing them to choose options. In window B, there is a button that pops up window C that allows them to attach products TO the repair. My issue is with window B opening window C.
Because I open window B as a Dialog (in order to check if DialogResult.OK is true), any window I open with B is non-touchable, as B is a Dialog and requires attention before going to any other windows/forms.
My question is - is there any way to still use a dialog, but allow for manipulating other open forms while the dialog is up, and if not, what would be the best way to check if the user selected OK, or cancelled out of the window?
The only solution I can think of right now would be to open window C as a dialogue as well (it's actually a UserControl, and I'm still trying to find where in the code it's actually getting openned/called), or to create a variable that is passed in to the form, and then passed back out when it's closed, that basically sets a flag to either continue or cancel...
Any advice/ideas??
If I were to explain this using code, this answer would be very long, so instead I'm going to give you a high level overview.
.Show() vs .ShowDialog()
The link below will take you off to Microsofts website to explain the technical differences between these two. However in laymans terms, .ShowDialog() will create the form where it is the only window allowed to have focus in the application. Forms that are called in this instance are hierarchical, in that if you open them in order of 1,2,4,3 then they must be closed in the 3,4,2,1 order. Forms that are opened with just .Show() can be focused at any time.
How to: Display Modal and Modeless Windows Forms
Form.FormBorderStyle property
This property controls how the OS will display the window. The different options under this selection changes the way the window behaves. Depending on the options that are chosen you can make a window that only has a close button on it, or it may not even have a title bar at all. Setting this option to None will take away all controls of the form and only leave you with the Me.ClientArea to work with. When you want a completely custom GUI, this is how you do it but you have to implement your own controls for everything, closing the form, size handles, the ability to move the form on the screen, etc...
Form.FormBorderStyle Property
Passing data between forms
When someone asks how to pass data back and forth between forms, they are usually talking about modeless forms that were created using .Show(). The most common thing I see on SO is to use the tag property of an object (a form is an object that has this property too) to pass data back and forth. While I won't say this is a bad practice, I will recommend creating public properties on your forms. These can be set from a separate form and you can perform additional actions when setting the values (be careful though, this way of doing things isn't thread safe). If you are using a Modeless form as though it were a Modal form, then you can simply override the .Dispose property to return a value or you can create a method named DialogResult that will return the value you need. The caveat to using a DialogResult or similar method is that if the form has been disposed then you can't access the value you wanted to return.
You can use myNewForm.Show(Me) for the Window you want to be shown as a dialog. This will show myNewForm as a child of the current form, but lets you interact with the current form.

How to identify a specific ActiveX Interface based on limited information

I am in the process of developing an ActiveX control for embedding in Rockwell Automation's Factory Talk View. (See ActiveX DLL Error: Solved to see how great a start I got off to!)
At the moment I have an ActiveX control that seems to embed into the host system OK, but is not fully integrated into the VBA process. I believe that this is because I have not implemented some specific COM interface that is required, but I have no documentation as to what that is. I do know that standard MS controls like the Microsoft Forms 2.0 controls do implement the required interface and fully integrate.
The key functionality I am missing relates to a property that I need to set in order for my VBA code to actually see the ActiveX object. This property can be seen when opening the property panel for any activeX control placed on a Factory Talk screen, but NOT when looking at the properties of ActiveX controls embedded in (for example) Excel. Thus I am probably trying to chase down some custom Rockwell implementation. I am hoping that SO might be able to give me some aid into how to track down what I want based on recognizing the functionality it implements.
Now to the actual property. In Factory Talk the property is called "ExposeToVBA", and has a type "long". You have a choice of 3 values selected from a drop down list:
Not Exposed - When set to this, the controls name is not even visible to VBA code
Type Info Extension - Not sure what this does
VBA Control - VBA code can see and interact with the control.
When I select anything other than "Not Exposed" for my control, I get a warning dialog box with no text on it. For other controls I need to set it to "VBA Control" in order to interact with it in the VBA code (d'oh)
I suspect that the value of this property is translated into some calls to an ActiveX interface on the target control.
The Question
What I want to do is identify what interfaces something like a "Forms 2.0 Label" implements that would match the above functionality. And also perhaps how I could translate this into my C# based control (based on C# ActiveX control (CSActiveX))
I know its a long shot, but I'd appreciate any and all suggestions
This became moot when I found a canned Active-x control that had the functionality that I needed.
FWIW This is what I believe that I used: DMGraph