Inserting accented symbols in a text box

[PaulBarter]

I am writing an application that contains (among other things!) names and addresses in text boxes and I would like the user to be able to input accented characters for foreign addresses e.g. Ėûá. I can write a routine to supply the necessary symbol from, say, a menu option, as in Word, but if a user clicks on the menu, how can I tell which text box they were in to insert it?

Also, is there any simple way of testing for alphabetic characters (including accented characters)?

 

[Andrzejek]

Would it work if you would have a drop-down list with all the Ėûá characters for your user to choose from next to the text box?

Have fun.

---- Andy

 

[strongm]

A menu does not take focus away from the ActiveControl ...

 

[PaulBarter]

So, if the current text box is still in focus, how is the best way to get my accented char into it?
I thought I might use SendKeys, but I get an err 70 "Permission Denied".

Alternatively, is there any way to find out which box has focus?

 

[PaulBarter]

Of course! Just remembered I can use Me.ActiveControl

Any better ideas out there?

 

[Andrzejek]

How many special character are we talking about?
If there are not too many, would keyboard shortcuts work?

I have a situation where user wanted to use a bullet in the text box. I set up a command button which sends this character to the text box, set the keyboard shortcut as Alt-B, hide it, and show small message to user: "Alt-B to place a Bullet"

Have fun.

---- Andy

 

[PaulBarter]

Unfortunately, there are over 30 characters, and upper and lower case for each, so too many for shortcuts

 

[Andrzejek]

That's why my first option was a drop-down list with all your special characters.

Have fun.

---- Andy

 

[strongm]

> I can use Me.ActiveControl

Well, quite. That's really what I was getting at.

>Any better ideas out there?

How much better than access to the exact control do you want?

 

[PaulBarter]

You are partly right strongm.
Unfortunately, loading another form to choose a character makes it execute the LostFocus event and then it will execute the GotFocus event after you exit from the menu sub.

It takes a bit of judicious field saving and flag setting/testing and manually calling SetFocus at the right time to get it to work.
I'm not sure how stable my solution is!

Code for menu is:

Private Sub mnuInsertSymbol_Click()

    If Not TypeOf Me.ActiveControl Is TextBox Then Exit Sub         ' just in case!
    
    gblnInsertActive = True                         ' set flag for control of TextBox events
    Set gtxtInsertTextBox = Me.ActiveControl        ' Save data
    With gtxtInsertTextBox
        glngInsertSelLength = .SelLength
        glngInsertSelStart = .SelStart
        gstrInsertText = .Text
    End With
    frmInsertSymbol.Show vbModal    ' this form will have inserted any chars as required
    gtxtInsertTextBox.SetFocus      ' because system loses it when form loaded
    DoEvents                        ' seems to need this
    gblnInsertActive = False
End Sub

and TextBox events look like:

Private Sub txtAddress_Change(Index As Integer)
Dim intOldPos As Integer
Dim intNewPos As Integer
Dim strValue As String
Dim strErr As String

    If gblnInsertActive Then Exit Sub

    With txtAddress(Index)
        If mblnCheckChange Then
            sbrStatus.Panels.Item(1).Text = ""
            intOldPos = .SelStart
            intNewPos = intOldPos
            strValue = .Text
            mblnCheckChange = False
            If Len(strValue) > gtypNamesSizes.Address Then
                Beep
                .Text = mstrOldValue
                .SelStart = intOldPos - 1
                sbrStatus.Panels.Item(1).Text = "Max length = " & gtypNamesSizes.Address
            Else
                .Text = strValue
                mstrOldValue = strValue
                .SelStart = intNewPos
            End If
            mblnCheckChange = True
        End If
    End With
End Sub

Private Sub txtAddress_GotFocus(Index As Integer)
Dim blnCheckChange     As Boolean       ' save status

    If gblnInsertActive Then Exit Sub

    mnuInsertSymbol.Enabled = True
    With txtAddress(Index)
        If .Locked Then Exit Sub
        ' select all text
        .SelStart = 0
        .SelLength = 999
        .BackColor = vbYellow
        mstrOldValue = .Text
    End With
End Sub

Private Sub txtAddress_LostFocus(Index As Integer)
    
    If gblnInsertActive Then Exit Sub

    sbrStatus.Panels.Item(1).Text = ""
    With txtAddress(Index)
        .BackColor = vbWindowBackground
    End With
End Sub

 

[strongm]

You didn't say you were loading another form. My commens were based on the fact that you said you were using a menu.

 

[strongm]

But as long as you do what you are doing to capture the ActiveControl before deliberately changing the ActiveControl by loading a new form:

Set gtxtInsertTextBox = Me.ActiveControl

you should be OK. And you shouldn't really need

gtxtInsertTextBox.SetFocus

since VB should handle returning focus appropriately

 

[PaulBarter]

Sorry if I mislead you, but with over 60 characters to insert, menus alone seemed a bit heavy, though still worth considering.

> And you shouldn't really need
> gtxtInsertTextBox.SetFocus

True, but I wanted it to be under my control so I can control SetStart and SelLength, as otherwise VB only executes the SetFocus after my menu routine ends.

Thanks for all your usual good sense.