transparant Rectangle shape with borders

[safra]

Hi,

I need a 'draggable' rectangle shape that is transparant and only shows borders. The dragging part will be controlled by the mouse position.

I am not sure which component to use. my first thought was a rectangle TShape but I can't get figure out how to make it transparant and, besides that, I can't get it to show on top of the form. It is always displayed below for example a DBGrid, even when I select 'Bring to front' form the right-click menu.

What should I use for this?

Thanks,
Raoul

 

[towerbase]

It is fairly easy to create a draggable rectangle using the Canvas.Rectangle procedure.

Why do you need to create a rectangle on top of a DBGrid?

Andrew

 

[safra]

Thanks Andrew, I will look at that.

What I am trying to do is make the DBGrid 'dynamic' and add an table update option that is executed upon an a click and drag action. The user clicks on a row then the rectangle shape should appear to highlight the selected row. When user moves the mouse upwards/downwards over the grid, the rectangle should follow the mouse movement. Upon MouseUp the rectangle should disappear.

My first thought was that I need some sort of rectangle shape to create the visual effect but I am only into delphi for 2 weeks or so. Perhaps there is an easier and more common way to do this?

Raoul

 

[bbegley]

I imagine that using the dbgrid itself (look on

http://www.Torry.net

for custom components ) would be easier than what you're trying now.

If you do want to use TShape, set the brush.style:=bsclear (you can do it in the object inspector). We do this in a lot of places, but we aren't trying to do it on top of a grid.

Brian
"There are 2 kinds of people in the world, those that divide people into two groups and those that don't. I belong to the second group." - tag line I stole

 

[safra]

Thanks Brian, in the mean time I did figure out how to make the tshape transparant (the way you suggested) but I still can't figure out how to place it on top of all other components. No matter which component it overlaps it is always positioned below other components?

I looked for a custom dbgrid component that does what I need but have not found it so far.

I also looked at canvas.rectangle and tried some things but the rectangle just does not appear on the form?

Form1.Canvas.Pen.Color := clblue;
Form1.Canvas.Rectangle(50,50,200,20);

I have this in the FormShow procedure. Nothing there??

Raoul

 

[bbegley]

You appear to be correct. I am able to draw on a TImage placed on the form, but I can't bring it in front of a grid.

I can't seem to draw a rectangle on the form.canvas either.

Brian
"There are 2 kinds of people in the world, those that divide people into two groups and those that don't. I belong to the second group." - tag line I stole

 

[safra]

Hum, and what about the tshape? Can you figure out how to place this on top of the dbgrid?

If not, are there any other options I have to create the highlight effect on DBgrid rows?

Thanks,
Raoul