VB.NET Custom Textbox Control Cursor Position

[Ruffnekk]

Hello,

I've created a custom control inherited from the Windows.Forms.Textbox control. Basically it's a textbox that pulses in color when it has the focus. It uses a bitmap (gradient) to paint the background of the textbox, therefore I have to override the method to paint the text to make it visible.

Everything works how I want it, except for the cursor position in the textbox. When I type something into the textbox (runtime), the blinking cursor doesn't position correctly. This also depends on the font(size) I use. For example: with a larger font the cursor appears 2 or 3 letters in front of where it's supposed to be and with smaller fonts it appears farther to the back than actually should be. This is only a visual problem because backspace, delete, etc. work correctly. Does anyone have a clue of which method/property to override or shadow?

This is the code I use to draw the text into the textbox:

Protected Overrides Sub OnPaint(ByVal e As PaintEventArgs)
  Dim g As Graphics = e.Graphics
  g.Clear(Parent.BackColor)
  Draw(g)
End Sub

Protected Sub Draw(ByVal g As Graphics)
  DrawBackground(g)
  DrawText(g)
End Sub

Protected Sub DrawBackground(ByVal g As Graphics)
  If Focused Then
    DrawTextboxState(g, iaDefault)
  Else
    DrawTextboxState(g, iaNormal)
  End If
End Sub

Protected Sub DrawTextboxState(ByVal g As Graphics, ByVal ia As ImageAttributes)
  Dim tb As New TextureBrush(imgFill, New Rectangle(0, 0, imgFill.Width, imgFill.Height), ia)
  tb.WrapMode = WrapMode.Tile

  g.FillRectangle(tb, 0, 0, Me.Width, Me.Height)
  tb.Dispose()
End Sub

Protected Sub DrawText(ByVal g As Graphics)
  Dim layoutrect As New RectangleF(0, 0, Me.Width, Me.Height)
  Dim fmt As New StringFormat
  fmt.Alignment = StringAlignment.Near
  fmt.LineAlignment = StringAlignment.Near

  Dim textBrush As New SolidBrush(ForeColor)
  g.DrawString(Text, Font, textBrush, layoutrect, fmt)
  textBrush.Dispose()
End Sub

From top to bottom: it first clears the background with the backcolor of the parent control, then draws the background with a tiled picture and last draws the text from the Text property over the background image.

Any help is much appreciated.

Regards, Ruffnekk
---
Is it my imagination or do buffalo wings taste just like chicken?

 

[BobRodes]

This looks like you'll have better luck in the VB.Net forum. Interestingly (I may be wrong about this), .Net controls aren't actually ActiveX controls anyway, since they are not based on COM.

Microsoft marketing types have made the ActiveX thing pretty confusing. ("ActiveX Data Objects.Net" leaps to mind.)

HTH

Bob