Trouble with PIXEL clause of SAY command

[James Bott]

I am having trouble with the PIXEL clause of the SAY command.

This:

@ 140,120 say "Title" of oDlg pixel

Actually displays at 290, 242 (measured with an on-screen pixel ruler).

I can create correction factors and get it to display properly.

140/292 = .48
120/242 = .50

So I can do:

@ (140 * .48), (120 * .50) say "Title" of oDlg pixel

And it will be displayed properly. But why is it not displaying at the correct location without conversion? Am I doing something wrong or is it a bug in the SAY class?

I am using FWH 13.04 and BCC 5.82.

Antonio, Nages, anyone?

Regards,
James

Code: Select all  Expand view

// Sample program showing problem with PIXEL clause of SAY command

#include "fivewin.ch"

Function main()

   Local oDlg, oFont, oSay1, oSay2

   define font oFont name "Arial" size 0,-25

   DEFINE DIALOG oDlg size 600, 400

   // Actually displayed at 290, 242
   @ 140, 120 SAY oSay1 PROMPT "Title" ;
      font oFont OF oDlg PIXEL

   @ (140  * .48 ) , 120 * .5 say oSay2 ;
     PROMPT "Title w/ conversion" ;
     font oFont of oDlg PIXEL

   ACTIVATE DIALOG oDlg

   release font oFont

return nil

[James Bott]

OK, I solved the mystery. Dialogs have different units than windows, panels, etc. The controls are placed properly on windows (I didn't check panels yet). So, it does seem to be a bug--controls are not placed properly on dialogs when using the PIXEL clause. I haven't looked into where that would have to be fixed but it seems that controls need to be aware that their parent is a dialog and adjust accordingly. I assume that controls are using dialog units instead of pixels.

I knew it was going to be embarrassing when I discovered the answer.

Sometimes you just have to walk away from the computer and let your subconscious mind work.

James

[Otto]

Hello James,
If I remember well it was you who suggested to me the value 2.05.
It is my Euler number for dialogs.
I always use 999/2.05
@ (140 /2.05 ), (120 /2.05 ) say "Title" of oDlg pixel


This gives me good results.
Best regards,
Otto

[James Bott]

Otto,

Yes, I rarely hand code controls onto dialogs. I was working with Metro design ideas when this came up and I wasn't even thinking that it was on a dialog.

Nevertheless, it does seem that the conversion should be automatic. Mainly so feeble minded people like me don't have to remember .

James

[Antonio Linares]

James,

When the PIXEL clause was implemented in FWH we were not aware that on dialogs, controls use dialog units instead of pixels

By the time that we noticed it (and really understood it), there were already many FWH code around, so we decided to keep it as it was

[James Bott]

Antonio,

Yes, I would agree that you can't break existing code.

The only solution I can see is to create a global setting to really use pixels instead of dialog units. But, I doubt there is much demand for this so I would place a very low priority on it.

Regards,
James