Is this a bug with tabs and updown spinners?

[mrider]

I suspect this is a "you're doing it wrong" rather than a bug, since I find it hard to believe that nobody has encountered this before. But I've searched the forum and can't find anything relevant. So if it's a "you're doing it wrong", then be so kind as to point me at a post or some place in the help file so I can see what I'm doing wrong.

My problem in a nutshell is that I have an updown spinner control on a tab. In my real program, it makes sense for the spinner to be disabled when tasks are running. If the spinner control is NOT visible because of the selected tab, then when the controls get disabled, it peeks through the tab. That is to say you can see a ghost of where the updown part is.

This is with AutoIt 3.3.8.1 on Windows XP SP3. I also spooled up a quick virtual machine that pretty much has nothing installed except AutoIt to see if it was some sort of software conflict on my computer (it apparently isn't).

Here's a simple sample that demonstrates:

#include <GUIConstantsEx.au3>
GUICreate("Demo", 290, 110)
GUICtrlCreateTab(3, 3, 200, 100)
GUICtrlCreateTabItem("One")
$inp = GUICtrlCreateInput("", 10, 50, 150, 20)
$spinner = GUICtrlCreateUpdown(-1)
GUICtrlCreateTabItem("Two")
GUICtrlCreateTabItem("")
$toggle = GUICtrlCreateButton("Disable", 210, 30)
GUISetState()
Dim $msg
While $msg <> $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE
$msg = GUIGetMsg()
If $msg = $toggle Then
     If GUICtrlRead($toggle) = "Disable" Then
         GUICtrlSetState($inp, $GUI_DISABLE)
         GUICtrlSetState($spinner, $GUI_DISABLE)
         GUICtrlSetData($toggle, "Enable")
     Else
         GUICtrlSetState($inp, $GUI_ENABLE)
         GUICtrlSetState($spinner, $GUI_ENABLE)
         GUICtrlSetData($toggle, "Disable")
     EndIf
EndIf
Sleep(1)
WEnd

Here you see the window with the spinner enabled while on tab 1

Here you see the window with the spinner disabled while on tab 1

Here you see the window with the spinner enabled while on tab 2

This shows what happens after you click the "Disable" button while on tab 2

Here you see what happens after you re-enable the spinner without moving back to tab 1

The only way to get the spinner to stop ghosting is to click back and forth between tab 1 and tab 2.

So what am I doing wrong?

Edited March 29, 2013 by mrider

[Jos]

Looks like a repaint issue, but lets agree your button really should be part of TAB1 as well and not be visible when Tab2 is active.

Jos

[BrewManNH]

Something like this.

#include <GUIConstantsEx.au3>
GUICreate("Demo", 290, 110)
GUICtrlCreateTab(3, 3, 200, 100)
GUICtrlCreateTabItem("One")
$inp = GUICtrlCreateInput("", 10, 50, 150, 20)
$spinner = GUICtrlCreateUpdown(-1)
$toggle = GUICtrlCreateButton("Disable", 210, 30)
GUICtrlCreateTabItem("Two")
GUICtrlCreateTabItem("")
GUISetState()
Global $msg, $lastmsg
While $msg <> $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE
    $msg = GUIGetMsg()
    If $msg = $toggle Then
        If GUICtrlRead($toggle) = "Disable" Then
            GUICtrlSetState($inp, $GUI_DISABLE)
            GUICtrlSetState($spinner, $GUI_DISABLE)
            GUICtrlSetData($toggle, "Enable")
        Else
            GUICtrlSetState($inp, $GUI_ENABLE)
            GUICtrlSetState($spinner, $GUI_ENABLE)
            GUICtrlSetData($toggle, "Disable")
        EndIf
    EndIf
    Sleep(1)
WEnd

Or, you could put the button inside the tab itself.

[mrider]

Can we all agree to stop with the "move the button to tab 1" nonsense? The point is not where the button is, the point is that if the spinner is not on the tab in front when it's disabled, then the spinner control peeks through. Think about it, you didn't fix the problem, all you did was make it impossible to demonstrate it. The only reason the button is there is so that you can toggle the activation/deactivation of the spinner.

How do I get the spinner control to not peek through when I disable the control while the tab is not in front? That is the question.

[Jos]

Can we all agree to stop with the "move the button to tab 1" nonsense? The point is not where the button is, the point is that if the spinner is not on the tab in front when it's disabled, then the spinner control peeks through. Think about it, you didn't fix the problem, all you did was make it impossible to demonstrate it. The only reason the button is there is so that you can toggle the activation/deactivation of the spinner.

How do I get the spinner control to not peek through when I disable the control while the tab is not in front? That is the question.

enjoy

[BrewManNH]

Can we all agree to stop with the "move the button to tab 1" nonsense? The point is not where the button is, the point is that if the spinner is not on the tab in front when it's disabled, then the spinner control peeks through.

As Jos posited, it's probably a repaint issue where you're enabling/disabling a control that isn't visible causing it bleed through the tab.

Think about it, you didn't fix the problem, all you did was make it impossible to demonstrate it. The only reason the button is there is so that you can toggle the activation/deactivation of the spinner.

Actually, I did fix the problem, because now you can't enable a control that's not visible, so you don't have the issue any longer.

How do I get the spinner control to not peek through when I disable the control while the tab is not in front? That is the question.

Let's agree that you shouldn't be, and that your implementation was in error because you're trying to enable a control that shouldn't need to be enabled until you switch back to the tab it's on. Try having your script detect the tab control that's visible, and enable/disable the spinner at that point, not when you can't see it or interact with it. If that's not sufficient, then you'll have to keep looking for a solution.

[mrider]

I guess what I find frustrating is that everyone is focusing on the fact that they can manually toggle the state, and so the "solution" is to make it so you can't manually toggle the state. The only reason you can manually toggle the state is so that you can see the problem.

Taking away the manual part makes the whole demo program pointless. In case you missed it - the demo program is a demo. My real code is nothing like that at all. But it exhibits the same behavior.

Try having your script detect the tab control that's visible, and enable/disable the spinner at that point, not when you can't see it or interact with it.

That makes sense. What I was doing was enabling/disabling all controls when I start up the program's task. I guess what I'll have to do is put in an event listener that calls the enable/disable code instead of doing it as part of task startup. Then I can toggle the enabledness(for want of a better word) of the controls that are currently visible. I can call that function when starting up the task, since the function will have no way of knowing whether it was called from an event listener or called manually.

Thanks.

[AutoBert]

Just enable/disable the togglebutton in case of the tabitem:

#include <GUIConstantsEx.au3>
GUICreate("Demo", 290, 110)
$Tab = GUICtrlCreateTab(3, 3, 200, 100)
GUICtrlCreateTabItem("One")
$inp = GUICtrlCreateInput("", 10, 50, 150, 20)
$spinner = GUICtrlCreateUpdown(-1)
GUICtrlCreateTabItem("Two")
GUICtrlCreateTabItem("")
$toggle = GUICtrlCreateButton("Disable", 210, 30)
GUISetState()

Dim $msg, $iActiveTI
While $msg <> $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE
    $msg = GUIGetMsg()
    Switch $msg
        Case $Tab
            $iActiveTI = GUICtrlRead($Tab)
            If $iActiveTI = 0 Then
                GUICtrlSetState($toggle, $GUI_ENABLE)
            Else
                GUICtrlSetState($toggle, $GUI_DISABLE)
            EndIf
        Case $toggle
            If GUICtrlRead($toggle) = "Disable" Then
                GUICtrlSetState($inp, $GUI_DISABLE)
                GUICtrlSetState($spinner, $GUI_DISABLE)
                GUICtrlSetData($toggle, "Enable")
            Else
                GUICtrlSetState($inp, $GUI_ENABLE)
                GUICtrlSetState($spinner, $GUI_ENABLE)
                GUICtrlSetData($toggle, "Disable")
            EndIf
    EndSwitch
    ;Sleep(1)
WEnd

[mrider]

Sigh...

I really wish everyone would stop obsessing over the darn button. Next time I want to ask a question about why something acts weird, I'll be sure to make it so the state change happens when the mouse is on one side of the screen or the other. Although I wouldn't be surprised if someone pops up with "well then, don't use the left side of the screen."

Let's repeat this again: the button is only there so that you can see the problem. The button is not the problem. It was the most expedient way for you to toggle the state of the widgets in my demo. It is not how the real code works. The real code doesn't have a button there at all. The demo does, because it required the fewest lines of code. That program is not real. It's a demo. An http://www.pscode.org/sscce.html . Changing how the button works so that you can't press it defeats the purpose of the demo.

For the record, I solved the problem with three changes: 1) I have a global value that holds the desired state between enabled and disabled. 2) I modified the task startup such that instead of toggling the widget state, it toggles the value of the global value. 3) I added an event listener to the tabs which enables or disables widgets based on the global value.

So as BrewManNH alluded, the answer was to pay attention to which tab is in front, and only alter those widgets. Where before I was altering all widgets.

[Melba23]

mrider,

Why bother to change the state of the updown at all?

#include <GUIConstantsEx.au3>
GUICreate("Demo", 290, 110)
GUICtrlCreateTab(3, 3, 200, 100)
GUICtrlCreateTabItem("One")
$inp = GUICtrlCreateInput("", 10, 50, 150, 20)
$spinner = GUICtrlCreateUpdown(-1)
GUICtrlCreateTabItem("Two")
GUICtrlCreateTabItem("")
$toggle = GUICtrlCreateButton("Disable", 210, 30)
GUISetState()
Dim $msg
While $msg <> $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE
    $msg = GUIGetMsg()
    If $msg = $toggle Then
        If GUICtrlRead($toggle) = "Disable" Then
            GUICtrlSetState($inp, $GUI_DISABLE)
            ;GUICtrlSetState($spinner, $GUI_DISABLE)
            GUICtrlSetData($toggle, "Enable")
        Else
            GUICtrlSetState($inp, $GUI_ENABLE)
            ;GUICtrlSetState($spinner, $GUI_ENABLE)
            GUICtrlSetData($toggle, "Disable")
        EndIf
    EndIf
    Sleep(1)
WEnd

As you can see, disabling the input also disables the updown - there is now no "show-through" problem nor any requirement for a toggled flag.

M23

P.S. And you might like to reread your later posts in this thread and reflect as to whether the attitude you adopted is one which is likely to serve you well here. You can probably guess what my response to that question would be.

[JohnOne]

Sigh...

I really wish everyone would stop obsessing over the darn button. Next time I want to ask a question about why something acts weird, I'll be sure to make it so the state change happens when the mouse is on one side of the screen or the other. Although I wouldn't be surprised if someone pops up with "well then, don't use the left side of the screen."

Let's repeat this again: the button is only there so that you can see the problem. The button is not the problem. It was the most expedient way for you to toggle the state of the widgets in my demo. It is not how the real code works. The real code doesn't have a button there at all. The demo does, because it required the fewest lines of code. That program is not real. It's a demo. An http://www.pscode.org/sscce.html . Changing how the button works so that you can't press it defeats the purpose of the demo.

Yes, and the code in your actual gui is replaced by the button you use for demonstration.

how can you expect answers on how to correctly structure code you are not showing professor?