the box _ArrayDisplay() and its apperance

[roeselpi]

hello,

if i have an array that has for example 100 rows and 3 columns:  

then my monitor will display a box which is as wide as 4 columns whilst the first one being the description of each row

furthermore my monitor will display a maximum of 46 rows.

sure, there is a scrollbar and i can scroll down to see the whole array and that is good.

my question would however be:

 

is there some (simple) way to have the size of the display-box to be a little wider and not so high. something like 6 columns wide and only 15 rows high while still haveing the possibility to scroll down to look at the whole array?

 

i have see a few topics about the _ArrayDisply modification, but i was kind of looking for a simple way to do it. maybe placing the _ArrayDisplay() into a child window that has a specific size or something like that. any chance to find a simple solution for that? something easy and sweet:

 

$width = "6"

$height = "15"

_Arraydisplay($name, "Text to be displayed", $width, $height)

 

something as simple as that.

 

any ideas?

kind regards

 

 

[BrewManNH]

Don't use arraydisplay, build your own gui with a listview in it, and you can configure it however you'd like

[roeselpi]

that seems to be quite frustrating:

#include <Array.au3>
#include <GUIConstantsEx.au3>
#include <GuiListView.au3>


Global $values[20][2] = [["r0-c1", "r0-c2"], ["r1-c1", "r1-c2"], ["r2-c1", "r2-c2"], ["r3-c1", "r3-c2"], ["r4-c1", "r4-c2"], _
        ["r5-c1", "r5-c2"], ["r6-c1", "r6-c2"], ["r7-c1", "r7-c2"], ["r8-c1", "r8-c2"], ["r9-c1", "r9-c2"], _
        ["r10-c1", "r10-c2"], ["r11-c1", "r11-c2"], ["r12-c1", "r12-c2"], ["r13-c1", "r13-c2"], ["r14-c1", "r14-c2"], _
        ["r15-c1", "r15-c2"], ["r16-c1", "r16-c2"], ["r17-c1", "r17-c2"], ["r18-c1", "r18-c2"], ["r19-c1", "r19-c2"]]

_ArrayDisplay($values) ;This is perfect, only the size of the window bothers me


GUICreate("ListView Display Array", 500, 300)
$idListview = GUICtrlCreateListView("", 2, 2, 494, 268)
GUISetState(@SW_SHOW)
_GUICtrlListView_AddColumn($idListview, "Rows", 100)
_GUICtrlListView_AddColumn($idListview, "Column 1", 100)
_GUICtrlListView_AddColumn($idListview, "Column 2", 100)

_GUICtrlListView_AddArray($idListview, $values) ;This is nice but wrong. it does not resemble the _ArrayDisplay()

Do
Until GUIGetMsg() = $GUI_EVENT_CLOSE
GUIDelete()

while the _ArrayDisplay() is one line and looks great, the listview requires lots of lines and in my case does not do what it should (which, no doubt, is probably my fault). however it is not a nice little one liner to get the job done but rather more a code that frurstrates because not used properly it does not do the job it is supposed to.

i guess i would rather live with the oversized window of the _ArrayDisplay() than start messing about with a multilined code that takes the long way round to do the job it is supposed to.

unless:

anyone has a foolproof & easy solution possibly something like this imaginary line:

_GUICtrlListView_AddArray($values, 500, 300)

why make something simple so complicated? 

[jchd]

Why are you so lazy?

#include <Array.au3>
#include <Debug.au3>

Global $values[20][2] = [["r0-c1", "r0-c2"], ["r1-c1", "r1-c2"], ["r2-c1", "r2-c2"], ["r3-c1", "r3-c2"], ["r4-c1", "r4-c2"], _
        ["r5-c1", "r5-c2"], ["r6-c1", "r6-c2"], ["r7-c1", "r7-c2"], ["r8-c1", "r8-c2"], ["r9-c1", "r9-c2"], _
        ["r10-c1", "r10-c2"], ["r11-c1", "r11-c2"], ["r12-c1", "r12-c2"], ["r13-c1", "r13-c2"], ["r14-c1", "r14-c2"], _
        ["r15-c1", "r15-c2"], ["r16-c1", "r16-c2"], ["r17-c1", "r17-c2"], ["r18-c1", "r18-c2"], ["r19-c1", "r19-c2"]]

_ArrayDisplay($values, "Title of your choice")                          ;This is perfect, only the size of the window bothers me
_ArrayDisplay(_ArrayExtract($values, 0, 6), "Title of your choice"))    ; is that any better?
_DebugArrayDisplay($values, "Title of your choice", "0:6")              ; or do you prefer this?

 

[Nine]

Ok if I understand you correctly you would like to have larger column size, right ?  Simply do this :

Local Const $nPad = 40
$values [0][0] &= _StringRepeat (" ",$nPad)
$values [0][1] &= _StringRepeat (" ",$nPad)
_ArrayDisplay ($values, "Miracles can happen...")

[BrewManNH]

Quote

_GUICtrlListView_AddArray($idListview, $values) ;This is nice but wrong. it does not resemble the _ArrayDisplay()
 

What is wrong with the display of the array in this example, what's missing from it that _arrayDisplay shows that this one doesn't, other than the row numbers?

[roeselpi]

hi,

@jchd Quote: "Why are you so lazy?" Reply: it has nothing to do with being lazy! it just has something to do with keeping everything short and simple and i just fail to see the point that i should write many lines of code, that are predestined for errors creeping in here and there instead of just writing one line where the margin of error is drastically reduced. being a programmer yourself, you will have to admit, that going trough 10 or more lines of text instead of 1 line to look for an error must be easier and less time consuming. 

besides that: 

_ArrayDisplay(_ArrayExtract($values, 0, 6), "Title of your choice")) ; is that any better?

is not better because i can not scroll down anymore. i had tried something like that already with the normal _ArrayDisplay() but it just limits it to the specified amount of rows and does not show the ones below at all.

_DebugArrayDisplay($values, "Title of your choice", "0:6")           ; or do you prefer this?

the debug one does not work at all for some reason, but i guess it would not look much different than the first example.

 

---

 

@Nine width = super. that is great. height on the other hand with larger arrays still the same thing. window allmost as high as the screen and that is what i was trying to define as well as the width. but it is a lot better from the width and that is a great start.

 

---

@BrewManNH Quote: "What is wrong with the display of the array in this example [ ... ] other than the row numbers? Reply: exactly. the row numbers are missing. so it does not look like the _ArrayDisplay() just more width and less height.

 

---

 

i guess you might be thinking "this guy is a bit stupid and the things he wants are things not many people pay attention to", sure, that all might be true but like mentioned above in my mind a code should be short because the less code, the smaller the size and the less mistakes are in the code. there is many things missing in the autoIT universe where i would say that would be great if it had that. another great example would be the MsgBox() a test can not really be formated within the message box. no italic, no bold, no center text, no justify text, etc.

it might all be great once you know how to write code and once you know how to workarround problems like that and i am sure that a listview has more possibilities than a simple array display but sometimes a simple display will suffice and it would just be that little bit nicer if you could tweak it a little to make it even nicer.

 

as i say, i am no programmer, i am just someone who would like to learn how to do this and i would like to be able to design it the way i envision it best of all with little margin of error (or as i would call it: less code). 

[Melba23]

roeselpi,

Quote

another great example would be the MsgBox() a test can not really be formated within the message box. no italic, no bold, no center text, no justify text, etc.

Take a look at my ExtMsgBox UDF (the link is in my sig) which allows you to do all that - and more.....

M23

[Melba23]

roselpi,

Having now read back a bit more in the thread, I feel I must comment on this phrase from your last post:

Quote

it has nothing to do with being lazy! it  just has something to do with keeping everything short and simple and i just fail to see the point that i should write many lines of code, that are predestined for errors creeping in here and there instead of just writing one line

I am afraid that I do not agree with you here. You cannot expect AutoIt to provide functions that do exactly as you expect/wish in every case - it gives you a good set of basic commands which allow you to do practically anything with a bit of imagination and hard work. The UDFs we include with the standard AutoIt install are a good example of that - as the main author of the current _ArrayDisplay code I can assure you that its present behaviour is the result of many requests for an auto-expanding dialog, rather then the old fixed size one that used to be offered. My personal ExtMsgBox UDF that I suggested to you above is another case where basic AutoIt commands are combined to give you something much more polished than the basic Windows dialog.

So what you are actually asking is for someone else to do all the hard work so that you can write a simple one-line command in your script which produces exactly what you require. Well, if that is not lazy - then I do not know what is!

However, you finish with this line:

Quote

i am just someone who would like to learn how to do this and i would like to be able to design it the way i envision it best of all with little margin of error (or as i would call it: less code). 

And this is exactly what I would recommend. Take the existing _ArrayDisplay code (you actually need to look at ArrayDisplayInternals.au3) and try to understand what is going on within it - the code is actually pretty well commented for a standard UDF which will help enormously. You should then be able to write your version, omitting or changing various sections to get precisely what you want. I am certain people here will offer help on any questions you might have - as long as you have done due diligence with the Help file and forum search facility beforehand.

That is the best way to learn AutoIt - getting down and dirty with the code.

M23

[BrewManNH]

22 minutes ago, roeselpi said:

a code should be short because the less code, the smaller the size and the less mistakes are in the code.

Have you looked at the amount of code there is in the _ArrayDisplay function? Just because YOU"RE code only has one line there are over 500 lines of code inside that function and all of the linked functions used to get it to the point it is. You could EASILY code something similar and have it conform to your wishes, you're just asking for it to be spoon fed to you.

Adding a column to an array for the row numbers is trivial and can be done with maybe four lines of code. Try experimenting and see what you can come up with.

26 minutes ago, roeselpi said:

another great example would be the MsgBox()

That's Microsoft's message box, not AutoIt's, it is just a wrapper function to access the built-in Microsoft code. You'd get the same thing in VBScript or any other language that accesses the Windows default MessageBox.

 

28 minutes ago, roeselpi said:

but sometimes a simple display will suffice and it would just be that little bit nicer if you could tweak it a little to make it even nicer.

Sorry, if you want that, build it.

[jchd]

@roeselpi if you find a few dozens lines of AutoIt code something overhelming (according to your standard) I urge you to download a basic C compiler suite and code the thing you're after in pure C. Remember that C is still today the most prevalent language ever (in running lines of code).

Once you pass the 3500 lines of C you'll find forking AutoIt _ArrayDisplay() to clone and tune it to your needs is a piece of cake.

Hence when I used the word lazy I was right on track.