Can you format an entry to act like a text (multi-line)

questions tips
1

I am relatively new to Clarion (using it for about 9 months) and I am trying to figure out how to use an entry control (for “notes”), but with multiple lines, like a text control.

I need to use the entry (vs the text) because I need the IMM property for updating another field while typing in the entry field (for a character counter).

I was using the text control, but it would only update my character counter when I accepted the changes of the “notes” field. I need the count to be realtime.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

2

Not a direct answer to your question, but you could use TIMER(25) and EVENT:Timer to update the character counter 4 times a second.

This works:

  PROGRAM

  MAP
  END

LOC:TEXT STRING(1000)
Window              WINDOW('Caption'),AT(,,215,146),GRAY,FONT('Segoe UI',9),TIMER(25)
                      TEXT,AT(9,8,175,81),USE(LOC:TEXT)
                      STRING('String1'),AT(11,94,177),USE(?STRING1)
                      STRING('String2'),AT(12,108,182),USE(?STRING2)
                      BUTTON('&OK'),AT(9,126,41,14),USE(?OkButton),STD(STD:Close)
                    END
  CODE
  
  OPEN(Window)
  ACCEPT
    CASE EVENT()
      OF EVENT:Timer
        ?STRING1{PROP:Text} = 'ScreenText:'&LEN(?LOC:TEXT{PROP:ScreenText})
        UPDATE(?LOC:TEXT)
        ?STRING2{PROP:Text} = 'LOC:Text: '&LEN(CLIP(LOC:TEXT))
    END
  END
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3

SubClass the Text control and watch for the WM_Char messages messages. See PROP:WndProc. GetWindowTextLength() will give you the Length using the control Handle passed to the sub class proc. Use SetWindowText to put the Length into a String control right in the SubClass procedure.

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