I know there are already posts about it, but I had a hard time finding anything really effective...
I am developing a small application that displays an balloon tip with a custom caption and icon.
I know how to use the TTrayIcon component and the Shell_NotifyIcon function. But now I have seen this thing (it is displayed when connecting the printer):
It has features like a standard balloon tip (appears and disappears like a balloon and is also displayed in the notification area):
Can anyone give direction on how one can create such a balloon (or a standard window with similar features, by using AnimateWindow and the like?
(I do not need it to appear in the notification area as in the second image)
Related
I'm trying to figure out a way to add a TButton inside a TTrayIcon Balloon Hint.
Is that possible?
Application description and goal:
Basically my software detects when a USB device is connected to the computer
and automatically pops up a balloon hint which notifies the user that
a new device has been connected.
What should happen next is to ask the user "Do you want to execute operation A or operation B?",
and I'd like to give the user fast access to the options directly inside the ballooon hint.
What I have tried:
Googling a lot, but no success, because there is no info about how to access the balloon hint interface in any way.
I am using Delphi XE2 on Windows 8.
TTrayIcon is a wrapper for Shell_NotifyIcon(), which does not support custom controls in its popup notifications.
You will have to create your own popup window. You can use Shell_NotifyIconGetRect() if you want to position it relative to the tray icon. Just be aware that system tray icons can be hidden by the user, so be prepared that you may have to position your popup window without knowing where the icon is located at times.
I'm trying to activate Hint from control of different application created from delphi upon focus, I'm using hook to identify the focused control, and then use WM_MOUSEMOVE, which I think will activate the Hint of that control, the handle would be the Control itself and the lParam is the Left and Top of the Control. The Control activate the OnMouseMove Event, but the Hint never shows. but when I use SetCursorPos, Hint show, but I need to show the Hint with out the cursor move on that Control. Can you please help me with this? Thank you in advance... by the way I'm using Delphi XE4
Among the really asked question is how to show the hint of a control that resides on another application (i am afraid without hook that application can not be done), the title is "Delphi - Activating the Hint from another control of Application".
First is first: That can be done without knowing what language the other app was done, but it is very complex to put it here (and i am not an expert on such way of coding, also i hate apps that work that way).
Second: The main idea is to hook the other application, search on Google some code of that apps, that can show you a rectangular hole square of the object the mouse is passing over, that application while doing it is iconized (i do not remember the name of it).
Waht such app does: As you move the mouse over the screen it overlays a rectangular over the control that mouse is over, then if you press the key to print screen, that small region is the only thing that goes to clipboard; on of such apps i saw had an extra funcion, they can move such controls if you press cursors on keyboard, also can hide/enable/disable such control... more, it can also make controls that are invisible to be visible, etc... i saw it working on my computer, and hey, for fun it is pretty and to DeBug or get extra things on some apps is also great (make some menús to be visible and enabled and then can use such funtions).
Please, please, understand i am agaist piracy and also against using such apps to let code to be run... some apps need pay for letting some menus enabled, but they have the code there, no need to change EXE to have/use that menus; just using this kind of apps makes that limited apps to be unlimited (just enable or show hidden menus and voila).
Note: To unhide menus, mouse point is not needed to be over the app, can be anywhere and is not moved.
The idea i want to say is: Any app can move, alter any control on any other app (at least on Windows) that is running, so maybe there can be a way to show such hint.
In the past i had use such app (sorry i do not remember the name) for DeBug my own apps, so i do not need to recompile in such cases where something was wrongly hidden, also work with buttons, labels, texts, combos, memos, etc.
Now my small problem is: I just need exactly what title say, but i can not make it to work.
Must be:
Mouse position must be irrelevant (it also must be able to be outside the application)
Just when a button that has focus is pressed with keyboard (Space or Enter) or just after some code somewhere on my application, i want to show the Hint of a specific TEdit for a short period of time.
I did not get Hint to be shown; not unless mouse point is over such TEdit but i want/need mouse pointer to not be over it, neither it to jump to the TEdit.
Idea Conept for that Hint to be shown: After doing some code that changes something, show extra info associated.
Example:
A button with that loads a file using an open dialog, filename is put on a ReadOnly TEdit (so it let user copy the text, but not change it); i want extra info that i punt on .Hint of such TEdit to be shown inmediatly.
That hint use is for not overload window with a lot of fields (TLabels) for showing such file data.
Simple idea: such Hint shows TimeStamp and size of the selected file.
P.D.: Not much related (since i am trying with a normal plain text hint), but hints can also store a full HTML page and with 3rd party tools be shown as an HTMLhint, so they can show a lot info of that file (also its content, etc) in a web based format; as i say i first try with standard plain text hints.
In order to show hint programatically you need to call TApplications ActivateHint method to which you specify the position parameter.
http://docwiki.embarcadero.com/Libraries/XE3/en/Vcl.Forms.TApplication.ActivateHint
Based on position parameter Application automatically finds which controll is at that position and shows its hint.
NOTE: Position parameter screen coordinates in pixels and not your controll coordinates. So you will have to use ClientToScreen method to change your coordinates apropriately.
You can see simple example of how to use this here: https://stackoverflow.com/a/15031208/3636228
Now if you need to do this from another application then you will have to add some comunication mechanizm to these two application so that one could send a proper message to tell the other to show the hint at specific position. But this does require you to be able to change both applications.
EDIT: This works with VCL applications but I'm not sure if it would work with FireMonkey applications.
I have an interesting observation and question, but first a comment. I have been using Delphi for 14 years and have taken a job developing an iOS mobile application using XE5. This is my first time using FMX and frankly I feel like I am stepping back in time many moons ago. In other words, if this is the future, then it feels like I have crippled. No problem though. Roll with the punches. Developing in this brave new world is not just a job. It is an adventure.
Now my question. Start a FMX mobile project using the "Header/Footer with Navigation" as your base. Then add an edit control (Edit1) to the first tab item. Then set the tab control align to none and move it to the right until you can clearly see the form itself. Then add an edit control (Edit2) to the form.
Now set the form's active control to Edit1 and run the app - no focus on Edit1. Now set the form's active control to Edit2 and run the app - focus is placed on Edit2. Interesting. Tab is a foreign word to tablets, right? Why have active control or even setfocus available? Is this an oversight by Embarcadero? Any thoughts?
Long story short I think they both have potential uses.
I use the SetFocus call to manually show the keyboard. Lets say the user navigates to a page where they're 100% sure to be putting in their username (or any text), I'll use ctrl.SetFocus to show the keyboard just to save them having to click (or is it press now?) on the edit.
I don't see ActiveControl being as useful, but it could definitely still be used. You could possibly use it to set up some sort of tabbing like structure for when the user presses Next on the keyboard (when the edit's ReturnKeyType is rkNext).
In android, there is a function call Toast and it show instantly without involve in time. I tried to use Status in RIM but it must run in the invokeLater and cannot set the time less than 1 second. So it cannot display instantly.
Any other built in that same with Toast or Status?
No there is not afaik. Toast was "invented" in a way by Android.
Previous OS's have used popup boxes with confirmation buttons. A Toast is almost like a popup box with a timer attached to it.
Of course, #Signare gives the common replacement correctly for what you would "normally" do on BlackBerry. Dialog.alert(String)
If you want something more "Androidy", this is something we want to implement at Cobi, but have not gotten around to yet due to time constraints working on client work.
There are 2 unique aspects to a Toast compared to the "old" way of doing things:
the popup only shows for a short time
the popup does not block the user from interacting with the background screen at all
To create the popup screen, look at the PopupScreen class - and you pass in a layout manager of your own that will be displayed.
You could start a timer when the screen is shown (we have not implemented this yet) and that could close the screen for you.
As far as not blocking the user - this is the major difference - and I do not know if it can be done if you use the PopupScreen class. Perhaps if your PopupScreen passes all keypresses through to the underlying screen, this may be possible.
In some of our apps, we have a custom field, defined in our base MainScreen subclass, that can be positioned over the rest of the fields on the screen. This allows the user to continue interacting with the screen while the field is displayed. I cannot share that code at the moment here.
Windows in my application are popping up off the edge of the screen, and this of course is a problem because some of the windows are modal and can't be dismissed (you don't even know they are there).
I'm using the TurboPower Orpheus component which remembers the location and size of each form, then restores it when the form is shown again. It saves the size and placement in an INI file.
What can I do to prevent windows from ever showing off the side of the screen?
It's common for this sort of thing to happen if you use multiple monitors and then disconnect one, such as when undocking a laptop. Or if you dock a laptop to a screen with a higher resolution. Or use remote desktop, etc..
The remedy is to override the "remember my position" behavior with a sanity check, to see if the left+width exceeds the width of the screen (Screen.Monitors array, actually - thanks guys), and vice-versa for the top+height.
Ideally, you "bump" by subtracting the difference, so you're butting up against the edge that the window wanted to straddle.
Also, see if there are updates to Orpheus that fix this. If not, you can get the source, make the correction (optional), and contribute it back to the project. It's OSS, as I recall.
You may want to give a look at their DefaultMonitor property and read the code from TCustomForm.SetWindowToMonitor to see how to deal with positioning relatively to Screen.Monitors.
Use DefaultMonitor to associate a form with a particular monitor in a multi-monitor application. The following table lists the possible values:
Value Meaning
dmDesktop No attempt is made to position the form on a specific monitor.
dmPrimary The form is positioned on the first monitor listed in the global screen object's Monitors property.
dmMainForm The form appears on the same monitor as the application's main form.
dmActiveForm The form appears on the same monitor as the currently active form.
Note: DefaultMonitor has no effect if the application does not have a main form.
To recall the previous position of a form, without having it suddenly in an area which is no longer available (due to a plugged off screen or changed resolution), you just call
TForm.MakeFullyVisible;
That's it. See the documentation.