[RESOLVED] Split Database data into label size

Hi All,

I Hope someone can advise me and what I need to do to get this to work.

I have a database that has a field called SELDescription and this can be upto 100 chrs long (hold the description of a product) for example

JOHNSONS BABY COTTON BUDS 100PK

At the moment I can get the first 18 chrs so I would have "JOHNSONS BABY COTT" but I would like it so if a word is cut off half way for that to be placed onto the next line

so the label would look like this


JOHNSONS BABY
COTTON BUDS 100PK

and not

JOHNSONS BABY COTT
ON BUDS 100PK

Any advice would be welcomed as the label code has 5 lines of text I can use. (they are called LabDescriptionLine1 - Line5)

Why would you have five Labels? Just use one Label and it will wrap automatically exactly how you want. Just add a single Label to your form, set AutoSize to False and then set the Size appropriately. The rest is automatic when you set the Text.

Thanks for the replay but I do not think I have explain myself clear enough

The Labels are not on the applications they are a Physical label that I print on a Zebra Thermal Printer (and it does not support Word wrapping)

So you can see why I have asked this question now

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AndyGable

So you can see why I have asked this question now

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It's amazing what a difference providing all the relevant details can make. You should look into the String.LastIndexOf method. It will enable you to find the last index of the space character before a specific index in the original String. That will tell you where to make the first cut, and you can then continue doing the same thing for the next set of characters. Before you throw your hands up and cry that that's too hard for someone of your experience level, try working out the logic first, which requires no programming experience, and then writing code to implement the logic. You'll have a much better chance of succeeding that way. If it doesn't work in the end, we can always help further but at least you can give it a go.

Hi everyone,

I have been working on this problem for a few days and I think I have almost cracked it but I need someone to advice me on the last part

https://www.vbforums.com/images/ieimages/2020/11/1.png

As you can see I have managed to arrange the label over the "virtual shelf label" but for some reason instead of the code using the last label (number 4) it jumps to label5

below is my code that i have come up with to this point

Code:

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        Dim i As Integer = 1

        Label1.Text = ListBox1.Items(0).ToString

        Me.Refresh()
        labelName = "label" & i

        For i = 1 To ListBox1.Items.Count - 1

            If Len(Me.Controls(labelName).Text) <= 20 Then
                If (Len(Me.Controls(labelName).Text) + Len(ListBox1.Items(i).ToString) + 1) <= 20 Then
                    Me.Controls(labelName).Text += " " & ListBox1.Items(i).ToString
                    Me.Refresh()
                Else
                    labelName = "label" & (i + 1)
                    Me.Controls(labelName).Text = ListBox1.Items(i).ToString
                    Me.Refresh()
                End If
            End If
        Next

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If someone can spot where I have gone wrong I would most appreciate it

That last line has what appears to be one very long word. Could you give it a test where the - is replaced with a space?

I'd say what is happening is that you are seeing an artifact of the data you happen to be using. A very long word following a very long item is causing the inner condition to jump to the else when you didn't want it to. A bit of debugging will tell you that for certain. Just put a breakpoint on the For and step through the iterations of the loop. When you get to the iteration that is causing you the trouble, you can either step into the conditionals to see the path that is taken (which will not be the path you wanted it to take), or you can look at the variables to see why that path is taken...or both, of course.

This happens with word wrapping. Very long words cause ugly results.

Also, you might as well get rid of Len. That's a legacy from earlier VB. In .NET, the .Length property of the string is the preferred means of getting the length of a string.

Hi Everyone

I have sorted the issue

I had to change

Code:

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labelName = "label" & (i + 1)

---

to

Code:

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Select Case labelName
                                Case "label1"
                                    labelName = "label2"

                                Case "label2"
                                    labelName = "label3"

                                Case "label3"
                                    labelName = "label4"

                                Case "label4"
                                    labelName = "label5"
                            End Select

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by AndyGable

I had to change

Code:

---

labelName = "label" & (i + 1)

---

to

Code:

---

Select Case labelName
                                Case "label1"
                                    labelName = "label2"

                                Case "label2"
                                    labelName = "label3"

                                Case "label3"
                                    labelName = "label4"

                                Case "label4"
                                    labelName = "label5"
                            End Select

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I'm not sure what you should have done - haven't looked closely enough - but I can tell you that it definitely wasn't that. That would not be the best way to do anything.

@ Andy

you should be using the Stringbuilder for that kind of stuff,
here a small sample

Code:

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Option Strict On

Public Class Form2

    Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
        Debug.Print(myStringLenght(TextBox1.Text, 18))
    End Sub

    Private Sub Form2_Load(sender As System.Object, e As System.EventArgs) Handles MyBase.Load
        'TextBox1.Text = "JOHNSONS BABY COTTON BUDS 100PK"
        TextBox1.Text = "Astonisch Antibacteriel Surface Cleaner Spray-750ml"
    End Sub

    Function myStringLenght(ByVal Text As String, ByVal nLenght As Integer) As String
        Dim sb As New System.Text.StringBuilder
        Dim xLenght As Integer = nLenght
        For Each xWord As String In Text.Split({" "c}, StringSplitOptions.None)
            If xWord.Length < xLenght Then
                sb.AppendFormat(xWord & " ")
                xLenght -= xWord.Length - 1
            ElseIf xWord.Length = xLenght Then
                sb.AppendFormat(xWord & vbCrLf)
                xLenght = nLenght
            Else
                sb.AppendFormat(vbCrLf & xWord & " ")
                xLenght = nLenght - xWord.Length - 1
            End If
        Next
        Return sb.ToString
    End Function
End Class

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the debug output

Code:

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Astonisch
Antibacteriel
Surface Cleaner
Spray-750ml

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play a bit with it, and set the lenght from 18 to ....