[RESOLVED] [2005] Scrolling Label Text

I have been searching the form for a way to scroll text in a label control kinda like a marquee. I found the following code:

Code:

---

        Static counter As Integer = 0

        Dim scrollingText As String = "This is some scrolling text that I want to see"
        If counter = scrollingText.Length Then counter = 0
        lblPlaying.Text = scrollingText.Substring(counter) & scrollingText & scrollingText & scrollingText
        counter += 1

---

The problem I am having is this is not a clean scroll... It is scrolling character for character on the left side of the label but the right side of label is displaying word by word.

Any idea how to fix this?

use textbox. i have seen this before.

try using a textbox. set .readonly to true + .borderstyle to none

I was trying to stay away from a text box because I need the control to accept a transparent background.

you won't get a real transparent background with either a label or a textbox

No that is physically moving the control on the form. I just need to move the text. Reason being is if the text is to long for the label control, I just want to scroll it.

That is still not clean at all. It scrolls per word, not per character.

a textbox scrolls how you want it to

Yeah, I could use a textbox but it does not allow the background to be transparent.

I am NOW working on a control that will allow me to have a marquee, my math appears to be a little off.

Can someone see if they see what is wrong?

Attached is the solution.


EDIT: UPDATED CONTROL BELOW

Here is my Marquee control. Glad to have this done. Hope this helps someone too.

EDIT: UPDATED CONTROL BELOW

Hi,

Thanks for your control .. can you make the same control but then scroll from right to left? .. or just tell me what i should change..

Thanks in advanced

Here is an updated version that does scroll left to right.

Be sure that you use true type fonts with this control. I have seen some issues with non TTFs.

EDIT: UPDATED CONTROL BELOW

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by .NetNinja

Here is an updated version that does scroll left to right.

Be sure that you use true type fonts with this control. I have seen some issues with non TTFs.

---

i thought it had a transparent background?

fast reply .. your original scrolled from left to right .. i need it from right to left

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Amien

fast reply .. your original scrolled from left to right .. i need it from right to left

---

Let me look into making a property for scroll direction.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by .paul.

i thought it had a transparent background?

---

It does have a transparent background if you set the background color to transparent.

thats a transparent background color. i.e. not really transparent, as i told you in post #5:D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by .NetNinja

Let me look into making a property for scroll direction.

---

Thanks ... not to push you or anything .. but if its not too much to ask :)

and can this also be done with the control:

i need to change the MarqueeText right after the last letter is of the screen .. i'm planning on binding Marqueetext to a dynamic xml file

Well, that would take a major add-in for the control to cycle through an array or list of text you want to display. I will look into it though. Might not be to bad to manage.

It will take me a little time also, this control was mainly written for another application I am working on, just give me a little time. Hopefully by tomorrow I will have something put together.

Private Sub loadthenews()
Dim readXML As New XmlTextReader("e:\news.xml")
While readXML.Read()
If readXML.NodeType = XmlNodeType.Text Then
ScrollingMarquee1.MarqueeText += " " & readXML.Value

End If
End While
End Sub

I have this in my app to load the xml text. this loads the text on form_load..

i need to reload the news on the moment that the text cycles .. i could build a timer to reload the text every 10 min ..

is it also possible that, if the text is gone on the right .. that the text appears letter for letter again on the left .. at this moment when the text is gone of the left .. the full text appears again in the scrollbar and then starts scrolling ..

btw .. was this changed in the new version .. cause i thought on the old version the text appeared letter for letter of the left.

sorry for the spam...

would i be possible to build a Thread.Sleep(3000) but that the Text keeps scrolling?

not on the same thread

Above the marquee i have a picturebox. that picturebox has a random picture from a certain directory. i want to refresh that picturebox after a few seconds with a new random picture. this while the marquee keeps on running without delay.

Do While UserWantsOut = False

Dim Files() As String = Directory.GetFiles("C:/tmp/")
Dim Gen = New System.Random(My.Computer.Clock.TickCount)

Application.DoEvents()
PictureBox2.Image = Image.FromFile(Files(Gen.Next(1, Files.Length).ToString))

'Label1.Text = Files(Gen.Next(1, Files.Length).ToString)

Loop

For some reason Picturebox2 hangs after a few seconds .. while Label1 keeps on running

For scrolling text you may want to take a look at the link in my signature.

i solved the Thread.Sleep(3000) problem with a Timer2 .. works fine

Attached is the new source code for the Marquee control. It allows you to set which direction you want the text to scroll by setting ScrollLeftToRight to True or False.

EDIT: UPDATED CONTROL BELOW

works fine NetNinja .. Thanks

can you please reponse to #22?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Amien

works fine NetNinja .. Thanks

can you please reponse to #22?

---

To you answer your question, if I understand correctly, it should be doing that in this version.

when the text is at the end .. the control is cleared completely .. i want to text to scroll completely of the screen .. and then the last letter of the text is of the screen .. then the text should start again on the right side...

thanks so far btw .. great help

What size is the control on your form?
What font are you using?

EDIT:
I have noticed an issue when the font size and/or name is changed. To account for this you might want to modify the calculation (y = -5 * -x) in the tmrMain_Tick subroutine. This will vary on a case by case basis. That is one of the reason I provided this in full source. If a universal solution is found I will post an update to the source.

Note on a variations on the calculation, only the static value (-5) needs to be modified, the variables should remained untouched.

you should write a "Direction" property in it, so it can scroll right to left as well as left to right

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by .NetNinja

What size is the control on your form?
What font are you using?

EDIT:
I have noticed an issue when the font size and/or name is changed. To account for this you might want to modify the calculation (y = -5 * -x) in the tmrMain_Tick subroutine. This will vary on a case by case basis. That is one of the reason I provided this in full source. If a universal solution is found I will post an update to the source.

Note on a variations on the calculation, only the static value (-5) needs to be modified, the variables should remained untouched.

---

Thanks .. i'v solved it also by adding a few spaces to the end of ScrollingMarquee1.MarqueeText

Okay the new version has a property for text direction. Also now all fonts and font sizes work. Also it will scroll like a "true" marquee, and will NOT start at the first few characters of the text.

tested it .. works.. again great job

"Well, that would take a major add-in for the control to cycle through an array or list of text you want to display. I will look into it though. Might not be to bad to manage."

I'v add a timer .. that reads a xml file every x-seconds .. and then updates ScrollingMarquee1.MarqueeText. but the text is not updated and the marquee is getting really slow ..

Do you have any sample code of how you are doing that?

Great control! I think you should post it in the CodeBank!

@jmcilhinney: The scrolling text link in your signature is missing the C# link.

Code:

---

Timer1.Enabled = True
Timer1.Interval = 5000

---

5000 is just for testing

Code:

---

Private Sub LoadTheNews()
        Dim readXML As New XmlTextReader("c:/tmp/news.xml")
        While readXML.Read()
            If readXML.NodeType = XmlNodeType.Text Then
                ScrollingMarquee1.MarqueeText += " " & readXML.Value
            End If
        End While
End Sub

---

Code:

---

Private Sub Timer1_Tick(ByVal sender As System.Object,  ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Timer1.Tick
    LoadTheNews()
End Sub

---

Its probably getting slow because of:

Code:

---

ScrollingMarquee1.MarqueeText += " " & readXML.Value

---

You are never clearing the text, so every 5 seconds the Text gets longer and longer.

Try:

Code:

---

Private Sub LoadTheNews()
        Dim readXML As New XmlTextReader("c:/tmp/news.xml")
        ScrollingMarquee1.MarqueeText = ""
        While readXML.Read()
            If readXML.NodeType = XmlNodeType.Text Then
                ScrollingMarquee1.MarqueeText += " " & readXML.Value
            End If
        End While
End Sub

---

___________________________________________________________________________
@obi1kenobi

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by obi1kenobi

Great control! I think you should post it in the CodeBank!

---

Thanks! I probably will put it in the code bank.

lol .. i'm afraid your right .. changed .. and scrolling is good now .. text is also updated

off topic:

what would happen if the xml is saved at the same time that the xml script from above is reading the file .. would the scroll text/interface hang?

i should make a script to test this ..

Not really sure. You could get an Access Denied on either side.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by obi1kenobi

Great control! I think you should post it in the CodeBank!

@jmcilhinney: The scrolling text link in your signature is missing the C# link.

---

Yeah, that's on purpose because I haven't written the C# version yet. Now's as good a time as any I suppose...

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jmcilhinney

Yeah, that's on purpose because I haven't written the C# version yet. Now's as good a time as any I suppose...

---

...Done.

when i use larget text with quit a few chars .. and the texts is totally away on one side ... it takes quit some time before the text appears again on the other side .. the marquee control is empty for a few seconds .. any ideas? is this coded in the marquee control itself?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Amien

when i use larget text with quit a few chars .. and the texts is totally away on one side ... it takes quit some time before the text appears again on the other side .. the marquee control is empty for a few seconds .. any ideas? is this coded in the marquee control itself?

---

Is that directed to me or jmcilhinney?

If it is towards me it probably has something to do with the math on the OnPaint event. I'll take a look at it tomorrow.

What font and size are you using?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by .NetNinja

Is that directed to me or jmcilhinney?

---

Yeah, especially in long threads it's a good idea to quote the post you're referring to. Even if you think it's obvious that you're referring to the one directly above, there's no guarantee that someone else won't slip a post in just before you.

your right .. the message was too .NetNinja
font is calibri .. size 36

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Amien

your right .. the message was too .NetNinja
font is calibri .. size 36

---

I used one that was around 85 characters long. With the font details your provided and I am not seeing a delay. What is the size of the control? Do you sample string you are using?

size: 1270; 74

i'm using about 220 chars .. the more chars i use the longer the cap. When i use only a few chars .. i have no problem. looks like the longer the string .. the longer the cap

I'm honestly not seeing an issue with it. I just did a sample string with 220 characters with no problem.

Hope you don't mind i changed it up a bit to scroll up and down.

thanks a lot man.

how about a 'marquee' inside of a listview cell or datagridview cell?
this would be sweet. then you could set the width of the column to avoid nasty scrollbars and if the text extends past the visible area, then it marquees.

Good idea but perhaps it would be better suited to WPF since the marquee is quite a performance hog on older machines... It used 20% CPU on our old school computers :S

Hi all

can anyone post the sample app please how to use it ??


thx

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by .NetNinja

I'm honestly not seeing an issue with it. I just did a sample string with 220 characters with no problem.

---

So, I know this thread has been basically dead for over a year, but I've just stumbled across it; it's a great control, and I'm looking to accomplish something similar to what this does, with a few alterations...

I need two text fields, a "header" and a "body" (a bit like on the TV News, where "BREAKING NEWS " is the header and then "As usual, nothing newsworthy happened today" would be the body, but both in different colours.

Any idea whether this could be accomplished with a few modifications to this control, or would I have to start from scratch?

I've modified it to include (and concatonate) the header and body, but have got stuck on the different colours part.

Sorry if this is dragging up an old thread, and making you have to rack your brains about this control again, I'm fairly new to Custom Control writing!

Thanks

DamoUK

thats cool but how do you use this in your own app if you made a module/class with just the code to show the marque we could then import that file and use the function/sub??

Hi

this is great, it fits in what i have to do.

I have noticed one Bug that I think needs fixing.

If you enter more Text than the Size of the textLabel, it gets truncated in the Marquee.

Is this something that can be fixed.

So if the Label is 200 characters and you enter 300 in the property. Its gets truncated when run.

I plan to adopt it for a Multi screen enviroment, where I hope its can be strectched asone continious scroll. It may not be an issue for me, but its does show up on a single screen

Steve

You might want to consider WPF for that, actually... Repeated multi-screen-size drawing on CPU is making me shudder just thinking about it :)