winsock "fred is typing." question :) [resolved]

[simonp]

Hi,

I have a winsock p2p chat app and want to replicate the common messenger feature that tells a user when the other is typing.

What do you think the best way to do this would be? I've tried playing with

Private Sub txtMessage_Change()

but with little or no luck.

Any ideas?

Simon

[SLH]

I suggest having a timer on the form, that looks at the current text in your textbox, if it changed from the last time it looked (and it's not empty), then send a small amount of data saying 'User is typing'.

[chemicalNova]

Probably best to set a timer, for say, 1 second, before you send the blank message. If you have 2 PC's next to each other, and have them both on msn, youll see that even when you stop typing, it doesn't automatically inform the other user.

Dim kDown As Boolean
 
Private Sub Timer1_Timer()
If Not kDown Then
'send the blank message
Else
'send the typing message
End If
End Sub 
 
Private Sub txtMessage_KeyDown(KeyCode As Integer, Shift As Integer)
kDown = True
End Sub
 
Private Sub txtMessage_KeyUp(KeyCode As Integer, Shift As Integer)
kDown = False
End Sub

It might not be the best way, but give it a shot..

Phreak

[leinad31]

Or reset the flag in the timer

Private IsTyping
 
Private Text1_Keypress(KeyAscii As Integer)
   IsTyping = True
End Sub
 
Private Timer1_Timer()
   If IsTyping Then
      WinSock.Send "Is typing."
      IsTyping = False  '<------
   Else
      Winsock.Send "No longer typing
   End If
End Sub

[simonp]

Thanks everyone.

leinad31 - your solution was great and is working perfectly.

Simon