Right to left

[israr]

I wanted a right-to-left edit box for an Arabic application in visual basic and i got it, the code for it is :

first set the alignment of the text box to right

then add the following code to the change() event of the text box

Text1.SelStart=0

but the problem is that it takes the cursor to the start of the textbox, it does not add the character to before the current character position.

what shall i do in this case....

[jjortiz]

It works fine. You want to make the cursor move right when a character is typed.

[israr]

Is there another way to insert a character to the right when the character is typed.

other than "text1.selstart=0"

[jjortiz]

To the right just leave the Default Properties. Or what you mean is to the Left.

[israr]

when the enter is pressed the line is feeded at the top not at the bottom,

please test it then you will understand.

[israr]

is there any api to move back the cursor one character.

[jjortiz]

Ok i got what you are saying. Let me see if i can come up with something

[Jotaf98]

I MADE IT!

It works sooo good

Here's the code. Remember to make it multi-line and right-aligned

Private Sub Text1_KeyPress(KeyAscii As Integer)
    If KeyAscii = vbKeyBack Then
        Text1.SelLength = 1
        Text1.SelText = ""
    ElseIf KeyAscii = vbKeyReturn Then
        Dim i As Long
        For i = Text1.SelStart + 1 To Len(Text1.Text) - 1
            If Mid(Text1.Text, i, 1) = vbCr Then
                Exit For
            End If
        Next i
        Text1.SelStart = i
        Text1.SelLength = 0
        Text1.SelText = vbCrLf
    Else
        Text1.SelText = Chr(KeyAscii)
        Text1.SelStart = Text1.SelStart - 1
    End If
    
    KeyAscii = 0
End Sub

That's been tested on a Portuguese system, not Arabian. But it should work (I can write backwards ).

{EDIT}

Sorry, I mispelled "good" and wrote Arabian without the capped "A"
(Sorry, but I'm a perfectionist )

[Joacim Andersson]

If you're using an Arabic locals you should be able to simply set the RightToLeft property to True.

[Jotaf98]

Yeah, but what's the fun of it? What about if his system is not Arabic?

[Joacim Andersson]

Well if your making an Arabic application the chances that your using an Arabic system locals is pretty hight, don't you think?

[israr]

thank's alot.

[israr]

Thnks Jotaf but there is one another problem,

When the no of characters exceeds the width there is a problem,
I cant say it in words, you can check it your self,Would you please.

[Jotaf98]

Ok, but I can't check it out until I get home 'cause I'm at school right now

[israr]

Hey jotaf98 did you get home......

[Jotaf98]

Yeah, sorry - I forgot about this thread

I thought that was exactly what you wanted to happen. I mean, it passes the first (right-most) word to the end of the next line... isn't that how it should be in Arabic? What do you want it to be like?

[israr]

No only in this case it shall act like english, I mean that the last (left-most) word should go to the new line...

[israr]

Did you understand!

[MidgetsBro]

why are Arabians backwards anyway?! They should type like everyone else. Not trying to be racist or anything.

[Joacim Andersson]

Originally posted by MidgetsBro
why are Arabians backwards anyway?! They should type like everyone else. Not trying to be racist or anything.

There is actually more people in the world that, if they can write , types from right to left or from top to bottom and right to left then there is people typing left to right...
Just think of all the chinese in the world....

[Jotaf98]

Hum... well... I tried fixing it, but with no luck

The only thing I managed to pull out of it was checking if the current line is bigger than the width of the textbox. Does anyone have any idea as to what should I do once I get this?

[BrianHawley]

Everybody writes right-to-left (at least numbers) because we stole the Arabic system when we found Roman numerals unsuited to calculation. Never wondered why numerals are described as Arabic or Roman? Anyway, write down a list of 6 digit numbers. Add them up. Which way did you write the answer? Right-to-left! Strangely most Arabs now use Hindi numerals, not Arabic ones. And they write down telephone numbers the same way Westerners do.

[Jotaf98]

Heh, never thought of that
Yeah, you're right, but when you're reading a number, eg.: 39, you read from left to right, "thirty-nine"

[BrianHawley]

Err... yes, you're right. Can't think of a snappy reply to that one.

Tried your cat experiment. Doesn't work. Cat lands right side up, presumably proving that the cat has more effect than the toast. Maybe something to do with having nine lives (is the cat running multiple threads?). I want to try again with nine slices of toast but I can't find a cat big enough.

[Jotaf98]

Try tiny ones instead

[israr]

I am stucked

What shall I do know.

[BrianHawley]

If you are trying to write a right-to-left application to run under a version of Windows that does not support right-to-left, then with all proper respect to you, I think you are wasting your time.

There are a HUGE number of things to consider in right-to-left languages, and Microsoft has already done it all and provided it all in the Arabic version of Windows (which runs Urdu applications pretty well).

We wrote the first Arabic layer for Windows 3.11, way back years ago. It took us three man-years to do it, and it was a complete waste of time because Arabic Windows came out soon later.

If you make a VB app to run on Windows Arabic, then all you need to do is Text1.RightToLeft= True, and you have exactly what you need. Also handles all the other stuff automatically for you, like mixed Arabic/English, numbers (Roman, Hindi or contextual), cut and paste of Arabic/Latin text, ligatures, diacritics, hot keyboard switching, etc.. etc... It's just not practical to try to write it yourself. It would take months and months, and its all been done already for you anyway.