How to increase TextCtrl size to fit its message?

wxPython Users
1

I’m creating a readonly TextCtrl in order to enabling copy its message. I want it to show the whole information at the very beginning but it doesn’t adjust its size. A hard-coded way may not be a good approach since message string length may vary. Attached is the code snippet that doesn’t work so well. Thanks!

···

#!/usr/bin/env python

“”“SizerTest - 'cause Sizer’s wx.EXPAND does not GROW “””

import wx

class SizerTest(wx.Frame):

def init(self):

wx.Frame.init(self, parent = None, id = wx.ID_ANY)

frame_box = wx.BoxSizer()

panel = wx.Panel(self, -1, style=wx.BORDER_SUNKEN)

self.text = wx.TextCtrl(panel, id=-1,

value=‘heiheiheihhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh’, style=wx.TE_READONLY|wx.NO_BORDER)

panel_box = wx.BoxSizer()

panel_box.Add(self.text, 1, wx.EXPAND | wx.ALL | wx.ALIGN_TOP)

panel.SetSizer(panel_box)

frame_box.Add(panel, 1, wx.EXPAND)

self.SetSizer(frame_box)

if name == ‘main’:

app = wx.App()

frame = SizerTest()

frame.Show(True)

import wx.lib.inspection

wx.lib.inspection.InspectionTool().Show()

app.MainLoop()

2

Does adding the wx.TE_MULTILINE flag to the TextCtrl get you what you want?

···

On Mon, Jun 3, 2013 at 8:38 PM, Yuming Cao <yuming.cao@cyaninc.com> wrote:

I'm creating a readonly TextCtrl in order to enabling copy its message. I
want it to show the whole information at the very beginning but it doesn't
adjust its size. A hard-coded way may not be a good approach since message
string length may vary. Attached is the code snippet that doesn't work so
well. Thanks!

3

Not really, since I’m trying display a selectable message dialog, most of the time, the text message is short, the textctrl’s behavior is kind of weird. If I set its size too large, the text alignment is strange, if too small, there’s scroll bar on the side, which is not ideal for a message box.

···

On Monday, June 3, 2013 9:41:24 PM UTC-7, Che M wrote:

On Mon, Jun 3, 2013 at 8:38 PM, Yuming Cao yumin...@cyaninc.com wrote:

I’m creating a readonly TextCtrl in order to enabling copy its message. I

want it to show the whole information at the very beginning but it doesn’t

adjust its size. A hard-coded way may not be a good approach since message

string length may vary. Attached is the code snippet that doesn’t work so

well. Thanks!

Does adding the wx.TE_MULTILINE flag to the TextCtrl get you what you want?

4

What do you mean by a "selectable" message dialog? What is the
purpose of the thing you are trying to create?

I don't think the TextCtrl's behavior is weird or the alignment is
strange; it strikes me as perfectly reasonable for a text control.
What is probably the issue is that you are using the wrong widget for
your purpose, unless you have a very long (paragraphs long) message to
display to the user, in which case then a TextCtrl might be
appropriate (for something almost like a README.txt file). For
shorter messages to the user, why not use StaticText (or, better yet,
see next point).

Is there a reason why the standard wx.MessageDialog, the
GenericMessageDialog or the ScrolledMessageDialog aren't sufficient
for your purposes?

Also, are you aware of the textwrap module, which can help to make
message widths look nicer by constraining them to something
reasonable, like 70 characters wide:

import sys
import textwrap
message = 'This message is pretty long if it is not wrapped to a ' \
                        'nicer length, so it is a good idea to
consider using textwrap ' \
                        'to shorten the length of it so that it looks
a bit better in the ' \
                        'messageDialog that you are using to display
this message.'

if sys.platform == "win32":
     lines = textwrap.wrap(message,70)
     message = "\n".join(lines)

dlg = wx.MessageDialog(self, message, 'wrapped msg'', wx.OK | wx.ICON_WARNING)

etc...

···

On Tue, Jun 4, 2013 at 1:41 PM, Yuming Cao <yuming.cao@cyaninc.com> wrote:

Not really, since I'm trying display a selectable message dialog, most of
the time, the text message is short, the textctrl's behavior is kind of
weird. If I set its size too large, the text alignment is strange, if too
small, there's scroll bar on the side, which is not ideal for a message box.

5

Previously I’m using createTextSizer to show message, in which the text msg is not able to be copied. Actually, statictext is also not working. So i’m doing wx.TR_READONLY to make textctrl ‘looks like’ statictext but also make selectable.

Thanks for the MessageDialog suggestion, but here I’m doing something generic and has my own dialog already. Actually the Messagebox is working perfect for me, so it would be perfect if somebody can help me figure how the text msg is handled in wx.MessageBox.

···

On Tuesday, June 4, 2013 10:55:33 AM UTC-7, Che M wrote:

On Tue, Jun 4, 2013 at 1:41 PM, Yuming Cao yumin...@cyaninc.com wrote:

Not really, since I’m trying display a selectable message dialog, most of

the time, the text message is short, the textctrl’s behavior is kind of

weird. If I set its size too large, the text alignment is strange, if too

small, there’s scroll bar on the side, which is not ideal for a message box.

What do you mean by a “selectable” message dialog? What is the

purpose of the thing you are trying to create?

I don’t think the TextCtrl’s behavior is weird or the alignment is

strange; it strikes me as perfectly reasonable for a text control.

What is probably the issue is that you are using the wrong widget for

your purpose, unless you have a very long (paragraphs long) message to

display to the user, in which case then a TextCtrl might be

appropriate (for something almost like a README.txt file). For

shorter messages to the user, why not use StaticText (or, better yet,

see next point).

Is there a reason why the standard wx.MessageDialog, the

GenericMessageDialog or the ScrolledMessageDialog aren’t sufficient

for your purposes?

Also, are you aware of the textwrap module, which can help to make

message widths look nicer by constraining them to something

reasonable, like 70 characters wide:

import sys

import textwrap

message = 'This message is pretty long if it is not wrapped to a ’ \

                    'nicer length, so it is a good idea to

consider using textwrap ’ \

                    'to shorten the length of it so that it looks

a bit better in the ’ \

                    'messageDialog that you are using to display

this message.’

if sys.platform == “win32”:

 lines = textwrap.wrap(message,70)

 message = "\n".join(lines)

dlg = wx.MessageDialog(self, message, ‘wrapped msg’', wx.OK | wx.ICON_WARNING)

etc…

6

What do you mean "how the text msg is handled"? You have to be really
explicit and spell out everything when you ask questions on a
forum--we're not mind readers. :smiley:

···

On Tue, Jun 4, 2013 at 3:39 PM, Yuming Cao <yuming.cao@cyaninc.com> wrote:

Previously I'm using createTextSizer to show message, in which the text msg
is not able to be copied. Actually, statictext is also not working. So i'm
doing wx.TR_READONLY to make textctrl 'looks like' statictext but also make
selectable.

Thanks for the MessageDialog suggestion, but here I'm doing something
generic and has my own dialog already. Actually the Messagebox is working
perfect for me, so it would be perfect if somebody can help me figure how
the text msg is handled in wx.MessageBox.

7

The message inside MessageBox dialog can be selected, the dialog can adjust its size according to text string’s length, I’m wondering what utility it is using to show the message and how sizers are initialized, is there a place to look into the source code?

···

On Tuesday, June 4, 2013 12:56:03 PM UTC-7, Che M wrote:

On Tue, Jun 4, 2013 at 3:39 PM, Yuming Cao yumin...@cyaninc.com wrote:

Previously I’m using createTextSizer to show message, in which the text msg

is not able to be copied. Actually, statictext is also not working. So i’m

doing wx.TR_READONLY to make textctrl ‘looks like’ statictext but also make

selectable.

Thanks for the MessageDialog suggestion, but here I’m doing something

generic and has my own dialog already. Actually the Messagebox is working

perfect for me, so it would be perfect if somebody can help me figure how

the text msg is handled in wx.MessageBox.

What do you mean “how the text msg is handled”? You have to be really

explicit and spell out everything when you ask questions on a

forum–we’re not mind readers. :smiley:

8

The key is the GetMultiLineTextExtent function, but you need a
device context and font for it.
This worked for me:
(you may need to add to the dimensions a little, depending on
borders and stuff…)
class TextDisplayFrame(wx.Frame):
“”“TextDisplayFrame is a simple text display frame class
which should only be used if the text will fit on the
screen in a window. Anything needing scrollbars should use something else.
“””
def init(self,*args,**kwds):
if “title” in kwds:
self.title = kwds[“title”]
else:
self.title = “Text Frame”
kwds[“title”]=self.title
if “text” in kwds:
self.text = kwds[“text”]
del kwds[“text”]
else:
self.text = “No Text Given”
kwds[“style”] = wx.DEFAULT_FRAME_STYLE
wx.Frame.init(self,*args,**kwds)
panel = wx.Panel(self,wx.ID_ANY)
text = wx.StaticText(panel,wx.ID_ANY,self.text)
font = wx.Font(10, wx.MODERN, wx.NORMAL, wx.NORMAL, False,
u’Console’)
text.SetFont(font)
dc = wx.WindowDC(panel)
(width,height,other) =
dc.GetMultiLineTextExtent(self.text,text.GetFont())
panel.SetSize((width,height))
self.Fit()
self.Show()

···

On 6/4/2013 4:37 PM, Yuming Cao wrote:

  The message inside MessageBox dialog can be selected,

the dialog can adjust its size according to text string’s length,
I’m wondering what utility it is using to show the message and
how sizers are initialized, is there a place to look into the
source code?

  On Tuesday, June 4, 2013 12:56:03 PM UTC-7, Che M wrote:

    On Tue,

Jun 4, 2013 at 3:39 PM, Yuming Cao <yumin...@cyaninc.com >
wrote:

    > Previously I'm using createTextSizer to show message, in

which the text msg

    > is not able to be copied. Actually, statictext is also not

working. So i’m

    > doing wx.TR_READONLY to make textctrl 'looks like'

statictext but also make

    > selectable.


    >


    > Thanks for the MessageDialog suggestion, but here I'm doing

something

    > generic and has my own dialog already. Actually the

Messagebox is working

    > perfect for me, so it would be perfect if somebody can help

me figure how

    > the text msg is handled in wx.MessageBox.




    What do you mean "how the text msg is handled"?  You have to be

really

    explicit and spell out everything when you ask questions on a


    forum--we're not mind readers. :D

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9

Thanks Rufus, GetMultiLineText works, but only when I’m not using boxsizer, since i have pic to add to the same dialog, i’m not sure how to SetSize while I’m using sizer.

···

On Tuesday, June 4, 2013 2:34:38 PM UTC-7, Rufus wrote:

On 6/4/2013 4:37 PM, Yuming Cao wrote:

  The message inside MessageBox dialog can be selected,

the dialog can adjust its size according to text string’s length,
I’m wondering what utility it is using to show the message and
how sizers are initialized, is there a place to look into the
source code?

  On Tuesday, June 4, 2013 12:56:03 PM UTC-7, Che M wrote:

    On Tue, > > > Jun 4, 2013 at 3:39 PM, Yuming Cao <yumin...@cyaninc.com        > > > > wrote:


    > Previously I'm using createTextSizer to show message, in

which the text msg

    > is not able to be copied. Actually, statictext is also not

working. So i’m

    > doing wx.TR_READONLY to make textctrl 'looks like'

statictext but also make

    > selectable.


    >


    > Thanks for the MessageDialog suggestion, but here I'm doing

something

    > generic and has my own dialog already. Actually the

Messagebox is working

    > perfect for me, so it would be perfect if somebody can help

me figure how

    > the text msg is handled in wx.MessageBox.




    What do you mean "how the text msg is handled"?  You have to be

really

    explicit and spell out everything when you ask questions on a


    forum--we're not mind readers. :D

–

  You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google

Groups “wxPython-users” group.

  To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it,

send an email to wxpython-user...@googlegroups.com.

  For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out).

The key is the GetMultiLineTextExtent function, but you need a

device context and font for it.

This worked for me:

(you may need to add to the dimensions a little, depending on

borders and stuff…)

class TextDisplayFrame(wx.Frame):

    """TextDisplayFrame  is a simple text display frame class

       which should only be used if the text will fit on the

       screen in a window. 

       Anything needing scrollbars should use something else.

    """

   

    def __init__(self,*args,**kwds):

        if "title" in kwds:

            self.title = kwds["title"]

        else:

            self.title = "Text Frame"

            kwds["title"]=self.title



        if "text" in kwds:

            self.text = kwds["text"]

            del kwds["text"]

        else:

            self.text = "No Text Given"



        kwds["style"] = wx.DEFAULT_FRAME_STYLE

        wx.Frame.__init__(self,*args,**kwds)



        panel = wx.Panel(self,wx.ID_ANY)

        text = wx.StaticText(panel,wx.ID_ANY,self.text)

        font = wx.Font(10, wx.MODERN, wx.NORMAL, wx.NORMAL, False,

u’Console’)

        text.SetFont(font)

        dc = wx.WindowDC(panel)

        (width,height,other) =

dc.GetMultiLineTextExtent(self.text,text.GetFont())

        panel.SetSize((width,height))

        self.Fit()

        self.Show()