[wxPython-users] first time using styled text ctrl...

[Josiah Carlson]

Jeff Peery <jeffpeery at yahoo.com> wrote:
> hello, I'm for the first time using a styledtxtctrl and I'm not sure  exactly how this works. I read the docs but they don't seem to start  with 'newbie' basics... nevertheless I managed to get some of the  functionality I want. I have a slider bar that I want to slide and as I  slide it a length of 5 characters is highlighted in the styled text  ctrl.... here is basically what I do now:
>   
>   def OnDataSliderScroll(self, event):
>   # set start of highlighted section, use the slider value
>   start = self.DataSlider.GetValue()
>   end = start + 5
>   # select the region in the styled text ctrl
>   self.styledTextCtrl1.SetSelection(start,end)
>   self.styledTextCtrl1.SetSelBackground(True, wx.RED)
>   self.styledTextCtrl1.SetSelForeground(True, wx.WHITE)
> 
>  so this is basically what I want to do, but this won't work  for me because I have two of these sliders and I want to  highlight/select two different regions. I don't think I can select two  different regions with two different background colors. so I just need  to change the style of a group of text as the user slides the slide  bar. I tried something like this but didn't get anywhere:
>   
>   def OnDataSliderScroll(self, event):
>     # create a style that I want to use to highlight a region specified by the slider
>     self.styledTextCtrl1.StyleSetSpec(0,'fore:[wx.WHITE],back:[wx.RED]')
>     # goto the start of the text that I want to style. the start value depends of the slider value
>   start = self.DataSlider.GetValue()
>     self.styledTextCtrl1.GotoPos(start)
>   # set the style of the 5 characters after the start position, use style '0' that I specified above
>     self.styledTextCtrl1.SetStyling(5, 0)

For the future, don't reply to a post and change the subject when
posting about a completely different topic.  People who weren't
interested in the parent thread may not reply to your later post.

If you didn't know already, the StyledTextCtrl is a wrapping of the
Scintilla editor control, whose full documentation is available via
scintilla.org, and that provide a sample editor application as SciTE.

Generally speaking, if you want to set styles and have them stick, you
need to use the STC_LEX_CONTAINER lexer, as that will allow you to
manually style everything.  If you use /any/ of the other lexers, the
moment your content changes, it is reparsed and you lose your styling.

You can, however, use different indicators regardless of your lexer. 
See: http://scintilla.sourceforge.net/ScintillaDoc.html#Indicators

You could use the INDIC_BOX or INDIC_ROUNDBOX, then set the foregrounds
of the two boxes to be different colors.  These indicators are usable
regardless of the lexer.

 - Josiah