I was wondering if there was a way of adding a sort of animation to text displayed on a form.
What I had in mind when I thought of this was kind of similar to what you can do with text in PowerPoint (i.e. a typewriter-like animation where the text is typed one at a time, have the whole textbox appear with a certain effect etc), I'm just looking to find out what you can do using Windows Forms.
Currently I'm using a textbox to display information on my form application, though in hindsight I realise labels would have worked just as well.
EDIT: Turns out I was using labels after all, I just gave it a name with 'textbox' inside for lack of a better description.
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
int _charIndex = 0;
string _text = "Hello World!!";
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void button_TypewriteText_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
_charIndex = 0;
label1.Text = string.Empty;
Thread t = new Thread(new ThreadStart(this.TypewriteText));
t.Start();
}
private void TypewriteText()
{
while (_charIndex < _text.Length)
{
Thread.Sleep(500);
label1.Invoke(new Action(() =>
{
label1.Text += _text[_charIndex];
}));
_charIndex++;
}
}
}
Now, I personally wouldn't do this because gratuitous animations tend to annoy users. I'd only use animation sparingly - when it really makes sense.
That said, you can certainly do something like:
string stuff = "This is some text that looks like it is being typed.";
int pos = 0;
Timer t;
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
t = new Timer();
t.Interval = 500;
t.Tick += new EventHandler(t_Tick);
}
void t_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (pos < stuff.Length)
{
textBox1.AppendText(stuff.Substring(pos, 1));
++pos;
}
else
{
t.Stop();
}
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
pos = 0;
textBox1.Clear();
t.Start();
}
or something like that. It'll tick off ever half second and add another character to the multi-line text box. Just an example of what someone could do.
Related
writing a windows Form program that takes user input, and changes the color of the label accordingly.
and when the program reaches 2 words it repeats itself. it works fine until it reaches the second
word, where there I added a method to restart from the beginning after "validating and changing color", I can see the program validated the word, but when it comes to change the color, it just skips that part and starts from the beginning.
public partial class Form1: Form
{
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
string[] listOfWords = { "bike", "car" };
Label[] labelsToDisplay = new Label[2];
string currentWord = "";
string userInput = "";
int increment = 0;
private void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
labelsToDisplay[0] = this.label1;
labelsToDisplay[1] = this.label2;
for (int i = 0; i < labelsToDisplay.Length; i++)
{
labelsToDisplay[i].Text = listOfWords[i];
}
increment = 0;
currentWord = listOfWords[0];
}
private void textBox1_KeyPress(object sender, KeyPressEventArgs e)
{
if (e.KeyChar == ' ')
{
userInput = textBox1.Text;
if (userInput.Trim() == currentWord)
{
labelsToDisplay[increment].ForeColor = Color.Green;
}
else if (userInput.Trim() != currentWord)
{
labelsToDisplay[increment].ForeColor = Color.Red;
}
increment++;
if (increment < labelsToDisplay.Length)
{
currentWord = listOfWords[increment];
}
else if (increment >= labelsToDisplay.Length)
{
for (int i = 0; i < labelsToDisplay.Length; i++)
{
labelsToDisplay[i].ForeColor = Color.Black;
}
Form1_Load(sender, e);
}
textBox1.Text = "";
userInput = "";
}
}
}
I initialize an array of words and labels.
load Event connects the labels of the designer to the label array.
then make equal the labels to the listOfWords array.
and I initialize currnetWord.
now the user enters data into textBox1.
once the user hits the "space" an event is triggered, that checks if the text the user entered is equal to currentWord. if it is that label turns green. and red if not equal.
I put an "increment" int that adds 1 every time user presses space to know where I'm up to
now once the "increment" is larger than the length of the label array it triggers the load event that starts the process again.
but the issue is that the program is supposed to start the process again only after changing the color of the label but instead it just restarts without changing color.
but when I put a MessageBox before running the LoadEvent or if I remove the load event the label does turn green.
(i tried Thread.Sleep but that just pauses everything)
There needs to be a delay between setting the color to green/red and resetting all label colors to black. Here is a way to do it, however it may not be the best way. I first create a background worker and hook into the DoWork and RunWorkerCompleted events. Inside DoWork we create the delay using the Thread Sleep. Inside of RunWorkerCompleted we reset the label colors and call form load.
private BackgroundWorker bgWorker = new BackgroundWorker();
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
bgWorker.DoWork += BgWorker_DoWork;
bgWorker.RunWorkerCompleted += BgWorker_RunWorkerCompleted;
}
private void BgWorker_DoWork(object sender, DoWorkEventArgs e)
{
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);
}
private void BgWorker_RunWorkerCompleted(object sender, RunWorkerCompletedEventArgs e)
{
Reset();
}
private void Reset()
{
for (int i = 0; i < labelsToDisplay.Length; i++)
{
labelsToDisplay[i].ForeColor = Color.Black;
}
Form1_Load(null, null);
}
and inside of your existing code i changed where the increment exceeds the array bounds
else if (increment >= labelsToDisplay.Length)
{
bgWorker.RunWorkerAsync();
}
This will allow you to see the color before resetting the colors to black.
One thing to note is that the user will still be able to interact with the textbox and fire the KeyPress event. You could add a boolean to track whether the event should fire or not, something like..
private void textBox1_KeyPress(object sender, KeyPressEventArgs e)
{
if (isResetting)
{
return;
}
.....
}
Just make sure to set that bool to true when starting the background worker, and false once the worker has completed.
I am using Windows Forms (.NET Framework) and am trying to make a picture box move a cross a screen.
I have tried using timers and this while loop but the image (it's supposed to be a plane) does not appear in the case of the while loop and the use of timers makes it difficult to remove past picture Boxes so they appear to generate a sequence of planes. How can I accomplish this?Does it have something to do with Sleep()?
private void Button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
//airplane land
//drawPlane(ref locx, ref locy);
//timer1.Enabled = true;
while (locx > 300)
{
var picture = new PictureBox
{
Name = "pictureBox",
Size = new Size(30, 30),
Location = new System.Drawing.Point(locx, locy),
Image = Properties.Resources.plane2, //does not appear for some reason
};
this.Controls.Add(picture);
Thread.Sleep(500);
this.Controls.Remove(picture);
picture.Dispose();
locx = locx - 50;
}
You can use a "Timer" to change the position of the PictureBox regularly.
Here is a simple demo that using Timer Class you can refer to.
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
private System.Timers.Timer myTimer;
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
myTimer = new System.Timers.Timer(100);
myTimer.Elapsed += new System.Timers.ElapsedEventHandler(myTimer_Elapsed);
myTimer.AutoReset = true;
myTimer.SynchronizingObject = this;
}
private void myTimer_Elapsed(object sender, ElapsedEventArgs e)
{
pictureBox1.Location = new Point(pictureBox1.Location.X + 1, pictureBox1.Location.Y);
}
private void btStart_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
myTimer.Enabled = true;
}
}
The result,
I am trying to insert text to a lable, BUT the text has to be inserted slowly/character by character/letter by letter,
kinda like in old MUD games.
So far I have tried doing this:
private void StoryBox_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
string text = StoryBox.Text;
var index = 0;
var timer = new System.Timers.Timer(2000);
timer.Elapsed += delegate
{
if (index < text.Length)
{
index++;
StoryBox.Text = "This should come out pretty slowly ";
}
else
{
timer.Enabled = false;
timer.Dispose();
}
};
timer.Enabled = true;
}
This is what I have gathered from the site but I don't particularly understand why this isn't working.
As you can see it's under StoryBox_Click.
Is there a way to automate this? So when the program is opened, it counts a couple seconds and THEN starts writing the text out.
Try this:
private async void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
string yourText = "This should come out pretty slowly";
label1.Text = string.Empty;
int i = 0;
for (i = 0; i <= yourText.Length - 1; i++)
{
label1.Text += yourText[i];
await Task.Delay(500);
}
}
You can use the Shown-Event of YourForm when you want to start it after your GUI has been opened.
So reusing your provided code and changing a few things this may work for you:
Add private fields to YourForm class:
private Timer _timer;
private int _index;
private string _storyText;
and initialising it in YourForm constructor
public YourForm()
{
InitializeComponent();
// init private fields;
this._index = 0;
this._storyText = "This should come out pretty slowly";
// Timer Interval is set to 1 second
this._timer = new Timer { Interval = 1000 };
// Adding EventHandler to Shown Event
this.Shown += this.YourForm_Shown;
this._timer.Tick += delegate
{
if (this._index < this._storyText.Length)
{
StoryBox.Text += this._storyText[this._index];
this._index++;
}
else
{
this._timer.Stop();
}
};
}
and the Shown event for YourForm:
private void YourForm_Shown(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
this._timer.Start();
}
I am writing activity recognition software in realtime. But i can't setText in textbox with infinite loop. I try to search Google but no answer. When, i using "textbox.Text += "ZZZZ", it working but I using "textbox.Text = "ZZZ" ", it not working. I hope someone can point me how to solve
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
for (; ; ){
Thread.Sleep(20);
........process....
tb_activity = "AAA";
}
}
You can use the new await and async feature in .Net:
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
EndlessTask();
}
async Task EndlessTask()
{
for(int i = 0; true; i++)
{
textBox1.Text = i.ToString();
await Task.Delay(500);
}
}
[Edit] Note, if you want to get rid of the async warning:
#pragma warning disable 4014
EndlessTask();
#pragma warning restore 4014
i can't setText in textbox with infinite loop
you can never confirm that un till unless you debug your application while using the Thread.Sleep() in infinite loop.
Reason: when you use Thread.Sleep() it makes your Main thread to sleep so it is not a good practice to use Thread.Sleep() . it hangs your UI therefore you can not see the Control Updates on the UI like Label Text update ,TextBox Text Update things like that.
ofcourse you call Application.DoEvents() to refresh the UI but it is not a good practice as there are many other problems.
Solution: i suggest you to use Timer instead of using Thread.Sleep() as it runs in the background so it doesnot hang your UI and also you can see the updates on UI.
Simple Example to show you how to use Timer for updating the Text on Textbox # certain intervals
public partial class Form1 : Form
{
int count = 0;
string text1 = "this is a scrolling text";
System.Windows.Forms.Timer timer1 = new System.Windows.Forms.Timer();
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();
}
private void button1_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
button1.Enabled = false;
textBox1.ReadOnly = true;
SetTimer(500);
}
private void SetTimer(int milliseconds)
{
timer1.Tick+=new EventHandler(timer1_Tick);
timer1.Interval = milliseconds;
timer1.Start();
}
private void timer1_Tick(Object o, EventArgs e)
{
if (count < text1.Length)
{
textBox1.Text += text1[count];
count++;
}
else
{
timer1.Stop();
button1.Enabled = true;
textBox1.ReadOnly = false;
}
}
}
I wanted to make a simple Countdown-Application with C# to show as an example.
For the very first and basic version I use a Label to display the current time left in seconds and a Button to start the countdown. The Button's Click-Event is implemented like this:
private void ButtonStart_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
_time = 60;
while (_time > 0)
{
_time--;
this.labelTime.Content = _time + "s";
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);
}
}
Now when the user clicks the Button the time is actually counted down (as the application freezes (due to Sleep())) for the chosen amount of time but the Label's context is not refreshed.
Am I doing something generally wrong (when it comes to Threads) or is it just a problem with the UI?
Thank you for your answers!
I now use a System.Windows.Threading.DispatcherTimer to do as you told me. Everything works fine so this question is officially answered ;)
For those who are interested: Here is my code (the essential parts)
public partial class WindowCountdown : Window
{
private int _time;
private DispatcherTimer _countdownTimer;
public WindowCountdown()
{
InitializeComponent();
_countdownTimer = new DispatcherTimer();
_countdownTimer.Interval = new TimeSpan(0,0,1);
_countdownTimer.Tick += new EventHandler(CountdownTimerStep);
}
private void ButtonStart_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
{
_time = 10;
_countdownTimer.Start();
}
private void CountdownTimerStep(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (_time > 0)
{
_time--;
this.labelTime.Content = _time + "s";
}
else
_countdownTimer.Stop();
}
}
Yes, event handlers should not block - they should return immediately.
You should implement this by a Timer, BackgroundWorker or Thread (in this order of preference).
What you are seeing is the effect of a long-running message blocking the windows message queue/pump - which you more commonly associate with the white application screen and "not responding". Basically, if your thread is sleeping, it isn't responding to messages like "paint yourself". You need to make your change and yield control to the pump.
There are various ways of doing this (ripper234 does a good job of listing them). The bad way you'll often see is:
{ // your count/sleep loop
// bad code - don't do this:
Application.DoEvents();
System.Threading.Thread.Sleep(1000);
}
I mention this only to highlight what not to do; this causes a lot of problems with "re-entrancy" and general code management. A better way is simply to use a Timer, or for more complex code, a BackgroundWorker. Something like:
using System;
using System.Windows.Forms;
class MyForm : Form {
[STAThread]
static void Main() {
Application.EnableVisualStyles();
Application.Run(new MyForm());
}
Timer timer;
MyForm() {
timer = new Timer();
count = 10;
timer.Interval = 1000;
timer.Tick += timer_Tick;
timer.Start();
}
protected override void Dispose(bool disposing) {
if (disposing) {
timer.Dispose();
}
base.Dispose(disposing);
}
int count;
void timer_Tick(object sender, EventArgs e) {
Text = "Wait for " + count + " seconds...";
count--;
if (count == 0)
{
timer.Stop();
}
}
}