WindowedLabel Control (VBCCRWindowedLabel)

WindowedLabel control is a label control with a window handle that provides more functionality and better performance than standard labels. It supports subclassing and custom drawing, enabling complex visual effects.

Properties

Basic Properties

• Caption - Display text
• BackColor - Background color
• ForeColor - Foreground color
• Enabled - Whether control is enabled
• Font - Font settings
• Visible - Whether visible

Appearance Properties

• Alignment - Text alignment
  • vbLeftAlign (0) - Left align
  • vbCenterAlign (1) - Center align
  • vbRightAlign (2) - Right align
• BorderStyle - Border style
• Transparent - Whether transparent
• UseMnemonic - Whether to use shortcut keys (&)
• AutoSize - Whether to auto-size
• WordWrap - Whether to wrap text

Advanced Properties

• hWnd - Window handle
• SubclassId - Subclassing identifier
• DrawMode - Drawing mode

Events

• Click - Triggered when control is clicked
• DblClick - Triggered when control is double-clicked
• MouseDown - Triggered when mouse button is pressed
• MouseMove - Triggered when mouse moves
• MouseUp - Triggered when mouse button is released
• Paint - Triggered when control is repainted
• WindowProc - Triggered when processing window messages

Code Examples

Basic Usage

Private Sub InitWindowedLabel()
    With WindowedLabel1
        .Caption = "This is a WindowedLabel control"
        .Alignment = vbCenterAlign
        .BorderStyle = 1  ' Single line border
        .AutoSize = True
        .WordWrap = True
    End With
End Sub

Gradient Background

Private Type GradientInfo
    StartColor As Long
    EndColor As Long
    Direction As Long  ' 0=Horizontal, 1=Vertical
End Type

Private Type GradientManager
    Gradient As GradientInfo
    Enabled As Boolean
End Type

Private Gradients As GradientManager

Private Sub InitGradientManager()
    With Gradients
        .Enabled = True
        
        With .Gradient
            .StartColor = RGB(255, 255, 255)  ' White
            .EndColor = RGB(200, 220, 255)    ' Light blue
            .Direction = 0  ' Horizontal gradient
        End With
    End With
End Sub

Private Sub WindowedLabel1_Paint()
    If Not Gradients.Enabled Then Exit Sub
    
    With WindowedLabel1
        Dim hDC As Long
        hDC = .hDC
        
        ' Create gradient brush
        DrawGradient hDC, _
                    0, 0, .Width, .Height, _
                    Gradients.Gradient.StartColor, _
                    Gradients.Gradient.EndColor, _
                    Gradients.Gradient.Direction
        
        ' Draw text
        DrawText hDC, _
                .Caption, _
                .Width, .Height, _
                .Alignment
    End With
End Sub

Animation Effects

Private Type AnimationInfo
    Text As String
    CurrentPos As Long
    Speed As Long
    Timer As Long
    Enabled As Boolean
End Type

Private Animation As AnimationInfo

Private Sub SetupTextAnimation()
    With Animation
        .Text = "Scrolling Text Example"
        .CurrentPos = 0
        .Speed = 50
        .Enabled = True
        .Timer = Timer1.Interval
    End With
    
    Timer1.Enabled = True
End Sub

Private Sub Timer1_Timer()
    With Animation
        If Not .Enabled Then Exit Sub
        
        ' Update position
        .CurrentPos = (.CurrentPos + 1) Mod (Len(.Text) + WindowedLabel1.Width)
        
        ' Update display
        WindowedLabel1.Caption = Right$(.Text & Space$(WindowedLabel1.Width), _
                                      WindowedLabel1.Width)
        WindowedLabel1.Refresh
    End With
End Sub

Common Use Cases

Status Indicator

Private Sub CreateStatusIndicator()
    With WindowedLabel1
        .Caption = "System Status: Ready"
        .BackColor = vbGreen
        .ForeColor = vbWhite
        .Alignment = vbCenterAlign
        .BorderStyle = 1
    End With
End Sub

Private Sub UpdateStatus(ByVal Status As String, _
                        ByVal StatusType As Long)
    With WindowedLabel1
        .Caption = "System Status: " & Status
        
        Select Case StatusType
            Case 0  ' Normal
                .BackColor = vbGreen
            Case 1  ' Warning
                .BackColor = vbYellow
                .ForeColor = vbBlack
            Case 2  ' Error
                .BackColor = vbRed
        End Select
        
        .Refresh
    End With
End Sub

Custom Drawing

Private Sub DrawCustomLabel()
    Dim hDC As Long
    Dim Rect As RECT
    
    With WindowedLabel1
        hDC = .hDC
        
        ' Set up drawing area
        Rect.Left = 0
        Rect.Top = 0
        Rect.Right = .Width
        Rect.Bottom = .Height
        
        ' Draw custom background
        DrawBackground hDC, Rect
        
        ' Draw text with effects
        DrawEffectText hDC, .Caption, Rect
    End With
End Sub

Private Sub DrawEffectText(ByVal hDC As Long, _
                         ByVal Text As String, _
                         ByRef Rect As RECT)
    ' Draw shadow
    OffsetRect Rect, 1, 1
    SetTextColor hDC, RGB(128, 128, 128)
    DrawText hDC, Text, -1, Rect, DT_CENTER
    
    ' Draw main text
    OffsetRect Rect, -1, -1
    SetTextColor hDC, RGB(0, 0, 0)
    DrawText hDC, Text, -1, Rect, DT_CENTER
End Sub

Best Practices

1. Memory Management

Private Sub CleanupLabel()
    ' Release resources
    DeleteObject WindowedLabel1.hDC
    Set WindowedLabel1 = Nothing
End Sub

2. Performance Optimization

Private Sub OptimizeDrawing()
    ' Double buffering
    WindowedLabel1.LockUpdate = True
    
    ' Perform drawing operations
    UpdateLabelContent
    
    ' Update display
    WindowedLabel1.LockUpdate = False
    WindowedLabel1.Refresh
End Sub

Known Issues and Solutions

1. Flickering Issues

Private Sub FixFlickering()
    ' Enable double buffering
    SetWindowLong WindowedLabel1.hWnd, _
                 GWL_EXSTYLE, _
                 WS_EX_COMPOSITED
End Sub

2. Text Rendering

Private Sub ImproveTextRendering()
    ' Enable ClearType
    SetTextRenderingHint WindowedLabel1.hDC, _
                        TextRenderingHintClearTypeGridFit
End Sub

Additional Tips

1. Event Handling

Private Sub WindowedLabel1_WindowProc(ByVal hWnd As Long, _
                                    ByVal uMsg As Long, _
                                    ByVal wParam As Long, _
                                    ByVal lParam As Long, _
                                    ByVal PrevProc As Long, _
                                    Cancel As Boolean)
    ' Handle custom messages
    Select Case uMsg
        Case WM_PAINT
            HandleCustomPaint
            Cancel = True
    End Select
End Sub

2. Dynamic Updates

Private Sub UpdateLabelDynamically()
    Static LastUpdate As Single
    
    ' Limit update frequency
    If Timer - LastUpdate < 0.1 Then Exit Sub
    
    ' Update content
    UpdateContent
    
    LastUpdate = Timer
End Sub

3. State Management

Private Sub ManageLabelState()
    ' Save state
    SaveSetting App.Title, "WindowedLabel", "Text", _
               WindowedLabel1.Caption
               
    ' Restore state
    WindowedLabel1.Caption = GetSetting(App.Title, _
                            "WindowedLabel", "Text", "")
End Sub