Window System for XNA

New Post: Text Area

cdmac — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 17:07:59 GMT

Thanks very much for the help. I'll try the control out and aim to get the functionality in the next release.

Thanks,
Aaron

New Post: how to use imageButton

cdmac — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 17:03:04 GMT

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll look into it for the next release.

New Post: Text Area

ctorres — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 01:06:46 GMT

I created a TextArea using a very useful property of your ListBox - the vertical resizing when entries are more than the ListBox's vertical size.
TextArea inherits from ListBox. I brake the text I want to put in the TextArea into several lines and add them as entries of the ListBox.
I had to add a protected property to your project's ListBox class, because I needed to access the SpriteFont that is used for writing the text, so that I can know the width of the text in pixels.
The code is as follows:

ListBox.cs
// add the following code to this class:

        protected SpriteFont SpriteFont
        {
            get { return this.font; }
        }

TextArea.cs
// Add this class to the WindowSystem project
using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Graphics;

namespace WindowSystem
{
    public class TextArea: ListBox
    {
        #region Fields
        private string text;
        #endregion

        #region Properties
        /// <summary>
        /// Get/Set the control text.
        /// </summary>
        public string Text
        {
            get { return this.text; }
            set
            {
                this.text = value;
                RefreshText();
            }
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Get/Set the control width.
        /// </summary>
        public new int Width
        {
            get { return base.Width; }
            set
            {
                base.Width = value;
                RefreshText();
            }
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Get/Set the control height.
        /// </summary>
        public new int Height
        {
            get { return base.Height; }
            set
            {
                base.Height = value;
                RefreshText();
            }
        }
        #endregion

        #region Constructors
        /// <summary>
        /// Constructor.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="game">The currently running Game object.</param>
        /// <param name="gui">GUIManager that this control is part of.</param>
        public TextArea(Game game, GUIManager gui)
            : base(game, gui)
        {
            this.text = "";
        }
        #endregion

        #region Private Methods
        /// <summary>
        /// Refreshes the text in the control.
        /// </summary>
        private void RefreshText()
        {
            // Clear all entries
            this.Clear();

            // Break the text into lines
            List<string> lines = BreakTextToEntries();

            // Add each line as an entry of the ListBox
            foreach (string str in lines)
            {
                this.AddEntry(str);
            }
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Breaks the Text into several lines with the width of the TextArea.
        /// </summary>
        /// <returns>A list containing all the generated lines.</returns>
        private List<string> BreakTextToEntries()
        //private void BreakTextToEntries()
        {
            string[] words = Text.Split(' ');
            List<string> lines = new List<string>();
            string currentLine = "";
            string auxLine;
            int auxLineSize;
            int lineHSize = this.Width - this.HMargin * 4;

            foreach(string word in words)
            {
                auxLine = currentLine + word + " ";
                auxLineSize = GetTextWidth(auxLine, SpriteFont);

                if ( auxLineSize < lineHSize)
                {
                    currentLine = auxLine;
                }
                else
                {
                    lines.Add(currentLine);
                    currentLine = word + " ";
                }
            }
            lines.Add(currentLine);

            return lines;
        }

        /// <summary>
        /// Gets the width of a piece of text.
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="txt">The text to be measured.</param>
        /// <returns>The number of pixels the text will occupy on screen.</returns>
        private int GetTextWidth(string txt, SpriteFont font)
        {
            int a = (int)font.MeasureString(txt).X;
            return a;
        }
        #endregion
    }
}

In conclusion, the TextArea will contain any text you give it and will create a vertical scroll if the text is longer than the vertical size of the box. However, the scroll in only vertical - there is no horizontal scroll (the scroll property is exactly the same of the ListBox). The text will adapt to the horizontal size.
The class in nothing special and can be improved, but feel free to use it if you like.

Carolina

New Post: Text Area

ctorres — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:35:23 GMT

Hi. I've been using your project and, boy has it been useful! Thanks!

However I lack one kind of component you don't seem to have implemented - a Text Area, i.e, an area where to put text that would create a scroll bar if the text is bigger than the area.
Do you intend to do something of the kind? Because I really needed something like that... I tried to do it but I got stuck in the part where labels don't wrap text...
I need this component because in my game I have to give instructions to the user and can have lots of text. Also, the text can vary a lot so writing the text "by hand" is not a solution.
At the very least I would need a component that would able me to write text one line below the other without having to separate the text throughout various labels and positioning them one below the other...
Any ideas?

New Post: how to use imageButton

emzic — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 21:48:01 GMT

thanks for your reply.

meanwhile i got it running by implementing my own UIComponent.

but here is another suggestion: how about renaming the enum MouseState to MouseCursorState so that it doesnt conflict with the class MouseState from XNA?

thanks for a great library and keep up the good work.

New Post: how to use imageButton

cdmac — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:48:51 GMT

Sorry for the delay!

From a quick glance at the source, it seems that ImageButton currently requires you to specify a rectangle within the skin image for your custom graphic. I probably should make it inherit from Image instead of Icon, to make it easier to add new graphics, but you could do the same thing by applying a custom skin to the ImageButton control, which uses a different skin image from the rest of the GUI controls.

If that doesn't make sense or you need more information/sample code, then let me know. I'll respond quicker next time!

Thanks,
Aaron

New Post: Window System in XNA 3.0 CTP (VS 2k8)

cdmac — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:43:50 GMT

Thanks for letting me know. Were there many code changes required?

New Post: how to use imageButton

emzic — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 21:23:02 GMT

hello,

first of all, congrats on a great library!

my question is, how can i create a button with a custom image on it. i found the class ImageButton, but dont really know how to use it.

thanks!

Created Issue: Close button disappears

Timsen — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 21:54:49 GMT

If I create 2 or more instances of windows in the Testbed, the red close buttons disappear instantly.

New Post: Window System in XNA 3.0 CTP (VS 2k8)

caledh — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 05:47:01 GMT

Just an FYI but tonight I was able to get your latest source code running in VS 2k8 under XNA 3.0. Let me know if you want the source and the bits. You've done some really nice work here and I'd like to use it - learn it, etc.

New Post: XNA SpriteFont???

cdmac — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 10:13:20 GMT

I'm aware of those, but never found a completely suitable set of values. I even consulted a graphics expert, and he seemed to think that it may not be possible with my system.

If you can get it working then let me know.

Aaron

New Post: Initial work at porting to 360

cdmac — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 10:10:47 GMT

I'm sorry dude, but I just started porting it myself on the weekend... the same steps you took. I didn't upload the results because my internet connection went down.

Any ideas past what you've already done? I'm thinking of making some simpler window types and controls for using with the gamepad, without requiring a pointing device.

Thanks,
Aaron

New Post: XNA SpriteFont???

rednoise — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 07:48:49 GMT

You can use render states to fully control how alpha blending is performed. See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.xna.framework.graphics.renderstate_members.aspx . There's a combination of states for all possible cases.

New Post: Initial work at porting to 360

eternal512 — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 21:35:33 GMT

I've got the testbed (or atleast parts of it) running on the 360.
Does anyone have a more complicated, yet self-contained test-cases for the UI system?
The bulk of the work so far was really just creating new projects, coding up a Input system that could take mouse and/or gamepad....
I still have some more work to do, but would like to make it available / part of the project if anyone is interested.

Source code checked in, #19990

cdmac — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 12:13:50 GMT

Brought back GUIManager to before I clobbered it.

Source code checked in, #19989

cdmac — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:59:34 GMT

Deleted an unnecessary file.

Source code checked in, #19987

cdmac — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:56:17 GMT

Cleaned up the menu system, and got everything working from a fresh commit (hopefully). Fixed all warnings.

Created Issue: Bug in Window.cs

Mous — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:40:31 GMT

Latest version (wsx-19236) in code:
public void CloseWindow()
{
if (Parent == null)
GUIManager.Remove(this);
else
GUIManager.Remove(this);

// Here is recursive call, that stop with Stack Overflow exception
OnClose(this);
}

I'm fix it with code from release version 0.5.1:
if (Close != null)
OnClose(this);

Source code checked in

alexreg — Tue, 27 May 2008 13:22:49 GMT

Fixed sync problem with repo.

Source code checked in

alexreg — Tue, 27 May 2008 13:21:53 GMT

Added highlighting for selected item in ListBox. To do: highlight box needs to extend to left edge of control. Added TextChanged event to TextBox control. ComboBox now unselects selected item when text is input manually.