Hi John,

Thanks for your inputs, we will check and update you.

--Sachi...

Sachi -

I've been experimenting with possible ways to accomplish what you're wanting to do and I've had some success. I was hoping to be able to develop a global function that could be called from a DataWindow expression in a computed field, but in order to be able to call the critical GetTextExtentPoint32W WinAPI function, the code has to be able to have a reference to either a StaticText window control (a Text DataWindow Object won't do because these are not Windows controls) or a reference to an open window, and I don't think I can make it work from a DataWindow expression that way.

That's a round-about way of saying that there are compromises.

Some kind of a post-retrieve loop through all of the rows in a DataWindow would be required, performing a GetItemString on a column that contains the string to be analyzed, invoking a function in a non-visual object to analyze the input string while taking the size and font properties of the computed field into account and inserting a space, if needed, then finally replacing the string in the column via SetItem.

There's a small sample app I've written to test the functionality and it shows how it can work, using the example data in the screen shots you posted, for example, or other test data. It's not yet complete, but I'm very close.

Given these limitations, would this functionality be useful to you?

Regards, John

Here's a function (from the PowerBuilder Foundation Class) that will the width & height (in pixels) of a string when rendered by Windows.

You need a Windows "size" structure. Here's exported PB source code showing an example:

type os_size from structure
   long l_cx
   long l_cy
end type

Here are the external function declarations for four WinAPI functions the of_GetTextSize function will call:

Function Boolean GetTextExtentPoint32W ( &
   ULong hdcr, String lpString, Long nCount, &
   ref os_size size ) Library "GDI32.DLL"
Function ULong SelectObject ( &
   ULong hdc, ULong hWnd ) Library "GDI32.DLL"
Function ULong GetDC ( &
   ULong hWnd ) Library "USER32.DLL"
Function Integer ReleaseDC ( &
   ULong hWnd, ULong hDC ) Library "USER32.DLL"

Here's the of_GetTextSize function:

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// Public Function: of_GetTextSize
//
// Arguments:
//   Window  aw_obj (by reference)    Window where temporary text will be created
//   String  as_Text                  The text to be sized.
//   String  as_FontFace              The font used.
//   Integer ai_FontSize              The point size of the font.
//   Boolean ab_Bold                  True - Bold, False - Normal.
//   Boolean ab_Italic                True - Yes, False - No.
//   Boolean ab_Underline             True - Yes, False - No.
//   Integer ai_Height (by reference) The height of the object in pixels
//   Integer ai_Width (by reference)  The width of the object in pixels
//
// Returns: Integer                   1 if successful, -1 if an error occurrs
//
// Description:
//   Calculates the size of a text object in pixels
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// Rev. History  Version
//               5.0    Initial version
//               5.0.03 Changed Uint variables to Ulong for NT4.0 compatibility
//               8.0    Not deleting statictext object under certain conditions.
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/*
 * Open Source PowerBuilder Foundation Class Libraries
 *
 * Copyright (c) 2004-2017, All rights reserved.
 *
 * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
 * modification, are permitted in accordance with the MIT License
 *
 * https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT
 *
 * ====================================================================
 *
 * This software consists of voluntary contributions made by many
 * individuals and was originally based on software copyright (c) 
 * 1996-2004 Sybase, Inc. http://www.sybase.com.  For more
 * information on the Open Source PowerBuilder Foundation Class
 * Libraries see https://github.com/OpenSourcePFCLibraries
*/
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Integer li_Size, li_Len, li_Return, &
        li_WM_GETFONT = 49   //  hex 0x0031
ULong   lul_Hdc, lul_Handle, lul_hFont
StaticText lst_Temp
os_size lstr_Size

// Datawindow syntax specifies font point size is negative
li_Size = -1 * ai_FontSize

if IsNull(aw_obj) Or Not IsValid (aw_obj) then
   return -1
end if

// Create a dummy StaticText Object on the window
// containing text with the desired characteristics
li_Return = aw_obj.OpenUserObject(lst_Temp)
If li_Return = 1 Then
   lst_Temp.FaceName = as_FontFace
   lst_Temp.TextSize = li_Size
   If ab_Bold Then
      lst_Temp.Weight = 700
   Else
      lst_Temp.Weight = 400
   End If
   lst_Temp.Italic = ab_Italic
   lst_Temp.Underline = ab_Underline

   li_Len = Len(as_Text)

   // Get the handle of the StaticText Object and create a Device Context
   lul_Handle = Handle(lst_Temp)
   lul_Hdc = GetDC(lul_Handle)

   // Get the font in use on the Static Text
   lul_hFont = Send(lul_Handle, li_WM_GETFONT, 0, 0)

   // Select it into the device context
   SelectObject(lul_Hdc, lul_hFont)

   // Get the size of the text.
   If Not GetTextExtentpoint32W(lul_Hdc, as_Text, li_Len, lstr_Size ) Then 
      aw_obj.CloseUserObject(lst_Temp)
      Return -1
   End If

   ai_Height = lstr_Size.l_cy
   ai_Width = lstr_Size.l_cx

   ReleaseDC(lul_Handle, lul_Hdc)

   li_Return = aw_obj.CloseUserObject(lst_Temp)
End if

Return li_Return

That should get you started, if you want.

Hi, Sachi -

By your own admission "...we can't predict that what will be there in between...", so what action do you believe Appeon should take to "resolve the problem" when they also have absolutely no idea what your data contains? Please consider asking for advice on creating your own solution instead of asking for a turnkey solution. Chris has already offered you some.

Here's another suggestion for you to consider: There exists a WinAPI function named GetTextExtentPoint32W that can be used from PowerBuilder to determine the rendered width and height, in pixels, of a text string based on the font typeface, point size and other font attributes (weight/boldness, italics, underlining, etc.) and you can use this to determine the maximum amount of text that can fit into the available space (based on content) you have before a space would need to be inserted to produce a line break. Then scan the text backwards from that point for an acceptable "line-breakable" character (you determine what chars are acceptable) and insert a space in front of it. If no preceding "breakable" characters exist, then insert the space regardless. Is this a super-trivial thing to accomplish? No, but it's not rocket science, either. It's doable.

Don't know how to call this API function? The Integrated STD framework that Chris publishes probably uses this API function in some fashion. I have verified there is at least one free code sample on Roland Smith's TopWizProgramming web site that uses it (the web page for each free code sample program lists the API functions used in that sample application), so there are examples available to you to learn from. Never coded/called a Windows API function from PowerBuilder? Look in the Tutorials section of the Appeon Community.

Regards, John

Hi Sachi;

   You can use a Global Function as the source of any DWO's computed column. So if it was me, I would use the GF and pass in the long name string to the GF. The GF in turn would parse the long name and if no spaces found, would then locate the last hyphen (-) and then add the extra space right after the hyphen and return the adjusted name to the caller.

Food for thought.

Regards ... Chris