Problem with extending DateTimeEditBox and using the "MMM" custom format specifier

Editors for WPF Forum

Posted 11 years ago by Geir Schjorlien
Version: 12.2.0573
Platform: .NET 4.0
Environment: Windows 7 (64-bit)
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Hi,

I have extended the DateTimeEditBox class with functionality for auto-selecting all the text when the user clicks a "Part" or uses the left and right arrow keys: 

public class MyDateTimeEditBox : DateTimeEditBox
{
	public MyDateTimeEditBox()
	{
		PreviewMouseDown += new MouseButtonEventHandler(MyDateTimeEditBox_PreviewMouseDown);
		PreviewKeyDown += new KeyEventHandler(MyDateTimeEditBox_PreviewKeyDown);
	}

	void MyDateTimeEditBox_PreviewMouseDown(object sender, MouseButtonEventArgs e)
	{
		Part part = e.Source as Part;
		if (part != null)
		{
			MaskedTextBox mtb = (MaskedTextBox)VisualTreeHelperExtended.GetFirstDescendant(part, typeof(MaskedTextBox));
			if (mtb != null)
			{
				mtb.Focus();
				mtb.SelectAll();
				e.Handled = true;
			}
		}
	}

	void MyDateTimeEditBox_PreviewKeyDown(object sender, KeyEventArgs e)
	{
		MaskedTextBox mtb = Keyboard.FocusedElement as MaskedTextBox;
		if (mtb != null)
		{
			if (e.Key == Key.Right)
			{
				mtb.MoveFocus(new TraversalRequest(FocusNavigationDirection.Right));
				mtb = Keyboard.FocusedElement as MaskedTextBox;
				mtb.SelectAll();
				e.Handled = true;
			}
			else if (e.Key == Key.Left)
			{
				mtb.MoveFocus(new TraversalRequest(FocusNavigationDirection.Left));
				mtb = Keyboard.FocusedElement as MaskedTextBox;
				mtb.SelectAll();
				e.Handled = true;
			}
		}
	}
}

This works fine except when I'm using the "MMM" custom format specifier. When I set Format="dd MMM yyyy HH:mm:ss", I'm not able to click the month-part, and when I use the left and right arrow-keys, the month-part is skipped. When tracing the code, I can see that it enters the "MyDateTimeEditBox_PreviewMouseDown" with the correct MaskedTextBox, but the month-part will not become selected.

If I remove the e.Handled=true in "MyDateTimeEditBox_PreviewMouseDown", I can click the month part, but the text is not selected.

Is this a "missing feature" or do I need to implement it in another way?

 

Thanks,

Geir

Comments (4)

Answer - Posted 11 years ago by Actipro Software Support - Cleveland, OH, USA
Avatar

Hi Geir,

In the case of MMM format, it ends up using an InlineComboBox instead of a MaskedTextBox for input of month names.  So if you change your code to handle that, perhaps it will work.


Actipro Software Support

Posted 11 years ago by Geir Schjorlien
Avatar

Hi,

Thank you for the quick reply - as always :).

I was able to find the InlineComboBox, but I'm not sure what to do with it to make the text selected. By "selected" I mean the same thing as what happens when you double-click the contents of a "Part".

The other issue was to make the left and right arrow keys work as Tab and Shift-Tab. I didn't have much luck with this either. Any idea why the "mtb.MoveFocus(new TraversalRequest(FocusNavigationDirection.Right/Left))" skips the month part when format is "MMM"? Tab and Shift-Tab works.

Thanks,

Geir

Answer - Posted 11 years ago by Actipro Software Support - Cleveland, OH, USA
Avatar

Hi Geir,

If you can put together a complete sample project that reproduces your issue and email it over to our support address, then we can take a closer look.

For the keyboard navigation, I believe you may want to use Next/Previous instead of Left/Right. I think Left/Right work between MaskedTextBox controls because they have the same visual parent. While InlineComboBox itself is not focusable, but it contains a nested MaskedTextBox. So it's possible that Left/Right do not work properly for nested controls, even if they are technically to the left/right of the current control. The Next/Previous sould work the same as the Tab/Shift+Tab keys.

[Modified 11 years ago]


Actipro Software Support

Posted 11 years ago by Geir Schjorlien
Avatar

Hi, 

I have sent you a small sample project now.

Keyboard navigation with Next/Previous worked perfectly. Can't believe I didn't think of that myself... :)

 

Thanks,

Geir

The latest build of this product (v24.1.2) was released 4 days ago, which was after the last post in this thread.

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