Transparent TppMemo

rbuser

Hi,


Some minor issues with a transparent TppMemo. (RbPro 11.05, Delphi 2006)

I think i'm missing something. When i place a transaparent memo over an
image then the lay-out editor renders the memo different than the preview or
printer. In the layout editor the memo is completely transparent, ie the
text is also transparent. On the preview/printer only the background is
transparent. Is this by design? I understand that printers can have trouble
with transparency. The other components dont show this behaviour, there the
text is always non-transparent.
The transparent text can be a nice effect, but can it ever be used, are
there printer that support this? If so, dont we need an extra property to
switch it. It depends on the underlaying image if you actualy want
transparent text. If not then it would be better to render the memo in the
layout editor the same as the preview/printer.

The white memo-text is also hard to edit because the inplace editor and
memo-dialog both use the Tppmemo-font but always has a white background.
I think it would be better to always use black for the font-color during
editting.

The memo text dialog has another issue, the font of the TppMemo is assigned
to the dialogform. A side effect is the that font is also assigned to the
buttons on the dialog (because ParentFont = True). Strange effect if the
TppMemo font is very large, the fontcolor of the butons stays black, don't
know why.
For now i have just disabled the assigning of the font.

Regards,

Max Paay
Quadrant Software bv.
The Netherlands.









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rbuser

> I think i'm missing something. When i place a transaparent memo over an

I use to see this in days gone by, but for the most part it works pretty
well know. I think you will see different results with different printer
drivres. You might try a different printer.


I would create a pass-through function that turns this on/off depending upon
your setting.


This wouldn't work with a memo on a black background. A couple clicks of the
mouse and you can change the color.


you may want to create your own TppMemo decendent and have it work the way
you specifically want.

Ed Dressel
Team DM

rbuser

Hi Ed,

Thanks for yor replay but i'm still not sure.

What does transaprent realy mean, the RbPro help says:

"The Transparent property determines whether the background of a report
component is clear or opaque."

The background, but what about the text?. The layout editor suggests that
the text should also be transparent because it shows it that way. But the
preview and all of our printers show/print only the background transparent,
not the text. Tested with a HP color laserjet 3600 and a Konica Minolta
C353.
And if i check this in ie. Word by placing a transparent text-block over an
image than Word shows and prints the text non-transparent. So who is right
here? Should i expect that a printer can print transparent text. Does
anybody know a printer that is capable to print transparent text?
If not then it should be better if the layout editor shows the text non
transparent.

====

About the editting of the text of transparent controls. The point is that
RbPro try to edit in a WYSIWYG way. So both the inplace editor and the
memo-text dialog use the font ,transparency and background of the control.
So a transparent control is editted over the always white background of the
edittor, so very light or white text is impossible to see.

Assigning the control font to the buttons of the memo-text dialog is a real
bug.

====

This might seem minor issues but i just want to avoid the numerous support
call's from our customers about it.


Regards,

Max Paay
Quadrant Software bv.
The Netherlands.



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rbuser

> And if i check this in ie. Word by placing a transparent text-block over

I believe MS has a lot more resource and OS knowledge to dedicate to
something like this that 3rd party vendors.


Yes, my OKI 5500 prints my samples fine. Years ago we saw lots of problems
with HP printers.

rbuser

Ed, thanks again for your input,

The conclusion is then that some printers can print transparent text and
others don't.

nardmoseley

I researched this. When Font.Color is clWhite and Memo.Transparent is True,
there are some issues with drawing and editing in the Design workspace.
These will be fixed for the next maintenance release. (We are not able to
make a patch, to fix the drawing requires modifying the interface section of
a unit).

Thanks for reporting this issue.


--
Nard Moseley
Digital Metaphors
www.digital-metaphors.com