HowTo : StaticText widget

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wxRuby StaticText Widget

This wxRuby guide demonstrates how to use the Wx::StaticText widget with it’s various styles, features and functions. A complete list of options will be included here together with code examples for your convenience.

wxRuby StaticText syntax

The syntax for creating a StaticText widget in wxRuby is as follows:

my_text = Wx::StaticText.new(parent, id, label, pos, size, style, name)

Parameter descriptions:

• parent : Wx::Window
  the parent window (widget) such as a Wx::Panel.
• id : Integer
  Optional control ID. Wx::ID_ANY indicates default value.
• label : String
  Text label.
• pos : Array(Integer,Integer) or Wx::Point
  Optional coordinates for the position of the topleft corner of the button. Default is Wx::DEFAULT_POSITION.
• size : Array(Integer,Integer) or Wx::Size
  Optional dimensions of the button. Default is Wx::DEFAULT_SIZE.
• style : Integer
  Optional styling mask for the text (such as alignment). Default is 0.
• name : String
  Optional window name. Default is Wx::STATIC_TEXT_NAME_STR.

Note: As with all windows, keyword constructor alternatives for all arguments but the 'parent' argument are available. See here for more information.

StaticText Styles

Available styles for the StaticText widget:

StaticText Style	Description
Wx::Alignment::ALIGN_LEFT	Align the text to the left.
Wx::Alignment::ALIGN_RIGHT	Align the text to the right.
Wx::Alignment::ALIGN_CENTRE_HORIZONTAL	Center the text (horizontally).
Wx::ST_NO_AUTORESIZE	By default, the control will adjust its size to exactly fit to the size of the text when #set_label is called. If this style flag is given, the control will not change its size (this style is especially useful with controls which also have the Wx::Alignment::ALIGN_RIGHT or the Wx::Alignment::ALIGN_CENTRE_HORIZONTAL style because otherwise they won't make sense any longer after a call to #set_label).
Wx::ST_ELLIPSIZE_START	If the labeltext width exceeds the control width, replace the beginning of the label with an ellipsis; uses Control.ellipsize.
Wx::ST_ELLIPSIZE_MIDDLE	If the label text width exceeds the control width, replace the middle of the label with an ellipsis; uses Control.ellipsize.
Wx::ST_ELLIPSIZE_END	If the label text width exceeds the control width, replace the end of the label with an ellipsis; uses Control.ellipsize.

StaticText example

In the example below, we have created a simple window that displays some text.

require 'wx'

class MyFrame < Wx::Frame
  def initialize(title)
    super(nil, title: title)
    panel = Wx::Panel.new(self)

    Wx::StaticLine.new(panel, pos: [20, 240], size: [360,1], style: Wx::HORIZONTAL)

    content1 = %Q[Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.
Vestibulum facilisis consequat tellus quis consectetur]

    content2 = 'Quisque pretium venenatis interdum'

    text1 = Wx::StaticText.new(panel, label: content1, pos: [60, 100])
    text2 = Wx::StaticText.new(panel, label: content2, pos: [60, 160])

    Wx::StaticLine.new(panel, pos: [20, 20], size: [360,1], style: Wx::LI_HORIZONTAL)
    
    centre 
  end
    
  def close_window(_evt)
    close
  end
end

Wx::App.run { MyFrame.new('wxRuby StaticText Guide').show }

Notice we used some StaticLine widgets and a multiline string literal for the content of the first StaticText widget.

Output of the above code:

Changing the text

You can change the displayed text of a Wx::StaticText widget even after it has been defined using the #set_label method. This method accepts a text string which will replace the currently displayed text like in this example:

require 'wx'

class MyFrame < Wx::Frame
  def initialize(title)
    super(nil, title: title)
    panel = Wx::Panel.new(self)

    content1 = %Q[Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.
Vestibulum facilisis consequat tellus quis consectetur]

    content2 = 'Quisque pretium venenatis interdum'

    text1 = Wx::StaticText.new(panel, label: content1, pos: [60, 100])
    text2 = Wx::StaticText.new(panel, label: content2, pos: [60, 160])

    my_button = Wx::Button.new(panel, label: 'Change Text', pos: [100, 200])
    evt_button(my_button) { text1.set_label('REPLACED WITH SOME NONSENSE') }
    
    centre 
  end
    
  def close_window(_evt)
    close
  end
end

Wx::App.run { MyFrame.new('wxRuby StaticText Guide').show }

Clicking the button will change the original text to:

Likewise, you can use #get_label to get a string containing the currently displayed text of the Wx::StaticText widget.

Changing the text color

The color of the displayed text can be changed using the methods #set_foreground_colour and #set_background_colour. The latter will color any area occupied by the Wx::StaticText widget even where no text is displayed. These methods accept either a Wx::Colour object or a String or Symbol naming the colour (case insensitive).

The following example demonstrates setting the displayed text color.

require 'wx'

class MyFrame < Wx::Frame
  def initialize(title)
    super(nil, title: title)
    panel = Wx::Panel.new(self)

    content1 = %Q[Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.
Vestibulum facilisis consequat tellus quis consectetur]

    content2 = 'Quisque pretium venenatis interdum'

    text1 = Wx::StaticText.new(panel, label: content1, pos: [60, 100])
    text2 = Wx::StaticText.new(panel, label: content2, pos: [60, 160])

    text1.set_foreground_colour(:blue)
    text2.set_foreground_colour("red") # alternatively hexadecimal colour codes can also be used; here '#FF0000' 
                                       # would give identical results

    text1.set_background_colour(:YELLOW)
    text2.set_background_colour('GREEN')
    
    centre 
  end
    
  def close_window(_evt)
    close
  end
end

Wx::App.run { MyFrame.new('wxRuby StaticText Guide').show }

Output of the above code:

Changing the text style

Here we will use the size and style (Alignment) arguments for the Wx::StaticText widget. By default, the Wx::StaticText widget will adjust it’s size to match the content displayed (which can be prevented by using the Wx::ST_NO_AUTORESIZE style).

By default (alignment) style changes will not be noticeable as there is no room for alignment after the widget has adapted it's size to the displayed text. Setting a (fixed) manual size will change that though.

The below code sets manual sizes for both Wx::StaticText widgets and applies some Alignment styles.

require 'wx'

class MyFrame < Wx::Frame
  def initialize(title)
    super(nil, title: title, size: [450,300])
    panel = Wx::Panel.new(self)

    Wx::StaticLine.new(panel, pos: [20, 20], size: [410,1], style: Wx::HORIZONTAL)
    
    content1 = %Q[Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.
Vestibulum facilisis consequat tellus quis consectetur]

    content2 = 'Quisque pretium venenatis interdum'

    text1 = Wx::StaticText.new(panel, label: content1, pos: [40, 100], size: [370, 40], style: Wx::ALIGN_CENTRE_HORIZONTAL)
    text2 = Wx::StaticText.new(panel, label: content2, pos: [40, 160], size: [370, 30], style: Wx::ALIGN_RIGHT)

    text1.set_foreground_colour(:blue)
    text2.set_foreground_colour("#FF0000")

    text1.set_background_colour(:YELLOW)
    text2.set_background_colour('GREEN')

    Wx::StaticLine.new(panel, pos: [20, 240], size: [410,1], style: Wx::HORIZONTAL)
    
    centre 
  end
    
  def close_window(_evt)
    close
  end
end

Wx::App.run { MyFrame.new('wxRuby StaticText Guide').show }

Output of the above code: