Re: Row-Column addressable Text Locations in TextView and TextBuffer

[Ronald Vincent Tarrant <rontarrant sympatico ca>]

Bill Sousan wrote:

> Is there a way to use TextView and TextBuffer to setup an addressable area
> of text?  In other words, I want to have a Text Window where I can specify
> to display a given string at a specific Row and Column.  I want to avoid the
> overhead of having a Fixed container and popping up Labels all over the
> place.  I also want to avoid having to shadow the entire text area in a
> buffer and having to redisplay it each time.  I have looked at the Docs on
> TextView and TextBuffer and could not find anything that may allow me to do
> this.
>  
I'm not 100% sure I'm understanding what you want, but here's my take on 
this...

The TextView and TextBuffer work together. The TextBuffer, if I take 
your meaning, 'shadows' what the TextView displays. You can't use one 
without the other, so if you want to use a TextView to display anything, 
you'll have to have a TextBuffer as well.

In theory, if you want to, you can clear the TextBuffer before dumping 
something else into it and give the appearance of not 'shadowing' the 
text. But...

If you aren't allowing the user to edit the text, you might consider 
using a Layout and a Label. The Label can be placed exactly where you 
want within the Layout, thus giving the appearance of rows and columns. 
You can also have multiple Labels at the same time.

If you also use a Style with the Layout, you can set the background to a 
colour or an image and make it look like a TextView or anything else you 
want.

And if you what the text to be clickable for any reason, you can wrap 
the Label in an EventBox.

I hope this helps, Bill.

-Ron T.