How to clobber the CurrentCell''s controltext when handling key-events

[Ken Overton]

I want to have special keys that behave like macros or keying shortcuts that change the controltext of the current cell. For example, I''m handling CurrentCellKeyDown, and when I receive a "[" or "]" I need to rewrite the contents of the cell based on a certain calculation. I do that succesfully by setting CurrentCell.Renderer.ControlText and setting the event.Handled = true, but in the UI I end up in edit-mode with my editing text set as "]". If I ESC at that point it reverts to the value I wrote into CurrentCell.Renderer.ControlText, but how do I totally get rid of anything that thinks the current editing state is "]" (or "[")?

[Administrator]

You can try casting grid.CurrentCell.Renderer to a GridTextBoxCellRenderer, call it cr. Then you can try setting cr.TextBox.Text to be the string you want to see in the editing cell.

[Ken Overton]

When I try that I briefly see the new value that I''m writing, then the state drops into editing mode with contents "]".

The final behavior I''m aiming for, btw, is to keep the cell activated and editing and allow the user to enter "]" or "[" as many times as they want, seeing the values change as I compute them. Then when they see a value they want, then they hit "return" and I do something different.

[Administrator]

Here is a little sample using CurrentCellValidateString.

http://www.syncfusion.com/Support/user/uploads/GC_77fdff7d.zip

If you type a open bracket, [, it will auatomatically add ''abcd'' after the bracket.

[Ken Overton]

Very cool! ..... but .... unfortunately doesn''t work if you use arrow keys to reach a cell. I.e., if you''re not in edit mode, it doesn''t work. But I could use this if I could just find a way to force people into that mode when I want to (like when they''ve arrowed to a cell and started typing "["''s in it). Any way I can do that.

Unfortunately our users use the mouse about once an hour and do most navigation thru the keyboard.

[Administrator]

Try setting the grid.ActivateCurrentCellBehavior property to SetCurrent.

[Ken Overton]

>Try setting the grid.ActivateCurrentCellBehavior property to SetCurrent.

Thanks again, for the suggestion. I don''t think that''s gonna be acceptable to the traders, as they can''t arrow right and left seamlessly from column to columnt with this setting; they end up arrowing through each and every character in each column.

[Administrator]

Try this. It worked for me without using teh SetCurrent setting.

private void gridControl1_CurrentCellValidateString(object sender, GridCurrentCellValidateStringEventArgs e)
{
	if(e.Text.EndsWith("["))
	{
		GridCurrentCell cc = this.gridControl1.CurrentCell;
		if(!cc.IsEditing)
			cc.BeginEdit();

		GridTextBoxCellRenderer cr = cc.Renderer as GridTextBoxCellRenderer;
		cr.TextBox.Text = e.Text + "abcde";
		cr.TextBox.SelectionLength = 0;
		cr.TextBox.SelectionStart = cr.TextBox.Text.Length;
		e.Cancel = true;
	}
}

[Ken Overton]

Yes! That does what I want, thanks a lot.