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TitleSee what word is under the mouse in a RichTextBox and look it up in a list of known words
DescriptionThis example shows how to see what word is under the mouse in a RichTextBox and look it up in a list of known words in Visual Basic 6.
KeywordsRichTextBox, TextBox, word, mouse, cursor
CategoriesControls, Tips and Tricks, API
 
Thanks to Gamal.

When the form loads, it puts some text in the RichTextBox. It then initializes the m_Words and m_Tips collections to hold known words and their tooltips.

 
Private m_Words As Collection
Private m_Tips As Collection

Private Sub Form_Load()
    ...
    ' Make some lookup definitions.
    Set m_Words = New Collection
    Set m_Tips = New Collection
    m_Words.Add "http://www.vb-helper.com/vba.htm"
    m_Tips.Add "Visual Basic Algorithms Web page"

    m_Words.Add _
        "(http://www.vb-helper.com/howto_richtextbox_lookup_word_under_mouse.html)"
    m_Tips.Add "This example's Web page"

    m_Words.Add "more."
    m_Tips.Add "(Including some cool fractal graphics!)"
End Sub
 
When the mouse moves over the RichTextBox, its MouseMove event handler calls function RichWordOver to see what word is under the mouse. It looks for the word in m_Words and displays the corresponding tooltip.
 
Private Sub rchMainText_MouseMove(Button As Integer, Shift _
    As Integer, X As Single, Y As Single)
Dim txt As String
Dim tip_txt As String
Dim i As Integer

    ' Get the word under the mouse.
    txt = RichWordOver(rchMainText, X, Y)

    ' Look up the word.
    For i = 1 To m_Words.Count
        If LCase$(txt) = LCase$(m_Words(i)) Then
            tip_txt = m_Tips(i)
            Exit For
        End If
    Next i

    ' Update the label and tooltip.
    If lblCurrentWord.Caption <> tip_txt Then
        lblCurrentWord.Caption = tip_txt
        rchMainText.ToolTipText = tip_txt
    End If
End Sub
 
Subroutine RichWordOver figures out where the mouse is and sends the RichTextBox the message EM_CHARFROMPOS to see what character is there. It then looks forward and backward from that point to determine where the word ends.

Helper function IsWordSeparator returns True if a character is not part of a word and thus marks the boundary between words.

 
' Return the word the mouse is over.
Public Function RichWordOver(rch As RichTextBox, X As _
    Single, Y As Single) As String
Dim pt As POINTAPI
Dim pos As Integer
Dim start_pos As Integer
Dim end_pos As Integer
Dim ch As String
Dim txt As String
Dim txtlen As Integer

    ' Convert the position to pixels.
    pt.X = X \ Screen.TwipsPerPixelX
    pt.Y = Y \ Screen.TwipsPerPixelY

    ' Get the character number
    pos = SendMessage(rch.hWnd, EM_CHARFROMPOS, 0&, pt)
    If pos <= 0 Then Exit Function

    ' Find the start of the word.
    txt = rch.Text
    For start_pos = pos To 1 Step -1
        ' See if this is a word separator.
        ch = Mid$(rch.Text, start_pos, 1)
        If IsWordSeparator(ch) Then Exit For
    Next start_pos
    start_pos = start_pos + 1

    ' Find the end of the word.
    txtlen = Len(txt)
    For end_pos = pos To txtlen
        ' See if this is a word separator.
        ch = Mid$(txt, end_pos, 1)
        If IsWordSeparator(ch) Then Exit For
    Next end_pos
    end_pos = end_pos - 1

    If start_pos <= end_pos Then _
        RichWordOver = Mid$(txt, start_pos, end_pos - _
            start_pos + 1)
End Function

' Return True if this is a word-separating character.
' Count all non-visible characters as separators.
Private Function IsWordSeparator(ByVal ch As String) As _
    Boolean
    IsWordSeparator = (ch <= " " Or ch > "~")
End Function
 
 
Copyright © 1997-2010 Rocky Mountain Computer Consulting, Inc.   All rights reserved.
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