It's me again! This's got to be the weirdest of the weird things I've
seen in a long time.

I've got some code that does this:
  Form1.dbEdit1.SetFocus;
  PostMessage(Form1.dbEdit1.Handle, EM_SETSEL, 0, -1);

(1) When returning focus to Form1 after having focus on another form.
(2) Upon arriving on a new record displayed on Form1.

Summary: It doesn't always work.

Details:
This has been working fine for over a year, but recently I added a new
form, which, unlike all the other forms, is *not* destroyed when the user
leaves. (It is an fsNormal form, unlike the other forms, which are all
fsMDIChild forms. It is hidden when the user leaves it.)  

For one of around 2 dozen users, the field contents are sometimes not
selected after returning to Form1 from the fsNormal form; *but* his
cursor is in the control, and Form1 has focus.   When he starts up the
system, behavior is normal, but after the first time that the EM_SETSEL
fails to work, it doesn't work again until he exits and restarts the app.

It happens whether we compile the app in D2 or D3.02. His h/w & s/w
configuration and network logins are the same as everyone else, but we
tried giving him a new pc just in case. Didn't help any.

We recorded his keystrokes but can't reproduce the problem on any other
machines.  One other user did manage to reproduce the problem twice, but
doens't know what he did, and can't seem to do it again.

One last thing: This fsNormal form replaces a call to InputQuery. When we
were using InputQuery this problem didn't exist.

Ideas, anyone?

As I'm sure you know, the Rich Edit control is far from stable.  A couple of
thoughts (or perhaps questions...).  What is the operating system Win 95 or
NT?  If it is NT, would suggest installing Service Pack 3.  Has IE 4.xx been
installed on the system?  If so, there are some very bizarre problems that
can occur with visual controls, and in particular with the Windows desktop.
The only other thought is that this sounds like a resource that may not be
freed properly.  Hope this helps a little..

Martin

Martin Vernon wrote

dbEdit1.SelStart := 0;
dbEdit1.SelLength := length( dbEdit1.Text );

NeilB

neil_butterwo...@compuserve.com
 http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/neil_butterworth

The control being used may not be a rich edit, but the message that is being
sent to the control is indeed an Edit Message that is used by and directly
affected by the Rich Edit control support functions.  Rich Edit messages are
prefixed with EM_ and a few are EN_ or ES_.  You may refer to the Waite
Group's API Bible for more specific information.

The point of my response to the author was not to provide a definitive
answer, but merely to do as she suggested and give some possible areas to
look into.

By the way, your comment regarding the use of SendMessage as opposed to
PostMessage appears on the surface to be a good one.

Martin Vernon wrote

NeilB

neil_butterwo...@compuserve.com
 http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/neil_butterworth