DateTimePicker and MCM_SETDAYSTATE

[Peter Larsen [CPH]]

Hi,

I'm trying to make some of the days (in a DateTimePicker) to appear bold,
but i can't figure out how to make this work.

I use .Net 3,5, Winforms on Visual Studio 2008.

I have found some code that looks very similar to the following:

IntPtr mHandle = SendMessage(new HandleRef(dateTimePicker1,
dateTimePicker1.Handle), DTM_GETMONTHCAL, IntPtr.Zero, IntPtr.Zero);
uint[] days = new uint[3];
days[1] = 0xff;
int result = SendMessage(new HandleRef(dateTimePicker1, mHandle),
MCM_SETDAYSTATE, 3, days);

The result is zero which indicates an unsuccessfully operation.

My SendMessage looks like this (the last sendmessage):

private static extern int SendMessage(HandleRef hWnd,
int Msg,
int wParam,
uint[] lParam);

I am not sure if this is right.
I have also tried MarshalAs and other stuff, but i'm not sure what is wrong
and where to fix it.

Any idea what to do ?
Thank you in advance.

Best Regards
Peter

 

[Zhi-Xin Ye [MSFT]]

Hi Peter,

Thank you for using Microsoft Managed Newsgroup Service, I'm Zhi-Xin Ye,
it's my pleasure to work with you on this issue.

As I understand, you want to bold some dates in the MonthCalendar part of
the DateTimePicker.

To bold a particular date you need to send the underlying SysMonthCal32
control the MCM_SETDAYSTATE message where each bit represents a day of the
month. However, this message is really tough to handle in this scenario,
as you might have tried lots of P/Invoke approaches.

After doing some reseach on this issue, I find a managed way to bold the
dates which avoids the Win32 stuff. The trick is placing a MonthCalendar
inside a ToolStripControlHost, and show it right upon the DateTimePicker's
MonthCalendar. Through this approach you can using the
MonthCalendar.BoldedDates, MonthCalendar.MonthlyBoldedDates and
AnnuallyBoldedDates properties to bold whatever dates you like.

The following is a sample code for your information.

public partial class Form1 : Form
{
public Form1()
{
InitializeComponent();

this.dateTimePicker1.DropDown += new
EventHandler(dateTimePicker1_DropDown);
this.dateTimePicker1.CloseUp += new
EventHandler(dateTimePicker1_CloseUp);
this.Load += new EventHandler(Form1_Load);
}

void Form1_Load(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
mc = new MonthCalendar();

//Specify the bolded dates here
mc.BoldedDates = new DateTime[] {
DateTime.Now.AddDays(1),DateTime.Now.AddDays(10) };

mc.DateChanged += new DateRangeEventHandler(mc_DateChanged);

popup = new ToolStripDropDown();
popup.Margin = Padding.Empty;
popup.Padding = Padding.Empty;
ToolStripControlHost host = new ToolStripControlHost(mc);
popup.Items.Add(host);
}

void mc_DateChanged(object sender, DateRangeEventArgs e)
{
this.dateTimePicker1.Value = mc.SelectionStart;
}

ToolStripDropDown popup;
MonthCalendar mc;

void dateTimePicker1_DropDown(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
mc.SelectionStart = this.dateTimePicker1.Value;
mc.SelectionEnd = this.dateTimePicker1.Value;
int y = this.dateTimePicker1.Height -
this.dateTimePicker1.Margin.Vertical;
this.popup.Show(this.dateTimePicker1, 0, y );
}

void dateTimePicker1_CloseUp(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
this.popup.Hide();
}
}


Please try my suggestion and let me know whether it makes sense to you. I
look forward to your reply. Have a nice day!

Best Regards,
Zhi-Xin Ye
Microsoft Managed Newsgroup Support Team

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[Peter Larsen [CPH]]

Hi Zhi-Xin,

Thanks for your reply.
I would have loved to get to know how to use MCM-SETDAYSTATE, but your idea
about combining known controls are great.

I don't need the textbox part of the DateTimePicker, so i have changed it to
use a DropDownButton in a TooStrip control.
Like this :

{
mc2 = new MonthCalendar();
mc2.BoldedDates = new DateTime[]
{DateTime.Now.AddDays(1),DateTime.Now.AddDays(3) };
ToolStripControlHost host2 = new ToolStripControlHost(mc2);
ToolStripDropDown tsdd = new ToolStripDropDown();
toolStripDropDownButton1.DropDown = tsdd;
tsdd.Items.Add(host2);
mc2.DateChanged += new DateRangeEventHandler(mc2_DateChanged);
mc2.DateSelected += new DateRangeEventHandler(mc2_DateSelected);
}

void mc2_DateSelected(object sender, DateRangeEventArgs e)
{
toolStripDropDownButton1.DropDown.Close();
}

void mc2_DateChanged(object sender, DateRangeEventArgs e)
{
toolStripDropDownButton1.Text = mc2.SelectionStart.ToLongDateString();
}

Thanks for your help.

Best Regards
Peter