Paperclip within listbox

  • Thread starter Thread starter Sam D
  • Start date Start date
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Sam D

Ok, I know the subject sounds weird, but read on...

Some background:
I have an existing form in a client's application that uses a listbox on the
LHS that includes a brief summary of the contents of each record. The full
detail of the records is displayed on the RHS. Each record can have files
attached to them that are stored independently of the BE database. The
attached files can be opened, deleted, etc.. form within the form.

Now my problem:
The client wishes to include a paperclip in the summary down the LHS to
indicate that the record has attachments. In terms of the UI this makes
perfect sense. I was hoping their was already a paperclip included within
most fonts - but I'm wrong.

Any ideas welcome...
 
I cannot think of a paper-clip but would your client accept the character that
you get for a 2 in the Marlett font, it looks like overlapping documents? The
advantage of Marlett is that it is part of Windows so you should be able to
rely on it being there! I cannot think of a way to get anything like this on
a listbox but you could replace it with a sub-form formatted to look like a
listbox, then just select a 2 into the field for records that have documents
stored.

HTH
John
 
Using CharMap On "Marlet" found no entries.
Font "MS Outlook" chatacter 0x47 "G" is a paper clip.

Any help on your setup? - John
 
Thanks John, but...

1. Can I include 2 different fonts within the same listbox? (I think NOT).

OR

2. I suspect I'll need 2 listboxes operating in parallel. The second
containing the same records but SELECTing just the paperclip icon (ie, a
'G') when there are attachments (else nothing), and using the MS Outlook
font. (A real pain given the existing complexities).

OR

3. Don't use a paprclip, rather use a standard character to represent
attachments such as 'A' or '*'. (Not as nice but really easy).

Can 1. be done?

Thanks,
Sam
 
It should be Marlett, which is used for the Windows furniture, scroll bars etc
so should be present on any PC. The MS Outlook font will presumably only be
present if Outlook is installed, so may or may not be there, if you can rely
on it for this client it would be a better choice having an actual paper-clip.

John
 
I don't think that you can do it with a list box but you could do it with a
sub-form designed to look like a list box. You can then use two controls with
different fonts in each. I think that will be easier than trying to
synchronise two list boxes. 3 is certainly the easy option but as you say,
not as nice ;-)

HTH
John
 
Thanks John,

I've implemented my option 3.

If I have time (after completing the rest of the upgrade) I'll come back and
give your suggestion a whirl!

Sam
 
Here's a slightly more elegant version of option 3:

Make the first character in the list entry:

If there is no attachment, U+2610 (i.e., the character at Unicode code
2610)--this is an empty box

If there is an attachment, U+2611 (a checkmark in a ballot box) or U+2612,
an X in a ballot box

Thus is will look as though there is a column of checked or unchecked boxes
followed by text.

Note that you have to make sure that you have a font installed that can
display this character (e.g., Arial Unicode MS, which comes with Office but
is not installed by default; Tahoma also has these characters).
 
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