The implementation in this recent post to display a “Help!” message to the screen was well received by the person requesting it, but they ended up also wanting a command to display a message in the case that the user has help to offer other members of the class.
Which basically meant a great opportunity to refactor the previous implementation, so that it could be used more generally. :-)
Here’s the updated C# code which now implements a generalised “flash message” capability that is used by both the original HELPME and the new HELPYOU commands:
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.ApplicationServices;
using Autodesk.AutoCAD.Runtime;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using System;
namespace GetAttention
{
public class HelpForm : Form
{
// Percentage of screen height for border
const int bdrPrc = 20;
string _message = "";
Brush _brush = null;
public HelpForm(Brush brush, string message)
{
_brush = brush;
_message = message;
TopMost = true;
ShowInTaskbar = false;
FormBorderStyle = FormBorderStyle.None;
BackColor = Color.Plum;
TransparencyKey = Color.Plum;
Width = Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Width;
Height = Screen.PrimaryScreen.Bounds.Height;
Paint += new PaintEventHandler(HelpForm_Paint);
}
void HelpForm_Paint(object sender, PaintEventArgs e)
{
// Calculate the actual border size in pixels
int bdrWid = Height * bdrPrc / 100;
// Our border will be around the whole screen
Rectangle border = new Rectangle(0, 0, Width, Height);
// Draw the border
e.Graphics.DrawRectangle(new Pen(_brush, bdrWid), border);
// Our text will be centered in the border
System.Drawing.Font f = new Font("Arial", bdrWid);
SizeF sz = e.Graphics.MeasureString(_message, f);
int wid = (int)sz.Width;
int hgt = (int)sz.Height;
Rectangle rect =
new Rectangle(
(Width - wid) / 2, (Height - hgt) / 2,
(int)(wid * 1.2), hgt
);
e.Graphics.DrawString(_message, f, _brush, rect);
}
}
public class MessageFlasher
{
private static HelpForm _form = null;
private static Timer _timer = null;
private static int _times = 0;
private static int _maxTimes = 0;
public static void FlashMessage(
Brush brush, string message, int times, double secs
)
{
// Create our form
_form = new HelpForm(brush, message);
_form.Show();
// Start the timer, ticking as per the specified interval
_maxTimes = (times * 2) - 1;
_timer = new Timer()
{
Interval = (int)(secs * 1000),
Enabled = true
};
_timer.Tick +=
(s, e) =>
{
// Once the timer has ticked n times (and the form
// displayed n/2 times), dispose of the form
if (_times++ >= _maxTimes)
{
_form.Hide();
_form.Dispose();
_form = null;
_timer.Stop();
_timer.Dispose();
_timer = null;
_times = 0;
}
else
{
// If we haven't reached ten ticks, toggle the form's
// display on/off
if (_form.Visible)
_form.Hide();
else
_form.Show();
}
};
}
public class Commands
{
[CommandMethod("HELPME")]
public void RequestHelp()
{
MessageFlasher.FlashMessage(Brushes.Red, "Help!", 5, 1);
}
[CommandMethod("HELPYOU")]
public void ProvideHelp()
{
MessageFlasher.FlashMessage(Brushes.Green, "Answer!", 2, 1);
}
}
}
}
The new HELPYOU command displays a different message in green for fewer flashes:
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