Components

A SftMask control is composed of several areas. Understanding the areas makes it easier to choose which fields on SFTMASK_CONTROL to set for a given effect. The HitTest function reports which area is at a given location (see SFTMASK_AREA Constants).

Control areas

• Caption area - the optional built-in caption, displayed left, top, right or below the edit area. See Built-In Caption.
• Edit area - the data entry area, displaying literals, input fields and the optional label (see Label). Unfilled input positions show the prompt character and can be underlined.
• Up-down buttons - spin buttons for numeric, date and time fields (iEditStyle = SFTMASK_EDITUPDOWN). See Up/Down Buttons.
• Drop down button - opens the popup calendar for date fields (iEditStyle = SFTMASK_EDITCALENDARDROPDOWN). See Popup Calendar.
• Ellipse button - a "..." button with an application-defined action (iEditStyle = SFTMASK_EDITELLIPSE). See Ellipse Buttons.
• Error image area - the optional error indicator to the left or right of the edit area. See Error Image.

Popup windows

• Popup calendar - dropdown date selection for date fields. See Popup Calendar.
• Popup calculator - dropdown calculator for numeric fields defined with the C subtoken. See Popup Calculator.
• Autocomplete window - dropdown suggestion list based on previously entered text or file/folder names. See AutoComplete.

When theme is active

When iUseThemes is enabled, Windows paints the edit field frame; the control draws contents, caption and buttons. See Using Themes.

When dark mode or high contrast is active

Theme-driven chrome is suppressed. The control and all its popup windows use a dark palette (dark mode) or the user's system colors (high contrast). See Dark Mode and High Contrast.

See Also HitTest | SFTMASK_AREA Constants | SFTMASK_CONTROL