Right-aligned numbers in a combobox

[genojoe]

I want to right-align numbers in a combobox. Since there is no TextAlign
property for the ComboBox, I tried the following code in a form containing a
default combobox.

'Declarations and two subs.
Dim miarr() As Long = {20000000000033 3, 33}
Dim moGraphics As Graphics = Me.CreateGraphi cs
Dim msngWidth As Single = 120

Private Sub MyForm_Load(ByV al sender As Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArg s) Handles MyBase.Load
Dim i As Integer
Me.ComboBox1.Dr opDownWidth = CInt(msngWidth) + 10
Me.ComboBox1.Dr awMode = System.Windows. Forms.DrawMode. OwnerDrawFixed
For i = 1 To 2
Me.ComboBox1.It ems.Add(i.ToStr ing)
Next
End Sub

Private Sub ComboBox1_DrawI tem(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As
System.Windows. Forms.DrawItemE ventArgs) Handles ComboBox1.DrawI tem
Try
Dim sngLen As Single =
moGraphics.Meas ureString(miarr (e.Index).ToStr ing, ComboBox1.Font) .Width
Debug.WriteLine ((sngLen).ToStr ing)
e.DrawBackgroun d()
e.Graphics.Draw String(miarr(e. Index).ToString , ComboBox1.Font,
System.Drawing. Brushes.Black, New _
RectangleF(msng Width - sngLen, e.Bounds.Top + 2, msngWidth,
e.Bounds.Height ))
Catch ex As Exception
End Try
End Sub

When I open this form and show the combo dropdown, I expected the numbers to
be right-aligned. Instead, they are off by about a half character. For the
values in the array, I get MeasureString values of 98.17106 and 16.26725
(default font).

Second observation, although DrawString() uses floating point numbers, it
seems that 16.40000 and 15.60000 produce identical positioned numbers; it
seems that the DrawString() method uses the Integer value when drawing the
characters.

This approach seems reasonable to me but the result is not satisfactory when
the numbers vary greatly in their digit count. What am I missing? Can
someone confirm this behaviour?

[Ken Tucker [MVP]]

Hi,

Use a stringformat for that. Here is an example.

Dim sf As New StringFormat
sf.Alignment = StringAlignment .Far

g.DrawString(mi arr(e.Index).To String, ComboBox1.Font, Brushes.Black,
RectangleF.op_I mplicit(e.Bound s), sf)
Ken
-------------------
"genojoe" <ge*****@discus sions.microsoft .com> wrote in message
news:68******** *************** ***********@mic rosoft.com...

I want to right-align numbers in a combobox. Since there is no TextAlign
property for the ComboBox, I tried the following code in a form containing
a
default combobox.

'Declarations and two subs.
Dim miarr() As Long = {20000000000033 3, 33}
Dim moGraphics As Graphics = Me.CreateGraphi cs
Dim msngWidth As Single = 120

Private Sub MyForm_Load(ByV al sender As Object, ByVal e As
System.EventArg s) Handles MyBase.Load
Dim i As Integer
Me.ComboBox1.Dr opDownWidth = CInt(msngWidth) + 10
Me.ComboBox1.Dr awMode =
System.Windows. Forms.DrawMode. OwnerDrawFixed
For i = 1 To 2
Me.ComboBox1.It ems.Add(i.ToStr ing)
Next
End Sub

Private Sub ComboBox1_DrawI tem(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As
System.Windows. Forms.DrawItemE ventArgs) Handles ComboBox1.DrawI tem
Try
Dim sngLen As Single =
moGraphics.Meas ureString(miarr (e.Index).ToStr ing, ComboBox1.Font) .Width
Debug.WriteLine ((sngLen).ToStr ing)
e.DrawBackgroun d()
e.Graphics.Draw String(miarr(e. Index).ToString , ComboBox1.Font,
System.Drawing. Brushes.Black, New _
RectangleF(msng Width - sngLen, e.Bounds.Top + 2, msngWidth,
e.Bounds.Height ))
Catch ex As Exception
End Try
End Sub

When I open this form and show the combo dropdown, I expected the numbers
to
be right-aligned. Instead, they are off by about a half character. For
the
values in the array, I get MeasureString values of 98.17106 and 16.26725
(default font).

Second observation, although DrawString() uses floating point numbers, it
seems that 16.40000 and 15.60000 produce identical positioned numbers; it
seems that the DrawString() method uses the Integer value when drawing the
characters.

This approach seems reasonable to me but the result is not satisfactory
when
the numbers vary greatly in their digit count. What am I missing? Can
someone confirm this behaviour?