ScriptUI Multiline StaticText Frame Too Large

Hi Jim,

Yes, that's exactly the workaround I was about to suggest.

Multiline statictexts reveal something weird in the way preferredSize is computed within the layout manager. Usually the characters property (if supplied before you hit preferredSize) will do a good job, provided that you already know how many characters a line is supposed to support:

var w = new Window('dialog'),
    gp = w.add('group'),
    st = gp.add('statictext', undefined, "Nonserita demquat issimus ex eatiust, occatur, ut ommod expliquodi ratusam, que vendest dolorepro coreium volorempere doluptat as exceaquam quo qui\r\rBus reped mos exere od quodior porum?", {multiline:true});
st.characters = 50; // WARNING: do not hit st.preferredSize before you set the characters property!
with( gp.graphics ){ backgroundColor = newBrush(w.graphics.BrushType.SOLID_COLOR,[1,0,0],1); }
w.show();

The code above will usually work well. BUT if you need to specify a 'preferred' width instead, then things become complex because st.preferredSize=[MY_PREFERRED_WIDTH,-1] does not lead the layout manager to properly anticipate the height of the widget. In fact, I suspect the preferred size is always computed relative to an explicit or implicit characters number. So you have to provide the optimal number of characters that match the constraint. AFAIK the internal ScriptUI processing is based on the metrics of the 'X' character. So my workaround is to do as follows:

var w = new Window('dialog'),
    gp = w.add('group'),
    st = gp.add('statictext', undefined, 'X', {multiline:true}),
    X_WIDTH = st.preferredSize[0], // Here I grab the X width
    PREFERRED_WIDTH = 600;     // Your preferred width, in px
with( st )
    {
    // Reset the preferred size so that the
    // characters property will cause an update
    // ---
    preferredSize = [-1,-1];
    
    // Estimate the optimal character number
    // considering PREFERRED_WIDTH and X_WIDTH
    // ---
    characters = ~~(PREFERRED_WIDTH/X_WIDTH);
    
    // Will force the preferred height to be computed
    // again given the implied width and characters prop.
    // ---
    preferredSize[1] = -1;
    }
// Finally, set the actual text
// ---
st.text = "Nonserita demquat issimus ex eatiust, occatur, ut ommod expliquodi ratusam, que vendest dolorepro coreium volorempere doluptat as exceaquam quo qui\r\rBus reped mos exere od quodior porum?";
with( gp.graphics ){ backgroundColor = newBrush(w.graphics.BrushType.SOLID_COLOR,[1,0,0],1); }
w.show();

Not sure that works on all platforms though.

@+

Marc