Statictext — version history

u_pbt_statictext · Introduced in 1.0

The rich text block that replaces PowerBuilder's StaticText: markup, clickable links and actions, header look, scrolling banner, foldable sections and a file drop zone. Introduced in 1.0, free.

4.0 — October 2026 #

New #

• [symbol=name] tag in rich text: eighteen monochrome glyphs that follow the text colour (clock, location, person, calendar, phone, mail, warning…); an unknown name stays as text.
• [action], [hyperlink] zones and [foldarea] headers can be reached from the keyboard: Tab, then Enter or Space; nothing responds while the block is disabled.
• of_refresh_parent_color(): reads again the color of the object the block sits on (the one around rounded corners) after your window's background changes; returns 0, or -2 if the component is not created.
• With ib_selectable, Ctrl+C copies the selection.
• il_back_color with ii_corner_radius: the background now follows the rounded corners, and outside the corners the block takes the color of the object it sits on.
• On a dark theme, ib_hover_effect and hovered links lighten instead of darkening.
• of_append_text(as_markup) writes a log line by line: only the line added is sent and drawn, and is_text reads back every line joined by [br]; returns 0, or -2 if the component is not created.
• ib_follow_end (opt-in): the view of a log stays at the bottom as lines arrive, unless the reader has scrolled up.
• ib_auto_width (opt-in) and ue_auto_width(al_width): the userobject takes the width of its text — the longest line, unwrapped — as ib_auto_height does for the height.

Fixed #

• Rich text: a ] escaped by of_escape_markup right after a tag no longer breaks the formatting around it ("[b]" + of_escape_markup("] end") + "[/b]" shows in bold, bracket included).
• Rich text: a closing tag now closes its own tag only ([b]A[i]B[/b]C leaves C in italics only); a closing tag without an opening one, or for a tag without content such as [br], is ignored.
• [picture=…] accepts a data URI (what of_icon() returns) and a file name containing a comma: the dimensions are read at the end of the value.
• [hyperlink=HTTPS://…]: a scheme written in capitals is opened (the list stays http, https, mailto).
• Folding a [foldarea] no longer raises ue_clicked or ue_double_clicked; an [action] zone in its header raises ue_action without folding the block.
• With ib_selectable, releasing the mouse after selecting text no longer raises ue_clicked.
• Reading il_back_color, ii_marquee_speed, is_marquee_direction, ib_marquee_overflow_only, ib_marquee_pause_on_hover and is_font_family returns the value you set (instead of -1, 0, "", false, or a font family in quotes).
• of_reset also clears the border color and width: the next border no longer inherits them.
• ii_marquee_speed = 0 restores the default speed (60) instead of keeping the previous one.
• Scrolling banner in right-to-left reading: MARQUEE_START scrolls toward the start of reading; "left" and "right" stay physical.
• Scrolling banner: a [foldarea] still folds once scrolling is on; with ib_marquee_overflow_only, a change of height no longer restarts the text from the beginning; with ib_wrap = false, no more false ue_text_overflow(true).
• With ib_track_mouse, ue_mouse_leave is raised even if the block was disabled while hovered.
• ii_line_spacing outside 50-400 is brought back to the nearest bound and reads back as applied; an unknown scrolling direction behaves and reads back as MARQUEE_START.
• A disabled block no longer shows the hand cursor or the hover effect, and refuses dropped files.
• A file drop (ib_allow_drop) raises ue_drop_files alone (no more ue_drag_leave before it), with full paths beyond 260 characters; of_reset removes the drop target (ib_allow_drop back to false).
• Reading back a long text value takes time proportional to its size and returns it whole (it slowed down with the size and was cut beyond a million characters).
• Enter or Esc pressed in the component, when it does not use them, goes back to the window: the PowerBuilder Default or Cancel CommandButton fires (the key was lost).
• A disabled component (ib_enabled = false) leaves the Tab order; enabled again (or after of_reset), it takes its place back.
• With no language chosen by the application, the component announces English to screen readers (it announced French).
• is_theme_style, is_theme_mode and il_theme_accent read back the style and mode shown and the component's own accent (-1 when it has none); an unknown or badly written value is ignored instead of leaving the component without a theme, and an axis left empty follows the application's theme.
• The application accent (PBT_SetDefaultThemeAccent) survives a change of theme, is followed as long as the component has no accent of its own, and repaints everything derived from it (hover, pressed, selections); Windows high contrast is supported.

Behavior changes #

See Migrating from 3.0 to 4.0 (sections 11.6 and 11.11).

• ue_cycle becomes optional: it is raised only when ib_track_cycle = true (like ue_mouse_enter with ib_track_mouse), and only at each full pass of the text — no longer for an animation inside the text.
• ii_padding: -1 is the theme's padding (new default), 0 now means no padding. An ii_padding = 0 written to mean "the theme's padding" becomes -1.
• of_scroll_to_end returns a long: 0, or -2 if the component is not created.
• A markup image on a network share ([picture=\\server\share\x.png]) is no longer shown: go through of_icon(), which embeds it, or through a picture component.

3.0 — September 2026 #

New #

• of_set_property, of_get_property and of_component_name: drive a property by its name (settings screen, saved configuration).

Fixed #

• [u][accent]text[/accent][/u]: the underline takes the color of the colored text instead of staying grey.
• Rich text: a [word] that is not a tag is shown as typed (report[final].pdf) instead of disappearing with the rest of the text.
• Reading il_text_color returns the color you set, and -1 for the theme's color (it returned 0, black).

2.0 — September 2026 #

New #

• ue_script_error: a script error in the page reaches PowerBuilder with its message instead of being lost.

Fixed #

• A Windows path, or a text containing a quote, received by ue_action or ue_hyperlink arrives intact (backslashes are no longer doubled, the text is no longer cut at the quote).

Behavior changes #

• The argument of ue_action is named as_key (it was as_id) — see Migrating from 1.0 to 2.0.

1.0 — August 2026 #

New #

• Rich text markup: bold, italics, underline, colors, [picture=…] images, line breaks; horizontal and vertical alignment, word wrap or a single line with an ellipsis (and an optional tooltip showing the full text).
• Clickable zones: [hyperlink=…] opens the browser and raises ue_hyperlink, [action=…] raises ue_action for your code; foldable [foldarea] sections.
• Header look: background, border, rounded corners, inner padding, hover effect for a button-like label.
• Scrolling banner (ib_marquee): speed, direction, scrolling only when the text overflows, pause on hover, ue_cycle at each pass.
• Optional interactions: file drop from Windows Explorer (ue_drop_files), mouse tracking, selectable text, automatic height; ue_clicked, ue_double_clicked, ue_rclicked, ue_text_overflow.
• of_scroll_to_end for a log whose last line must stay visible; export of the rendering to PNG or JPG.