Centring text in a WxPerl static text box

HenryLaw has asked for the wisdom of the Perl Monks concerning the following question:

The following code, based on an example in http://learnperl.scratchcomputing.com/tutorials/wxperl/, is a minimum example which is supposed to put up a StaticText control with its legend centred. Instead it is resolutely left-aligned. I have tried everything I can think of, including putting wxALIGN_CENTRE on the sizer add, calling the CentreOnParent method of the text box ... and a dozen other things I can't remember.

What am I doing wrong?

#!/usr/bin/env perl

use warnings;
use strict;

use Wx;
use wxPerl::Constructors;

package MyApp;

use base 'Wx::App';

use Wx qw( wxALIGN_CENTRE wxVERTICAL wxEXPAND );

sub OnInit {
  my $self = shift;

  my $frame = wxPerl::Frame->new(undef, 'A wxPerl Application');
  $frame->SetMinSize([120,40]);

  my $sizer = Wx::BoxSizer->new(wxVERTICAL);
    
  my $text = wxPerl::StaticText->new( $frame, "This is text",
                      style => wxALIGN_CENTRE );
    
  $sizer->Add( $text, 1, wxEXPAND );

  $frame->SetSizer($sizer);

  $frame->Show;
}

MyApp->new->MainLoop;
[download]

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Re: Centring text in a WxPerl static text box by beech (Parson) on Feb 14, 2018 at 05:36 UTC
The following code, based on an example in http://learnperl.scratchcomputing.com/tutorials/wxperl/, is a minimum example which is supposed to put up a StaticText control with its legend centred. Instead it is resolutely left-aligned. I have tried everything I can think of, including putting wxALIGN_CENTRE on the sizer add, calling the CentreOnParent method of the text box ... and a dozen other things I can't remember. What am I doing wrong? Hi, What version are you using? wxALIGN_CENTRE seems to do the trick for me, without it the text is left aligned Perl 5.016001 Wx 0.9922 wxWidgets 2.9.4 `print join( ' ', "\n", Perl => $], Wx => $Wx::VERSION, Wx::wxVERSION_STRING, "\n" );` Also, I wouldn't expect a wxVERTICAL box sizer to try to align horizontally :)	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: Centring text in a WxPerl static text box by HenryLaw (Acolyte) on Feb 14, 2018 at 08:41 UTC
> What version are you using? Perl 5.022001 Wx 0.9923 wxWidgets 3.0.2 > wxALIGN_CENTRE seems to do the trick for me, without it the text is left aligned When you say "Does the trick", do you mean my code gives you centred text? Aaagh! > Also, I wouldn't expect a wxVERTICAL box sizer to try to align horizontally :) Quite so; but I did try the wxALIGN_CENTRE flag on the sizer's Add method, without any obvious difference. And in any case the plan was that the wxALIGN_CENTRE flag on the StaticText box itself was going to do the alignment. Thinking about what you said, I wonder if the StaticText box is actually only the size of the text, so that centring the text within it has no effect.	[reply]
Re^3: Centring text in a WxPerl static text box by beech (Parson) on Feb 14, 2018 at 22:52 UTC
Hi I'm on windows and this seems to be a known issue on non windows #15637 (Solution for wxStaticText horizontal alignment and vertical spacing problem) – wxWidgets One solution for OP to center in both sizers `$sizer->AddStretchSpacer(); my $text_sizer = Wx::BoxSizer->new( Wx::wxHORIZONTAL() ); $sizer->Add( $text_sizer, 1, wxEXPAND \| Wx::wxCENTRE() ); $text_sizer->Add( $text, 1 , wxEXPAND \| Wx::wxCENTRE() );` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: Centring text in a WxPerl static text box by HenryLaw (Acolyte) on Feb 14, 2018 at 19:24 UTC
Spent most of the afternoon fiddling with this. I'm convinced that the wxALIGN_CENTRE flag doesn't work. I've written a little subroutine which does what I want; it's OK but it shouldn't be necessary `sub centre_text{ # centre_text( $text_control, $container ); # Not enough error checking, really ... my ( $text_control, $container ) = @_; my ($container_width) = $container->GetSizeWH(); my ($text_width) = $container->GetTextExtent( $text_control->GetLabe +l() ); my ( $text_x, $text_y ) = $text_control->GetPositionXY(); $text_control->Move( ($container_width-$text_width)/2, $text_y ); }` [download]	[reply] [d/l]
Re: Centring text in a WxPerl static text box by NetWallah (Canon) on Feb 14, 2018 at 03:00 UTC
Try the American spelling : wxALIGN_CENTER. The perl Wx::DemoModules::wxStaticText module has this declaration: `sub styles { my( $self ) = @_; return ( [ wxALIGN_LEFT, 'Align left' ], [ wxALIGN_CENTER, 'Align center' ], [ wxALIGN_RIGHT, 'Align right' ], [ wxST_NO_AUTORESIZE, 'No autoresize' ], ); }` [download] Python is a racist language what with it's dependence on white space!	[reply] [d/l]
Re^2: Centring text in a WxPerl static text box by HenryLaw (Acolyte) on Feb 14, 2018 at 08:31 UTC
Almost uniquely in my experience, Wx, and therefore WxPerl, accepts both spellings; see http://docs.wxwidgets.org/2.8.12/wx_wxstatictext.html#wxstatictext	[reply]