SelLength, SelStart, SelText Properties
See Also Example1 Example2
Apply To
Combo box, text box
Description
SelLengthdetermines the number of characters selected.
SelStartdetermines the starting point of text selected; indicates the position of the insertion point if no text is selected.
SelTextdetermines the string containing the currently selected text; consists of an empty string ("") if no characters are selected.
These properties are not available at design time.
Usage
[form.]{ combobox|textbox}.SelLength[ = length ]
[form.]{ combobox|textbox}.SelStart[ = index ]
[form.]{ combobox|textbox}.SelText[ = stringexpression ]
Setting
For SelLength and SelStart, the valid range of settings is 0 to text lengththe total number of characters in the edit area of a combo box or text box.
Remarks
Use these properties for tasks such as setting the insertion point Used in conjunction with the Clipboard object , these properties are useful for copy, cut, and paste operations.
When working with these properties:
Setting SelLength less than 0 causes a run-time error .
Setting SelStart greater than the text length sets the property to the existing text length; changing SelStart changes the selection to an insertion point and sets SelLength to 0.
Setting SelText to a new value sets SelLength to 0 and replaces the selected text with the new string.
Data Type
SelLength, SelStartLong
SelTextString
Help:
ActiveControl Property
ActiveForm Property
Text Property
Programmer's Guide:
Chapter 3, "Creating and Using Controls"
SelLength, SelStart, SelText Properties Example 1
This example lets the user specify some text to search for, and then searches the text and selects it, if found. To try this example, paste the code into the Declarations section of a form that contains a wide text box. Then press F5 and click the form.
Sub Form_Load ()
Text1.Text = "Two of the peak human experiences"
Text1.Text = Text1.Text & " are good food and classical music."
End Sub
Sub Form_Click ()
Dim Search, Where ' Declare variables.
' Get search string from user.
Search = InputBox("Enter text to be found:")
Where = InStr(Text1.Text, Search) ' Find string in text.
If Where Then ' If found...
Text1.SelStart = Where - 1 ' Set selection start.
Text1.SelLength = Len(Search) ' Set selection length.
Else
MsgBox "String not found." ' Notify user
End If
End Sub
SelLength, SelStart, SelText Properties Example 2
This example shows how the Clipboard is used in cut, copy, paste, and delete operations. To try this example, create a form with a text box and use the Menu Design window to create an Edit menu (for each of the commands, set Caption = Cut, Copy, Paste, and Delete; and set Name = EditCut, EditCopy, EditPaste, and EditDelete, respectively).
Sub EditCut_Click ()
' Copy selected text to Clipboard.
ClipBoard.SetText Screen.ActiveControl.SelText
' Delete selected text.
Screen.ActiveControl.SelText = ""
End Sub
Sub EditCopy_Click ()
' Copy selected text to Clipboard.
ClipBoard.SetText Screen.ActiveControl.SelText
End Sub
Sub EditPaste_Click ()
' Place text from Clipboard into active control.
Screen.ActiveControl.SelText = ClipBoard.GetText ()
End Sub
Sub EditDelete_Click ()
' Delete selected text.
Screen.ActiveControl.SelText = ""
End Sub