How to Determine the Coordinates of an Object

 Last reviewed: September 10, 1995
Article ID: Q136328
The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, version 3.0

SUMMARY

This article shows by example how to determine the coordinates of an object on a form in Visual FoxPro. This could be useful when you want to position the mouse pointer over an object programmatically, and then fire that object's Click event.

MORE INFORMATION

Step-by-Step Example

You can use the Top, Left, Height, and Width properties to determine the exact area occupied by an object. Then position the mouse pointer in that area, and fire the object's Click event. The following procedure gives an example.

  1. Create a new form.

  2. Place a command button (Command1) on the form.

  3. Place the following five lines of code in the Debug window:

    _SCREEN.ActiveForm.Command1.Top _SCREEN.ActiveForm.Command1.Left _SCREEN.ActiveForm.Command1.Height _SCREEN.ActiveForm.Command1.Width _SCREEN.ActiveForm.Command1.ScaleMode

    These commands return numeric values indicating the coordinates of the Command1 button relative to the form on which it is located. The Top property indicates the distance between the top edge of the control and the top edge of its parent object. (For form objects, Top give the distance between the top edge of the form and the main Visual FoxPro window.)

    The Left property indicates the left-most edge of an object relative to its parent object. (For form objects, Left gives the distance between the left edge of the form and the main Visual FoxPro window.)

    The Height property indicates the height of the object on the screen.

    The Width property indicates the width of the object.

    The ScaleMode property indicates the unit of measurement for coordinates of an object when using graphics methods or when positioning controls. The two measurements Visual FoxPro uses are pixels and foxels. The ScaleMode property uses foxels if set to 0 and pixels if set to 3.

  4. Run the form, and make a note of the values returned in the Debug window. Knowing what these values represent, you can simulate clicking the Command1 button on this form by using this code:

    tRow = _screen.activeform.command1.top tCol = _screen.activeform.command1.left MOUSE CLICK AT tRow, tCol PIXELS WINDOW (_SCREEN.ACTIVEFORM.Name)

NOTE: This code fires the Command1 Click event. For more information on the syntax of the MOUSE CLICK command, please see the MOUSE Command topic in the Help file.

Additional reference words: 3.00 VFoxWin
KBCategory: kbprg kbcode
KBSubcategory: FxprgGeneral

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Last reviewed: September 10, 1995
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