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PowerBuilder – Determining if Controls Overlap

I had a situation where I needed to know if the user is clicking on a control which is underneath a rectangle on a datawindow. In this case the interior of the rectangle was transparent.

ls_name = dwo.name

IF (left(ls_name, 2) = 'r_') THEN // my standard rectangle naming convention
	ls_objects = this.Describe( 'DataWindow.Objects')
	ls_objects = ls_objects + '~t'
	ll_pos = pos(ls_objects, '~t')
	ll_orig_pos = 1
	ll_ypos = Pixelstounits(ypos, YPixelsToUnits!)
	ll_xpos = Pixelstounits(xpos, XPixelsToUnits!)
	// loop through objects on datawindow
	DO WHILE ll_pos > 0
		ls_object = mid(ls_objects, ll_orig_pos, ll_pos -ll_orig_pos)
		// check if pointer is over something behind the rectangle
		ls_x = this.Describe(ls_object + '.X')
		ls_y = this.Describe(ls_object + '.Y')
		ls_h = this.Describe(ls_object + '.height')
		ls_w = this.Describe(ls_object + '.width')
		
		IF NOT ((ll_xpos + 1) <= integer(ls_x)) AND NOT &
			(ll_xpos >= (integer(ls_x) + integer(ls_w))) AND NOT &
			((ll_ypos + 1) <= integer(ls_y)) AND NOT &
			(ll_ypos >= (integer(ls_y) + integer(ls_h))) THEN
			// cursor position is within boundaries of underlying control
			is_site_location = ls_object
			EXIT
		END IF
		ll_orig_pos = ll_pos + 1
		ll_pos = pos(ls_objects, '~t', ll_orig_pos)
	LOOP
END IF

The following link to how to determine if rectangles overlap is here.

• PowerBuilder ‘Gotcha’ – Grid Datawindows with Picture Controls,
• Datawindow Usability Improvements Presentation,
• PowerBuilder – Setting column value without looping through all rows.