Marquee dashboard control

The Marquee dashboard control can be set to stand out from the rest on the dashboard window using scrolling text, color, and other eye-catching effects that spotlight key information at a glance.

This example of a Marquee dashboard control has a variety of special effects that you can set, including scrolling text and "flashing" the text with a strobe effect.

This control can be automatically refreshed to display the latest data at a time interval you select or it can refresh along with the dashboard window

 

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The Marquee control Properties dialog options

Some of the Marquee control properties (attributes) may be familiar in usage and may not usually require additional explanation. The properties specifically designed for GainSeeker users are featured in this topic.

See Using the Properties dialog

Adding a Marquee control to a dashboard window

  1. Click the Marquee button on the dashboard controls toolbar on a dashboard window that is open in design/edit mode

The Dashboard Control Retrieval dialog opens.

  1. Click the name of a preexisting retrieval to select it or click New... to create a retrieval. See Using the Dashboard Control Retrieval dialog for more information on the dialog options, including importing, exporting, editing, creating, and copying retrievals.

Note: Click the No Retrieval button on the Dashboard Control Retrieval dialog if no retrieval is to be displayed on the control. The Pick Marquee Skin dialog box will open.

  1. Click Next or OK on the Dashboard Control Retrieval dialog after a retrieval is selected.

  2. The Pick Marquee Skin dialog opens:

  1. Click a Marquee skin (design) option. Each of the options have somewhat different Behavior and Appearance properties, which can later be customized using the Properties dialog box. See editing the Marquee control

  2. The Set label Text dialog opens. Select the statistics to display on the control and any user-added text. Then, click OK. See Using the Set Label Text dialog

The control opens on the host dashboard in design/edit mode, displaying the selected statistic labels. The Properties dialog menu displays the Marquee setting and the properties grid displays the properties specific to this control for which the property values can be changed.

When the control is saved in design/edit mode and opened on its host dashboard window in run mode, it may look similar to this example depending on the skin and the Effects properties assigned to it.

 

Editing the Marquee control

The Properties dialog box drop-down list displays the Marquee setting and the properties grid displays the property values specific to that control.

Editing the (Retrieval) property value

To change the (Retrieval) property setting in the Properties dialog:

The Dashboard Control Retrieval dialog opens. See Using the Dashboard Control Retrieval dialog

Editing the Effects property value

The Effects property value under Behavior on the Properties dialog is where visual effects for the text such as scroll direction and fade effect are set for the Marquee control.

To edit the Effects property value:

The Define Marquee Effects dialog opens.

Using the Define Marquee Effects dialog

The Define Marquee Effects dialog opens with the default Effects associated with the selected Marquee skin are listed in the Defined effects list:

The Effect type drop-down list on the dialog has several display options.

Adding a new Effect

To add a new Effect to the Marquee:

  1. Click a listed Effect. (You can add multiple Effects to a Marquee control, but at least one Effect must be selected for it to properly display).

  1. Click the add button on the Define Marquee Effects dialog to add the effect to the Defined effects list.

Deleting an Effect
Changing the display duration of an Effect

Effects that have changeable duration rates show the word "Duration" along with a numeric value in parenthesis after the Effect name in the list. The number denotes the length of time the Effect activates for each display cycle.

To change the display duration of an Effect:

  1. Click the Effect in the list to select it.

  2. The current duration rate is shown in the Duration of effect text field.

(The higher the number, the longer the duration rate. A duration value of 33 is equivalent to about 1 second on most computers.)

  1. Select the numeric value in the text field and enter a new numeric value.

  2. Click OK after the wanted Effects are set on the dialog.

Note: See Editing the RefreshRate property for setting the speed at which the Marquee will cycle through the Effects assigned to it. See Using the Timer property for information about setting the automatic data retrieval refresh rate.

Editing the RefreshRate property

The RefreshRate property value determines the speed at which the Marquee cycles through its assigned Effects.

To edit the RefreshRate property on the Properties dialog:

  1. Click the RefreshRate property value cell on the Properties dialog

  2. Delete the existing numeric value. Then, enter a new numeric value from 1–60 in the cell. (The higher the number, the faster the Marquee will cycle through the assigned Effects.)

Note: See Changing the Duration of an Effect for information on setting the display Effects time length for each display cycle. See Using the Timer property for information about setting the automatic data retrieval refresh rate.

Editing the Segments property value

Define text label segments so that each may be separately formatted using the Segments property value.

To change the Segments settings:

The Define Marquee Segments dialog opens.

Using the Define Marquee Segments dialog box

Existing statistics labels and any user-defined text lists in the Defined segments area on the Define Marquee Segments dialog.

The Marquee in this example has two defined segments—the statistics labels (Description, Cpk: . . . etc.) and the GainSeeker text label.

Since the text segments on this Marquis are separately defined in the Defined segments area of the dialog, each can be changed to display different formatting properties like font type, size, and color as in this example. See Editing the StackMode property for information about stacking segments vertically (such as in this example) or displaying them horizontally within the same line:

To edit the format properties of a segment

To edit a segment:

  1. Click a segment in the Define Marquee Segments area of the Define Marquee Segments dialog to select it for edit (the "GainSeeker" segment in this example).

  2. Then, click a property cell in the properties grid area and make changes in the properties value cell as in this example in which the font color property is changed to White:

  1. Click OK after any changes have been made for all segments.
To edit the display label statistics and user-defined text labels

  1. Click a defined text segment in the Defined segments list.

  2. Click the Text property value cell in the properties grid of the Define Marquee Segments dialog to select it. Then, click the ellipsis buttonin the value cell.

The Set Label Text dialog box opens. See Using the Set Label Text dialog

  1. Make changes as needed to the statistics text field on the Set label Text dialog box. Then, click OK.

The selected segment show in the Define segments list of the Define Marquee Segments dialog.

Click OK on the Define Marquee Segments dialog after all changes have been made to any segments.

Note: The Property Pages button on the Define Marquee Segments dialog is intentionally disabled as it is not needed with GainSeeker.
To add or delete text segments

A control can display multiple defined segments with the format for each set somewhat different from the others.

Adding a  new defined segment

To add a new defined segment:

A blank segment line will add to the Defined segments list. For information on adding statistics and text labels to the segment, see Editing the statistics and user-defined text label

Deleting a defined segment

To delete a defined segment:

Also see Editing the StackMode property value

Editing the Appearance Cell properties

You can edit the Appearance Cell properties for CellColor, CellHeight, CellSpacing, and CellWidth on the Properties dialog box set for the Marquee control.

This Marquee skin option is set by default with the CellColor the same as the BackColor, so that the cells are not apparent.

The cells are apparent when the CellColor property is changed to a color that contrasts (in this example, Light Steel Blue) in relation to the BackColor:

.

Editing the CellColor property

To edit the CellColor property:

Editing other Appearance Cell properties

To edit the CellHeight, CellSpacing, and CellWidth properties on the Properties dialog box:

CellHeight—sets the height of each cell

CellWidth—sets the width of each cell

CellSpacing—sets the number of pixels between cells

Also see Editing the CellColor property

Editing the StackMode property value

Use the StackMode property to set the defined label segments to stack horizontally (on the same horizontal line) or vertically (as in this example where the two segments—differentiated by color, type, and size of font settings—are shown in Vertical or "stacked" mode):

To switch between Horizontal and Vertical modes:

Using the WrapAround property value

The label text display on a Marquee is set by default to appear as if it "wraps around" the Marquee—feeding in through one side, feeding out through the other, and then repeating this pattern (with ScrollRight and ScrollLeft Effects assigned to the control*).

*With ScrollDown or ScrollUp Effects assigned to the control, the label text display appears to feed in through the top or bottom, depending on the setting, and feed out through the opposite vertical perimeter.

Editing other Marquee properties

For information about editing some of the other Marquee properties, see: