Triggering an event from a Menu Ring when the user selects the same item

[BowenM]

Like the subject says:  I have a menu ring.  I want to trigger an event if the user clicks on a menu item that is the same value it currently has.

I considered dynamically registering on "Ring: Mouse Down", then pulling value from that - but I can't figure out how to tell if they clicked inside or outside the menu box. I also can't assume the menu box it pops up is always the same size because I'm programmatically setting the values of the ring.

Any thoughts?

[altenbach]

Use a "mouse up" event on the control, then read the value.

[BowenM]

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@altenbach wrote:

Use a "mouse up" event on the control, then read the value.

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I tried that - it doesn't work... unless I'm missing something.

Edit: To be more specific, the "mouse up" event never triggers.  Mouse Down changes the focus from the control to the menu, which (it would apper) are different items.  Similarly, the "Ring: Mouse Down" event only triggers when clicking the control itself, never when clicking the menu.

[Citabria]

Can you switch to an enumerator? Using an enumerator and the Mouse Leave event will give you the desired effect. 

[altenbach]

Sorry, posting by phone. Typically an event should only happen when the value changes, what's your use case here?

You could have a dummy entry on top (e.g. "please select") and reset to that after each selection event. Now the value always changes and you can use a plian "value changed" event.

[BowenM]

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@Citabria wrote:

Can you switch to an enumerator? Using an enumerator and the Mouse Leave event will give you the desired effect. 

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I tried "Mouse Leave" with the Ring.  It didn't work.  After a quick test, the Enumerator acts the exact same way -  "Mouse Leave" triggers the moment you click.

[BowenM]

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@altenbach wrote:

Sorry, posting by phone. Typically an event should only happen when the value changes, what's your use case here?

You could have a dummy entry on top (e.g. "please select") and reset to that after each selection event. Now the value always changes and you can use a plian "value changed" event.

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I considered adding the dummy, but I don't want it. It will work, but it is clunky, and I don't like building clunky GUIs 😛   If the user wants to add the same thing twice from a fairly large list, I don't want them to have to scroll down through the entire list and find it again - especially if they are doing this several times in a row.

As for what my use case:  not relevant.  I fully realize that there are several different ways to design the program - in fact, I have considered them.  However, this is the one that will feel most natural to my users.  I don't want to switch unless this is flat impossible.

[Citabria · Accepted solution]

That shed some light on the issue. Use a Combo Box. Any selection in a combo box is always a value change so you can use the Value Change event and capture the same selection twice. I tried it and this works. Selected "Test 1" over and over again and it always triggers Value Change.

[BowenM]

Huh.  I didn't think combo box would act differently. I wanted the numeric of the Ring or Enum, but I can convert back and forth between string and make this work.  Thanks.

[aputman]

You can do what Altenbach says adding the dummy state.  And add a Mouse Down event to cause it to Reinit to Default and a Value Change to catch the new value.  This works for me on a menu ring, even when selecting the same value.