Using TNumLab

TNumLab has been designed to provide a flicker-free display of a numeric label. This is especially important in applications where some value has to be updated regularly (like in process monitoring systems).

TNumLab provides several numeric formats the user can chose from (several integer formats, several floating point formats and a hexadecimal format). The numeric format is determined by the property DisplayType. In addition to the selection of the basic format, the user can also specify the precision of the numeric label. The precision is defined by the property Precision and basically defines the number of significant digits of the number (this does not necessarily be the same as the number of decimal places).

In order to prevent the displayed number from being truncated by a label window too narrow, an overflow indicator is displayed if the formatted number is too long. The overflow indicator may be set by the property OverflowIndicator.

The numeric label is accompanied by two text strings to the left and to the right of the label box. These text labels can be used as captions for the numeric label or in order to display the units of measurement.

The colors of the label can be set up by the properties ColorLabBakG, ColorLabText, ColorOutBakG, and ColorOutText. Note that parts of the label can be made invisible by setting the colors to the appropriate background colors of the parent control. In addition, TNumLab provides a means to select two different color schemes for the display of the frame around the numeric value. One uses clBlack, clGray and clWhite for the frame lines, the other uses the Windows system colors clBlack, clBtnShadow, and clBtnHighlight.

In order to provide an appealing appearance, the numeric value can be put into a frame, which can be of several different styles. Note that the color scheme has some influence on the appearance of the frame.