Private Type RECT
    Left As Long
    Top As Long
    Right As Long
    Bottom As Long
End Type

'Determines the width and height of
'the rectangle. If there are multiple
'lines of text, DrawText uses the width
'of the rectangle pointed to by the lpRect
'parameter and extends the base of the
'rectangle to bound the last line of text.
'If there is only one line of text, DrawText
'modifies the right side of the rectangle so
'that it bounds the last character in the line.
'In either case, DrawText returns the height
'of the formatted text but does not
'draw the text.
Private Const DT_CALCRECT = &H400

'Replaces part of the given string with
'ellipses, if necessary, so that the result
'fits in the specified rectangle. The given
'string is not modified unless the DT_MODIFYSTRING
'flag is specified. You can specify
'DT_END_ELLIPSIS to replace characters at
'the end of the string, or DT_PATH_ELLIPSIS
'to replace characters in the middle of the
'string. If the string contains backslash
'(\) characters, DT_PATH_ELLIPSIS preserves
'as much as possible of the text after the
'last backslash.
Private Const DT_PATH_ELLIPSIS = &H4000
Private Const DT_END_ELLIPSIS = &H8000&

'Modifies the given string to match the
'displayed text. This flag has no effect
'unless the DT_END_ELLIPSIS or
'DT_PATH_ELLIPSIS flag is specified.
Private Const DT_MODIFYSTRING = &H10000

'Expands tab characters. The default number of
'characters per tab is eight.
Private Const DT_EXPANDTABS = &H40

'Turns off processing of prefix characters.
'Normally, DrawText interprets the mnemonic-prefix
'character & as a directive to underscore the
'character that follows, and the mnemonic-prefix
'characters && as a directive to print a
'single &. By specifying DT_NOPREFIX, this
'processing is turned off.
Private Const DT_NOPREFIX = &H800

'Breaks words. Lines are automatically broken
'between words if a word would extend past the
'edge of the rectangle specified by the lpRect
'parameter. A carriage return-linefeed sequence
'also breaks the line.
Private Const DT_WORDBREAK = &H10

'Sets tab stops. Bits 15-8 (high-order byte
'of the low-order word) of the uFormat parameter
'specify the number of characters for each tab.
'The default number of characters per tab is eight.
Private Const DT_TABSTOP = &H80

'Truncates text that does not fit in the
'rectangle and adds ellipses.
Private Const DT_WORD_ELLIPSIS = &H40000

Private Declare Function DrawText Lib "user32" Alias "DrawTextA" _
   (ByVal hDC As Long, _
    ByVal lpString As String, _
    ByVal nCount As Long, _
    lpRect As RECT, _
    ByVal uFormat As Long) As Long
    
Private Declare Function GetWindowRect Lib "user32" _
  (ByVal hwnd As Long, _
   lpRect As RECT) As Long    
                               


Private Sub Form_Click()

   Text2.Text = ""
   Text3.Text = ""
   Label1.Caption = ""
   Label2.Caption = ""
   Label3.Caption = ""
   Label4.Caption = ""
End Sub


Private Sub Command1_Click()

   Dim sItem As String
   
   sItem = Text1.Text

  'draw the different ellipse styles
  'to different controls
   
  'controls on the form
   Label1.Caption = EllipseText(Label1, sItem, DT_PATH_ELLIPSIS)
   Label2.Caption = EllipseText(Label2, sItem, DT_END_ELLIPSIS)
   Text2.Text = EllipseText(Text2, sItem, DT_PATH_ELLIPSIS)

  'controls in a frame
   Label3.Caption = EllipseText(Label3, sItem, DT_PATH_ELLIPSIS)
   Label4.Caption = EllipseText(Label4, sItem, DT_END_ELLIPSIS)
   Text3.Text = EllipseText(Text3, sItem, DT_PATH_ELLIPSIS)

End Sub


Private Function EllipseText(ctl As Control, _
                             ByVal sItem As String, _
                             DT_STYLE As Long) As String

   Dim rc As RECT
   
   With ctl
   
     'store the string in the tag
     'for later use
     .Tag = sItem
      
     'Obtain the rectangle in which to display
     'the text by retrieving the size of the
     'control rectangle.
      If TypeOf ctl Is Label Then
      
         rc.Left = 0
         rc.Right = ctl.Width \ Screen.TwipsPerPixelX
      
      Else
      
         GetWindowRect ctl.hwnd, rc
         
      End If
   
     'tweak size
      rc.Left = rc.Left * 0.96
      rc.Right = rc.Right * 0.96

     'call DrawText with the DT_MODIFYSTRING
     'parameter to modify the sItem string
      Call DrawText(hDC, sItem, -1, rc, _
                    DT_CALCRECT Or DT_MODIFYSTRING Or DT_STYLE)
            
     'if string was modified (no longer
     'matches he original string), set the
     'control's tooltip property to the
     'full string
      If sItem <> .Tag Then .ToolTipText = .Tag
      
   End With
   
  'assign the text to the function return
   EllipseText = sItem
   
End Function