Q161257: HOWTO: Add a Toolbar to a Visual Basic Project
Article: Q161257
Product(s): Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows
Version(s): WINDOWS:5.0,6.0
Operating System(s):
Keyword(s): kbVBp kbVBp500 kbVBp600 kbGrpDSVB kbControl
Last Modified: 11-JAN-2001
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Visual Basic Learning Edition for Windows, versions 5.0, 6.0
- Microsoft Visual Basic Professional Edition for Windows, versions 5.0, 6.0
- Microsoft Visual Basic Enterprise Edition for Windows, versions 5.0, 6.0
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY
=======
A feature of the Windows user interface is the toolbar. A toolbar is a
collection of buttons that activates some of the most commonly- used features of
a program. Visual Basic allows you to add a toolbar to your program through the
Toolbar custom control. This article contains a sample program that explains and
uses the Toolbar custom control.
MORE INFORMATION
================
The Toolbar control acts as a container for button objects. Buttons can be added
to the toolbar using the Add method, as demonstrated in the sample application
below, or by setting the [Custom] property of the Toolbar control. In addition
to performing a function when clicked, buttons can also contain descriptions and
ToolTip text. A ToolTip is a short description of the button's function and is
displayed when the cursor is passed over the button.
The Toolbar control is provided by the file COMCTL32.OCX. When you distribute
your application, COMCTL32.OCX must be installed in your user's Microsoft
Windows \SYSTEM directory. Using the Setup Wizard will ensure that this and all
necessary files are installed in the appropriate directories.
Sample Program with a Toolbar
-----------------------------
The sample program is a simple word processor that uses a toolbar to perform some
functions, such as opening a file, saving a file, and formatting the document.
The program contains the Rich TextBox control where the user types in a
document, a toolbar control containing buttons to perform a function, an Image
List control to store the bitmaps appearing on the buttons, and a Common Dialog
control to perform the file open and save functions.
In this example, the buttons are added programmatically in the Load event of the
Form. The properties of the buttons are also set during the Load event. The
button's function are set in the ButtonClick event of the Toolbar control.
The toolbar has the added feature of wrapping the buttons when the form is
resized and customizing the positions of all the buttons. Wrapping the buttons
is enabled by setting the Wrappable property of the Toolbar to True.
A button is used to customize the position of the different buttons. Clicking
this button displays a dialog box that allows you to add a separator bar, remove
buttons, and rearrange the button position. Before the dialog box displays, the
current button positions are stored in the registry. When you click the Restore
Toolbar button, the information stored in the registry is used to reset the
positions of the buttons.
Steps to Create the Sample Program
----------------------------------
1. Start Visual Basic and select Standard EXE. If Visual Basic is already
running, click New Project on the File menu and select Standard EXE. Form1 is
created by default.
2. Choose Components from the Project menu. In Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0, add
COMCTL32.OCX and RICHTX32.OCX. In Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0, add
MSCOMCTL.OCX and RICHTX32.OCX.
3. Add a Toolbar, a Rich TextBox, an ImageList, and a Common Dialog control to
Form1.
4. Copy the following code to the Form1 code window:
Option Explicit
' SaveToolbar method constants.
Const SaveToolbarKey = 1
Const SaveToolbarSubKey = "MyToolbar"
Const SaveToolbarVal = "True"
Private Sub Form_Load()
' Create object variable for the ImageList.
Dim imgX As ListImage
' The following assumes that you checked the check box for "Graphics"
' when you installed VB. You can add the graphics by running
' VB setup again & checking the Graphics check box.
' Path to location of Windows95 toolbar bitmaps -VB5
' Dim TlbrPath As String
'TlbrPath = "C:\Program Files\DevStudio\VB\Graphics" & _
"\Bitmaps\Tlbr_w95\"
' VB6 path
' If needed, change the drive and install directory for VB as
' needed.
Dim TlbrPath As String
TlbrPath = "Drive:\install directory\Graphics\Bitmaps" & _
"\Tlbr_w95\"
Me.Caption = "Toolbar Demonstration"
'Load pictures for the Toolbar buttons into the ImageList
'control.
Set imgX = ImageList1.ListImages. _
Add(, "open", LoadPicture(TlbrPath & "open.bmp"))
Set imgX = ImageList1.ListImages. _
Add(, "save", LoadPicture(TlbrPath & "save.bmp"))
Set imgX = ImageList1.ListImages. _
Add(, "left", LoadPicture(TlbrPath & "lft.bmp"))
Set imgX = ImageList1.ListImages. _
Add(, "right", LoadPicture(TlbrPath & "rt.bmp"))
Set imgX = ImageList1.ListImages. _
Add(, "center", LoadPicture(TlbrPath & "cnt.bmp"))
Set imgX = ImageList1.ListImages. _
Add(, "justify", LoadPicture(TlbrPath & "jst.bmp"))
Set imgX = ImageList1.ListImages. _
Add(, "bold", LoadPicture(TlbrPath & "bld.bmp"))
Set imgX = ImageList1.ListImages. _
Add(, "italic", LoadPicture(TlbrPath & "Itl.bmp"))
Set imgX = ImageList1.ListImages. _
Add(, "customize", LoadPicture(TlbrPath & "prop.bmp"))
Set imgX = ImageList1.ListImages. _
Add(, "restore", LoadPicture(TlbrPath & "redo.bmp"))
Toolbar1.ImageList = ImageList1
' Create object variable for the Toolbar.
Dim btnX As Button
' Add button objects to Buttons collection using the Add method.
' After creating the button, set the Description and ToolTipText
' properties.
' Create Open Button
Set btnX = Toolbar1.Buttons.Add(, "open", , tbrDefault, _
"open")
btnX.ToolTipText = "Open File"
btnX.Description = btnX.ToolTipText
' Create Save Button
Set btnX = Toolbar1.Buttons.Add(, "save", , tbrDefault, _
"save")
btnX.ToolTipText = "Save File"
btnX.Description = btnX.ToolTipText
' Add a Separator
Set btnX = Toolbar1.Buttons.Add(, , , tbrSeparator)
' Create Paragraph Align Left button
Set btnX = Toolbar1.Buttons.Add(, "left", , _
tbrButtonGroup, "left")
btnX.ToolTipText = "Align Left"
btnX.Description = btnX.ToolTipText
' Create Paragraph Align Center button
Set btnX = Toolbar1.Buttons.Add(, "center", , _
tbrButtonGroup, "center")
btnX.ToolTipText = "Center"
btnX.Description = btnX.ToolTipText
' Create Paragraph Align Right button
Set btnX = Toolbar1.Buttons.Add(, "right", , _
tbrButtonGroup, "right")
btnX.ToolTipText = "Align Right"
btnX.Description = btnX.ToolTipText
' Add a Separator
Set btnX = Toolbar1.Buttons.Add(, , , tbrSeparator)
' Create a Bold Button
Set btnX = Toolbar1.Buttons.Add(, "bold", , tbrCheck, _
"bold")
btnX.ToolTipText = "Bold"
btnX.Description = btnX.ToolTipText
' Italic Button
Set btnX = Toolbar1.Buttons.Add(, "italic", , tbrCheck, _
"italic")
btnX.ToolTipText = "Italic"
btnX.Description = btnX.ToolTipText
' Add a Separator
Set btnX = Toolbar1.Buttons.Add(, , , tbrSeparator)
' Create a Customize Toolbar button
Set btnX = Toolbar1.Buttons.Add(, "customize", , tbrCheck, _
"customize")
btnX.ToolTipText = "Customize Toolbar"
btnX.Description = btnX.ToolTipText
' Create a Restore Toolbar button
Set btnX = Toolbar1.Buttons.Add(, "restore", , tbrCheck, _
"restore")
btnX.ToolTipText = "Restore Toolbar"
btnX.Description = btnX.ToolTipText
With Toolbar1
.Wrappable = True ' Buttons can wrap.
' Prevent customization except by clicking Customize button.
.AllowCustomize = False
End With
' Configure commondialog1 for opening and saving files.
With CommonDialog1
.DefaultExt = ".rtf"
.Filter = "RTF file (*.RTF)|*.RTF"
End With
' Set margin of the RichTextBox to the width of the control.
RichTextBox1.RightMargin = RichTextBox1.Width
End Sub
Private Sub richtextbox1_SelChange()
' When the insertion point changes, set the Toolbar buttons to
' reflect the attributes of the text where the cursor is located.
' Use the Select Case statement. The SelAlignment property
' returns either 0, 1, 2, or Null.
Select Case RichTextBox1.SelAlignment
Case Is = rtfLeft ' 0
Toolbar1.Buttons("left").Value = tbrPressed
Case Is = rtfRight '1
Toolbar1.Buttons("right").Value = tbrPressed
Case Is = rtfCenter '2
Toolbar1.Buttons("center").Value = tbrPressed
Case Else ' Null -- No buttons are shown in the up
'position.
Toolbar1.Buttons("left").Value = tbrUnpressed
Toolbar1.Buttons("right").Value = tbrUnpressed
Toolbar1.Buttons("center").Value = tbrUnpressed
End Select
' SelBold returns 0, -1, or Null. If it's Null, then set the
' MixedState property to True.
Select Case RichTextBox1.SelBold
Case 0 ' Not bold.
Toolbar1.Buttons("bold").Value = tbrUnpressed
Case -1 ' Bold.
Toolbar1.Buttons("bold").Value = tbrPressed
Case Else ' Mixed state.
Toolbar1.Buttons("bold").MixedState = True
End Select
' SelItalic returns 0, -1, or Null. If it's Null, then set the
' MixedState property to True.
Select Case RichTextBox1.SelItalic
Case 0 ' Not italic.
Toolbar1.Buttons("italic").Value = tbrUnpressed
Case -1 ' Italic.
Toolbar1.Buttons("italic").Value = tbrPressed
Case Else ' Mixed State.
Toolbar1.Buttons("italic").MixedState = True
End Select
End Sub
Private Sub toolbar1_ButtonClick(ByVal Button As Button)
' Use the Key property with the SelectCase statement to specify
' an action.
Select Case Button.Key
Case Is = "open" ' Open file.
Dim strOpen As String ' String variable for file
' name.
CommonDialog1.ShowOpen ' Show Open File dialog box.
strOpen = CommonDialog1.filename ' Set variable to
' filename.
RichTextBox1.LoadFile strOpen, 0 ' Use LoadFile
' method.
Case Is = "save" ' Save file.
Dim strNewFile As String ' String variable for new
' file name.
CommonDialog1.ShowSave ' Show Save dialog box.
strNewFile = CommonDialog1.filename ' Set variable to
'file name.
RichTextBox1.SaveFile strNewFile, 0 ' Use SaveFile
' method.
Case Is = "left"
RichTextBox1.SelAlignment = rtfLeft
Case Is = "center"
RichTextBox1.SelAlignment = rtfCenter
Case Is = "right"
RichTextBox1.SelAlignment = rtfRight
Case Is = "bold"
' Test to see if the MixedState property is True. If so,
' then set it to False before doing anything else.
If Button.MixedState = True Then
Button.MixedState = False
End If
' Toggle the SelBold property.
RichTextBox1.SelBold = Abs(RichTextBox1.SelBold) - 1
Case Is = "italic"
' Test to see if the MixedState property is True. If so,
' then set it to False before doing anything else.
If Button.MixedState = True Then
Button.MixedState = False
End If
' Toggle the SelItalic property.
RichTextBox1.SelItalic = Abs(RichTextBox1.SelItalic) _
- 1
Case Is = "customize"
' Save the state of Toolbar1 in the registry before
' allowing further customization.
With Toolbar1
.SaveToolbar SaveToolbarKey, SaveToolbarSubKey, _
SaveToolbarVal
.AllowCustomize = True 'AllowCustomize must be True
'to change toolbar.
.Customize 'Customize method invokes Customize
'Dialog box.
.AllowCustomize = False 'After customization, set
'this to False.
End With
Case Is = "restore"
' Restore state of Toolbar1 using the information stored in
' the registry.
Toolbar1.RestoreToolbar SaveToolbarKey, _
SaveToolbarSubKey, _
SaveToolbarVal
End Select
End Sub
Additional query words:
======================================================================
Keywords : kbVBp kbVBp500 kbVBp600 kbGrpDSVB kbControl
Technology : kbVBSearch kbAudDeveloper kbZNotKeyword6 kbZNotKeyword2 kbVB500Search kbVB600Search kbVBA500 kbVBA600 kbVB500 kbVB600
Version : WINDOWS:5.0,6.0
Issue type : kbhowto
=============================================================================
THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN THE MICROSOFT KNOWLEDGE BASE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. MICROSOFT DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF MICROSOFT CORPORATION OR ITS SUPPLIERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY.
Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1986-2002.