Control Bar Classes

Control bars are attached to a frame window. They contain buttons, status panes, or a dialog template. Free-floating control bars, also called tool palettes, are implemented by attaching them to a CMiniFrameWnd object.

Framework Control Bars

These control bars are an integral part of the MFC framework. They are easier to use and more powerful than the Windows control bars because they’re integrated with the framework. Most MFC applications use these control bars rather than the Windows control bars.

CControlBar

The base class for MFC control bars listed in this section. A control bar is a window aligned to the edge of a frame window. The control bar contains either HWND-based child controls or controls not based on an HWND, such as toolbar buttons.

CToolBar

Toolbar control windows that contain bitmap command buttons not based on an HWND. Most MFC applications use this class rather than CToolBarCtrl.

CStatusBar

The base class for status-bar control windows. Most MFC applications use this class rather than CStatusBarCtrl.

CDialogBar

A control bar that is based on a dialog box template.

Windows Control Bars

These control bars are thin wrappers for the corresponding Windows controls. Since they’re not integrated with the framework, they’re harder to use than the control bars listed above. Most MFC applications use the control bars listed above.

CStatusBarCtrl

A horizontal window, usually divided into panes, in which an application can display status information.

CToolBarCtrl

Provides the functionality of the Windows toolbar common control.

Related Classes

CToolTipCtrl

A small pop-up window that displays a single line of text describing the purpose of a tool in an application.

CDockState

Handles persistent storage of docking state data for control bars.