HOWTO: Add a Toolbar to a Visual Basic Project

ID: Q161257


The information in this article applies to:
  • Microsoft Visual Basic Learning, Professional, and Enterprise Editions for Windows, versions 5.0, 6.0


SUMMARY

A feature of the Windows 95 and Windows 98 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 is a 32-bit custom control available in Windows 95 and 98 as well as Windows NT versions 3.51 and 4.0. The 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
    
              ' Path to location of Windows95 toolbar bitmaps -VB5
    
              ' Dim TlbrPath As String
    
              'TlbrPath = "C:\Program Files\DevStudio\VB\Graphics" & _
                          "\Bitmaps\Tlbr_w95\"
    
              '  VB4 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 kbGrpVB kbControl
Version : WINDOWS:5.0,6.0
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto


Last Reviewed: June 2, 1999
© 2000 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Terms of Use.