HOWTO: Add Multiple Controls to a CoolBar Control Band

• Microsoft Visual Basic Learning, Professional, and Enterprise Editions for Windows, version 6.0

SUMMARY

You can have only one child control per Band of a CoolBar, so that a given Band cannot have multiple child controls. If you want to emulate multiple child controls on a single Band of a CoolBar control, you will need to use a container control, such as a PictureBox (or UserControl) to contain all of the "child" controls and then set the Child property of the Band to the PictureBox.

MORE INFORMATION

Using this technique, you have to add code to handle the resizing of the controls within the PictureBox because when the CoolBar Band is resized only the PictureBox gets resized, not the controls inside the PictureBox.

Step-by-Step Example

1. In a new Standard EXE project, select Components from the Projects menu, check "Microsoft Windows Common Controls-3 6.0," and click OK.



2. Add a CommandButton, a TextBox and a CoolBar to Form1. Select CoolBar1, and add a PictureBox and a TextBox to it. Right-click the CoolBar and select Properties. Select the Bands Tab. In the Child combo box, choose Picture1.



3. Advance the Index (upper-left) to 2 and choose Text2 from the Child combo box. Advance the Index to 3, click the "Remove Band" button, and then click OK.



4. Select Picture1 and add a TextBox, a ComboBox and a CommandButton to Picture1, so that they fill the PictureBox. Add the following code to the module of Form1:

   
          Option Explicit
   
          Dim MyBox As PICTSIZE
   
          Private Sub Form_Load()
          DoCoolResize = False ' Flag for CoolBar Resize Event
          MyBox.Height = Picture1.Height ' Remember the original size
          MyBox.Width = Picture1.Width
          End Sub
   
          Private Sub Command1_Click()
          ' Changing CoolBar1.Height will have no effect
          CoolBar1.Width = CoolBar1.Width * 1.1  ' grow 10%
          End Sub
   
          Private Sub CoolBar1_Resize()
          Dim ScaleFactorX As Single, ScaleFactorY As Single
          If Not DoCoolResize Then  ' To avoid infinite loop
             DoCoolResize = True
             Exit Sub
          End If
          ScaleFactorX = Picture1.Width / MyBox.Width   ' How much change?
          ScaleFactorY = Picture1.Height / MyBox.Height
          ' UnComment the next line to scale the controls in the PictureBox
          'Resize_For_Container ScaleFactorX, ScaleFactorY, Me, _
           Picture1, CoolBar1.Name
          MyBox.Height = Picture1.Height ' Remember the new size
          MyBox.Width = Picture1.Width
          End Sub
    




5. From the Project menu, add a new Module and insert the following code:

   
          Type PICTSIZE
             Height As Long
             Width As Long
          End Type
   
          Public DoCoolResize As Boolean
   
          Sub Resize_For_Container(ByVal SFX As Single, _
           ByVal SFY As Single, MyForm As Form, _
           MyContainer As PictureBox, MyCoolName As String)
          Dim I As Integer
          Dim SFFont As Single
   
          SFFont = (SFX + SFY) / 2  ' average scale
          ' Size the Controls for the new container size
          On Error Resume Next  ' for read-only or nonexistent properties
          With MyForm
            For I = 0 To .Count - 1
              ' Do not try to resize the CoolBar or PictureBox
              If Not .Controls(I).Name = MyContainer.Name _
                 And Not .Controls(I).Name = MyCoolName Then
               If .Controls(I).Container.Name = MyContainer.Name Then
                If TypeOf .Controls(I) Is ComboBox Then  ' can't change Height
                   .Controls(I).Left = .Controls(I).Left * SFX
                   .Controls(I).Top = .Controls(I).Top * SFY
                   .Controls(I).Width = .Controls(I).Width * SFX
                Else
                   .Controls(I).Move .Controls(I).Left * SFX, _
                   .Controls(I).Top * SFY, _
                   .Controls(I).Width * SFX, _
                   .Controls(I).Height * SFY
                End If
                   .Controls(I).FontSize = .Controls(I).FontSize * SFFont
              End If
             End If
            Next I
          End With
          End Sub
    




6. Run the Project. Each time you Click on Command1, the Bands, the lone TextBox and the PictureBox will grow, but the controls within the PictureBox will not.



7. Stop the Project and uncomment the call to Resize_For_Container in the CoolBar's Resize Event. (Uncomment by removing the single quote from the beginning of the line.)



8. Run the Project. Now, each time you Click on Command1, the CoolBar Bands, the lone TextBox, the PictureBox and all the controls within it will also grow proportionately, while the controls that are outside of the CoolBar remain unaffected.

REFERENCES

Search On-line Help for "CoolBar" and select the following topics:

• "Using the CoolBar Control"



• "Using Other Controls with the CoolBar"



• "Adding Controls to the CoolBar"

Additional query words: kbDSupport kbdsd kbCtrl kbUsage change kbVBp600

Keywords : kbGrpVB
Version :
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto