Visual Basic: Windows Controls

StatusBar Control

See Also    Example    Properties    Methods    Events

A StatusBar control provides a window, usually at the bottom of a parent form, through which an application can display various kinds of status data. The StatusBar can be divided up into a maximum of sixteen Panel objects that are contained in a Panels collection.

Syntax

StatusBar

Remarks

A StatusBar control consists of Panel objects, each of which can contain text and/or a picture. Properties to control the appearance of individual panels include Width, Alignment (of text and pictures), and Bevel. Additionally, you can use one of seven values of the Style property to automatically display common data such as date, time, and keyboard states.

At design time, you can create panels and customize their appearance by setting values in the Panel tab of the Properties Page of the StatusBar control. At run time, the Panel objects can be reconfigured to reflect different functions, depending on the state of the application. For detailed information about the properties, events, and methods of Panel objects, see the Panel Object and Panels Collection topics.

A StatusBar control typically displays information about an object being viewed on the form, the object's components, or contextual information that relates to that object's operation. The StatusBar, along with other controls such as the Toolbar control, gives you the tools to create an interface that is economical and yet rich in information.

Distribution Note   The StatusBar control is part of a group of custom controls that are found in the MSCOMCTL.OCX file. To use the StatusBar control in your application, you must add the MSCOMCTL.OCX file to the project. When distributing your application, install the MSCOMCTL.OCX file in the user's Microsoft Windows SYSTEM folder. For more information on how to add a custom control to a project, see the Programmer's Guide.