Introduction
In an MFC application, the status bar text for menu items is a built-in feature. In the menu resource editor, you specify the text and, at runtime, as you move from menu item to menu item, a description will appear in the status bar for each one. By default, this functionality is missing from .NET Windows Forms applications. However, by using a component that implements the IExtenderProvider
interface, it is quite easy to add this feature, complete with design-time support, and only requires you to manually write a line or two of actual code. As a bonus, you can also use it to add status bar text for any control on a form, similar to the StatusBarText
property in controls found in Microsoft Access.
Status Bar Text Provider Features
The StatusBarTextProvider
is an IExtenderProvider
component that allows you to add status bar text for menu items and form controls. When built for use with .NET 2.0, it also supports status text on menu strip, tool strip, and status strip items. It provides the following features:
- When the component is dropped on the form,
MenuItem
components, all Control
type items, and ToolStripItem
components are extended with an extra StatusBar
category in their property window containing the StatusBarText
and ShowAsBlank
properties. The following items are not extended: Form
, Label
, PictureBox
, ProgressBar
, ScrollBar
, Splitter
, StatusBar
, ToolBar
, ToolStrip
, and controls derived from them. The Form
contains controls, and the other controls cannot receive the focus needed to display the text, so there is no point in giving them status bar text. The exception to the above rule is LinkLabel
, which can receive the focus and thus can be extended. - The
StatusBarText
property is used to set the text to display in the status bar when the item has the focus. - The
ShowAsBlank
property can be used to have the item show a blank status bar when it has the focus. This property is necessary as the Visual Studio .NET designer converts strings of spaces to an empty string, and thus it does not serialize the blank string to code. Setting this property to true
obtains the desired result of blank status bar text for the item. - The provider can use a common status bar on the application's main form (i.e., an MDI container), or it can use a status bar local to the form that contains it (i.e., a dialog box).
- The provider can be configured to display the status bar text in any panel defined in the status bar. If the status bar does not have panels defined, it will use the status bar's
Text
property instead. - When built for use with .NET 2.0, you can specify any
ToolStripStatusLabel
component as the place to display the text. Note that since status labels can appear in toolbars as well, you are not limited to displaying text in the application status bar for items. - The provider works with modal and non-modal forms in single document interface (SDI) and multiple document interface (MDI) applications.
- Status bar text is correctly restored to its prior value when leaving a control, closing a form, switching between forms, and when entering or exiting a menu.
- Status bar text can be set on container controls such as
GroupBox
and Panel
, and on classes derived from UserControl
, to provide status bar text for controls within them that do not have status bar text specified for themselves. UserControl
objects can supply their own status bar text provider to define status bar text for the controls that they contain. - When built for use with .NET 2.0, two extra static properties are provided (
StatusLabel
and ProgressBar
) that can be used to gain access to a status label and progress bar on the main status strip for the application, to provide progress feedback for long running processes from anywhere within the application. In order to make using them easier, three overloaded methods are also provided:
InitializeProgressBar
- This is used to initialize the status label and progress bar for use (six overloads). UpdateProgress
- This is used to update the status label and progress bar as you move through an operation (four overloads). ResetProgressBar
- This is used to reset the status label and progress bar when done (two overloads).
The supplied demo contains the assembly, a help file, and a demo application. Versions are supplied for .NET 1.1 and .NET 2.0. See the help file for details on installing the assembly in the Visual Studio .NET tool box. You can also extract the StatusBarTextProvider.cs source file for use in your own projects or control libraries.
Using the Assembly in your Projects
The classes can be found in the assembly EWSoftware.StatusBarText.dll. In order to use the classes, add a reference to it in your project. The help file contains details on how to do this, if you need it. In the code modules that use classes from the EWSoftware.StatusBarText
namespace, you will have to add a using
statement (Imports
in VB.NET) for the EWSoftware.StatusBarText
namespace.
Naturally, you must add a status bar control (.NET 1.1), or a status strip control containing at least one status label (.NET 2.0), to your form.
.NET 1.1 Setup
To define the common application status bar used by all instances of StatusBarTextProvider
, and optionally the display panel to use, add code similar to the following to your main form's constructor, to set the static ApplicationStatusBar
and ApplicationDisplayPanel
properties:
public MainForm()
{
InitializeComponent();
StatusBarTextProvider.ApplicationStatusBar = sbStatusBar;
StatusBarTextProvider.ApplicationDisplayPanel = 1;
}
If your status bar control does not contain panels, you can omit setting the ApplicationDisplayPanel
property, and the provider will use the status bar's Text
property to display the text instead.
.NET 2.0 Setup
Although not formally deprecated, the standard MainMenu
, ToolBar
, and StatusBar
controls have been replaced by the MenuStrip
, ToolStrip
, and StatusStrip
controls. In fact, the old controls do not appear in the toolbox, by default. When you get time, it would be a good idea to update any existing applications to use the newer controls, as they provide some new features such as the ability to put text boxes, combo boxes, or progress bar controls directly in the tool strips and status strips and to have images on the menu items.
When using a status strip, you specify the status label tool strip item used by all instances of StatusBarTextProvider
rather than a status bar component. Add code similar to the following to your main form's constructor, to set the static ApplicationStatusBar
property. If your status strip also contains a label and/or progress bar tool strip item, you can set the static StatusLabel
and ProgressBar
properties as well provide all forms in your application convenient access to them and make use of the status methods for them on the provider, as noted earlier.
public MainForm()
{
InitializeComponent();
StatusBarTextProvider.ApplicationStatusBar = tslStatusText;
StatusBarTextProvider.StatusLabel = tslProgressNote;
StatusBarTextProvider.ProgressBar = tspbProgressBar;
}
Since a tool strip item is used in this situation, the ApplicationDisplayPanel
property is always ignored.
The Instance Status Bar
Optionally, you can use the InstanceStatusBar
and InstanceDisplayPanel
properties in code to override the application-level status bar and display panel settings on a form-by-form basis. The example code below is from the demo, and is used to switch between using the child form's status bar and the main form's status bar. sbMessage
is the status bar text provider for the child form, and ucDemo.StatusBarTextProvider
is used to access the status bar text provider for a user control that appears on the child form.
private void chkUseDialog_CheckedChanged(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
if(chkUseDialog.Checked)
{
sbMessage.InstanceStatusBar = sbDialog;
ucDemo.StatusBarTextProvider.InstanceStatusBar = sbDialog;
ucDemo.StatusBarTextProvider.InstanceDefaultText =
sbMessage.InstanceDefaultText;
}
else
{
sbMessage.InstanceStatusBar = null;
ucDemo.StatusBarTextProvider.InstanceStatusBar = null;
}
}
Design-time Support
To use the StatusBarTextProvider
, simply drag it from the toolbox and drop it on your form. Once done, all MenuItem
components, Control
type objects, and ToolStripItem
components on the form will have an extra StatusBar
category in their property window. Using it, you can set the StatusBarText
and ShowAsBlank
properties.
Normally, you will just enter a message to display in the StatusBarText
property. As noted above, the ShowAsBlank
property exists so that in the rare event when you want a blank status bar for an item, you can set this property to true
. The designer converts a string containing nothing but spaces to an empty string. Since this is the default value, it does not get serialized to code, thus the extra property is needed.
Status Bar Text on TabControl and TabPage Controls
TabControl
and TabPage
controls do not always reliably show their status bar text due to the way they handle the focus. Steps have been taken to allow status bar text on these controls, but there are a couple of known problems with no workarounds:
- First and foremost is the requirement that you set the
ShowAsBlank
property to true
, or define some StatusBarText
for the TabControl
itself so that status bar text can be displayed for the individual tab pages. This refers to the text shown if a control on a page has no status bar text, or when the tab itself has the focus. As with other container controls, if you do not define status bar text for the tab pages, the status bar text for the tab control will be shown instead. - The tab control will not show the status bar text if you use Shift+Tab to go from the first control on a tab back to the tab itself or, occasionally, when it is the first control to have the focus when the form is opened. Moving from one tab to another or moving the focus to a control outside the tab control and then back to the tab control will get it to start showing the status bar text for the tabs again.
One final note regarding the designer: When setting the status bar text for the tab pages, be sure to actually click on a part of the tab page to ensure that it is selected. If you just click the tab in the tab control's header to select it, the tab control will have the focus in the designer, and you may inadvertently modify the tab control's status bar text rather than the text for the tab page.
Status Text on Tool Strip Items
Under .NET 2.0, status bar text can be specified for menu strip, tool strip, and status strip items. However, there are a few limitations with no workarounds.
- For menu strip items, text is only displayed when the mouse moves in and out of the menu items. If navigating the menus with the keyboard, the status text is not displayed. Unfortunately, the menu strip items do not fire selection events like the menu items from .NET 1.1, so it is not possible to display text for them in this situation.
- For tool strip and status strip items, status text will be shown when you move the mouse over them. In addition, if you tab into a combo box or a text box, the status text will update. However, when tabbing onto a button control, no status text will be displayed. As with the menu strip items, there is no selection event to hook to enable it.
- With the prior version of this control under .NET 1.1, it was always possible to restore the prior text when moving from a form, to the menu, and back to the form. However, under .NET 2.0 with the above limitations, I had to make a compromise and rework how the original status bar text was restored. This affects the component under both .NET 1.1 and .NET 2.0. As such, there are some cases where when moving from a menu back to the form, the status bar text for the current control will not be displayed. Instead, the default text will appear in the status bar. Tabbing out of the control and back in will display the correct text again.
How it Works
To create an extender provider, you need to derive a class from Component
and implement the IExtenderProvider
interface. The interface contains a single method (CanExtend
) that returns true
or false
based on whether or not it can provide its properties to the object it receives as a parameter. In this case, we check the type of the passed object to see if it is the one that we can extend.
Throughout the following code, the DOTNET_20
definition is used to conditionally compile code related to the modifications needed to support the .NET 2.0 components. It is defined at the top of the file. Comment it out to build the code under .NET 1.1.
public class StatusBarTextProvider : Component, IExtenderProvider
{
public StatusBarTextProvider()
{
htOptions = new Hashtable(25);
}
public StatusBarTextProvider(IContainer container) : this()
{
if(container != null)
container.Add(this);
}
public bool CanExtend(object extendee)
{
#if !DOTNET_20
if(extendee is MenuItem || extendee is LinkLabel)
#else
if(extendee is MenuItem || extendee is LinkLabel ||
extendee is ToolStripItem)
#endif
return true;
if(!(extendee is Control) || extendee is Form ||
extendee is Label || extendee is PictureBox ||
extendee is ProgressBar || extendee is ScrollBar ||
extendee is Splitter || extendee is StatusBar ||
#if !DOTNET_20
extendee is ToolBar)
#else
extendee is ToolBar || extendee is ToolStrip)
#endif
return false;
return true;
}
}
In addition, you need to specify the ProvideProperty
attributes on the class for each extended property that you will provide. The attribute takes the name of the property and the type to which it applies. In the case of the StatusBarTextProvider
, I chose to specify Component
as the type so that it can be applied in a generic fashion to menu items, controls, and tool strip items alike.
[ProvideProperty("StatusBarText", typeof(Component)),
ProvideProperty("ShowAsBlank", typeof(Component))]
public class StatusBarTextProvider : Component, IExtenderProvider
{
... class code ...
}
The next step is to actually implement the code for the provided properties. Although they act like properties in the designer, you actually create two methods (a GetXXX
and a SetXXX
method where XXX
is the name of the property). The Get method receives a reference to the object that is being extended. The Set method receives a reference to the object that is being extended and a value for the extended property. The type for the object should match the type specified in the attribute. The type for the value parameter received by the Set method can be any type that you need. Internally, you are free to track and store the values as you see fit. The easiest approach is to create a hash table, and use the object as the key and the value parameter as the value for the hash table entry. If you are providing multiple properties as in the case of the StatusBarTextProvider
, it is worthwhile to create a separate class for the properties and use that as the item to store in the hash table.
private sealed class PropertyOptions
{
private string message;
private bool showAsBlank;
public string Message
{
get { return message; }
set { message = value; }
}
public bool ShowAsBlank
{
get { return showAsBlank; }
set { showAsBlank = value; }
}
public PropertyOptions(string msg)
{
message = msg;
}
public PropertyOptions(bool showBlank)
{
showAsBlank = showBlank;
}
}
Here is an example of a Get method for the StatusBarText
property. After some checks to make sure the passed component is valid and is supported, it simply checks to see if the hash table contains the component. If it does, it casts the value from the hash table to our property options class from above, and returns the message text from it. If the hash table does not contain the component yet, it returns null
. Also note that you can provide design-time attributes on the Get method such as Category
, DefaultValue
, etc., to provide better designer support for the extender provider.
[Category("StatusBar"), Localizable(true), DefaultValue(null),
Description("The status bar text for the item")]
public string GetStatusBarText(Component comp)
{
if(comp == null)
throw new ArgumentException("Component cannot be null");
#if !DOTNET_20
if(!(comp is MenuItem) && !(comp is Control))
#else
if(!(comp is MenuItem) && !(comp is Control) &&
!(comp is ToolStripItem))
#endif
throw new ArgumentException(
"Component must be a MenuItem, ToolStripItem, " +
"or a Control");
if(htOptions.Contains(comp))
return ((PropertyOptions)htOptions[comp]).Message;
return null;
}
The Set method works in a similar fashion. If the hash table does not contain the component, you create an instance of the property options class, store the value in it, and add it to the hash table. If the component is already in the hash table, you simply retrieve the existing settings and update them with the new value.
In the case of StatusBarTextProvider
, things get a little more complicated. In addition to storing the property value, we also need to hook up several events so that we can adjust the status bar text as the various controls and menu items gain and lose focus. The first part is fairly straightforward. We check to make sure the object is valid, and create some helper variables that will let us determine the type of the object so that we can hook up or disconnect the appropriate events.
public void SetStatusBarText(Component comp, string message)
{
if(comp == null)
throw new ArgumentException("Component cannot be null");
MenuItem mi = comp as MenuItem;
Control ctl = comp as Control;
TabControl tc = comp as TabControl;
#if DOTNET_20
ToolStripItem ti = comp as ToolStripItem;
ToolStripControlHost tsch = comp as ToolStripControlHost;
if(mi == null && ti == null && ctl == null)
#else
if(mi == null && ctl == null)
#endif
throw new ArgumentException(
"Component must be a MenuItem, " +
"ToolStripItem, or a Control");
if(message != null && message.Length == 0)
message = null;
If the hash table does not already contain the object, we create a new property object containing the message, and add it to the hash table using the object as the key. Then, based on the object type, we hook up one or more event handlers that will display the appropriate status bar text. This step is skipped at design-time though. For MenuItem
objects, we hook up the Select
event. For ToolStripItem
objects, we hook up the MouseEnter
and MouseLeave
events. If the tool strip item is a ToolStripControlHost
(i.e., it hosts a control such as a combo box or text box), we also hook up the Enter
and Leave
events so that status text is shown when tabbing into the control. For all other standard form controls, we hook up the GotFocus
, Enter
, and Leave
events. Some controls such as Panel
cannot receive focus but are entered, which is why both GotFocus
and Enter
are used.
If it is a tab control, we also have to hook up the SelectedIndexChanged
event to allow displaying the status bar text for it and its pages. The tab control and tab pages do not reliably show their status bar text due to the way they handle the focus. As such, this event is needed to update the text. Note that it will not show the text if you use Shift+Tab to go from the first control on a tab back to the tab in the tab control itself, or when it is the first control to have the focus. You must also set ShowAsBlank
or StatusBarText
on the tab control itself if you want to have the status bar text appear for the tab pages themselves (i.e., when the tab itself has the focus).
if(!htOptions.Contains(comp))
{
htOptions.Add(comp, new PropertyOptions(message));
if(!this.DesignMode && message != null)
if(mi != null)
mi.Select += new EventHandler(Menu_Select);
else
#if DOTNET_20
if(ti != null)
{
ti.MouseEnter += new EventHandler(Control_Enter);
ti.MouseLeave += new EventHandler(Control_Leave);
if(tsch != null)
{
tsch.Enter += new EventHandler(Control_Enter);
tsch.Leave += new EventHandler(Control_Leave);
}
}
else
#endif
{
ctl.GotFocus += new EventHandler(Control_Enter);
ctl.Enter += new EventHandler(Control_Enter);
ctl.Leave += new EventHandler(Control_Leave);
if(tc != null)
tc.SelectedIndexChanged += new EventHandler(
Control_Enter);
}
}
If the object already exists in the hash table, we need to update the value in the existing property settings. In addition, if the property is cleared (i.e., set to a null
or empty string), we need to disconnect the events. Again, this is skipped if it is done at design-time.
else
{
PropertyOptions po = (PropertyOptions)htOptions[comp];
po.Message = message;
if(!this.DesignMode && message == null &&
po.ShowAsBlank == false)
if(mi != null)
mi.Select -= new EventHandler(Menu_Select);
else
#if DOTNET_20
if(ti != null)
{
ti.MouseEnter -= new EventHandler(Control_Enter);
ti.MouseLeave -= new EventHandler(Control_Leave);
if(tsch != null)
{
tsch.Enter -= new EventHandler(Control_Enter);
tsch.Leave -= new EventHandler(Control_Leave);
}
}
else
#endif
{
ctl.GotFocus -= new EventHandler(Control_Enter);
ctl.Enter -= new EventHandler(Control_Enter);
ctl.Leave -= new EventHandler(Control_Leave);
if(tc != null)
tc.SelectedIndexChanged -= new EventHandler(
Control_Enter);
}
}
The Menu Item Event Handlers
The event handlers are where most of the action takes place. For menu items, the Menu_Select
event handles setting of the status bar text for the item. In addition, the first time it is called, it also hooks up an event handler on the parent form's MenuComplete
event so that it can restore the text that was in the status bar prior to the item's text. The StatusBar
, CurrentStatusBarText
, ItemText
, and StatusBarDefaultText
properties are used to obtain references to the current status bar, its current text, the item's text, and the default status bar text based on the current settings (i.e., whether it is using the application status bar or an instance in a dialog box).
private void Menu_Select(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if(this.StatusBar == null || !htOptions.Contains(sender))
return;
if(!hookedMenuEvents)
{
Form frm = this.StatusBarParentForm;
if(frm != null)
{
frm.MenuComplete += new EventHandler(
Form_MenuComplete);
hookedMenuEvents = true;
}
}
this.CurrentStatusBarText = this.ItemText(sender);
}
private void Form_MenuComplete(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
if(this.StatusBar == null)
return;
this.CurrentStatusBarText = this.StatusBarDefaultText;
}
Other Control Event Handlers
For all other controls, the Control_Enter
and Control_Leave
events are used. On first use, the Control_Enter
handler hooks up events on the parent form's Activated
, Deactivated
, and Closed
events so that the existing status bar text can be restored.
private void Control_Enter(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if(this.StatusBar == null || !htOptions.Contains(sender))
return;
if(!hookedFormEvent && this.StatusBar != null)
{
Control p = sender as Control;
if(p != null)
p = p.Parent;
#if DOTNET_20
else
p = ((ToolStripItem)sender).Owner.Parent;
#endif
while(p != null)
{
Form frm = p as Form;
if(frm != null)
{
frm.Activated += new EventHandler(
Form_Activated);
frm.Deactivate += new EventHandler(
Form_MenuComplete);
frm.Closed += new EventHandler(
Form_MenuComplete);
hookedFormEvent = true;
break;
}
p = p.Parent;
}
}
this.CurrentStatusBarText = this.ItemText(sender);
}
private void Control_Leave(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if(this.StatusBar == null || !htOptions.Contains(sender))
return;
this.CurrentStatusBarText = this.StatusBarDefaultText;
}
private void Form_Activated(object sender, System.EventArgs e)
{
Form frm = sender as Form;
if(frm != null && this.StatusBar != null)
{
Control ctl = frm.ActiveControl;
while(ctl != null && !htOptions.Contains(ctl))
ctl = ctl.Parent;
if(ctl != null)
this.CurrentStatusBarText = this.ItemText(ctl);
}
}
Demonstration Applications
A Windows Forms application in C# and VB.NET is provided that demonstrates the basic use of the status bar text provider. A version of each is provided for .NET 1.1 and .NET 2.0. The .NET 1.1 version demonstrates the use of the provider with menu items and with controls in modal and non-modal forms. The .NET 2.0 version demonstrates the use of the provider with menu strip, tool strip, and status strip items, along with standard controls in modal and non-modal forms. It also demonstrates the use of the extra StatusLabel
and ProgressBar
properties to access a status label and progress bar in the main status strip from within the demo dialog box form.
For either version, use the File | Load option to open non-modal instances of the demo form. Use the Help | About option to open a modal instance of the demo form. The demo form allows you to switch between using the application's status bar/status strip and the demo form's status bar for displaying the messages.
Revision History
06/26/2006 | | Added new overloaded static methods to the StatusBarTextProvider to make it easier to utilize the controls assigned to its StatusLabel and ProgressBar properties. |
|
01/28/2006 | | Updated the component to support the new .NET 2.0 menu strip, tool strip, and status strip controls and their related tool strip item components.
Changed the data type on the ApplicationStatusBar and InstanceStatusBar properties to object to support specifying either a status bar object or a toolstrip item that will display the text. This change may break existing code if it relies on the data type being StatusBar as in the prior version.
Reworked how the prior text was restored due to the way the new tool strip components work. It now utilizes the new ApplicationDefaultText and InstanceDefaultText properties.
Added new StatusLabel and ProgressBar properties for use with .NET 2.0, to provide convenient access to the tool strip items they represent from anywhere within the application.
|
|
11/11/2005 | | Initial release |