KB161257 - How To Add a Toolbar to a Visual Basic Project

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The Toolbar 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

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.
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.
Add a Toolbar, a Rich TextBox, an ImageList, and a Common Dialog control to Form1.

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

          ' The following assumes that you checked the check box for "Graphics"
          ' when you installed VB.  You can add the graphics by running
          ' VB setup again & checking the Graphics check box.

          ' Path to location of Windows95 toolbar bitmaps -VB5

          ' Dim TlbrPath As String

          'TlbrPath = "C:\Program Files\DevStudio\VB\Graphics" & _
                      "\Bitmaps\Tlbr_w95\"

          '  VB6 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

How To Add a Toolbar to a Visual Basic Project

SUMMARY

MORE INFORMATION

Sample Program with a Toolbar

Steps to Create the Sample Program