- Investigating Unsupported Controls in the .NET Compact Framework
- Investigating Unsupported System.Windows.Forms Functionality in the .NET Compact Framework
- Working with the Visual Studio .NET Form Designer
- Understanding the Different Windows Forms Target Platforms
- Working with the Form Control
- Programming the Button Control
- Using the TextBox Control
- Using the Label Control
- Working with RadioButton Controls
- Using the CheckBox Control
- Using the ComboBox Control
- Using the ListBox Control
- Using the NumericUpDown Control
- Using the DomainUpDown Control
- Programming the ProgressBar Control
- Using the StatusBar Control
- Using the TrackBar Control
- Using the ToolBar Control
- Adding Menus with the MainMenu Control
- Using a ContextMenu Control in an Application
- Using the Timer Control
- Using the OpenFileDialog and SaveFileDialog Controls
- Using the Panel Control
- Using the HScrollBar and VScrollBar Controls
- Using the ImageList Control
- Using the PictureBox Control
- Using the ListView Control
- Using the TabControl Control
- Using the TreeView Control
- Working with the DataGrid Control
- In Brief
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Using the ToolBar Control
Navigating a menu with a stylus can soon become tedious, especially if the user is selecting the same menu item over and over again. The ToolBar control can reduce the number of clicks that a user must perform in order to execute menu options. Because the ToolBar control consists of images, adding a ToolBar can make your application more visually appealing.
The ToolBar is a graphical bar that consists of images that represent buttons. These buttons are usually shortcuts to commonly used application functionality. On the .NET Compact Framework, the ToolBar control cannot contain text. You must use an ImageList control to populate the ToolBar control.
The ToolBar control can appear in different locations, depending on whether the application is built for the Pocket PC or Windows CE. If it is a Windows CE application, then the ToolBar will appear along the top of the application form and to the right of any menu options (see Figure 3.15). For Pocket PC applications the ToolBar appears along the bottom of the form and to the right of any menu options (see Figure 3.16).
)
Figure
3.15 An application that showcases the ToolBar control running
on the Windows CE .NET emulator.
){kind=small}
Figure
3.16 An application that showcases the ToolBar control running
on the Pocket PC 2002 emulator.
Adding a ToolBar Control to an Application
Adding a ToolBar control to an application can be done using the Visual Studio .NET Form Designer. Follow this list of steps to create a ToolBar control in your application:
Drag an ImageList onto the application form. This will create an ImageList icon at the bottom of the Form Designer.
-
In the Properties window for the ImageList, click the ellipsis button next to the Images property. This will bring up the Image Collection Editor (see Figure 3.17).
)
Figure
3.17 The Image Collection Editor.
-
Use the Image Collection Editor to add the ToolBar images to the ImageList. It is important to note that the images will be resized to 16 x 16 pixels, which is the size of all ToolBar images. These images also get imported into the resource file for the application. You do not need to deploy the images along with your application.
-
Drag a ToolBar control onto the application form.
-
Set the ToolBar control's ImageList property to the name of the ImageList control that was created in step 1.
-
Bring up the ToolBarButton Collection Editor (see Figure 3.18) by clicking the ellipsis next tothe ToolBar control's Button property in the Properties window.
)
Figure
3.18 The ToolBarButton Collection Editor.
-
Add all of the buttons that will appear on the ToolBar control, setting the ImageIndex property of each button. The ImageIndex is a zero-based index that corresponds to the index of an image in the ImageList control.
-
Change the button's Style property if you do not want the button to have the default PushButton style. Table 3.5 lists all of the possible Style values and a brief description.
Table 3.5 ToolBarButtonStyle Members and Their Descriptions
|
Member name |
Description |
|
DropDownButton |
When the button is clicked, a menu or other window is displayed. |
|
PushButton |
The regular, three-dimensional button (default). |
|
Separator |
A space or graphic between toolbar buttons. |
|
ToggleButton |
A button that appears pressed when clicked and remains pressed until it is clicked again. |
Handling a ToolBar's ButtonClick Event
When a user clicks a button on the ToolBar control, a ButtonClick event is fired. You can handle this event to execute the action assigned to the button that was clicked. The event handler for the ButtonClick event receives a ToolBarButtonClickEventArgs object. The ToolBarButtonClickEventArgs.Button property is a reference to the ToolBar button that was clicked. The following example demonstrates how bring up the OpenFileDialog control when the correct ToolBar button is clicked:
C#
private void
toolBar1_ButtonClick(object sender,
System.Windows.Forms.ToolBarButtonClickEventArgs e) {
if(e.Button == this.toolBarButton1) {
OpenFileDialog dlg = new OpenFileDialog();
if(dlg.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK) {
this.lblOpenFile.Text = dlg.FileName;
}
}
else if(e.Button == this.toolBarButton2) {
SaveFileDialog dlg = new SaveFileDialog();
if(dlg.ShowDialog() == DialogResult.OK ) {
this.lblSaveFile.Text = dlg.FileName;
}
}
}
VB
Private Sub
toolBar1_ButtonClick(ByVal sender As System.Object,
ByVal e As System.Windows.Forms.ToolBarButtonClickEventArgs)
Handles toolBar1.ButtonClick
If e.Button Is toolBarButton1 Then
Dim dlg As OpenFileDialog
dlg = New OpenFileDialog
Dim res As DialogResult
res = dlg.ShowDialog()
If res = DialogResult.OK Then
label3.Text = dlg.FileName
End If
ElseIf e.Button Is toolBarButton2 Then
Dim dlg As SaveFileDialog
dlg = New SaveFileDialog
Dim res As DialogResult
res = dlg.ShowDialog()
If res = DialogResult.OK Then
label4.Text = dlg.FileName
End If
End If
End Sub