Thread: Status bar

Hello. I need to create a C application and i have to use a status bar. I think i can use MFC, but i don't know how to start. Can anyone help me?
Thanks.

I think i can use MFC, but i don't know how to start.

I'm assuming that you want to do this in a GUI environment since you're referring to MFC. It's probably a lot easier to do with MFC. But I didn't want to post an MFC example containing a lot of lines of code. So, I'll post a very basic Win32 example containing minimal lines of code .

Code:

#pragma comment( lib, "user32.lib" )
#pragma comment( lib, "comctl32.lib" )

#include <windows.h>
#include <commctrl.h>

const char ClassName[] = "MainWindowClass";

LRESULT CALLBACK MainWndProc( HWND    hWnd,
    UINT    Msg,
    WPARAM  wParam,          
    LPARAM  lParam )
{
    HWND hStatus = NULL;
    switch (Msg)
    {
        case WM_CREATE:
            {
                int iStatBarWidths[] = {200, -1};       
                hStatus = CreateWindowEx(0, STATUSCLASSNAME, NULL,
                    WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | SBARS_SIZEGRIP, 0, 0, 0, 0,
                    hWnd, (HMENU)NULL, GetModuleHandle(NULL), NULL);
                if(!hStatus)
                {
                    MessageBox(NULL, "Failed To Create The Status Bar", "Error", MB_OK | MB_ICONERROR);
                    return 0;
                }
                SendMessage(hStatus, SB_SETPARTS, sizeof(iStatBarWidths)/sizeof(int), (LPARAM)iStatBarWidths);
                SendMessage(hStatus, SB_SETTEXT, 0, (LPARAM)"Fabricio's first status bar");
            }
            break;
        case WM_CLOSE:
            DestroyWindow(hWnd);
            break;
        case WM_DESTROY:
            PostQuitMessage(0);
            break;
        default:
            return (DefWindowProc(hWnd, Msg, wParam, lParam));
    }
    return 0;
}

INT WINAPI WinMain( HINSTANCE  hInstance,
    HINSTANCE  hPrevInstance,
    LPSTR      lpCmdLine,
    INT        nCmdShow )
{
    INITCOMMONCONTROLSEX iccex; 
    iccex.dwSize = sizeof(iccex); 
    iccex.dwICC = ICC_WIN95_CLASSES; 

    WNDCLASSEX wc;
    HWND hWnd;
    MSG Msg;
    wc.cbSize        = sizeof(WNDCLASSEX);
    wc.style         = 0;
    wc.lpfnWndProc   = MainWndProc;
    wc.cbClsExtra    = 0;
    wc.cbWndExtra    = 0;
    wc.hInstance     = hInstance;
    wc.hIcon         = LoadIcon(NULL, IDI_APPLICATION);
    wc.hCursor       = LoadCursor(NULL, IDC_ARROW);
    wc.hbrBackground = (HBRUSH)(COLOR_WINDOW+1);
    wc.lpszMenuName  = NULL;
    wc.lpszClassName = ClassName;
    wc.hIconSm       = LoadIcon(NULL, IDI_APPLICATION);

    InitCommonControlsEx(&iccex);
    if (!RegisterClassEx(&wc))
    {
        MessageBox(NULL, "Failed To Register The Window Class.", "Error", MB_OK | MB_ICONERROR);
        return 0;
    }
    hWnd = CreateWindowEx(
        WS_EX_CLIENTEDGE,
        ClassName,
        "Fabricio's Status Bar",
        WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW,
        CW_USEDEFAULT,
        CW_USEDEFAULT,
        340,
        120,
        NULL,
        NULL,
        hInstance,
        NULL);
    if (!hWnd)
    {
        MessageBox(NULL, "Window Creation Failed.", "Error", MB_OK | MB_ICONERROR);
        return 0;
    }
    ShowWindow(hWnd, SW_SHOW);
    UpdateWindow(hWnd);
    while (GetMessage(&Msg, NULL, 0, 0))
    {
        TranslateMessage(&Msg);
        DispatchMessage(&Msg);
    }
    return Msg.wParam;
}

I'm referring to the complete working MFC example to display a status bar. Not just the code to display the status bar. I could post just sample MFC code. But that would'nt prove to the OP that it works. I always try to post minimal complete examples to prove that I'm not talking thru one of my orifaces.

The MFC code for status bar is about a 100 lines shorter than the Win32 sample. Create a new dialog app and then add a status bar control. Set its ID and then name it. All that is left is to view the MFC docs about CStatusBar and call the right function to get it to update.

In order to do this from a thread you will have to look at the CThread information. Worker threads should NEVER touch the GUI in MFC.

The MFC code for status bar is about a 100 lines shorter than the Win32 sample.

I'm not so sure about this. The fully functional Win32 example above has a 101 lines of code. Compile this example and you can run it from the command line.

On the flip side, Adding a status bar to a MFC dialog Codeproject example has a total of 287 lines for the CPP files alone. That's not counting the header files.

The complete project code can be found in the Release Mode executable link from the above referenced page.