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OK, that was a little bit of a workout,
but it makes life a little easier for anyone using the application,
which is always a design goal, right? If this is not enough,
then you might want to check out how to add searching capability
to your list view in the article "Find
Items in ListView, ListBox, and ComboBox Controls"
by Christian Forsberg.
Why Not Create a Cool MenuBar as
Well
Why have a boring menu bar when you
can add some extra functionality and ease of use to your
application by using sub-menus, menu buttons for quick access
to key functions, and visual cues, such as checked or context-enabled
options? A little goes a long way toward making your application
easy to use, so the effort is definitely worth it.
Adding top level menu items is pretty
straight forward, and continuing with sub menu items is
not much more involved:
' Instantiate menu as menu bar control
' and assign name and caption
Set mnuFile = mnuConsole.Controls.AddMenu("File",
_
"mnuFile")
' Add first top-level menu item
mnuFile.Items.Add 1, "mnuFileNew", "New"
' Add sub menu items
mnuFile.Items(1).SubItems.Add 1, _
"mnuFileNewQueue", "Queue"
mnuFile.Items(2).SubItems.Add 2, _
"mnuFileNewMessage", "Message"
mnuFile.Items(3).SubItems.Add 3, _
"mnuFileNewXML", "XML Contact"
' Continue adding top-level menu items
mnuFile.Items.Add 2, "mnuFileRead", "Read"
' Clean up
Set mnuFile = Nothing
You now have nested menus! Where it
starts to get interesting is adding menu bar buttons for
commonly used tasks. In the Console application, there are
buttons to allow quick access to create a queue, message
or XML contact. One thing to remember is that you will want
to associate an image list control with the menu bar if
you plan on using customized images. The concept is basically
the same as adding a menu bar menu, but you will be setting
image information instead of text:
' Instantiate menu bar buttons
Set mnuSpacer = _
mnuConsole.Controls.AddButton("Spacer")
Set mnuQueue = _
mnuConsole.Controls.AddButton("cmdQueue")
Set mnuMessage = _
mnuConsole.Controls.AddButton("cmdMessage")
' Configure spacer
mnuSpacer.Width = 80
mnuSpacer.Style = mbrSeparator
' Configure buttons
mnuQueue.Image = 8
mnuQueue.Style = mbrDefault
mnuMessage.Image = 9
mnuMessage.Style = mbrDefault
The style influences how the button
appears on the menu bar. The mbrSeparator creates a vertical
line, whereas the mbrDefault creates a default button with
an image. Other options include mbrCheck, which would have
a depressed state for the button to let you know when it
has been selected.
When working with menus that appear
across several frames, you will want to consider using visual
cues to let the user know which options are in place and
valid for the current frame. For options you can toggle,
such as gridlines, you can place a check mark by the menu
item when the option is "on":
' Reference the menu
Set mnuView = mnuConsole.Controls("mnuView")
' Reference the menu item
Set mnuViewItem = mnuView.Items("mnuViewGridlines")
' Update checked status
If mnuViewItem.Checked Then
mnuViewItem.Checked = False
Else
mnuViewItem.Checked = True
End If
In a similar way, you can disable menu
options that are not valid for the current frame:
Private Sub ToggleViewMenu _
(ByVal bolState As Boolean)
Dim mnuView As MenuBarLib.MenuBarMenu
Dim mnuViewItem As MenuBarLib.Item
' Reference View Menu
Set mnuView = mnuConsole.Controls("mnuView")
' Set Enabled state for Full Row item
Set mnuViewItem = _
mnuView.Items("mnuViewFullRow")
mnuViewItem.Enabled = bolState
' Set Enabled state for Gridlines item
Set mnuViewItem = _
mnuView.Items("mnuViewGridlines")
mnuViewItem.Enabled = bolState
End Sub
And there you have it - a fully functional
menu, with intuitive cues and quick access for common functions!
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