Adding your own Status Bar Button

Introduction

Hello,

Sometimes you need to have a quick access to your command mainly when this one is about enable/disable something in your software. Using ObjectARX you can easily add a new button to existing AutoCAD Status Bar.

To add this new button to AutoCAD Status Bar we need to derive a new class from AcPane and add our desired appearence and behavior. In this example I will show you how to create a simple ON/OFF button.

How to Begin

Create a new ARX project using ARXWizard. Add a new empty file called MyPane.h and use the follwoing code:

#pragma once
#include "AcStatusBar.h"
class MyPane : public AcPane
{
public:
// ----------------------
MyPane(void)
{
this->SetToolTipText(_T("This is MyPane Button"));
this->SetText(_T(" MyPane [OFF] "));
this->SetStyle(ACSB_POPOUT);
enabled = false;
}
// ----------------------
virtual ~MyPane(void) {;}
// ----------------------
virtual void OnLButtonDown(UINT nFlags, CPoint point)
{
AcPane::OnLButtonDown(nFlags,point);
enabled = !enabled;
CString strLabel;
strLabel.Format(_T(" MyPane [%s] "),enabled ? _T("ON") : _T("OFF"));
this->SetText(strLabel);
this->SetStyle(enabled ? ACSB_NORMAL : ACSB_POPOUT);
AcApStatusBar* pStatus = acedGetApplicationStatusBar();
if (pStatus) pStatus->Update();
}
// ----------------------
virtual void OnRButtonDown(UINT nFlags, CPoint point) {;}
// ----------------------
virtual void OnLButtonDblClk(UINT nFlags, CPoint point) {;}
// ----------------------
private:
bool enabled;
};

In this example we are supporting only the LEFT BUTTON CLICK event. Note that you may support other events too. We have added a bool member to handle the switching between ON / OFF states.

After that we need to add this button when our application starts. Open your acrxEntryPoint.cpp file and add the following include:

#include "MyPane.h"

Now, add a MyPane pointer variable as a member of your application class:

MyPane* pMyPane;

Next, add the following two functions to your application class:

// ----------------------
void AddMyPaneButton()
{
AcApStatusBar* pStatus = acedGetApplicationStatusBar();
if (pStatus) {
pMyPane = new MyPane();
pStatus->Add(pMyPane);
}
}
// ----------------------
void RemoveMyPaneButton()
{
AcApStatusBar* pStatus = acedGetApplicationStatusBar();
if (pStatus && pMyPane) pStatus->Remove(pMyPane);
}
// ----------------------

Finally, we need to call these two functions from inside the kInitAppMsg and kUnloadAppMsg events:

// ----------------------
virtual AcRx::AppRetCode On_kInitAppMsg (void *pkt) {
AcRx::AppRetCode retCode =AcRxArxApp::On_kInitAppMsg (pkt) ;
AddMyPaneButton();
return (retCode) ;
}
// ----------------------
virtual AcRx::AppRetCode On_kUnloadAppMsg (void *pkt) {
AcRx::AppRetCode retCode =AcRxArxApp::On_kUnloadAppMsg (pkt) ;
RemoveMyPaneButton();
return (retCode) ;
}
// ----------------------

That's it. Now if you load your ARX application you will see a new Status Bar Button. Try it to switch between ON/OFF. Cool?

Fernando.