Advanced MFC Programming

Chapter 1. Tool Bar and Dialog Bar
Tool tip
Flyby
Figure 1-12. Tool tip and flyby
Both features can be enabled by calling function CControlBar::SetBarStyle(…) using the
corresponding flags. To enable tool tip, we need to set CBRS_TOOLTIP flag bit, to enable flyby, we need to
set CBRS_FLYBY flag bit. Actually, in the previous sections, whenever we create a tool bar or dialog bar, the
two flags are always set.
Just setting the above flags can not activate the tool tip and flyby. We need to provide the text that will
be used by tool tip and flyby. The text string must be implemented as application resources, and the ID of
the string must be the same with the command ID of the control. For example, if we want to add flyby and
tool tip for button ID_BUTTON_RED, we must create a string resource using ID_BUTTON_RED as its ID. This
string will be used for both flyby and tool tip implementation. Within the string, the text is separated into
two parts by an ‘\n’ character, with the sub-string before ‘\n’ used for flyby, and the sub-string after ‘\n’
used for tool tip. For example, if we want the flyby and tool tips for the red button to be “This is the red
button” and “Red Button” respectively, the resource string should be “This is the red button\nRed Button”.
If we do not provide a string resource for this command ID, the flyby and the tool tip will not be displayed
even we enable CBRS_TOOLTIP and CBRS_FLYBY flags. If string resource does not have a second sub-string
(In this case, there is no ‘\n’ character contained in the string), the whole string will be used for flyby, and
no tool tip will be implemented.
Adding this string for tool bar buttons is very easy. By opening the property sheet “Toolbar Button
Properties”, we will find an edit box labeled “Prompt”. Inputting a string into this edit box will add the
string resource automatically (Figure 1-13).
Input the string
that will be used
for flyby and
tool tip here
Figure 1-13. Add flyby and tool tip string for tool bar control
For dialog bar, we don’t have the place to input this string in the property sheet. So we need to edit
string resource directly. This can also be implemented very easily. In the Developer Studio, if we execute
command Insert | Resource…(or press CTRL+R keys), an “Insert Resource” dialog box will pop up. To
add a string resource, we need to highlight node “String Table” and press “New” button. After this, a new
window with the string table will pop up. By scrolling to the bottom of the window and double clicking an
empty entry, a “String Properties” property sheet will pop up, which can be used to add a new string
resource (Figure 1-14).
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