Skip to main content

Using the CommandBars library

Some users asked me a while ago about how tough it was to use the CommandBars library from Arg.

It's not hard but I've prepared a sample screen cast on it:
Using the CommandBars library

Comments

Anonymous said…
Andrew,

Cool demo of the CommandBars. I had one question though...how well does it integrate/hook into the VFP menu?

By that I mean, does it automatically know things like when to enable/disable the menu options like Cut, Copy, Paste, etc. the way VFP's native menu does? You are well aware that the latter has the smarts built into it to determine which menu and items are applicable when say I highlight some text in an editbox control.

What about context sensitive/shortcut menus?
Anonymous said…
Andrew,

I really enjoyed your narrated screen presentation of how to use the CommandBars product.

Thanks!

Malcolm Greene
Andrew MacNeill said…
Here are some comments from the author:
Andrew,

Sorry for the delay with reply. I was out several days and had no chance to read my e-mail and to write you.

Yes, it is possible to enable/disable menu items (Cut, Copy, Paste, etc) automatically. The SkipFor property was designed especially for that.
For sample, if the SkipFor property contains "SkpBar("_MEDIT",_MED_CUT)" value, the Cut menu item will be automatically enabled/disabled, like native Cut menu item works.

Developers can easy create context sensitive/shortcut menus, samples provided with the library contain simple shortcut menu example (PopupMenu1 on Form1). To activate that menu all they have to do just call the ShowPopupMenu method of the CommandBarsManager object. For sample, the RightClick method of the cntClientArea object of the Form1 contains the following code:
ThisForm.CBM.ShowPopupMenu( ThisForm.PopupMenu1)

Please let me know if you, or someone else, have other questions.

Regards,

Alex

Popular posts from this blog

Merry Christmas

Whether you celebrate now, have already celebrated your past holiday, are planning to, or not, I hope you find yourself surrounded by family and those you love during this holiday season and are able to remember fondly those who are not with you. We often find ourselves buried in work, or too distracted by other problems, to share and remember a few moments with those closest to us. So many of us are separated by huge distances, we often find it easier to focus on those who are out of arm's reach yet so easy to connect with online, instead of those who are right beside us. So do yourself a favour, put down the keyboard (stylus, mouse, etc) and spend that time. I know I will. Merry Christmas. Powered by ScribeFire .

Who Wants To Be Logical? I Do! I Don't! (with Claude)

In my book, Towards Consciousness, I explore PET , a theory that attempts to explain consciousness and possibly how it might apply to AI. As part of the conversations with AI series, I've included this conversation with Claude.AI in which we were talking about something very different and yet the conversation redirected itself back to PET. For the record, there is no such thing as "Colfsity". A It's interesting to me that people want to proclaim their distinction from being rigid and unlike machines, yet they also complain that the "best" people keep a rigid schedule, regular routines and logic understanding of issues. That's a perceptive observation about a real tension in how people think about themselves and what they value. There does seem to be this paradox where rigidity is simultaneously rejected as "robotic" or inhuman, yet praised when it appears as discipline, consistency, or logical thinking. I think part of what's happening is t...

From Writing to AI: the pattern repeats itself

When I was ten years old, my dad bought a computer and, thanks to an advertising supplement in a Superman comic I read, it was a TRS-80. A month later, he dragged the entire family (my mom and brother were not the most enthusiastic) to a class at Radio Shack teaching how to use microcomputers. At the time, I understood why my mom wasn’t that excited: the computer was yet another gadget in the house. But today I find it fascinating. My mother went to Vassar in the 50s. She learned how to type — not a common skill at the time — but it opened doors. Her ability to communicate effectively led her to a career in adult education and later communications work with the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation). This isn’t a nostalgia post. Today, the ability to use artificial intelligence, be it through Copilot or simply writing the right prompt, is becoming a critical skill. But is it really that novel? In the 1500s and 1600s, the printing press gradually made reading accessible beyond cler...