ANNOUNCEMENT: wssMDITaskbar control available FREE

[René Whitworth]

Hello all,

I just wanted to inform you of the first release (Version 2) of our
wssMDITaskbar (Whitworth MDI-Taskbar Control (VB6)).
This control mimics the Windows Taskbar for MDI-Child forms in an MDI
application.

The control was designed as a reaction on a statement from MS in the MSDN
library (MDI Overview):
[snip-->]
Note MDI is an application-oriented model. Many new and intermediate users
find it difficult to learn to use MDI applications. Therefore, many
applications are switching to a document-oriented model. Therefore, you may
want to consider other models for your user interface. However, you can use
MDI for applications which do not easily fit into an existing model until a
more suitable model is introduced.
[<--snip]
As an own reaction to this MS introduced the Office 2000 style of MDI
applications (Word opens a new instance of itself, and you can switch
documents either through the Taskbar buttons or through the Window menu).
I don't really think this is THE solution for MDI style apps, but an
MDI-Taskbar COULD be the solution to make it easier for the user to get used
to it.

The control is very easy to use (just put it on the MDIForm) because it
handles all events (like minimizing a child form) on it's own.
If there are to many forms to display all buttons an "extender button" will
be shown (like the one IE4 shows in the QuickLaunch area of the Taskbar)
which launches a popup menu with an entry (including the icon) for each form
not having it's own button.

You can set the Align property (default is AlignBottom), the MinButtonWidth
and the MaxMenuWidth (defaults should do fine).

One thing you should keep in mind is to NOT create a menu option to arrange
the minimized forms (it shouldn't harm as they are set invisible, but it
could be annoying for your users if nothing happens).

We'd be happy to receive comments and suggestions for the next version.
Already planned features are:
* AutoHide property
* Sizing the control (design- and runtime)
* Win9x/2000 like SetForegroundWindow behavior (implemented as an
additional function)
* Flat buttons (switchable)

--
Rene Whitworth
Whitworth Software Solutions - Germany
http://www.w-s-s.de
Please reply to the newsgroup :-)

[René Whitworth]

Hello again,

I just discovered a _bug_ in the control (nothing to worry about).
When you minimize a child form through code (Form1.WindowState =
vbMinimized) the control won't catch this change, which results in an iconic
form being shown.

On trying to catch the correct message I found out that there isn't any
interesting message sent to the form.
All I can get is the following (in the correct order):
WM_CTLCOLORBTN
WM_SETFOCUS
WM_KILLFOCUS
WM_CTLCOLORBTN
WM_GETTEXT
WM_WINDOWPOSCHANGING
WM_GETMINMAXINFO
WM_NCCALCSIZE
WM_NCPAINT
WM_GETTEXT
WM_WINDOWPOSCHANGED
WM_MOVE
WM_SIZE
WM_CHILDACTIVATE
WM_SHOWWINDOW
According to MSDN the WM_WINDOWPOSCHANGING should occur just before the
window's position is to be changed.
In this case this ain't true !
I put a breakpoint at the forwarding of the WM_WINDOWPOSCHANGING and still
saw the window animation to the place of the iconic window.

If anyone knows or has any idea how to receive/intercept the request for
minimizing the form through code I'd be more than happy to hear it.
For now the only solution to make this work is for you as the developer who
uses the control NOT to use the "WindowState =" but instead SendMessage a
WM_SYSCOMMAND with SC_MINIMIZE/SC_RESTORE/SC_MAXIMIZE.
I'm very sorry for this inconvenience, and I sure hope to find a solution to
this problem in the near future.

--
Rene Whitworth
Whitworth Software Solutions - Germany
http://www.w-s-s.de
Please reply to the newsgroup :-)


"René Whitworth" <R.Whitworth@w-s-s.de> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:392fdab1$1@news.devx.com...
> Hello all,
>
> I just wanted to inform you of the first release (Version 2) of our
> wssMDITaskbar (Whitworth MDI-Taskbar Control (VB6)).
> This control mimics the Windows Taskbar for MDI-Child forms in an MDI
> application.
>
> The control was designed as a reaction on a statement from MS in the MSDN
> library (MDI Overview):
> [snip-->]
> Note MDI is an application-oriented model. Many new and intermediate
users
> find it difficult to learn to use MDI applications. Therefore, many
> applications are switching to a document-oriented model. Therefore, you
may
> want to consider other models for your user interface. However, you can
use
> MDI for applications which do not easily fit into an existing model until
a
> more suitable model is introduced.
> [<--snip]
> As an own reaction to this MS introduced the Office 2000 style of MDI
> applications (Word opens a new instance of itself, and you can switch
> documents either through the Taskbar buttons or through the Window menu).
> I don't really think this is THE solution for MDI style apps, but an
> MDI-Taskbar COULD be the solution to make it easier for the user to get
used
> to it.
>
> The control is very easy to use (just put it on the MDIForm) because it
> handles all events (like minimizing a child form) on it's own.
> If there are to many forms to display all buttons an "extender button"
will
> be shown (like the one IE4 shows in the QuickLaunch area of the Taskbar)
> which launches a popup menu with an entry (including the icon) for each
form
> not having it's own button.
>
> You can set the Align property (default is AlignBottom), the
MinButtonWidth
> and the MaxMenuWidth (defaults should do fine).
>
> One thing you should keep in mind is to NOT create a menu option to
arrange
> the minimized forms (it shouldn't harm as they are set invisible, but it
> could be annoying for your users if nothing happens).
>
> We'd be happy to receive comments and suggestions for the next version.
> Already planned features are:
> * AutoHide property
> * Sizing the control (design- and runtime)
> * Win9x/2000 like SetForegroundWindow behavior (implemented as an
> additional function)
> * Flat buttons (switchable)
>
> --
> Rene Whitworth
> Whitworth Software Solutions - Germany
> http://www.w-s-s.de
> Please reply to the newsgroup :-)
>
>
>
>
>
>