Table of Contents

Status Bar Guide

TTMSFNCStatusBar is a panel-based status bar that displays multiple independently styled sections. Each panel in the Panels collection has its own Style, width, alignment, and content. Supported styles cover plain text, HTML, images, dates, times, progress bars, and fully owner-drawn content.

TTMSFNCStatusBar with multiple panel styles

Adding panels

Add panels to the Panels collection and set each panel's Style and Width. Use AutoSize := True on the main text panel to let it fill remaining space.

// Add four panels at runtime: text, date, time, and a progress bar
procedure TForm1.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
var
  p: TTMSFNCStatusBarPanel;
begin
  // Text panel that stretches to fill remaining space
  p := TMSFNCStatusBar1.Panels.Add;
  p.Style := spsHTML;
  p.Text  := 'Ready';
  p.AutoSize := True;

  // Date panel
  p := TMSFNCStatusBar1.Panels.Add;
  p.Style := spsDate;
  p.Width := 80;

  // Time panel
  p := TMSFNCStatusBar1.Panels.Add;
  p.Style := spsTime;
  p.Width := 60;

  // Progress bar panel
  p := TMSFNCStatusBar1.Panels.Add;
  p.Style := spsProgress;
  p.Width := 120;
  p.Progress.Min := 0;
  p.Progress.Max := 100;
  p.Progress.Position := 0;
end;

// Update the progress bar from a background task callback
procedure TForm1.UpdateProgress(APercent: Integer);
begin
  TMSFNCStatusBar1.Panels.Items[3].Progress.Position := APercent;
end;

Panel styles

Style Content
spsHTML HTML-formatted text with optional anchor links
spsText Plain text
spsEllipsText Text clipped with an ellipsis
spsImage Single image from a BitmapContainer with optional text
spsImageList Sequence of images from a BitmapContainer
spsDate Current date, formatted by DateFormat
spsTime Current time, formatted by TimeFormat
spsProgress Colour-coded progress bar
spsOwnerDraw Fully custom drawing via OnDrawCustomPanel 
// Panel styles demonstrated: HTML text, image, and owner-draw
procedure TForm1.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
var
  p: TTMSFNCStatusBarPanel;
begin
  TMSFNCStatusBar1.BitmapContainer := BitmapContainer1;

  // HTML text with a coloured status indicator
  p := TMSFNCStatusBar1.Panels.Add;
  p.Style := spsHTML;
  p.Text  := '<font color="#00AA00">&#9679;</font> Online';
  p.Width := 80;

  // Single image with optional label
  p := TMSFNCStatusBar1.Panels.Add;
  p.Style := spsImage;
  p.ImageIndex := 0;   // index into BitmapContainer1
  p.Text  := 'Saved';
  p.AutoSize := True;

  // Owner-draw: full custom rendering
  p := TMSFNCStatusBar1.Panels.Add;
  p.Style := spsOwnerDraw;
  p.Width := 40;
end;

procedure TForm1.TMSFNCStatusBar1DrawCustomPanel(Sender: TObject;
  AGraphics: TTMSFNCGraphics; ARect: TRectF; APanel: TTMSFNCStatusBarPanel);
begin
  AGraphics.DrawEllipse(ARect);
end;

Progress bar panels and click events

The Progress sub-object on each panel controls the min/max range and three colour-level thresholds. Setting Button := True makes the panel respond to OnPanelLeftClick and OnPanelRightClick.

Status bar with progress and date/time panels 
// Colour-coded progress bar with level thresholds and click event
procedure TForm1.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
var
  p: TTMSFNCStatusBarPanel;
begin
  p := TMSFNCStatusBar1.Panels.Add;
  p.Style := spsProgress;
  p.Width := 150;
  p.Progress.Min := 0;
  p.Progress.Max := 100;
  p.Progress.Level1Perc := 70;   // green up to 70 %
  p.Progress.Level2Perc := 90;   // yellow 70-90 %
                                   // red 90-100 %
  p.Progress.Position := 55;

  // Make the panel a clickable button
  p.Button := True;
end;

procedure TForm1.TMSFNCStatusBar1PanelLeftClick(Sender: TObject; PanelIndex: Integer);
begin
  if PanelIndex = 0 then
    ShowMessage('Progress: ' + IntToStr(TMSFNCStatusBar1.Panels.Items[0].Progress.Position) + '%');
end;

Increment the progress bar position with Panel.Progress.StepIt to advance by one, or set Position directly from a progress callback.

HTML panels (spsHTML) can host anchor links. Use standard <a href="..."> markup in the panel Text, then handle the status bar's anchor-click to react to the link. The URLColor property on a panel sets the colour used to render those links so they stand out against the panel background.

To embed a live control — a button, a combo box, a small indicator — rather than just formatted text, drop the control on the form and parent it to the status bar; the panel reserves its width and the control is positioned within it. This is useful for a "Cancel" button next to a progress panel or a quick-action combo in the corner of the bar.

Combining panel styles, progress tracking, and click events

Build a status bar with a resizable text panel, a live progress panel, and a clickable date panel. Note that OnPanelLeftClick reports the panel index, not the panel object — index into Panels to inspect the clicked panel.

{ Inside your form's OnCreate: }
procedure TForm1.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
var
  pText, pProg, pDate: TTMSFNCStatusBarPanel;
begin
  TMSFNCStatusBar1.BeginUpdate;
  try
    // Auto-sizing text panel
    pText := TMSFNCStatusBar1.Panels.Add;
    pText.Style    := spsHTML;
    pText.AutoSize := True;
    pText.Text     := 'Ready';

    // Progress panel - three colour thresholds
    pProg := TMSFNCStatusBar1.Panels.Add;
    pProg.Style  := spsProgress;
    pProg.Width  := 120;
    pProg.Progress.Min := 0;
    pProg.Progress.Max := 100;
    pProg.Progress.Position := 0;

    // Clickable date panel
    pDate := TMSFNCStatusBar1.Panels.Add;
    pDate.Style  := spsDate;
    pDate.Width  := 90;
    pDate.Button := True;
  finally
    TMSFNCStatusBar1.EndUpdate;
  end;

  TMSFNCStatusBar1.OnPanelLeftClick := DoStatusPanelClick;
end;

// OnPanelLeftClick passes the panel INDEX, not the panel object.
procedure TForm1.DoStatusPanelClick(Sender: TObject; PanelIndex: Integer);
begin
  if TMSFNCStatusBar1.Panels[PanelIndex].Style = spsDate then
    ShowMessage('Date panel clicked: ' + DateToStr(Now));
end;

// Drive the progress panel and the text panel together from a worker callback.
procedure TForm1.SimulateProgress(APercent: Integer);
begin
  TMSFNCStatusBar1.Panels[1].Progress.Position := APercent;
  TMSFNCStatusBar1.Panels[0].Text := Format('Processing... %d%%', [APercent]);
end;

Wrap multi-panel construction in BeginUpdate/EndUpdate so the bar lays out and repaints once instead of after every Panels.Add.

Common pitfalls

  • Multiple AutoSize panels. Auto-sizing distributes the remaining width; giving more than one panel AutoSize := True makes their final widths hard to predict. Keep a single auto-sizing panel (usually the main text panel) and give the rest fixed Width values.
  • Expecting a panel object in the click handler. OnPanelLeftClick/OnPanelRightClick pass PanelIndex: Integer. Read Panels[PanelIndex] to get the panel.
  • Clicks without Button. A panel only raises click events when its Button property is True. Set it on every panel that should be interactive.
  • Rebuilding panels without BeginUpdate. Adding or restyling several panels outside a BeginUpdate/EndUpdate pair causes repeated relayout and flicker.

See also