Floating Toolbar

[rbulph]

Anyone figured out how to provide a floating toolbar in conjunction with ToolStripPanels? I'm using four ToolStripPanels rather than a ToolStripContainer because it's an MDI form and the ToolStripContainer doesn't seem to allow the display of MDI children.

[rbulph]

Well here's some code which works reasonably well. The main problems outstanding are that (i) the user can't drag the toolbar over a docking position onto the other side. Once it's docked it's stuck, and (ii) the toolbar form doesn't an activated caption.

 

Hopefully this is useful to someone, and if anyone has any suggestions for improvement, I'd be glad to hear them.

 

You will need two forms, Form1 being the startup form. It contains toolstrippanels on each side and a toolstrip. Toolstrippanels don't seem to appear in the toolbox so I had to add them manually with code in the form's designer.

 

Imports System
Imports System.Windows.Forms
Imports Microsoft.WindowsCE.Forms

Public Class Form1

   Friend toolbarformsetup As Boolean
   Dim frmToolbar As Form2

   Private Sub ToolStrip1_EndDrag(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles ToolStrip1.EndDrag

       Dim InPanel As Boolean
       For Each c As Control In Me.Controls
           If TypeOf c Is ToolStripPanel Then
               If c.Bounds.Contains(Me.PointToClient(MousePosition)) Then InPanel = True
           End If
       Next

       If Not InPanel Then
           tspTop.Controls.Remove(Me.ToolStrip1)
           frmToolbar = New Form2
           frmToolbar.Controls.Add(Me.ToolStrip1)
           ToolStrip1.Location = New Point(0, 0)
           ToolStrip1.GripStyle = ToolStripGripStyle.Hidden

           frmToolbar.Show(Me)
           frmToolbar.Location = MousePosition
           toolbarformsetup = True
           frmToolbar.Activate()

       End If

   End Sub

   Friend Sub ReviewToolbar()

       Dim p As Point = PointToClient(MousePosition)
       Dim border As Integer = (Width - ClientSize.Width) / 2
       Dim ClientTop As Integer = Height - ClientSize.Height - border

       If toolbarformsetup And Me.Bounds.Contains(MousePosition) Then
           Dim RelTSP As ToolStripPanel = Nothing
           Dim ThinDimension As Integer = Math.Min(ToolStrip1.Width, ToolStrip1.Height)
           If p.Y > ClientTop And p.Y < ClientTop + ThinDimension Then
               RelTSP = Me.tspTop
           ElseIf p.Y > Height - border - ThinDimension Then
               RelTSP = Me.tspBottom
           ElseIf p.X < border + ThinDimension Then
               RelTSP = Me.tspLeft
           ElseIf p.X > Width - border - ThinDimension Then
               RelTSP = Me.tspRight
           End If

           If Not RelTSP Is Nothing Then
               frmToolbar.Controls.Remove(ToolStrip1)
               RelTSP.Join(ToolStrip1)
               ToolStrip1.GripStyle = ToolStripGripStyle.Visible
               If RelTSP Is Me.tspTop Or RelTSP Is Me.tspBottom Then
                   ToolStrip1.Left = p.X - border
               Else
                   ToolStrip1.Top = p.Y - ClientTop
               End If

               Activate()
               frmToolbar.Close()
               toolbarformsetup = False
           End If

       End If

   End Sub

   'I want to have the toolbar show an active caption at the same time as the main form, but I haven't been successful in 
   'getting this to work.
   'Private Declare Function SendMessage Lib "user32" Alias "SendMessageA" (ByVal hwnd As Long, ByVal n As Long, ByVal w As Long, ByVal k As Long) As Long
   Const WM_NCACTIVATE = &H86
   'Private Sub Form1_Activated(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Activated
   '    '   Dim msg As System.Windows.Forms.Message = _
   '    If Not p Is Nothing Then

   '        SendMessage(p.Handle.ToInt32, WM_NCACTIVATE, 1, 0)
   '        '   Dim msg As Microsoft.WindowsCE.Forms.Message = Microsoft.WindowsCE.Forms.Message.Create(p.Handle.ToInt32, _
   '        '    &H86, 1, 0) ', New IntPtr(e.X), New IntPtr(e.Y))

   '        '  Microsoft.WindowsCE.Forms.MessageWindow.SendMessage(msg)
   '    End If
   'End Sub

End Class

Public Class Form2
   'form must be TopMost, fixed toolwindow, autosize grow and shrink and have no maximise button (it won't show, but double-clicking will maximise it)
   'nor have minimize button nor show in toolbar.

   Private Sub Form2_Move(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Move

       Form1.ReviewToolbar()

   End Sub

End Class