This article describes how to reference individual command buttons placed
on a custom Toolbar control. The custom Toolbar control is included with
the Microsoft Office 97 Developer Edition Tools and the Microsoft Access
Developer's Toolkit version 7.0.
This article assumes that a form with a custom Toolbar control has already
been created. For the examples provided in this article, the custom Toolbar
control should have at least two command buttons.
The key to understanding the custom Toolbar control is understanding its
object model. The custom Toolbar control is a Container object with its
own properties and methods and it has a Buttons collection consisting of
one or more buttons. The Button collection also has its own properties and
methods. The diagram below illustrates this:
Toolbar Control Object
|
+-- Properties
|
+-- Methods
|
+-- Button Collection
|
+-- Properties
|
+-- Methods
|
+-- Buttons
When you click a button on the custom Toolbar control, the toolbars
ButtonClick event is triggered. It is important to note that the Toolbar
control has both a Click event and a ButtonClick event. To determine which
button someone clicked, the ButtonClick event must be used.
Each button in the Button collection has an "index" value and an optional
key value. These values can be used to reference the desired button when
selected. To view the index or key value of a particular button, using the
right mouse button (right click), click the custom Toolbar control in form
Design view, point to Toolbar Control Object, and then click Properties.
Within the ToolbarControl Properties window, click the Buttons tab. The
Buttons tab shows the Index value of a particular button and a key may also
be provided.
The code examples below assumes there are at least two buttons on the
custom Toolbar control. This example will display an appropriate message
box, depending on which button was selected. In this example, the Button
collections index property is used to determine which button was pressed.
The index value stores an integer. Each button in the buttons collection
will have a unique index value.
Enter the code in the Toolbar control's ButtonClick event. To enter this
code, on the View menu, click Code while in the form's Design view.
Then, select the Toolbar custom control object from the Object list and
ButtonClick from the Proc list.
NOTE: The following code will not work within the Toolbar control's Click
event when using Microsoft Access for Windows 95.
Private Sub oleToolbar_ButtonClick(ByVal Button As Object)
Select Case Button.Index
Case 1 ' The first button was clicked.
Msgbox "You Selected Button #1"
Case 2 ' The second button was clicked.
Msgbox "You Selected Button #2"
Case Else
Msgbox "You Selected an invalid button"
End Select
End Sub
The next example shows how to perform the same actions by referencing the
Button collections "key" value instead of its Index value. The key value
stores a string and this value is optional. If the key value is used, each
button in the button collection should have a key and the key value must be
unique.
Private Sub oleToolbar_ButtonClick(ByVal Button As Object)
Select Case Button.Key
Case "One" ' The key value is "One".
Msgbox "You Selected Button #1"
Case "Two" ' The key value is "two".
Msgbox "You Selected Button #2"
Case Else
Msgbox "You Selected an invalid button"
End Select
End Sub
NOTE: The index values for buttons in the Button collection are
automatically assigned by their sequential order in the custom Toolbar
control. If a button is removed, the index values are reassigned to all of
the buttons in the collection. For reliable code, use the "key" value when
referencing buttons. This value is user defined and cannot be changed by
removing a button in the collection.
For more information about the Toolbar control, search the Help Index for
"Toolbar Control."