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israel022697

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Writing my own Taskbar

I want my program GUI to be a Taskbar just like the standard windows Taskbar with a Start button etc.
If you have any already written example or if you know where I can find one please tell me.
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_Zaphod

That's what I call high expectations.
Ta'avod ktzat, lo yazik.
Why to invent the same thing twice...
It'll probably be harder for you to find an example than to make your own.
This is the most basic things to do, and it's not at all impossible although it'll take you some time.

1. Lookup "Application Desktop Toolbars" in Win32 SDK and make such a thing
2. Create a button on the appbar
3. Create a tab control on the appbar
4. Create a tray window which answers to undocumented WM_COPYDATA calls routed from Shell_NotifyIcon
5. In your button handler, create menus dynamically from the Start menu folder in your WINDOWS directory.
6. Keep track of open windows and list them in the tab control. (There is some way to determine if a window should be listed in the task bar.)
7. Also implement a context menu on the tab control

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ASKER

2good: Thank you for your answer but what I realy need is a working example.
Zaphod: Doing it from scratch is my last option !!!
I have not got much time and as you probebly know, time is money !!
I see no point doing it from scratch if I can find a working example( and I'm prety sure I'll find one ), at least the foundation.
BEMIKRIM MESUYAMEEM ADIF LESHAPETZ MASHEHOO MOOCHAN BIMKOM LEHATCHIL MEHATCHALA.
Hmm...

Why not use Visual Basic 4, create a from with no title bar or borders, autosize it to fit bottom of page and bob's your aunty.

Have a command button which when clicked opens... well, you get the general idea.
tstaddon:
I cannot use visual basic because of some reasons such as I don't have one ( and I'm not going to buy it in the near futer ), all the rest of the project is written in MFC and Java and what I need is a bar that has the features like the windows task bar has( Auto-hide, sticking to the sides ... ).

tstaddon:
I cannot use visual basic because of some reasons such as I don't have one ( and I'm not going to buy it in the near futer ), all the rest of the project is written in MFC and Java and what I need is a bar that has the features like the windows task bar has( Auto-hide, sticking to the sides ... ).
Thanks for the comment any way.
The windows task bar is (as I said) an "Application Desktop Toolbar" like the ones anyone can make. Just look it up in the SDK. It handles auto-hide and sticking to the sides - you only have to react on notificaions from it. Find SHAppBarMessage in your SDK docs.

(By the way, Visual Basic can't be used for an advanced project like this. It's only use is quick & dirty development of slow programs with 1-2 MB run-time DLLs...)

Let's not begin an argument here about which language is better, or there won't be enougth disk space on this server for all the comments
I only said it because there isn't any info in this question about what this taskbar is going to do. Java and MFC were not even mentioned until after my suggestion.

My point was, anyone can develop simple programs which act very similar to app desktop toolbars without MFC- albeit less functional.

Can Israel be more specific about what he's trying to do?

Ideally- what environemt you want it to run in, what kind of functionality are you after, are you sure you need MFC to achieve it (autosizing etc can be done with Win32 API), why Java, etc.
Ok, I'll be more specific.
All I want is that my program will a "Task-Bar" as it's main Gui interface.
For example, instead of the "settings" option in the win95/nt4.0's Taskbar I'll put a "config" option in mine where the user can configure my program and soo on ...
I'm using MFC and Java for my application because of many reasons but I can do this "Taskbar" using Win32 API or MFC.
I also want most of the original windows Taskbar features like AutoHide for example, and I want to use the same machanizem the original uses ( saving parameters in the registry and others ).
I trying to find a working example for this, at least the foundations, since I don't want to do it from scratch.
If I wont find any then I'll write it all by myself.

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costya

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10x alot.
I don't know much about the grading system here, if you want more points, just say.