How to Add a Standalone Editor to a Toolbar

• Dec 28, 2020
• 2 minutes to read

In addition to built-in bar editors, the ExpressBars Suite also allows you to place standalone editors from the ExpressEditors library onto any toolbar or menu. This topic demonstrates how to add a standalone editor from this library to a toolbar at design and runtime.

To add an editor programmatically you need to:

• add a TcxBarEditItem by passing the TcxBarEditItem as an argument into the TdxBarItemLinks.AddItem method;

• use the item’s TcxBarEditItem.PropertiesClass or TcxBarEditItem.PropertiesClassName property to associate the desired ExpressEditors with the item.

The following code snippet adds a TcxCalcEdit, and it assumes that a bar named Custom 1 has already been added to the ExpressBars6MainForm form.

Delphi

uses
  ..., cxCalc, cxBarEditItem;
procedure TExpressBars6MainForm.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
var
  ABarManager : TdxBarManager;
  ABar : TdxBar;
  ABarEditItem: TcxBarEditItem;
begin
  ABarManager := GetBarManagerByForm(ExpressBars6MainForm);
  with ABarManager do
  begin
    ABar := BarByCaption('Custom 1');
    if ABar <> nil then
    begin
      BeginUpdate;
      try
        ABarEditItem := TcxBarEditItem(ABar.ItemLinks.AddItem(TcxBarEditItem).Item);
        with ABarEditItem do
        begin
          PropertiesClass := TcxCalcEditProperties;
          Caption := 'Calc Edit';
          ShowCaption := True;
        end;
      finally
        EndUpdate;
      end;
    end;
  end;
end;

C++

#pragma link "cxCalc"
#pragma link "cxBarEditItem"
// ...
void __fastcall TExpressBars6MainForm::FormCreate(TObject *Sender)
{
  TdxBarManager * ABarManager;
  TdxBar * ABar;
  TcxBarEditItem * ABarEditItem;
  ABarManager = GetBarManagerByForm(ExpressBars6MainForm);
  ABar = ABarManager->BarByCaption("Custom 1");
  if (ABar != NULL)
  {
    ABarManager->BeginUpdate();
    try
    {
      ABarEditItem = (TcxBarEditItem*)(ABar->ItemLinks->AddItem(__classid(TcxBarEditItem))->Item);
      ABarEditItem->PropertiesClass = __classid(TcxCalcEditProperties);
      ABarEditItem->Caption = "Calc Edit";
      ABarEditItem->ShowCaption = True;
    }
    __finally
    {
      ABarManager->EndUpdate();
    }
  }
}

The following image shows the result when the above code executes.

To add a standalone editor at design time, right-click the desired bar and choose Add cxEditItem and then select the appropriate editor type within the submenu (see the image below).