Status Messages
Status messages are simple text messages displayed in a way that does not impede the user's operation of the iTool. In the standard iTool user interface created using the IDL widget toolkit, status messages are text strings displayed at the bottom of the iTool window.
The IDLitIMessaging class provides two methods that display status messages. See "IDLitIMessaging" (IDL Reference Guide) for details.
StatusMessage
The IDLitIMessaging::StatusMessage method displays a string value. In the standard iTool interface created using the IDL widget toolkit, status messages appear in the status area at the bottom left corner of the iTool window, as shown in Figure 12-1.
In the standard set of iTools provided with IDL, the status area is used to display status information for operations or informational messages pertaining to the currently selected object or manipulator.
The following code places the text "My Status Message" in the status area:
ProbeStatusMessage
The IDLitIMessaging::ProbeStatusMessage method displays a string value. In the standard iTool interface created using the IDL widget toolkit, probe status messages appear at the bottom right corner of the iTool window, as shown in Figure 12-1.
In the standard set of iTools provided with IDL, the probe status area is used to display the position of the cursor within the iTool window.
The following code places the text "X: 300, Y:146" in the status area:
In most cases, the values displayed in the probe status area have some relationship to the position of the cursor or to the action performed by the current manipulator.
Creating Additional Status Bar Segments
You can create additional named status bar segments using the RegisterStatusBar method of the IDLitTool class. The text displayed in the newly created status bar segment can then be modified using the IDLitIMessaging::StatusMessage method with the SEGMENT_IDENTIFIER keyword.
See IDLitIMessaging::StatusMessage and "IDLitTool::RegisterStatusBarSegment" (IDL Reference Guide) for details.
