9.9 Non-standard toolbars

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9.9 Non-standard toolbars

You can create toolbars using the toolbar class explicitly, and arrange them like other elements, using layouts. This approach differs from interface toolbars as described in the preceding sections of this chapter. Note that, while it allows you some flexibility this approach can produce non-standard appearance, does not support user-customization, and does not support folding on Cocoa. Other than this, non-standard toolbars support all the features described in the preceding sections of this chapter, and additionally:

You can disable and enable a toolbar using its enabled or enabled-function slot.
There are two further options for a button with a dropdown menu.

It can be merged with the separate smaller button such that it displays only the menu and does not respond to its selection-callback .

Alternatively, it can display the menu only after being pressed down for a while, and respond to the selection-callback when pressed only briefly. In this case the smaller button does not appear.

See toolbar-button for the details.

You can make a toolbar button which displays an interface (and does not respond to its selection-callback) by supplying popup-interface .

There is an example here:


(example-edit-file "capi/elements/toolbar")

9.9.1 Changing a non-standard toolbar dynamically

The best way to change a non-standard toolbar is to use a switchable-layout. Include a toolbar instance in each of two or more child layouts, of which only one is visible at a time.

There is an example here:


(example-edit-file "capi/layouts/switchable")

CAPI User Guide and Reference Manual (Macintosh version) - 3 Aug 2017