OutlookBar

Global Template, Control Templates, Classes

Just add the global template to your application, then insert the control template wherever you want Outlook-style task bars in your procedures. You can modify the control template settings as desired, and this is enough for most developers. But if you are a power user and want to take full control, you can use OutlookBar's extensive class methods.

And more...

OutlookBar comes with a detailed 56 page users guide in PDF format. You can download the documentation for detailed information about how the product can be used (below).

How to buy

OutlookBar is included Icetips' premium high-value Gold Subscription for $299. OutlookBar may also be purchased separately for just $99.  (Multiple copy pricing is available.)

Compatibility You can use OutlookBar with Clarion 5.5 - 10 in both ABC and Clarion template chains. The control template can be applied to any window procedure.

INFORMATION Updated: 7-Jun-2021 Clarion 5.5-6.3 Yes Clarion 7 - 10 Yes ABC Yes Legacy Yes Multi-DLL Yes Source code Yes Documentation 56 pgs

Version 2.0.174.82 [June 16, 2015]

June 16, 2015:

1. Classes: Resize and loss/gain of focus could cause the Outlookbar control to stop painting after it was erased. Hopefully fixed.

Version 2.0.172 February 24, 2015]

February 24, 2015:

1. Installer: Installer is now compatible with Clarion 10.

July 2, 2014:

1. Classes: Horizontal scrollbar could show up at the bottom of Outlookbar controls in Clarion 9.1. build 11014 or newer. Fixed.

June 25, 2014:

1. Classes: Two implicit variables in the TakePaintEvent method had been missed when removing implicit variables in September 2012. This could cause problems with the vertical scrollbar not working. Fixed.

Version 2.0.170.82 [January 28, 2014]

January 28, 2014:

1. Installer: Installer is now compatible with Clarion 9.1

Version 2.0.168.67 [August 21, 2013]

August 21, 2013:

1. Template: Global class was not exported correctly. Fixed.
2. Template: "Use Global Class for resizing" defaulted to ON. This could cause problems on windows that had Outlookbar controls that weren't a side panel windows and had multiple instances of the Outlookbar control. Fixed.
   Note: This must ONLY be checked on an Outlookbar control on a window that should resize to the application frame window size.
3. Classes: Subclass testing code was accidentally left in the code. This caused a crash on windows with multiple Outlookbar controls. Code removed. Fixed.
4. Classes: Icon size for tasks within a header did not reflect the icon size for the header. Fixed

Version 2.0.167.64 [August 14, 2013]

August 13, 2013:

1. Installer: The POOBWIZ.TPW file was not installed for the older Clarion IDE (Clarion 6.x) only for the new IDE (Clarion 7 and newer) Fixed.

Version 2.0.166 [August 1, 2013]

July 1, 2013:

1. Template: Added calls to ITRun32C7.dll to show message boxes with information from the wizard. This was later removed, seemed to cause instability in Clarion 8.
2. Template: No search/replace for WIN32/PASCAL was performed on POOBWIZ.TPW. Fixed.
3. Classes/Template: Problem with resizing not working when the appframe window opened initially. Fixed.

June 30, 2013:

1. Install: POOBExports.TPW template file was not included in the install. Fixed.

June 29, 2013:

1. Release: Released 2.0.160 into beta testing.

June 29, 2013:

1. Classes: Added 4 new methods, ShellExec, OBShellExec, OpenURL and StartEmail. Those methods add the ability to call ShellExecute directly from the OutlookBar class. OpenURL takes a URL string as parameter that it opens in the default browser. StartEmail starts and email in the default email client. It takes a email string as parameter that it then adds "mailto:" in front of and starts it in the default email client. This makes it very easy to add buttons to call open websites etc.
2. Template/Classes: Outlookbar wizard working and into beta testing. It does NOT import the TXA it generates as the #IMPORT template statement in Clarion 6.3 does not handle it properly. Importing the .txa via "File | Import Text" works without problems. After the wizard generated txa is imported, the AppFrame template needs to be applied to the appframe for control of resizing of the OutlookBar window

June 18, 2013:

1. Classes: Added methods to handle saving and restoring of the styles and schemes. Two virtual methods have been added.

   SaveTheme                PROCEDURE,VIRTUAL
   RestoreTheme             PROCEDURE,VIRTUAL
   

   Code needs to be placed in those methods to save and restore the data. Two variables need to be saved or primed, Style and Scheme. Two additional methods were also added:

   GetColorScheme           PROCEDURE(),LONG
   SetColorSchemeAndStyle   PROCEDURE(LONG SchemeID, BYTE Style)
   

   The first one gets the current color scheme and the second sets both color scheme and style. The schemes and color styles available are:

   Schemes:
   PSTYLE_OUTLOOKXP    EQUATE(0)
   PSTYLE_OUTLOOK2003  EQUATE(1)
    
   Color styles:
   PCOLOR_Silver       EQUATE(1)
   PCOLOR_Blue         EQUATE(2)
   PCOLOR_Gray         EQUATE(3)
   

   By default the scheme is set to PSTYLE_OUTLOOK2003. The color style is set to whatever is chosen in the template and passed in through the call to the INIT method. This can now be changed, saved and restored by calling the SaveTheme and RestoreTheme methods. Below is a simple example of how to save and restore the scheme and color in Clarion 8. In SaveTheme the only code added is the IniMgr.Update lines. In RestoreTheme the assignment to Style and Scheme and INIMgr.Fetch are also added before the call to SetColorSchemeAndStyle.

   OutlookBar1.SaveTheme       Procedure
   Style   Byte
   Scheme  Long
      CODE
      Style  = SELF.GetStyle()
      Scheme = SELF.GetColorScheme()
      ! Start of "Save the currrent Theme"
      ! [Priority 5000]
      INIMgr.Update('SidePanel','OBStyle',Style)
      INIMgr.Update('SidePanel','OBScheme',Scheme)
         
      ! End of "Save the currrent Theme"
    
   OutlookBar1.RestoreTheme    Procedure
   Style   Byte
   Scheme  Long
      CODE
      ! Start of "Restore the currrent Theme"
      ! [Priority 4000]
      Style  = PSTYLE_OUTLOOK2003
      Scheme = PCOLOR_Blue
      INIMgr.Fetch('SidePanel','OBStyle',Style)
      INIMgr.Fetch('SidePanel','OBScheme',Scheme)
    
      ! End of "Restore the currrent Theme"
      SELF.SetColorSchemeAndStyle(Scheme, Style)
   

2. Template: On the Styles tab there is now a new checkbox, "Add SaveTheme and RestoreTheme methods" If this is checked, the SaveTheme and RestoreTheme methods will be called. You need to place code in those two methods to actually save the values. It is up to you to provide storage for it, which can be anything, INI file, registry or a database table. See above.

May 20, 2013:

1. Template/Classes: Work on wizard template to create an Outlookbar panel window and relate it to the application frame using a global class.
2. Classes: Added methods to change header and task fonts:

   SetHeaderFont            PROCEDURE(STRING FontName, |
                                      LONG FontSize,   |
                                      LONG FontColor,  |
                                      LONG FontStyle)
   
   SetTaskFont              PROCEDURE(STRING FontName, |
                                      LONG FontSize,   |
                                      LONG FontColor,  |
                                      LONG FontStyle)
   SetFont                  PROCEDURE(STRING fName)
   GetHeaderFont            PROCEDURE(),STRING
   SetHeaderFontSize        PROCEDURE(Long FontSize)
   GetHeaderFontSize        PROCEDURE(),LONG
   
   SetTaskFontWeight        PROCEDURE(<LONG HeaderID>, |
                                      <LONG TaskID>,   |
                                      BYTE bIsBold)
   SetTaskFontSize          PROCEDURE(LONG FontSize)
   GetTaskFontSize          PROCEDURE(),LONG
   SetTaskFont              PROCEDURE(STRING FontName)
   GetTaskFont              PROCEDURE(),STRING
   

   Some are still undocumented. Some existed prior to this update but the methods above are all about the font settings for the headers and tasks.

March 15, 2013:

1. Documentation: Verified that the links in the online manual (http://www.icetips.com/manuals/outlookbar) work. In last upload it did not work.

December 26, 2012:

1. Classes: Added GetColorScheme method to get the current color scheme. Added ColorSchema to store the schema value.
2. Classes: Added:

   PCOLOR_Silver       EQUATE(1)
   PCOLOR_Blue         EQUATE(2)
   PCOLOR_Gray         EQUATE(3)
   

Equates for color schemes.
3. Classes: Added GetStyle method that returns the value of the Style property.

September 12, 2012:

1. Classes: Header height was calculated based on each header icon size, font size etc. Now all headers will have the same height, whatever is needed for the maximum size of icons etc. on all the headers. This makes the headers look uniform and avoids issues with headers below the expanded header not filling the entire panel. Height set by SetHeaderHeight() applies to all headers, but if there are headers that need more room than accounted for by the SetHeaderHeight, the height will be increased.

September 11, 2012:

1. Classes: Icons in headers were always sized at 16x16 pixels, ignoring settings in template. Fixed.

September 10, 2012:

1. Classes: Reformatting code in the .clw file.
   • Removed all implicit variables.
   • All "." replaced with END.
   • All "~=" replaced with "<>"
   • All "~" replaced with NOT
   • All NOT uppercased.
   • Changed all checks for Error() to use ErrorCode() instead.
   • Added space around all arithmetic symbols (i.e. +, -, * and /) to improve code readability.
   • File headers had old company name. Fixed.
   • Some equates were still left in the pooutlookbar.inc. Moved to pooutlookbareq.inc.

June 25, 2012:

1. Classes: Code formatting fixed (lot of white space removed).

October 2, 2011:

1. Classes: If icon-height was specified but no icon was specified for a header, the header would still be adjusted to the icon height. Fixed. Use SetHeaderHeight() to set the height for the headers. It can be done at any time. Default height is 32 pixels.

September 16, 2011:

1. Template: Added hot-keys for all template prompts and tabs to make access easier.
2. Classes: Scrollbar height inside a header was not calculated correctly. Hidden task items were still calculated into the total height for the scrollbar. Fixed.

August 24, 2011:

1. Template: Template exported class methods for standalone exe apps. This causes "Unknown directive, ignoring" link errors in Clarion 7 and Clarion 8. Fixed.

June 10, 2011:

1. Classes: Item height for left aligned icons was calculated incorrectly. Fixed.

Version 2.0.139 [May 31, 2011]

May 31, 2011:

1. Installer: Installer suggested "Clarion7" in the examples path. Fixed.
2. Template: %EnableRunTimeTranslator was unknown in Legacy apps. Fixed.

Version 2.0.137 [May 4, 2011]

May 4, 2011:

1. Installer: Installer built for Clarion 8.0.

April 6, 2011:

1. Template: Embed points for header clicks were not correct causing the code to be "lost" or orphaned. Fixed. Note that this fix ADDS two new embed points for the header and the old embeds are left intact but the name of the old embed point is appended with "DO NOT USE" You should move any code that you see in the "DO NOT USE" embeds to the new embeds using the embeditor.
2. Template: Added new embed in the CODE section of the ExecuteAction generated method.
3. Classes: Added new method called GetHeaderHeight. It returns the calculated height of headers in pixels.
4. Template: Added option to hide/reveal the entire Outlookbar if there is just one header defined. It is only enabled if there is just one header. It will remove the Outlookbar except for the header and make it act kind of like a drop down menu.

February 21, 2011:

1. Classes: Save and restore expanded state did not work. Fixed.

January 11, 2011:

1. Template: Added 3 new embed points into "Local Objects | OutlookBar | INIT Method" called "Before CODE", "Beginning of INIT" and "End of INIT" Also moved "Control Initialization | Control Init Code" into "Local Objects | OutlookBar | INIT Method" so all the embeds inside that methods are in this node in the embed tree.
2. Classes: Fontsize in pixels was not being calculated correctly. Fixed.
3. Template: Export section was missing methods. Fixed.
4. Classes: Added methods to set header and task fonts: TaskFontSize, TaskFontName, hTaskFont, SetHeaderFontSize, GetHeaderFontSize, SetTaskFontSize, GetTaskFontSize, , GetHeaderFont, SetTaskFont, GetTaskFont, PointsToPixels. These are not yet documented. To change the fonts for the outlookbar, code like this can be used before the INIT method is called:

OutlookBar3.SetHeaderFontSize(12) 
OutlookBar3.SetTaskFont('Times New Roman')
OutlookBar3.SetTaskFontSize(12)

Version 2.0.134 [December 21, 2010]

February 7, 2010:

1. Documentation: Information about the MimicButton option was confusing. Hopefully fixed.

December 16, 2009:

1. Template: Outlookbar template did not support runtime translation. Fixed.

Version 2.0.116 [December 13, 2009]

December 13, 2009:

1. Install: When installing for Clarion 7 no demo app was installed! Fixed.

Version 2.0.113 [December 3, 2009]

December 3, 2009:

1. Classes: ODS method caused problems in Clarion 5.5. Fixed

Version 2.0.112 [September 22, 2009]

September 20, 2009:

1. Classes: Added ODS (OutputDebugString) method to class.
2. Classes: Added SetTitle and GetTitle methods to class to easily set the title of headers and items.

Version 2.0.111

May 27, 2009

1. Added SetEnable(HeaderID, IsEnabled) method to make it easy to enable/disable all items in a given header.
2. Bug tracking set up at http://icetips.fogbugz.com
3. Added link to bug tracking to Global template

Version 2.0

December 15, 2008

1. All code and documentation modified from PowerOffice AS to Icetips Creative, Inc.
2. Bug tracking set up at http://icetips.fogbugz.com
3. Added link to bug tracking to Global template
4. Updated link to website to point to www.icetips.com
5. Added ITRun32.dll to install
6. Version information added to global template
7. Added documentation for new, undocumented methods, such as SetHeaderIcon, GetHeaderIcon, SetTooltipMode, SetTaskToolTip, GetTaskToolTip, SetTooltipMaxWidth and SetTooltipMaxWidth.
8. Previous beta changes are all implemented in public release - see below

Version 1.3 BETA 6

Never released publicly

1. Fixed: C55 all modules generate
2. Change: Some prototypes has changed from ULONG to LONG to support COLOR:None
3. Fixed: GPF in C55 build A-F
4. Fixed: non-dropping DropLists
5. Fixed: missing template symbol %TmpSaveExpandedIniFile
6. New: XP-Theme color support (requires latest PowerXP-Theme)
7. New methods: SetHeaderIcon, GetHeaderIcon

Version 1.3 BETA 5

Never released publicly

1. Typo caused Subscript out of range when compiling in debugmode
2. Added tooltip-support
3. New methods: SetTooltipMode, SetTaskToolTip, GetTaskToolTip, SetTooltipMaxWidth, SetTooltipMaxWidth
4. Methods changed: AddTask (new arugment: Tooltip)
5. Template now shows header and task ID's in lists

Version 1.3 BETA 4

Never released publicly

1. Mimiced buttons wasn't unsubclassed when calling DeleteTask
2. Added flags to avoid WM_LBUTTONUP to fire when closing another window by double-clicking
3. Added a call to Update just before calling embed-code

Version 1.3 BETA 3

Never released publicly

1. Scrollbar didn't hide if a header was deleted or hidden
2. Scrollbar height wasn't properly calculated
3. Position for headers after an expaned header where wrong
4. Change: DeleteHeader() and SetVisible(HeaderID,True|False) now automatically calls Refresh()

Version 1.3 BETA 2

Never released publicly

1. Mouse-clicks are now sent to ExecuteAction also when no header or task has been clicked (id's=0)
2. Added a new border type
3. Changed prototype: Init() now accepts a new optional border argument

Version 1.3 BETA 1

Never released publicly

1. Added right mousebutton support
2. Fixed a bug that would reserve space for hidden headers at the bottom of the panel
3. Fix bug causing wrong position of scrollbar when changing panel-style runtime
4. Changed the basecontrol from Region to Image to remove flicker
5. Renamed the Gray-colorset to Silver, and added a new Gray set
6. Added option to set header height
7. New method: SetHeaderHeight

Version 1.2

July 9, 2004

1. Added Bold property for tasks
2. Added icon aligment
3. Added icon size setting
4. Added new task action: Set Field Value
5. Added real scrollbars
6. Added RowSpacing prompt for each header
7. Added template buttons to open embed-editor
8. Added wizard-mode
9. AddHeader prototype has changed
10. Changed one of the AddTask prototypes to avoid confusing the compiler
11. Fixed bug causing the variable to be added to the project if iconname is variable
12. Fixed bug in selection-rectangle calculation when there's no icon
13. Fixed bug resulting in GPF on NT4 if style was Outlook-2003
14. Fixed bug that could execute a task when a header was clicked and the task came into view
15. Fixed bug with ID-generation
16. Moved template generated init-code into an Init class method
17. New embed-points: Before and After execute-action
18. New embed-points: Before and After task logic
19. New methods: SetAlignAllHeaders, GetAlignAllHeaders
20. New metod: SetTaskFontWeight
21. New template option: Align Header Text With Widest
22. Optimized mouse handling routines
23. Redesigned the template-GUI
24. 'Save and restore expanded state' now accepts a variable as filename

Version 1.1

March 6, 2004

1. Fixed a memory leak happening on the Win9x-platform
2. Added missing refresh event on window-maximize
3. Added prefix to all prototypes to avoid conflicts with other templates
4. Added clippping region to avoid the borders being overdraw by task icons
5. Added GetTaskTitle and SetTaskTitle functions
6. Added GetTaskUserData and SetTaskUserData functions
7. Changed the window subclassing to use a safer way of storing class references

Version 1.0

April 27, 2004

1. Initial version