Why do toolbars exist

They are quarter-inch wide strips that run across the top of your internet browser window - Internet Explorer, FireFox, Chrome, etc. These browser plug-ins typically provide a search window and several quick access icons.

Here is a screen shot of three of the most common toolbars at work - Yahoo, Google and Bing:. Most computer users do not know how they acquired the browser toolbars to begin with.

Nor do they realize the risk in computing performance and security that they pose. While a few toolbars may provide some benefit, for the most part, toolbars are a nuisance.

They exist almost exclusively to advertise for the creators of the toolbars. Therefore, my recommendation is that computer users get rid of toolbars You can use more than one toolbar by enclosing them in a toolbox.

Enclosing toolbars in a toolbox stacks them so that the first toolbar on the page is displayed at the top, and the last toolbar is displayed on the bottom. For example, in the File Explorer application, the currently selected folder name is displayed in the Current Location toolbar, as shown in Figure When you use more than one toolbar, you can set the flex attribute on the toolbars to determine which toolbar should take up the most space.

In this case, the Current Location toolbar is set to be the longest. If you wish toolbars to be displayed next to each other rather than stacked , you can enclose them in a group component. As with grouping toolbars, use the group component to group menu bars and toolbars on the same row.

Within a toolbar, you can set one component to stretch so that the toolbar will always be the same size as its parent container. For example, in the File Explorer application, the lower toolbar that displays the current location contains the component that shows the selected folder. This component is set to stretch so that when the window is resized, that component and the toolbar will always be the same width as the parent.

However, because no component in the top toolbar is set to stretch, it does not change size when the window is resized. When a window is resized such that all the components within the toolbar can no longer be displayed, the toolbar displays an overflow icon, identified by an arrow cursor in the upper right-hand corner, as shown in Figure Figure Overflow Icon in a Toolbar.

When you expect overflow to occur in your toolbar, it is best to wrap it in a toolbox that has special layout logic to help in the overflow. If you are going to use more than one toolbar component on a page, or if you plan to use menu bars with toolbars, you first create the toolbox component to hold them. You then create the toolbars, and last, you create the toolbar buttons. If you encounter layout issues with single toolbars or menu bars, consider wrapping them in a toolbox component, because this component can handle overflow and layout issues.

If you plan on using more than one toolbar or a combination of toolbars and menu bars, create a toolbox component by dragging and dropping a Toolbox component from the Menus and Toolbars panel of the Component Palette.

Drag and drop a Toolbar onto the JSF page. If you are using a toolbox component, the Toolbar should be dropped as a direct child of the toolbox component. If grouping more than one toolbar within a toolbox, for each toolbar, select the toolbar, expand the Appearance section and set the flex attributes to determine the relative sizes of each of the toolbars.

For the set of toolbars shown in Example , toolbar2 will be the longest, toolbar4 will be the next longest, and because their flex attributes are not set, the remaining toolbars will be the same size and shorter than toolbar4. You can use the group component to group toolbars or menu bars and toolbars that you want to appear on the same row.

If you do not use the group component, the toolbars will appear on subsequent rows. Insert components into the toolbar as needed. To create a commandToolbarButton drag a Toolbar Button from the Component Palette and drop it as a direct child of the toolbar component.

You can use the group component to wrap related buttons on the bar. Doing so inserts a separator between the groups, as shown surrounding the group for the Select Skin dropdown list and Refresh button in Figure Toolbars also allow you to use the iterator and switcher components as direct children, providing these components wrap child components that would usually be direct children of the toolbar.

You can place other components, such as command buttons and links, input components, and select components in a toolbar. However, they may not have the capability to stretch. For details about stretching the toolbar, see Step 9. If you plan to support changing the visible attribute of the button through active data for example, data being pushed from the data source will determine whether nor not the toolbar is displayed , then you should use the activeCommandToolbarButton component instead of the commandToolbarButton component.

For each commandToolbarButton component, expand the Common section of the Property Inspector and set the following attributes:. Type : Specify a type for this toolbar button.

When a toolbar button type is specified, an icon can be displayed when the button is clicked. When setting the type to radio , you must wrap the toolbar button in a group tag that includes other toolbar buttons whose types are set to radio as well.

Selected : Set to true to have this toolbar button appear as selected. The selected attribute is supported for checkmark- and radio-type toolbar buttons only. Action : Use an EL expression that evaluates to an action method in an object such as a managed bean that will be invoked when a user presses this button. If you want to cause navigation in response to the action generated by the button, instead of entering an EL expression, enter a static action outcome value as the value for the action attribute.

You then must set either partialSubmit to false , or use a redirect. For more information about configuring navigation, see Section 3. ActionListener : Specify the expression that refers to an action listener method that will be notified when a user presses this button. HoverIcon : Use the dropdown list to select the icon to display when the mouse cursor is directly on top of this toolbar button.

If the icon is not in this menu, use the dropdown menu to the right of the list to choose Edit , and browse to select the icon. DepressedIcon : Use the dropdown list to select the icon to display when the toolbar button is activated. Expand the Behavior section and set ActionDelivery to none if you do not want to fire an action event when the button is clicked.

This is useful if you want the button to simply open a popup window. If set to none , you must have a popup component in the popup facet of the toolbar button see Step 8 , and you cannot have any value set for the action or actionListener attributes. Set to clientServer attribute if you want the button to fire an action event as a standard command component.

To have a toolbar button invoke a popup menu, insert a menu component into the popup facet of the commandToolbarButton component. For information, see Section If you want a toolbar to stretch so that it equals the width of the containing parent component, set stretchId to be the ID of the component within the toolbar that should be stretched. This one component will stretch, while the rest of the components in the toolbar remain a static size.

For example, in the File Explorer application, the inputText component that displays the selected folder's name is the one that should stretch, while the outputText component that displays the words "Current Folder" remains a static size, as shown in Example Example Using the stretchId Attribute.

You can also use the stretchId attribute to justify components to the left and right by inserting a spacer component, and setting that component ID as the stretchId for the toolbar, as shown in Example When a page with a menu bar or toolbar is first displayed or resized, the space needed for each bar is based on the value of the bar's flex attribute.

The percentage of size allocated to each bar is determined by dividing its flex attribute value by the sum of all the flex attribute values.

For example, say you have three toolbars in a toolbox, and those toolbars are grouped together to display on the same line. The first toolbar is given a flex attribute value of 1 , the second toolbar also has a flex attribute value of 1, and the third has a flex attribute value of 2 , giving a total of 4 for all flex attribute values. In this example, the toolbars would have the following allocation percentages:.

Once the allocation for the bars is determined, and the size set accordingly, each element within the toolbars are placed left to right. Any components that do not fit are placed into the overflow list for the bar, keeping the same order as they would have if displayed, but from top to bottom instead of left to right. If the application is configured to read right to left, the toolbars will be placed right to left. For more information, see Section A.

Toolbars are supported and rendered by parent components such as panelHeader , showDetailHeader , and showDetailItem , which have a toolbar facet for adding toolbars and toolbar buttons to section headers and accordion panel headers.

A toolbar and its buttons do not display on a header if that header is in a collapsed state. The toolbar displays only when the header is in an expanded state. When the available space on a header is less than the space needed by a toolbar and all its buttons, ADF Faces automatically renders overflow icons that allow users to select hidden buttons from an overflow list. Figure Nested Menu Items.

Note: If you want to create menus and toolbars in a table, then follow the procedures in Section When possible and useful, make palette windows resizable. Indicate that the window is resizable, using resize pointers when over the window frame.

When a palette window is redisplayed, display it using the same state as last accessed. When closing, save the window size and location. When redisplaying, restore the saved window size and location.

Also, consider making these attributes persistent across program instances on a per user basis. Provide customization for toolbars consisting of two or more rows. Only the unlabeled icons style needs customization. Simple toolbars with few commands don't need customization. Provide a good default configuration. Users shouldn't have to customize their toolbars for common scenarios.

Don't depend upon users customizing their way out of a bad initial configuration. Assume that most users won't customize their toolbars. For the Customize command, display an options dialog box that provides the ability to choose which toolbars are displayed and the commands on each toolbar. Provide a Reset command to return to the original toolbar configuration in the Customize options dialog box. Provide the ability to customize the toolbars using drag-and-drop in the following ways:.

While toolbar commands are used for immediate actions, sometimes more information is needed to perform the action. Use an ellipsis to indicate that a command requires more information before it can take effect. Put the ellipsis at the end of the tooltip and label, if there is one. If a command cannot take effect immediately, however, no ellipsis is required. So, for example, sharing settings doesn't have an ellipsis even though it needs additional information, because the command can't possibly take effect immediately.

Because toolbars are constantly displayed, and space is at a premium, ellipses should be used infrequently. For menus displayed by a toolbar, apply the menu ellipses guidelines. Use a tooltip to label the command. For the tooltip text, use what the label would be if the button were labeled, but include the shortcut key if there is one. Use an infotip to describe the command. Because the buttons are labeled, using a tooltip instead of an infotip would be redundant.

If an editable drop-down list doesn't have a value, use a prompt. Feedback will be sent to Microsoft: By pressing the submit button, your feedback will be used to improve Microsoft products and services. Privacy policy. Skip to main content. This browser is no longer supported. Download Microsoft Edge More info. Contents Exit focus mode. Note This design guide was created for Windows 7 and has not been updated for newer versions of Windows.

Note Guidelines related to menus , command buttons , and icons are presented in separate articles. Note For menus displayed by a toolbar, apply the menu ellipses guidelines. Is this page helpful? Yes No. Any additional feedback? Skip Submit. Primary toolbars a toolbar designed to work without a menu bar, either hidden or removed. A primary toolbar from Windows Explorer. A supplemental toolbar from Windows Movie Maker. A toolbar menu in Windows Photo Gallery. A customizable toolbar from Microsoft Visual Studio.

Palette windows a modeless dialog box that presents an array of commands. Palette windows from Windows Paint. An unlabeled icons toolbar from WordPad. A labeled icons toolbar from Windows Explorer. Partial toolbars a partial row of small icons used to save space when a full toolbar isn't necessary. Partial toolbars can be combined with navigation buttons, a search box, or tabs. Large partial toolbars a partial row of large icons used to save space when a full toolbar isn't necessary.

Web Technology. Cyber Security. C Programming. Control System. Data Mining. Data Warehouse. Javatpoint Services JavaTpoint offers too many high quality services. App Bar: - The toolbar of Windows 8. Bar chart: - A bar chart contains the horizontal or vertical bars. Spacebar: - Spacebar is a key on the keyboard which is used to create space.

Floating Toolbar A floating toolbar is a toolbar which we can move around the screen. Different Types of Toolbars on a Window There are various types of toolbars on a window: Application toolbar Quick access toolbar Search toolbar Bookmarks toolbar Thumbnail toolbar 1. Is this the Right User Interface? To decide this, consider the following questions: 1. Are the Commands Well Represented by the Icons? Are there a Small number of Frequently used Commands? Is the Window a Primary Window?

Toolbars vs. Menu Bars In the following ways, toolbars are different from menu bars: Immediacy When we click on a toolbar command, it has an immediate effect but additional input is required for menu commands.

Frequency Toolbars only show those commands which are frequently used. While in the case of menu bars, catalog every top-level command within a program. Directness With one click, toolbar command is invoked, while the menu bar command needs to navigate via the menu.

Number and Density The screen space which is needed by a toolbar is relative to its number of command and that space is constantly utilized, even if there are no commands.

Therefore, toolbars should utilize their space effectively. Paradoxically, menu bar commands are ordinarily hidden from view and the hierarchical structure of toolbar permits for any number of commands. Recognizable and Distinguishable For the commands which are frequently used by the users, users have to remember the attributes of the toolbar button such as color, shape, location. By using well-designed toolbars, users are able to quickly find the commands although if the users are not able to remember the particular icon symbol.

On the other end, users remember locations of frequently used command, but for making selections depend on the command labels. In the case of toolbar commands, specific locations, colors and shapes support to make the icon distinct and recognizable. But in the case of menu bar commands, users rely on the labels of the menu bar. Self-Explanatory: - A well-made toolbars require an icon, which is typically self-explanatory because by using only tooltips, users cannot find the commands efficiently.

However, the toolbar still works well if some less frequently used commands are not self-explanatory. Notwithstanding, toolbars still function admirably if some frequently used commands are not self-explanatory. Usage Patterns of Toolbars There are various usage patterns of toolbars: Primary toolbars Supplemental toolbars Toolbar menus Customizable toolbars Palette windows 1.

Toolbars have the following styles: Unlabeled icons Large unlabeled icons Labeled icons Partial toolbars Large partial toolbars 1. Toolbar controls have various usage patterns: Command icon buttons Mode icon buttons Property icon buttons Labeled icon buttons Menu buttons Split buttons Drop-down lists 1. Mode Icons Buttons: - Clicking a mode enters the selected mode.

Drop-Down Lists: - It is used to display and modify a property. Toolbar's Controls and Commands 1.