Toolbar visibility

John Lister

Hi, i'm developing my first toolbar and i've read a number of threads about making it visible automatically after installation and one thing isn't clear (to me at least).

The way to make it visible is to use ShowBrowserBar in SetSite which seems fine, however what isn't clear is whether this will be saved when IE is restarted. Also, is it possible to determine if the toolbar has been disabled (in the view menu) so as to not activate it everytime and respect the users wishes

What i'd like to do is enable the toolbar the first time the BHO is started and then have it appear every other time IE is started automatically until the user disables it in the view menu. It should then stay hidden until enabled in the view menu.

Is this possible

Thanks

IECUSTOMIZER

Hi,

Yes to all. The toolbar position and visibility attributes are stored in the IE7ToolbarLayout value in the registry when the browser is closed.

IE handles toolbar visibility and position automatically via the rebar control which also has the toolbar context menu to show and hide toolbars and change the order of Command Bar buttons.

Alternatively you can programatically alter the IE7ToolbarLayout value when the Browser is started and your BHO fires up to force your toolbar to be shown in a desired position. However, this is considered a nuiance... see the Google Toolbar which forces its own toolbar layout for users.

Regards.

Alver

Hi!

Can you explain your answer How did Google Toolbar forces it own toolbar Do you have some information about ITBar7Layout format

John Lister

I'm not sure any "public" information is available, i believe google, etc have a standard layout (for which they have saved the registry values for) and overwrite the registry each time it is loaded. You could possibly work out what is stored by using a registry monitoring program and moving things around, etc

If you do, it would be great if you could post the results to this forum

Alver

Ok, catch the result

I research in IE7, but i think in IE6 it is have the same format.

ITBar7Layout have binary format. Delete it and start browser - all toolbar will be hidden. After that - turn on one of toolbar and close IE. Look at key in registry - in the middle you wil find a toolbar GUID. And in the beginning it save info about it placement.

Let's look closely. For example:

"ITBar7Layout"=hex:13,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,30,00,00,00,10,00,1a,00,\
46,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,81,06,00,00,00,00,00,00,09,00,00,00,81,06,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,07,00,00,00,81,04,00,00,00,00,00,00,0a,00,00,00,81,06,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,b1,c2,18,\
23,65,49,d4,11,9b,18,00,90,27,a5,cd,4f,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,20,7d,39,91,46,14,d4,11,8a,f4,00,40,ca,11,27,b6,a9,d8,8c,46,25,\
7c,fa,45,96,9e,3d,92,5c,68,9d,c4,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00

At the beginnig a lot of nonintresting for us info. 1a - is a some bit-mask, which will change then you turn on/off toolbars. 46 - is a total height of all toolbars - it recalculate each time your close IE.

Look closely to the next 12 bytes. Here are is the main info about where and how to show toolbar. First 4 bytes - toolbar ID (explain later), then 4 bytes - vertical aligment, and the last 4 bytes - horizontal coordinate.

I don't research much about vertical aligment values, but if you set in to 81 - IE will show toolbar in the separate line, 80 - in one line with previous toolbar.

Some word about ID: after all info about toolbars position, here starting enumeration GUID for all turning on toolbars. I think it start from number 2 (because you can see ID 1 and no any GUID for it). So you can easily find ID for you toolbar and change data about it position.