Using the StatusBar Control

The status bar is an area, at the button of a form, that displays status information to the user. This status bar can display only text information. A common use of a status bar is to provide users with a simple sentence that describes the state of the application or tell the user what operations can now be executed, given the current state of the application. It can also replace a ProgressBar control to display the status of time-consuming operations.

To update a StatusBar control, simply change the value of its Text property. When the text is changed, the control is automatically repainted to display the new text, just like a Label control. Figure 3.13 displays an application that starts and stops a Timer control. Every time the Timer control fires, the status bar is updated.