You can create a status bar visually or programmatically. To support status bars, the VCL provides a class named TStatusBar. The TStatusBar class is derived from the TCustomStatusBar class. Both classes are defined in the ComCtrls.hpp header file.

To assist you with visually creating a status bar, the Toolbox provides a TStatusBar button in its Win32 section. You can click it and click a form. To programmatically create a status bar, declare a variable of type TStatusBar. Here is an example:

//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
void __fastcall TForm1::FormCreate(TObject *Sender)
{
	TStatusBar * sbStandard = new TStatusBar(this);
	sbStandard->Parent = this;
}
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------

This would produce:

If you have a good reason to do so, you can add more than one status bar to a form.

1. In the Tool Palette, click Win32
2. Click TStatusBar and click the form
3. While the status bar is still selected on the form, in the Object Inspector, click Name, type stbPictureViewer and press Enter

A status bar can be used for its aesthetic characteristics as it can be made to display sunken or raised bars to the bottom of a form:

Other than that, a status bar can be made to display other items.

Like a toolbar, a status bar is an intermediary container, meaning it must be positioned on another container, which is usually a form. The default Align value of a status bar is alBottom.

The sections of a status bar are called panels. Before visually creating a panel, access the Object Inspector for the status bar, click Panels, and click its button. This would display the Editing Panels window:

To create a panel, click the Add New button . This would create a new panel. In the same way, you can create as many panels as you want and as your status bar can show. To configure a panel, click it in the window and use the Object Inspector.

To hold or manage the panels of a status bar, the TStatusBar class is equipped with a property named Panels, which is of type TStatusPanels:

__property Comctrls::TStatusPanels * Panels = {read=FPanels,write=SetPanels};

The panels of a status bar are managed by the TStatusPanels class, which is a collection, or rather a class derived from TCollection. Each panel of a status bar, that is, each item of the TStatusPanels class is an object of type TStatusPanel. The TStatusPanel class is derived from the TCollectionItem class.

To programmatically create a panel, declare a variable of type TStatusPanel and initialize it using its constructor that is:

virtual Comctrls::TStatusPanel * __fastcall 
	TStatusPanel(Classes::TCollection * Collection);

This constructor takes a TCollection object as argument. The Collection argument specifies the list of panels to which the new panel will belong. In this cas, pass the TStatusBar::Panels property as argument. Here is an example:

ctionalities of its panels from the inherited Items property. As seen for the ToolStrip toolbar, to create the panels of a status bar:

//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
void __fastcall TForm1::FormCreate(TObject *Sender)
{
	TStatusBar * sbStandard = new TStatusBar(this);
	sbStandard->Parent = this;

	TStatusPanel * pnlItem = new TStatusPanel(sbStandard->Panels);
}
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------

In the same way, you can create as many panels as you need. To programmatically configure a panel, use the pointer provided by this declaration.

An alternative to create a panel consists of calling the AddItem() method of the TStatusPanels collection class. Its syntax is:

Comctrls::TStatusPanel * __fastcall AddItem(Comctrls::TStatusPanel * Item,
                       			    int Index);

The Item argument must be an object or reference of type TStatusPanel. The Index argument represents the position of the new panel within the collection.

You can call the TStatusPanels::AddItem() method through the TStatusBar::Panels property. Here are examples:

//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
void __fastcall TForm1::FormCreate(TObject *Sender)
{
	TStatusBar * sbStandard = new TStatusBar(this);
	sbStandard->Parent = this;

	sbStandard->Panels->AddItem(new TStatusPanel(sbStandard->Panels), 0);
	sbStandard->Panels->AddItem(new TStatusPanel(sbStandard->Panels), 1);
	sbStandard->Panels->AddItem(new TStatusPanel(sbStandard->Panels), 2);
}
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------

1. On the form, right-click the status bar and click Panels Editor
2. Click the Add New button
3. In the Object Inspector, click Width, type 200 and press Enter
4. On the Editing... window, click the Add New button
5. In the Object Inspector, click Width, type 200 and press Enter