Slider class

A Slider is a trackbar control --- a horizontal or vertical channel with a draggable thumb that lets the user pick a value between Min and Max. Optional tick marks, a floating value tip, and a highlighted selection range round out the control.

Private Sub Form_Load()
    Slider1.Min = 0
    Slider1.Max = 100
    Slider1.Value = 50
    Slider1.SmallChange = 1   ' arrow-key step
    Slider1.LargeChange = 10  ' PgUp/PgDn step
    Slider1.TickFrequency = 10
End Sub

Private Sub Slider1_Change()
    Label1.Caption = Slider1.Value & " %"
End Sub

The control inherits the focusable rect-dockable members from BaseControlFocusableNoFont --- size, position, Anchors, Dock, Appearance, MousePointer / MouseIcon, ToolTipText, DragMode / DragIcon, Drag, Refresh, SetFocus, TabIndex / TabStop, ZOrder, CausesValidation, VisualStyles, hWnd, HelpContextID / WhatsThisHelpID. Slider does not have a Font property (its thumb and tick marks are drawn by the OS theme).

Change vs Scroll

The slider raises two distinct events as the user interacts with the thumb:

• Scroll fires during drag and during keyboard navigation --- every time the thumb position is updated, regardless of whether the user has settled.
• Change fires only when the drag completes (mouse release) or when the user reaches an extremity with the keyboard.

Use Scroll for live previews ("show the value as the user is dragging") and Change for commit-style handlers ("apply the value once the user lets go").

Selection range

Set SelectRange to True to enable a highlighted selection band overlay on the channel. SelStart and SelLength then become writable and define the selection's bounds. This is useful for "between X and Y" UI patterns where the user picks a value but the application wants to highlight a recommended sub-range.

When SelectRange is False (the default), SelLength always reads as 0 and SelStart reads back as the Min value.

Properties

BackColor

The background color of the channel. OLE_COLOR. Default: vbButtonFace.

BorderStyle

The control's border style. A ControlBorderStyleConstants member. Default: vbNoBorder.

HideThumb

Whether the draggable thumb is hidden. Boolean. Default: False. When True the channel still functions but the user can only navigate it with the keyboard.

LargeChange

The amount PgUp / PgDn moves the thumb by. Long. Default: 2.

Max

The upper bound of the range. Long. Default: 10.

Min

The lower bound of the range. Long. Default: 0.

Orientation

The slider's orientation. A OrientationConstants member (ccOrientationHorizontal or ccOrientationVertical). Default: ccOrientationHorizontal.

SelectRange

Whether a highlighted selection band overlay is enabled. Boolean. Default: False. When False, SelStart and SelLength are inert; assignments are silently dropped.

SelLength

The length of the highlighted selection band. Long. Read/write only when SelectRange is True. Assigning a value that pushes the end past Max raises run-time error 380.

SelStart

The starting position of the highlighted selection band. Long. Assigning a value outside [Min, Max] raises run-time error 380.

ShowTip

Whether the slider shows a floating tip with the current value while the thumb is being dragged. Boolean. Default: True. The tip side is controlled by TextPosition.

SmallChange

The amount the arrow keys move the thumb by. Long. Default: 1.

TextPosition

Which side of the channel the floating tip is rendered on. A member of TextPositionConstants. Default: sldBelowRight. The naming reflects both axes: in horizontal orientation, sldAboveLeft renders above the channel and sldBelowRight renders below; in vertical orientation, sldAboveLeft renders to the left and sldBelowRight renders to the right.

TickFrequency

How often tick marks appear along the channel. Long. Default: 1 (one tick per unit). Assigning 0 is silently coerced to the same as 1.

TickStyle

Which side(s) of the channel tick marks appear on. A member of TickStyleConstants. Default: sldBottomRight.

Value

The current thumb position. Long. The default member. Fires Change when set programmatically.

Events

Change

Raised when the user lets go of the thumb at a new position, or when the keyboard navigates to a track extremity. Distinct from Scroll, which fires continuously during drag.

Syntax: object_Change( )

Click

Raised on a mouse click inside the control's rectangle.

Syntax: object_Click( )

DragDrop, DragOver

Inherited drag-drop events.

GotFocus, LostFocus

Inherited focus events.

Initialize

Raised after the control's window has been created.

KeyDown, KeyPress, KeyUp

Inherited keyboard events. The trackbar consumes arrow keys, Home, End, PgUp, and PgDn to navigate; the events still fire for the application to observe.

MouseDown, MouseMove, MouseUp

Inherited mouse events.

OLECompleteDrag, OLEDragDrop, OLEDragOver, OLEGiveFeedback, OLESetData, OLEStartDrag

Inherited OLE drag-and-drop events.

Scroll

Raised continuously while the user is interacting with the thumb. Use this for live previews; use Change for commit-style handlers.

Syntax: object_Scroll( )

Validate

Inherited validation event.

TickStyleConstants

Determines which side(s) of the slider channel tick marks are rendered on. Declared on the Slider class.

Member	Value	Description
sldBottomRight	0	Ticks render below the channel (horizontal) or to the right (vertical).
sldTopLeft	1	Ticks render above the channel (horizontal) or to the left (vertical).
sldBoth	2	Ticks render on both sides of the channel.
sldNoTicks	3	Tick marks are hidden.

TextPositionConstants

Determines which side of the slider channel the floating tip is rendered on when ShowTip is True. Declared on the Slider class.

Member	Value	Description
sldAboveLeft	0	Tip renders above the channel (horizontal) or to the left (vertical).
sldBelowRight	1	Tip renders below the channel (horizontal) or to the right (vertical).

See Also

• ProgressBar -- when the user only needs to see progress, not adjust a value
• UpDown -- a spin control for numeric value entry
• OrientationConstants -- the shared horizontal / vertical enum used by Slider and UpDown
• ControlTypeConstants -- where vbSlider lives