Using CSpinButtonCtrl

The spin button control (also known as an up-down control) provides a pair of arrows that a user can click to adjust a value. This value is known as the current position. The position stays within the range of the spin button. When the user clicks the up arrow, the position moves toward the maximum; and when the user clicks the down arrow, the position moves toward the minimum.

The spin button control is represented in MFC by the CSpinButtonCtrl class.

Note

By default, the range for the spin button has the maximum set to zero (0) and the minimum set to 100. Because the maximum value is less than the minimum value, clicking the up arrow decreases the position and clicking the down arrow increases it. Use CSpinButtonCtrl::SetRange to adjust these values.

Typically, the current position is displayed in a companion control. The companion control is known as the buddy window. For an illustration of a spin button control, see About Up-Down Controls in the Windows SDK.

To create a spin control and an edit control buddy window, in Visual Studio, first drag an edit control to the dialog box or window, and then drag a spin control. Select the spin control and set its Auto Buddy and Set Buddy Integer properties to True. Also set the Alignment property; Right Align is most typical. With these settings, the edit control is set as the buddy window because it directly precedes the edit control in the tab order. The edit control displays integers and the spin control is embedded in the right side of the edit control. Optionally, you can set the valid range of the spin control by using the CSpinButtonCtrl::SetRange method. No event handlers are required to communicate between the spin control and buddy window because they exchange data directly. If you use a spin control for some other purpose, for example, to page through a sequence of windows or dialog boxes, then add a handler for the UDN_DELTAPOS message and perform your custom action there.

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See also

Controls