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Status Bar View

Status Bar View

A status bar view (%SB) is a single-line view that operates in one of two modes:

  • Single mode (no panels option): behaves like a TextView with an optional timed auto-refresh. Useful for clocks, counters, and other self-updating labels.
  • Panel mode (panels array): the view is divided into independently-addressable named slots, each with its own width, alignment, color, fill character, and optional auto-refresh template. Code updates individual panels via setPanel() / setPanels() without touching the others.

General Information

:information_source: A status bar view is defined with a percent (%) and the characters SB, followed by the view number. For example: %SB1

:information_source: See MCI for general information on how to use views and common configuration properties available for them.

Single Mode

The text property is treated as a format template: it is re-evaluated on every refresh tick so that embedded MCI codes (e.g. {CT} for current time, {AN} for active node count) always reflect up-to-date values.

Single-Mode Properties

Property Description
text Format template for the label. Supports pipe color codes and any predefined MCI code in {CODE} syntax (e.g. {CT}, {UN}, {AN}).
width Width of the view in columns (default: 15).
refreshInterval Milliseconds between automatic refreshes (default: 0 — no auto-refresh). Set to e.g. 1000 to refresh every second.
textStyle Standard (non-focus) text style. See Text Styles in MCI.
justify Text justification: left (default), right, or center.
fillChar Character used to fill unused space (default: space).
textOverflow Characters to display when text is longer than width. See Text View for details.

MCI Codes in Text

Any predefined MCI code wrapped in { } is substituted each refresh cycle. For example:

text: "|07Time: |15{CT}|07  Nodes: |15{AN}"

See MCI Codes for the full list of available predefined codes.

Single-Mode Example

%SB1%SB1
Configuration fragment (expand to view) 
SB1: {
  text: "|07{DT} {CT}  [{AN} active]"
  width: 40
  refreshInterval: 1000
  justify: right
}

Panel Mode

Panel mode divides the view into independently-addressable slots. Each panel has its own fixed or fill width, alignment, color, and optional auto-refresh template. Code updates individual panels by name or index via setPanel() / setPanels().

SB-Level Panel Options

Property Description
panels Array of panel configuration objects. Presence of this key activates panel mode.
width Total width of the entire status bar in columns.
anchor left (default) or right — which end panels[0] is attached to. right reverses draw order so the first panel in the config is the rightmost one.
justify How the panel group sits within the total view width: left (default), center, or right.
separator Pipe-code string drawn between panels (default: ""). Example: " " for a single space.

Per-Panel Options

Property Description
name String key for setPanel('name', value) calls from code. Falls back to index if omitted.
width Fixed number of columns, or "fill" (one fill panel allowed per SB — takes remaining space).
justify Alignment within the panel slot: left (default), center, or right.
styleSGR1 Pipe-code string for the panel’s text color (e.g. \|09 for bright blue).
textStyle normal, bold, reverse, upper, lower, etc. Applied via stylizeString.
fillChar Pipe-code string for the pad character (e.g. \|08· for a dim dot). Default: space.
overflow clip (default — truncate from right) or clip-left (truncate from left).
text Static or format template for the panel’s initial value. Supports pipe codes and {CODE} MCI tokens. If refreshInterval is also set the panel auto-refreshes on a timer; without it the value is evaluated once at init and remains fixed (until setPanel() overwrites it).
refreshInterval ms between auto-refreshes for this panel. Overrides the SB-level default. 0 = event-driven only.

Code API

For panels driven from module code rather than auto-refresh templates:

// Update one panel by name (or by index if a number is passed):
statusBarView.setPanel('mode', 'INS');
statusBarView.setPanel('pos', '01,01');

// Update multiple panels with a single redraw:
statusBarView.setPanels({ mode: 'OVR', pos: '12,40' });

Values passed to setPanel / setPanels are processed through pipe-code conversion and textStyle — plain strings are fine for simple indicators.

Panel Mode Example — FSE Editor Footer

The full-screen editor (fse.js) uses a single %SB1 in MSGEFTR.ANS to display the cursor position and insert/overtype mode indicator side-by-side:

%SB1%SB1
Configuration fragment (expand to view) 
2: {
    mci: {
        SB1: {
            width:     9
            anchor:    left
            justify:   left
            separator: " "
            panels: [
                {
                    name:    mode
                    width:   3
                    justify: right
                }
                {
                    name:    pos
                    width:   5
                    justify: left
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}

This produces output like INS 01,01 (3-char mode panel + 1-char separator space + 5-char position panel). The mode and pos panels are updated from code via setPanel('mode', 'INS') and setPanel('pos', '01,01').

To add static label prefixes entirely from config, give each panel a text value and widen accordingly:

panels: [
    {
        name:  modeLabel
        width: 4
        text:  "md: "
    }
    {
        name:    mode
        width:   3
        justify: right
    }
]
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