Status Bar

The status bar at the bottom of Visual Studio displays quick feedback to users: text messages, progress indicators, and animated icons. It’s ideal for brief, transient information.

Quick Start with Community Toolkit

// Show a message
await VS.StatusBar.ShowMessageAsync("Ready");

// Show progress
await VS.StatusBar.ShowProgressAsync("Processing...", 1, 10);

// Clear the status bar
await VS.StatusBar.ClearAsync();

Displaying Text

Simple Messages

// Show a message
await VS.StatusBar.ShowMessageAsync("Build succeeded");

// Clear after a delay
await VS.StatusBar.ShowMessageAsync("File saved");
await Task.Delay(3000);
await VS.StatusBar.ClearAsync();

Traditional Approach

await ThreadHelper.JoinableTaskFactory.SwitchToMainThreadAsync();

var statusBar = (IVsStatusbar)await VS.Services.GetStatusBarAsync();

// Check if status bar is frozen (owned by another component)
statusBar.IsFrozen(out int frozen);
if (frozen == 0)
{
    statusBar.SetText("My message");
}

// Clear
statusBar.Clear();

Progress Indicator

Determinate Progress

Show progress with known total:

// With Toolkit
for (int i = 1; i <= 10; i++)
{
    await VS.StatusBar.ShowProgressAsync($"Processing file {i}...", i, 10);
    await Task.Delay(200);
}
await VS.StatusBar.ClearAsync();

// Traditional
uint cookie = 0;
statusBar.Progress(ref cookie, 1, "Processing...", 5, 10);  // 5 of 10
statusBar.Progress(ref cookie, 0, "", 0, 0);  // Clear

Indeterminate Progress

For unknown duration operations:

// Start animation
await VS.StatusBar.StartAnimationAsync(StatusAnimation.Build);

// Do work...
await DoWorkAsync();

// Stop animation
await VS.StatusBar.EndAnimationAsync(StatusAnimation.Build);

Animations

Visual Studio provides several built-in animations:

// Available animations
StatusAnimation.General   // Generic pulsing
StatusAnimation.Build     // Build in progress
StatusAnimation.Save      // Save operation
StatusAnimation.Deploy    // Deployment
StatusAnimation.Sync      // Synchronization
StatusAnimation.Find      // Search operation
StatusAnimation.Print     // Print operation

Traditional Animation Control

await ThreadHelper.JoinableTaskFactory.SwitchToMainThreadAsync();

var statusBar = (IVsStatusbar)await VS.Services.GetStatusBarAsync();

// Get animation object
object icon = (short)Constants.SBAI_Build; // Build animation

// Start
statusBar.Animation(1, ref icon);

// Stop
statusBar.Animation(0, ref icon);

Animation Constants

Constant	Value	Description
SBAI_General	0	General animation
SBAI_Build	2	Building
SBAI_Save	3	Saving
SBAI_Deploy	4	Deploying
SBAI_Sync	5	Syncing
SBAI_Find	6	Finding
SBAI_Print	7	Printing

Designer/Mode Indicator

Show the current mode in the status bar:

var statusBar = (IVsStatusbar)await VS.Services.GetStatusBarAsync();

// Set mode text (appears on the right side)
statusBar.SetInsMode("OVR");  // Overwrite mode indicator
statusBar.SetLineColChar(10, 25, 500);  // Line 10, Col 25, Char 500

Feedback Region

The status bar has a feedback region that can host custom UI:

// This is rarely used - most extensions use text/progress only
statusBar.GetFeedbackRegion(out var feedbackRegion);

Complete Examples

File Processing with Progress

public async Task ProcessFilesAsync(IEnumerable<string> files)
{
    var fileList = files.ToList();
    if (!fileList.Any()) return;

    try
    {
        await VS.StatusBar.StartAnimationAsync(StatusAnimation.General);

        for (int i = 0; i < fileList.Count; i++)
        {
            var fileName = Path.GetFileName(fileList[i]);
            await VS.StatusBar.ShowProgressAsync(
                $"Processing {fileName}...",
                i + 1,
                fileList.Count);

            await ProcessFileAsync(fileList[i]);
        }

        await VS.StatusBar.ShowMessageAsync($"Processed {fileList.Count} files successfully");
    }
    catch (Exception ex)
    {
        await VS.StatusBar.ShowMessageAsync($"Error: {ex.Message}");
    }
    finally
    {
        await VS.StatusBar.EndAnimationAsync(StatusAnimation.General);

        // Clear after delay
        await Task.Delay(5000);
        await VS.StatusBar.ClearAsync();
    }
}

Search Operation

public async Task<List<string>> SearchAsync(string query, CancellationToken ct)
{
    var results = new List<string>();

    try
    {
        await VS.StatusBar.StartAnimationAsync(StatusAnimation.Find);
        await VS.StatusBar.ShowMessageAsync($"Searching for '{query}'...");

        results = await PerformSearchAsync(query, ct);

        await VS.StatusBar.ShowMessageAsync($"Found {results.Count} results");
    }
    catch (OperationCanceledException)
    {
        await VS.StatusBar.ShowMessageAsync("Search canceled");
    }
    finally
    {
        await VS.StatusBar.EndAnimationAsync(StatusAnimation.Find);

        await Task.Delay(3000);
        await VS.StatusBar.ClearAsync();
    }

    return results;
}

Status Bar Service Class

A reusable wrapper for status bar operations:

public class StatusBarService : IDisposable
{
    private bool _animating;
    private StatusAnimation _currentAnimation;
    private CancellationTokenSource _clearCts;

    public async Task ShowMessageAsync(string message, int clearAfterMs = 0)
    {
        _clearCts?.Cancel();
        await VS.StatusBar.ShowMessageAsync(message);

        if (clearAfterMs > 0)
        {
            _clearCts = new CancellationTokenSource();
            _ = ClearAfterDelayAsync(clearAfterMs, _clearCts.Token);
        }
    }

    public async Task ShowProgressAsync(string message, int current, int total)
    {
        _clearCts?.Cancel();
        await VS.StatusBar.ShowProgressAsync(message, current, total);
    }

    public async Task StartAnimationAsync(StatusAnimation animation)
    {
        if (_animating)
        {
            await VS.StatusBar.EndAnimationAsync(_currentAnimation);
        }

        _currentAnimation = animation;
        _animating = true;
        await VS.StatusBar.StartAnimationAsync(animation);
    }

    public async Task StopAnimationAsync()
    {
        if (_animating)
        {
            await VS.StatusBar.EndAnimationAsync(_currentAnimation);
            _animating = false;
        }
    }

    public async Task ClearAsync()
    {
        _clearCts?.Cancel();
        await StopAnimationAsync();
        await VS.StatusBar.ClearAsync();
    }

    private async Task ClearAfterDelayAsync(int delayMs, CancellationToken ct)
    {
        try
        {
            await Task.Delay(delayMs, ct);
            await VS.StatusBar.ClearAsync();
        }
        catch (OperationCanceledException)
        {
            // Ignore - clear was canceled
        }
    }

    public void Dispose()
    {
        _clearCts?.Cancel();
        _clearCts?.Dispose();
    }
}

Frozen Status Bar

Other VS components can “freeze” the status bar to prevent changes:

var statusBar = (IVsStatusbar)await VS.Services.GetStatusBarAsync();

statusBar.IsFrozen(out int frozen);
if (frozen != 0)
{
    // Status bar is frozen by another component
    // Your message won't be displayed
    return;
}

// Safe to update
statusBar.SetText("My message");

Best Practices

1. Keep messages brief - Status bar space is limited
2. Clear after a delay - Don’t leave stale messages
3. Use appropriate animations - Match the operation type
4. Don’t overwrite important messages - Check if frozen
5. Provide progress for long operations - Users should know something is happening
6. Use consistent formatting - “Verb + object” pattern works well

Status Bar vs Other UI

Information Type	Recommended UI
Quick feedback (2-5 seconds)	Status bar message
Operation progress	Status bar progress
Important notification	InfoBar
Errors needing action	Error List
Detailed logs	Output Window
Blocking operation	Wait Dialog

See Also

• Progress Indication - Detailed progress feedback
• InfoBars - Non-modal notifications
• Output Window - Detailed logging