+9  A: 
spoon16
A: 

As an added note this is due to the fact that in the Win32 API a cell is either fixed width or fills the remaining space -1

int statwidths[] = {100, -1};

SendMessage(hStatus, SB_SETPARTS, sizeof(statwidths)/sizeof(int), (LPARAM)statwidths);
SendMessage(hStatus, SB_SETTEXT, 0, (LPARAM)"Hi there :)");

If memory serves me correctly you can have only one fill cell (-1) per statusbar.

You could also add a third middle cell and give this the fill property to get a more concistent looking StatusBar. Consistent because Messages has an inset to its left right where you'd expect it. A bit like the mspaint shot found on the MSDN page for StatusBars

I like the creative appreach though :D

Martijn Laarman