Use the UserData property to assign your extra data to a panel. Use the Text property to assign a caption to a panel.

The following VB sample shows "How can I assign an extra data to my panel":

With StatusBar1
	.BeginUpdate 
	.VisualAppearance.Add 4,"c:\exontrol\images\border.ebn"
	.VisualAppearance.Add 5,"CP:4 1 1 -1 -1"
	.BackColorPanels = 83886080
	.BackColor = -2147483633
	.Format = "1/2,(5/6/7/8)"
	With .Panel(5)
		.Text = "UserData"
		.UserData = "this is just some extra data associated to the panel"
		.ToolTipText = .UserData
	End With
	.EndUpdate 
End With

The following VB.NET sample shows "How can I assign an extra data to my panel":

With AxStatusBar1
	.BeginUpdate 
	.VisualAppearance.Add 4,"c:\exontrol\images\border.ebn"
	.VisualAppearance.Add 5,"CP:4 1 1 -1 -1"
	.GetOcx().BackColorPanels = &H5000000
	.GetOcx().BackColor = &H8000000f
	.Format = "1/2,(5/6/7/8)"
	With .get_Panel(5)
		.Text = "UserData"
		.UserData = "this is just some extra data associated to the panel"
		.ToolTipText = .UserData
	End With
	.EndUpdate 
End With

The following C++ sample shows "How can I assign an extra data to my panel":

/*
	Copy and paste the following directives to your header file as
	it defines the namespace 'EXSTATUSBARLib' for the library: 'ExStatusBar 1.0 Control Library'

	#import "C:\\WINNT\\system32\\ExStatusBar.dll"
	using namespace EXSTATUSBARLib;
*/
EXSTATUSBARLib::IStatusBarPtr spStatusBar1 = GetDlgItem(IDC_STATUSBAR1)->GetControlUnknown();
spStatusBar1->BeginUpdate();
spStatusBar1->GetVisualAppearance()->Add(4,"c:\\exontrol\\images\\border.ebn");
spStatusBar1->GetVisualAppearance()->Add(5,"CP:4 1 1 -1 -1");
spStatusBar1->PutBackColorPanels(83886080);
spStatusBar1->PutBackColor(-2147483633);
spStatusBar1->PutFormat(L"1/2,(5/6/7/8)");
EXSTATUSBARLib::IPanelPtr var_Panel = spStatusBar1->GetPanel(long(5));
	var_Panel->PutText(L"UserData");
	var_Panel->PutUserData("this is just some extra data associated to the panel");
	var_Panel->PutToolTipText(_bstr_t(var_Panel->GetUserData()));
spStatusBar1->EndUpdate();

The following C# sample shows "How can I assign an extra data to my panel":

axStatusBar1.BeginUpdate();
axStatusBar1.VisualAppearance.Add(4,"c:\\exontrol\\images\\border.ebn");
axStatusBar1.VisualAppearance.Add(5,"CP:4 1 1 -1 -1");
(axStatusBar1.GetOcx() as EXSTATUSBARLib.StatusBar).BackColorPanels = 0x5000000;
(axStatusBar1.GetOcx() as EXSTATUSBARLib.StatusBar).BackColor = 0x8000000f;
axStatusBar1.Format = "1/2,(5/6/7/8)";
EXSTATUSBARLib.Panel var_Panel = axStatusBar1.get_Panel(5);
	var_Panel.Text = "UserData";
	var_Panel.UserData = "this is just some extra data associated to the panel";
	var_Panel.ToolTipText = var_Panel.UserData.ToString();
axStatusBar1.EndUpdate();

The following VFP sample shows "How can I assign an extra data to my panel":

with thisform.StatusBar1
	.BeginUpdate
	.VisualAppearance.Add(4,"c:\exontrol\images\border.ebn")
	.VisualAppearance.Add(5,"CP:4 1 1 -1 -1")
	.BackColorPanels = 83886080
	.BackColor = -2147483633
	.Format = "1/2,(5/6/7/8)"
	with .Panel(5)
		.Text = "UserData"
		.UserData = "this is just some extra data associated to the panel"
		.ToolTipText = .UserData
	endwith
	.EndUpdate
endwith