I need to extend an existing MFC app with a UI that will end up very cluttered unless I use a tab control. However, the nature of the UI is that there are some controls that are global, and only some that can be localised to a particular tab.
The standard use of tab controls (CPropertySheet + CPropertyPage) more or less expects there only to be CPropertyPage instances (tabs) visible on the CPropertySheet object, and nothing else. There is a Microsoft Example Project that shows a single additional window painted outside the area occupied by the tab control... but it's not immediately clear how it is created/drawn/handled, and it is only one single additional window that generates few events (I guess it is painted, so there must be a WM_PAINT event handler lurking somewhere).
Is it possible to lay out a bunch of controls with the MS Dialog Editor, including a tab control, and create the CPropertySheet using that template, hook up event handlers in a nice way, etc... or some equivalent way of getting the MFC framework to do as much of the creating, drawing and event handling as possible when it comes to a situation like this?
Yes it is possible to create dialog templates and use them in a CPropertyPage.
Each CPropertyPage behaves nearly like a dialog and handles all events for the controls on it.
Also there are features like OnApply that help you to manage the data exchange between the controls and your internal storage.
The central CPropertySheet only creates the dialog that get active. So OnInintDialog for a page is called the first time when the page gets active.
In the MFC since 2010 are more possibilities than a CPropertySheet. You can create tabbed views, that again may be CFormViews. I don't like CDialog based applications so I would prefer a tabbed view in a standard frame with toolbar and menus if appropriate for the application. So another method to unclutter your UI is to choose the MDI interface with tabbed documents... but multiple documents maybe isn't what you want.
Here is a sample of an SDI application with multiple tabbed views.
Also Coeproject shows some more samples here and with splitters and tabs here.
There are at least three solutions paths:
Try to squeeze the situation into the CPropertySheet + CPropertyPage framework which does not naturally allow for additional dialog controls on the CPropertySheet object, and so you will get no framework support this
Place a tab control on an ordinary dialog, and then use the TCN_SELCHANGE messages to fire code that manually hides & shows individual dialog controls subject to the tab control (again no framework support, but this time "within" the tab control instead of outside it)
Follow Mark Ransom's observation that if you can embed one kind of CWnd-based control on a CPropertySheet then you can probably embed any such object, including a CDialog-based object that has been developed in the MFC Dialog Editor
All of these approaches are going to encounter challenges, and it will depend on the specifics of the situation as to which is better. But first you should really consider whether there is a cleaner UI design which would lend itself to a simpler solution.
In my specific case, I saw no cleaner design alternatives, and found it easiest to take the second approach. It left me with some reasonably simple calls to ShowWindow() to show/hide the controls inside the tab control.
Related
I have an SDI Document/View MFC app the wizard created with several different windows (workspace, properties, view, output). My main view CMyView is derived from a CTabView.
I want to offer a "Close Tab" option via the toolbar, menus and context menus, but ON_UPDATE_COMMAND_UI from within CMyView is not called, my guess is it's probably going to whatever view is in a tab but there are several different types of views that can be opened in a tab so I want CMyView to handle it in one place.
To me, having it handled in the CTabView makes the most sense design wise, but maybe I'll have to do it in the mainframe and then call a method of the view to get the result. But I thought I'd check here with people with more experience using MFC. What is the best way to handle it?
I searched on the forum and I don't find a solution for my issue. So I hope you can help me :)
I work on a personal project for SFC designing (Sequential functional chart) and I'm working with visual studio in SDI(I'm using MFC library). If you see the "design" of an SFC you can see the different elements needed to compose this. So you can find Step, Transition, and more. If I take a step for explaining my issue, after double click on the step a popup dialog is opened with the elements to define this step (actions on this step, and more). The issue is here, I can't see two or more step elements at the same time. I want to reuse the existing concept on other software, see this.
Step close
Step open
Dialog to add
My question is, how I can implement a dialog with my graphic element in mainframe (In this case, a step)? I don't know how I can insert a dialog with my element, I think I need to use CFormView, but I don't know.
This dialog needs to be resizable and reduce directly by the step graphic.
any idea?
Thank you in advance! Sorry for my English ..
Sorry, I think my request is not clear .. (Thank you for your answer)
The context, it's an SDI application with the Document/View architecture. Actually the view is derived from CScrollView.
So, in the document class, you have the different lists of components for make SFC (Steps, transitions and symbols ..). I'm working today on Step element.
The user inserts a new step, the step is draw on the view like this :
enter image description here
And now the user want change the events on this Step, for this after double click on the step the events editor is opened at right of step draw, like this :
enter image description here
For this, I've created a new dialog resource and create the class by wizard in CForwView derived class. In step attribute, you can find one instance of this derived class (The derived class of dialog).
But this doesn't work correctly, I think my method is bad. At the first try, I have sent the pointer of the current document to the "CFormView::Create" function for having the "Save" button active with the focus on the FormView. But after destroying the step, the instance of FormView is destroyed and the document with the instance of formview ...
No problem, you can use "Create" within CCreateContext a null pointer. But with the document or without I have a lot of problems (graphic design not correct in FormView, regularly (not systematic I have assert fail on Proc exchange (for differents reason)). But the "concept" is good, the editor follows the draw if I scroll, I can open or close the editor at any time and on any elements.
For the old capture, it's my SFC designer "model". My application is a complement to this application, so I want a similar design. I don't know how work my model application ..
On my application all is draw by MFC GDI, I don't use ActiveX or other tools.
So what is the correct way to implement one instance of editor by instance of step ?
For the implementation on this FormView I have :
- Make new dialog in ressource
- Create a derived class of CFormView with the created dialog
- Add one instance in attributes of Step element
- "OnDbClickOnStep" -> Call "Create" with the good position / size, pointer of mainview (in my case the CSrollView derived class)
- Done, FormView inserted in a mainview, I can edit my step events.
? Not done, I lost save button and other function linked to the document with the focus on a control in FormView. The app want a document with this view, how to override this ?
? Error in Proc exchange, for different reason...
You have an idea ?
You normally don't draw anything in the "main frame" (or the "MDI clild frames", in the case of a MDI application), this is done by the library, and imo sufficiently so. You display your data in a CView-derived class.
CView is the base class of all other MFC view classes. It's a simple graphical class - you need to paint it yourself in the OnDraw() member.
CScrollView is a descendant of CView, adding scrolling functionality (scroll-bars are automatically displayed if the scrollable area is bigger than the visible window area).
CFormView is a descendant of CScrollView, displaying a dialog resource-script, containing "controls" (edit-boxes, check-boxes, images, ActiveX etc).
As in your case the "controls" won't be initially known (except maybe for some few special cases) and rather programatically created, the resource script will most likely be empty, so using either CFormView or CScrollView will basically be the same. I would suggest starting with CFormView, and "downgrade" it to CScrollView if CFormView is not necessary or causes you troubles.
What are those "Step" items shown in the pics? ActiveX controls, child dialogs maybe? These work best as child controls on a dialog window. Are they already implemented, or they are just pics of some other software? Btw ActiveX is a way to define controls that can be used in other projects too, without having to include them in the project source.
What are the differences between FormView and Dialog in MFC? and can anyone suggest when to use FormView and when to use Dialog?
I have to respectfully disagree with posts above. There is no difference between CFormView and a dialog.
CFormView is a dialog created as modeless and hosted by the frame as a client, resized as frame resize.
It is created from dialog resource you have to supply, as any standalone dialog. All message handlers for dialog controls are the same.
CFormView Create member calls CreateDlg, passing dialog template loaded by the constructor.
CWnd CreateDialog, calls CreateDlgIndirect member that in turn calls CreateDialogIndirect API creating modeless dialog.
You can also embed modeless dialog inside another dialog and it is still a dialog.
A dialog application just shows a dialog (and whatever controls you put in the dialog, plus any other controls you pop up from it, etc.)
A FormView gives you a fairly normal application with a main menu and such -- but the view part can also hold controls.
You'd use a dialog if you just want a dialog, and a formview if you want (possibly multiple) views that can hold controls. Big difference is that making it a dialog changes the basic nature of the entire application, where a formview just changes one view -- you could (for example) also have other (non-form) views if you wanted.
someone_ smiley
To answer your question about dialog versus CFormView.
I rarely use dialog-based application; only in cases that require simple tasks without overhead of more complicated UI.
Most of programmers start with dialog based app and after getting into implementing some functionality, it usually turns that the application needs menu and a toolbar and status bar, data storing/handling object, command routing handling and so on.
I would suggest creating SDI application with non-resizable frame.
You will have a dialog look and all the functionality of the MFC application free. You do not have to use document support if you do not need one.
From the coders view point, FormView supports laying out of UI controls with dialog resource, in WYSIWYG way. So when making a view with a lots of controls FormView could be helpful.
Dialog is not a view. It is totally different. Dialogs are separate windows and normally presented in the modal event loop (or modelessly in special cases).
I'm migrating an application from a homegrown UI to Qt. One of the most important controls is the property panel, which takes an object that implements my reflection API's interface and spits out a dialog box containing editors for all the properties.
I've written an implementation of QAbstractItemModel for my property system and I've written a few handlers for various types inside of a QTableView. I've also written a QItemDelegate to create editors for the properties.
The trouble is that I'd like the editors to hang around, rather than be strictly popups. This is so that they can handle the rendering of the property, require less clicks to operate and also not disappear as soon as something else gets the focus, such as my colour button - the editor (which has the slots listening for colour changes) disappears as soon as the colour picker dialog appears, which means that nothing is then listening for changes.
I can't find any options for making the editors persist. Am I barking up the wrong tree here or is there a more appropriate way of doing this? I've tried to do things the 'Qt' way but I'm already hitting brick walls.
Thanks,
There is the QAbstractItemView::openPersistentEditor() method.
I have an app with a customized frame (i.e., caption/titlebar, borders). I customized the frame by removing the WS_CAPTION style, and overriding OnNcCalcSize to reserve a custom-sized area for the caption, which the app paints in OnNcPaint.
A side effect is that the menu bar no longer displays, which is OK because I want to customize the appearance & location of the main menu. Unfortunately, I don't know how to do that. I would like the "File" menu to be further from the left edge than it is with the standard menu bar.
An acceptable alternative would be to remove the menu entirely, and use OnNcHitTest, OnNcPaint and OnNcMouseMove to manage a hand-coded replacement for the top-level menu.
I've never seen a way to modify the looks of the standard menu. You can remove it (remove the creation code from your InitInstance) and then code a replacement. I wouldn't do that in OnNcXXX though, rather make a new custom control that you position at the top. Or you could have a look at the MFC Next themed menus and write a custom UI renderer. It may be enough to override a few functions left and ride to set the alignment of the menu.
It's an MFC MDI app -- InitInstance is not where the menu is being created. I have tried to get rid of the menu (and succeeded, temporarily) but the MFC framework seems to be "putting it back" -- I think the MDI model has the child windows modify the menu, but the code that does that seems to be buried in the framework somewhere (or else I just haven't been able to find exactly where it happens in the application's code, but I suspect it's happening inside the MFC framework code). If I knew where, I might be able to override the methods(s) and take control... I think.
What would be the reason to write a custom control vs. handling OnNcMouseMove & OnNcLeftButtonDown, e.g.? I don't expect to need the functionality in any other app (a new app would be coded in C#, probably), so I'm looking for ease of implementation, not code reuse.