How to display a MFC dialog from a console application in C++? - c++

Question

I have a simple MFC dialog.
class CMessageBoxWithCustomTextDlg : public CDialogEx
{
// Construction
public:
CMessageBoxWithCustomTextDlg(CWnd* pParent = NULL); // standard constructor
__declspec(dllexport) void SetData(std::string& data);
// Dialog Data
enum { IDD = IDD_MESSAGEBOXWITHCUSTOMTEXT_DIALOG };
protected:
virtual void DoDataExchange(CDataExchange* pDX); // DDX/DDV support
// Implementation
protected:
HICON m_hIcon;
// Generated message map functions
virtual BOOL OnInitDialog();
afx_msg void OnPaint();
afx_msg HCURSOR OnQueryDragIcon();
DECLARE_MESSAGE_MAP()
public:
afx_msg void OnBnClickedShowMessagebox();
};
I would like to export it as dll and call it from a simple console application. Is it possible?

Answer 1

It is possible; here is how I did it:
For your console application have it be simply this:
#include <Windows.h>
typedef void (*EntryFunc)();
int main()
{
HMODULE hMod = LoadLibrary(L"MFCDll.dll");
EntryFunc func = (EntryFunc)GetProcAddress(hMod, "entrypoint");
func();
}
The name of the DLL is MFCDll.dll and there is an exported function called entrypoint in that DLL.
For the DLL I created a New MFC DLL project. And other than the dialog code and the dialog in the resources add this code:
extern "C" __declspec(dllexport) void entrypoint()
{
AFX_MANAGE_STATE(AfxGetStaticModuleState());
CMessageBoxWithCustomTextDlg dlg;
dlg.DoModal();
}
And the console program will load the DLL, call into the DLL and the dialog shows.