Accessing multiple Editboxes in MFC - c++

Question

I am writing a MFC program in which I have a a lot of Editboxes and I want to get all their text values and put them in a container. How can I achieve this without writing a line for each ID. I'm using this code for each ID:
CEdit *edit;
edit = reinterpret_cast<CEdit *>(GetDlgItem(IDC_NAME1));
But if I use that method I would have to write it 45 times. That doesn't seem right.
Is there a way of getting all the Editboxes in a container so I can use them that way or something like that?

Answer 1

You can certainly create an array (or other container) or pointers to CEdit: CEdit edits[45]; If the values of IDC_NAME1 through IDC_NAME45 are contiguous, you can just do something like:
for (int i=0; i<45; i++)
names[i] = reinterpret_cast<CEdit *>(GetDlgItem(IDC_NAME1 + i));
If those identifiers may not be contiguous, then you can put them in an array, and just index into that array as needed.
One caution: unless they're something like a grid of otherwise nearly identical edit controls, 45 on a screen may well be a bit much. If they are like a grid, you might want to look at one of the many available grid controls instead.

Answer 2

You do not have to use controls IDs.
Use EnumChildWindows and get test only for edit controls. Snippet follows.
Add following in dialog’s header:
afx_msg LRESULT OnFoundEdit(WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam);
And this to cpp:
#define WM_U_FOUND_EDIT WM_APP + 0x100
BEGIN_MESSAGE_MAP(CEditCtrlFishingDlg, CDialog)
ON_MESSAGE(WM_U_FOUND_EDIT, OnFoundEdit)
.
.
.
.
END_MESSAGE_MAP()
Write this line in the place you want to start edit text collection:
EnumChildWindows(m_hWnd, EnumChildProc, (LPARAM)m_hWnd);
Enum child procedure:
BOOL CALLBACK EnumChildProc(HWND hwnd, LPARAM lParam)
{
CString csBuffer;
LPTSTR pBuf = csBuffer.GetBufferSetLength(MAX_PATH);
GetClassName(hwnd, pBuf, MAX_PATH);
csBuffer.ReleaseBuffer();
if(!csBuffer.CompareNoCase(_T("edit")))
{
SendMessage((HWND)lParam, WM_U_FOUND_EDIT, 0, (LPARAM)hwnd);
}
return TRUE;
}
and the handler:
LRESULT YourDlg::OnFoundEdit(WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)
{
CWnd *pWnd = FromHandle((HWND)lParam);
CString csTxt;
pWnd->GetWindowText(csTxt);
// do what you need with text here
return 0;
}