Collapsible controls in MFC (example included) - mfc

In the WindowsXP Control panel, you can see a nice collapsible panel control on the left:
(source: leeindy.com)
These are not just collapsible, but animated too. I wondered if these are any kind of control accessible to a developer, specifically in MFC? Or are they custom/bespoke functionality?

If you have Visual Studio 2008 with the MFC Feature Pack, have a look at the CMFCTasksPane class. The Feature Pack includes a TaskPane sample application that demonstrates how to use this.

Related

How do I find out what font a text control in a C++ dialog is using? Or, what is this font?

I want to be able to create mock-ups of dialogs for UI design documents. I would like to use the same font that current dialogs are using. The project uses C++ and MFC, developed using Visual Studio 2019 on a Win10 box. Where can I look to find out what font is being used for a particular text control?
Or, perhaps more simply, can you tell me what fonts are used on this little sample?

How Can i mimic the Office style ribbon using MFC C++?

I want to mimic the word ribbon. But i can't find any resource that goes in depth on this subject matter or a template like the office developer tool template for MFC.
The Office 2016 ribbon is not exactly available, but the Ribbon Framework is. Here is one of my old articles about it.

Can the windows ribbon control be modified to look more like the ribbon in MS Word 2010 using the existing APIs

I am currently working on a desktop application using C++ and WINAPI. I want to use a ribbon control for the application's main window (like the sort found in the newer office applications). I have successfully created the XML file, the COM interfaces and I have also managed to get the ribbon to show up in the application window.
The ribbon currently appears like the ribbon in MS Paint. (Sorry I can't post images).
I have been trying to customize the ribbon such that it appears more like the ribbon in MS Word 2010.
The changes I am trying to exact are:
1) Centering the title of the application in the title bar
2) Getting the title bar to fade\merge into the ribbon (as apposed to the border of the window's frame drawing a line between the title bar and the ribbon)
3) Moving the "customize quick access bar" menu to the right of the vertical separator.
4) Changing the blue button at the far left of the ribbon so that it has the
word "File" on it
I have been largely unsuccessful because the ribbon does not seem to be customizable in this way using the interfaces and APIs exposed by Microsoft.
My question is thus: Is there a way to create the effects mentioned above using the existing ribbon API, or is the MS Office ribbon a result of undocumented features or possibly even a lot of hacking (Enumerating window handles and violating the boundaries of the interface).
You won't be able to customize the Windows Ribbon Framework in a way that it looks and behaves like the Office Ribbon. Not even wrapper projects such as Windows Ribbon for WinForms (.NET) or the Windows Ribbon Framework for Delphi provide such a feature.
The Office Ribbon (introduced with Office 2007) and the Windows Ribbon Framework (introduced with Windows 7) are two completely different implementations of the Ribbon concept. There are even more Ribbon implementations from Microsoft, see the WPF Ribbons and the MFC Ribbons, all of them providing different features and a different look'n'feel.
While the Windows Ribbon Framework and the WPF Ribbons can be used quite easy in your own desktop application, you cannot use the native Office Ribbons out of an Office application. If you really want to have a Ribbon bar that that provides the look'n'feel of the Office Ribbons in your C++ desktop application, you'll either have to write your own implementation or use a third party component..

How to apply VisualStudio 11 theme to my MFC application?

The new VS 11 features a grey-style user interface that is cool. Is it possible for me apply this to my MFC App? Thanks!
The last "update" for MFC controls and their appearance was the MFC Feature Pack, as described here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb982354.aspx
Unfortunately, it does not include the VS 2011 style, but maybe you find something else which would be interesting for your application (for example ribbons etc).
They did not include pictures of their controls, you can only check them in their sample application, which you can download here
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb983962.aspx
or via Google Image Search
http://www.google.com/search?q=mfc+feature+pack

Where can I find a reference which controls are in which version of MFC?

Preferably with visual illustrations... MSDN just lists class-names and what I really want to see is which versions of MFC have nice modern functionality like dockable toobars, collapsible windows, and other graphical niceties.
Does such a 'visual catalog' exist? From MSDN it's not always clear even what each class does without a pretty picture.
I don't think there is a 'gallery' of MFC controls on MSDN.
The closest thing I can think of are the MFC samples included in Visual Studio. There should be a project like this one that shows all of the controls with examples of how to use them. The other samples in the MFC Feature Pack also have workable demos for docking windows, ribbons, etc.