Custom MFC control prevents dialog creation - mfc

I have a custom MFC control, subclassing CWnd. Other than providing OnPaint and PreSubclassWindow implementations, it overrides no default functionality and does nothing weird in construction except registering a window class in the constructor.
The control is added to the dialog using the dialog editor to add a custom control.
The dialog worked when it was a simple modal dialog deriving from CDialog, but we have code which calls CWnd::CreateDlgIndirect to instance dialogs and this fails with the custom control... but works if the custom control is removed from the resource template.

Found it!
I had the custom control register its window class in its own constructor. I had member in the dialog of this custom control type, so the ctor was being called when the dialog was created, as intended.
But, it turns out the base class I changed the dialog to derive from, instead of CDialog, was calling CreateDlgIndirect in its own ctor, before my new class' own initialisation was reached - so it was trying to create custom control before the window class was registered.
My (slightly messy solution) is to ensure the window class registration happens at application startup in the InitInstance method, before any dialog stuff happens.

Related

"Debug Assertion Failed" when MFC button control EnableWindow method is used in class constructor

I am using Visual Studio 2019 and building a C++ desktop application. I have a dialog class inherited from CDialogEx. In this class I have a few buttons, i.e. CButton as members.
When I use the EnableWindow method in the class constructor, it reports:
Debug Assertion Failed! Program C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\mfc140ud.dll File:
d....\winocc.cpp line 345
If I commented it out the application worked fine. Any idea why I have this error? All I wanted to do is to disable the buttons as soon as the dialog shows up - that is why I use this method in the constructor.
There is a difference between a C++ class and the actual creation of the dialog window and its controls.
The constructor is for class related items, not window related items. For example, if you want to initialize member variables, then the constructor would be the place for it. But at construction, no dialog window has been created, thus there are no child controls that exist, thus the error you're seeing.
The place where you can assume that the window is created is in the dialog's OnInitDialog member function. This is where you should be able to call EnableWindow on the controls.
If you do not have an OnInitDialog, you can add that function using the class wizard.

Possible to Superclass a Dialog Box in Win32?

I'm using raw Win32 and C++ for a project. As I understand it, I am able to superclass Windows controls by retrieving the class information, replacing the procedure, then registering this as a new class and using it when creating a new window. Subclassing is done by replacing the window's procedure after the window is created. The advantage of superclassing is that you are able to process messages before CreateWindow() returns.
I'm looking to see if it's possible to superclass a dialog box created with CreateDialog() because I'd like to use a resource file for the dialog layout. The problem is that I don't know how I would provide my superclass when I create a dialog box. Is it even possible? Any idea how MFC handles this?
If you use an extended dialog box template to create your dialog, you can specify a custom window class as part of the DLGTEMPLATEEX definition.
The dialog manager will create and layout your dialog as normal, and call your window procedure for any dialog messages. You can use the DefDlgProc function to obtain default processing for any dialog messages you don't want to handle yourself.

Initializing a control's member variable from device context

I'm writing a custom control derived from CWnd. I want to initialize a member variable (e.g: a memory dc) of my custom control class using its device context. Which is the correct way to do it? I guess device context won't be ready in the constructor. So what is the next option. Is it safe using the dc the OnCreate event? I'm probably in search of something like OnInitDialog, but its a custom control, not a dialog.
Update: I added the custom control to the parent dialog via resource editor. So there is no chance for getting WM_CREATE event as it has already been created before subclassing.
Device context can be created in OnCreate (WM_CREATE), after you call the base class' OnCreate method.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd318297(v=vs.85).aspx
From Programming Windows

Tab Order with CTabCtrl and child CFormViews

In my application I have a CFormView with a CTabCtrl, I also have 4 CFormViews that are children of the main CFormView and that are shown/hidden when the user changes the selected tab.
However, I can't find a way to make the Tab Order to work properly. If the CTabCtrl has the focus, pressing the Tab key has no effect and if one of the child CFormView has the focus the Tab key will move the focus only around the controls inside the CFormView.
I tried changing the z-order of the visible child CFormView to be right after the CTabCtrl with SetWindowPos, changed the child CFormViews styles to WS_EX_CONTROLPARENT but nothing seems to work.
You've started out from the wrong implementation: you shouldn't make a CFormView with a CTabCtrl and then stuff more CFormViews into it. This isn't going to work right. Instead, you should work with CPropertySheet and CPropertyPage, where focus handling has already been taken care of. You will still be able to access the CTabCtrl owned by the CPropertySheet by calling GetTabControl(), but MFC will take care of the problems you've encountered.
Briefly: derive classes from CPropertySheet for each of the dialog windows you want to show (e.g., CConfigPage1, CConfigPage2). Create a Dialog resource in the Resource Editor for each of them, and do all of the other standard CDialog setup.
Next, derive a class from CPropertySheet (e.g., CProps), and (optionally) handle WM_SIZE and TCN_SELCHANGE.
Finally, derive a class from a CView descendent, like CScrollView (e.g., CViewMyAwesomeStuff). Then add member variables for the CPropertySheet and CPropertyPages, and handle WM_CREATE where you Add() each page to the property sheet and then Create(this,WS_CHILD|WS_VISIBLE) the property sheet.
Bonus: You can forward the CView::OnUpdate to each child CPropertyPage by calling GetPage() in a loop and calling a function on each of them, or you can send a message to each of them (use a user-defined message, like WM_APP+1). They can discover their parent's CDocument by calling GetParent()->GetParent()->GetDocument().

When an MFC dialog is hidden after DoModal, are its controls destroyed?

I've used MFC dialogs before where you do:
EnterNameDlg dlg;
dlg.DoModal();
string str = dlg.GetName();
However a dialog I have now actually looks at a list-box control in such a method and it's not working. Although the class instance clearly exists after DoModal(), does the actual dialog get destroyed? I noticed calling DoModal() a 2nd time leads to OnInitDialog() also being called again which seems to support this theory, the dialog is recreated from the template rather than simply made visible the 2nd time.
Yes, DoModal creates a dialog on each call and destroys the window before returning.
Only the data members will still be valid. Of course, you can add more data members in your EnterNameDlg class if you want to collect data during dialog's lifetime.
As soon as the dlg gets out of scope, everything will be deallocated.
After DoModal class instance still exists, but window and all its controls are destroyed. You can call only functions that don't work with dialog controls after DoModal. Inside of the dialog class, keep required values in class members like CString, when OK button is pressed. These members can be read after dialog is closed.
The entirety of MFC is built around an awkward pairing - the Windows window with its associated handle, and the MFC class object. The MFC classes are designed to outlast the window in most cases.