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Transparent group box

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4.59/5 (12 votes)
1 Feb 2000 103.6K   2.3K   37   14
A very simple group box replacement to enhance your user interface
  • Download source files - 2 Kb
  • Sample Image - TGroupBox.gif

    If you make a dialog with a bitmap as background, you'll probably handle WM_CTLCOLOR and CTLCOLOR_STATIC to set a transparent background for text items.

    This works fine except with groupboxes: if the text is transparent the group rectangle goes right through your text, which looks BAD.

    To make it look better, use this class CTGroupBox. It draws every side of the box rectangle using LineTo's and takes care of the text position and extent.

    Usage is simple: just give your group boxes unique IDs (instead of IDC_STATIC) and then subclass them in OnInitDialog:

    // in your .cpp file
    void CMyBitmappedDialog::OnInitDialog()
    {
    	CBitmapDialog::OnInitDialog();  // I'm using Joerg Koenigs CBitmapDialog class
            
    	m_TGrpBox1.SubclassDlgItem(IDC_GRPBOX1, this);
    	m_TGrpBox2.SubclassDlgItem(IDC_GRPBOX2, this);
    	...
    
    	return TRUE;
    }
    // in your .h file
    #include "TGroupBox.h"
    
    class CMyBitmappedDialog : public CBitmapDialog
    {
    private:
    	CTGroupBox m_TGrpBox1;
    	CTGroupBox m_TGrpBox2;
    	...
    }

    Thats all!

    Remark: Group boxes are technically buttons(!) with style BS_GROUPBOX but they don't seem to receive WM_DRAWITEM messages even if BS_OWNERDRAW is set. So I do the drawing in an WM_PAINT handler but thats not too hard here because they can't be "pressed" or get the focus rect.

    Comments, suggestions, bug reports etc. are welcome! Put them here as comment or send them directly to me.

    Enjoy!

    License

    This article has no explicit license attached to it but may contain usage terms in the article text or the download files themselves. If in doubt please contact the author via the discussion board below.

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    Comments and Discussions

     
    Questionlicense terms? Pin
    user.70518-May-17 19:02
    user.70518-May-17 19:02 
    AnswerRe: license terms? Pin
    SoMad18-May-17 19:29
    professionalSoMad18-May-17 19:29 
    GeneralLicense Pin
    kishoresajja27-Apr-10 8:47
    kishoresajja27-Apr-10 8:47 
    Generalradiobuttons inside groupbox Pin
    kayserili8010-May-09 21:58
    kayserili8010-May-09 21:58 
    GeneralRe: radiobuttons inside groupbox Pin
    lidah27-Aug-10 1:09
    lidah27-Aug-10 1:09 
    QuestionDoes this work? Pin
    charlieg29-Mar-04 8:21
    charlieg29-Mar-04 8:21 
    GeneralArtifact when selecting Pin
    Anonymous12-May-03 10:40
    Anonymous12-May-03 10:40 
    GeneralRe: Artifact when selecting Pin
    Rob Morris13-Aug-04 8:04
    Rob Morris13-Aug-04 8:04 
    GeneralFont assertion Pin
    kathy24-Mar-00 9:57
    kathy24-Mar-00 9:57 
    GeneralIt has two bugs... Pin
    Member 44479-Feb-00 22:52
    Member 44479-Feb-00 22:52 
    GeneralRe: It has two bugs... Pin
    Atlantys22-Feb-02 10:29
    Atlantys22-Feb-02 10:29 
    GeneralRe: It has two bugs... Pin
    lidah27-Aug-10 1:07
    lidah27-Aug-10 1:07 
    GeneralRe: It has two bugs... Pin
    Dave Foster17-Mar-16 11:06
    Dave Foster17-Mar-16 11:06 

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