Extending WndTabs - The WndTabs SDK

• Download the SDK + sample addon - 88kb

Introduction

The WndTabs SDK allows Visual C++ addins to interface with WndTabs, adding new capabilities to the WndTabs tabs.  Through the SDK, you can add new commands to the tabs, and also alter the way the tabs look.  Addins that enhance WndTabs through the SDK are called WndTabs addons.

The SDK is supported by version 3.0 of WndTabs (get it here).  

If you aren't familiar with the WndTabs addin, you can learn more about it here and here.

Creating a WndTabs Addon

WndTabs addons must be registered with the AddInComm library, as WndTabs uses the AddInComm's dynamic discovery and messaging facilities to communicate with the addons.  After registering with AddInComm, the InitWndTabsIntegration function is used to initialize the SDK.  Both procedures should be performed in your addin's

OnConnection

STDMETHODIMP CDSAddIn::OnConnection(IApplication* pApp, VARIANT_BOOL bFirstTime, 
                                    long dwCookie, VARIANT_BOOL* OnConnection)
{
...
    // Register with AddInComm
    m_hAddin = AICRegisterAddIn("MyAddon", 1, 0, 5, AddInCallback);

    // Register with WndTabs
    InitWndTabsIntegration("MyAddon", <a href="#OnTabUpdate">OnTabUpdate</a>, <a href="#OnWTCommand">OnWTCommand</a>, <a href="#OnWTCommandUpdateUI">OnWTCommandUpdateUI</a>, 
                           <a href="#Commands_For_WT">Commands_For_WT</a>, countof(Commands_For_WT), OnWTEvent, 
        WndTabs_Ev_WindowChanged | WndTabs_Ev_TabClicked);
...
}

The AICRegisterAddIn call adds your addin to AddInComm's active addin database.  In the above example, the add-in is registered with the name "MyAddon", with the version number 1.0.5.  The AddInCallback function is designated as the AddInComm message handler.

InitWndTabsIntegration initializes the WndTabs SDK.  It must know the AddInComm name your addin is using, as well as other information regarding specific SDK functionality, such as which commands your addon supports.  These parameters will be discussed in further detail below.

To clean up resources, and properly unregister from WndTabs and AddInComm, the following code should appear in an Addon's OnDisconnection method:

STDMETHODIMP CDSAddIn::OnDisconnection(VARIANT_BOOL bLastTime)
{
...
    EndWndTabsIntegration();      // Unregister from WndTabs
    AICUnregisterAddIn(m_hAddin); // Unregister from AddInComm
...
}

We're almost there - just one thing left to do:  The WndTabs SDK code has to be hooked into your AddInComm message handler, allowing it to intercept SDK related messages.  In the OnConnection function, we specified

AddInCallback

// callback for AddInComm
int AddInCallback(LPCTSTR pCmd)
{
    AFX_MANAGE_STATE(AfxGetStaticModuleState());

    int iRetVal;    
    if ((iRetVal = WndTabsInt_Callback(pCmd)) != -1)  // call the SDK  
    {
        return iRetVal;
    }

    // do any other processing here

    return -1;  // -1 should be returned if you didn't handle the command
}

It is an AddInComm convention to return -1 if you don't handle the specified command.  For non-SDK commands, the WndTabsInt_Callback function returns just that.  This means that if your addin doesn't implement any AddInComm commands of its own, you can pass WndTabsInt_Callback directly to the AICRegisterAddIn function to save yourself the trouble of writing a callback function.

Adding New Commands To WndTabs

Up to this point, we've seen how to create a skeleton addon that doesn't actually do anything.  It's time to add some functionality.

One of the things that addons can do is to add new commands to WndTabs.  These commands are displayed under the Addons sub-menu (which is available, by default, under both the tab context menu and the main WndTabs menu).

Declaring Your Commands And Command Handler

For each command you want to add, you must supply a WTSDK_CommandDef structure:

// from the SDK headers
struct WTSDK_CommandDef
{
    int     iCmd;       // the identifier for your command
    LPCSTR  pszName;    // the display name for your command
    int     idBmpRes;   // the resource id for the menu bitmap (or -1)
    WTSDK_UIUpadateFlags UIUpdateFlags;
};

// from WTSDK_Samp
WTSDK_CommandDef <a name="Commands_For_WT">Commands_For_WT</a>[] =
{
    { idCmdShowDialog,  "Show WTSDK_Samp Dialog", IDB_MAIN,     UI_AlwaysAvailable },
    { idCmdEnable,      "Enable Transforms",      -1,           UI_UseCallback     },
    { idCmdShowContext, "Show Command Context",   IDB_INFO,     UI_AlwaysAvailable },
    { idCmdFileInfo,    "Show File Information",  IDB_FILEINFO, UI_MustHaveFile    }
};

The pszName and idBmpRes fields are self explanatory.  The iCmd field should specify a unique identifier for each command.  This identifier is passed back to your command handler, just as Windows passes message identifiers to your program's message handler.  The UIUpdateFlags parameter specifies when the command should be enabled/disabled.  But we'll get into that in just a bit.

You also need to supply a command handler callback.  The handler looks like this:

void <a name="OnWTCommand">OnWTCommand</a>(int iCmd, const WTSDK_CommandContext *pCmdContext)
{
    switch (iCmd)
    {
        case idCmdEnable :
            cfg_bEnabled = !cfg_bEnabled;
            ForceTabUpdate();
            break;

...
        default:
            // unknown command!
            ASSERT(FALSE);
    }
}

The Command Context

Before any WndTabs command (either internal or Addon supplied) is executed, WndTabs creates a command context object.  This object includes invaluable information about the tab/file that is associated with the command.  This is the tab that you right-clicked on (if you execute a command from the tab context menus), or the active tab (if you use a keyboard shortcut or a non-tab menu).  Note that it is still legal to use a keyboard shortcut when there are no windows at all!  The command will still be issued, but the command context will reflect the fact there is no associated tab/file.

struct WTSDK_CommandContext
{
   UINT    cbSize;     /* set to size of this structure */
   BOOL    bHasDoc;
   BOOL    bHasFile;
   BOOL    bIsTextWindow;
   BOOL    bIsActiveWindow;
   BOOL    bIsGroupOperation;
   HWND    hWnd;
   char    szFullPath[MAX_PATH];
   CComPtr<IGenericWindow>    pWindow;  // DevStudio automation
   CComPtr<IGenericDocument>  pDoc;
};

Again, most of the WTSDK_CommandContext fields are self explanatory.  The following is a brief overview of a few of the contexts you can run into:

UI Updates

The last piece in the puzzle is the UI update.  It is up to you to tell WndTabs when your command should be enabled or disabled.  For your convenience, the WndTabs SDK defines the WTSDK_UIUpadateFlags enumeration, which is passed in the command's WTSDK_CommandDef structure:

enum WTSDK_UIUpadateFlags 
{
    UI_AlwaysAvailable     = 0,
    UI_MustHaveFile        = 1,  // was already saved at least once, i.e. not a new text window 
    UI_MustHaveDoc         = 2,  // any editable window - windows such as "Disassembly" 
                                 //  don't have a doc 
    UI_MustHaveTextDoc     = 4,  // same as above, but must be a text document (for instance, 
                                 // not a resource) 
    UI_MustHaveOpenWindows = 8,  // at least one window must be open
    UI_MustBeActiveWindow  = 16, // command applies only to active windows

    UI_UseCallback         = 128 // call user-defined UI update callback
};

You can pass any combination of flags:

(UI_MustHaveDoc | UI_MustBeActiveWindow)      // enable only if has a document 
                                              //  and is the active window

(UI_MustHaveFile | UI_UseCallback)            // enable/disable based on file 
                                              //  availability, then call user callback

The user callback function for UI updates is an optional function that you can pass to the SDK while registering your addon.  This function is very similar to a function that you would write to handle MFC's <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/devprods/vs6/visualc/vcmfc/_mfc_on_update_command_ui.htm"> ON_UPDATE_COMMAND_UI</a> message.  For example, this is the UI handler callback implemented by SDK sample:

// This is a sample of a custom UI handler (used only for the "Enable Transformation" command).
// The handler sets a checkmark for the command based on the current configuration settings.
void OnWTCommandUpdateUI(int iCmd, CCmdUI *pCmdUI, const WTSDK_CommandContext *pCmdContext)
{
    // only the idCmdEnable command requested UI notifications
    ASSERT(iCmd == idCmdEnable); 

    pCmdUI->Enable(TRUE);
    pCmdUI->SetCheck(cfg_bEnabled);
}

Tab Morphing

The most interesting feature of the SDK, in my opinion, is the ability to transform the tabs themselves.  An SDK addon has access to the following tab attributes:

• The Tab Text - You can change the text as well as the text color.
• The Tab Icon - You can change/replace the icon.
• The Tab Overlay Icon - The overlay icon is merged with the regular icon before the tab is drawn.  For example, the tab numbers are overlays.

Note: Tab transformations require that the WndTabsExt component be enabled.

In the above pictures you can see a few of these transformations:

Icon        Transform</font></td>
      <td align="center"><code>Overlay        Icon Transform

Note the use of an "overlay" for the asterisk icon (right picture).  Although you can change the actual icon, overlaying is usually achieved by modifying the overlay icon (which usually holds the tab number image).  Changing the overlay icon will ensure that the overlay is unaffected when other addons modify the actual icon.

Transformation are preformed in two stages:

1. The change stage - In this stage, addons a expected to make any destructive changes, such as totally replacing the text or icon.
2. The modify stage - In this stage, addons are expected to make modifications to the current text/icons.

Although the above guidelines cannot be enforced, all addons are expected to cooperate.

The Tab Modification Function

The tab modification callback (which was passed to the SDK during InitWndTabsIntegration call) looks like this:

void <a name="OnTabUpdate">OnTabUpdate</a>(WTSDK_TabUpdateInfo *pTabUpdateInfo, const WTSDK_CommandContext *pCmdContext)
{
...
    // find out some stuff about the tab's file
    const char * const pLastDot = strrchr(pCmdContext->szFullPath, '.');
    bool bIsCpp = (pLastDot  &&  (stricmp(pLastDot, ".cpp") == 0));

...

    if (pTabUpdateInfo->stage == WTSDK_TabUpdateInfo::change)
    {
        // the "change" stage - perform any operation that totally replaces 
        // texts or icons
    }
    else
    {
        // the "modify" stage - perform any operation that makes alterations 
        // to existing texts or icons
    }
}

Like other callbacks, you have access to the command context.  However, the actual information about the tab is passed in the WTSDK_TabUpdateInfo structure:

struct WTSDK_TabUpdateInfo
{
    UINT cbSize; // Must be set to sizeof(WTSDK_TabUpdateInfo)

    enum { change, modify } stage;  // see explanation <a href="#stages">here</a>

    // == Text on Tab ==
    int iTabNumber;     // the number (0 based index) of the tab - notice,
                        //   however, that the text indexes shown to the
                        //   user start at 1 (i.e. TextIdx==iTabNumber + 1)


    char szPrefix[256]; // the text before the file name (i.e. tab number)
                        // <u>see picture</u>
    char szBase[512];   // the text that belongs to the tab's entire group 
                        // (the file name)  <u>see picture</u>
    char szSuffix[256]; // the text that is different for each tab in the group 
                        // (the extension) <u>see picture</u>

    // These are the texts without alterations - DO NOT CHANGE
    const char *pszOrigPrefix, *pszOrigBase, *pszOrigSuffix;

    // == Colors ==
    COLORREF    crTextColorSel;     // when tab is selected
    COLORREF    crTextColorNotSel;  // when tabs isn't selected

    // == Icons ==
    wt_auto_icon  hIcon;
    wt_auto_icon  hIconOverlay;
};

In order to change the text, you may modify szPrefix, szBase and szSuffix.  The text color is defined by crTextColorSel and crTextColorNotSel.  The icons (regular and overlay) are accessed through the hIcon and hIconOverlay variables.

Keep in mind that the text in the tab info object might not correspond to the original file name.  For instance, for .cpp files, szSuffix should be ".cpp", however, any addon may change this text.  Even the pszOrigSuffix variable that holds the original value might not have ".cpp" as it's value, because the user might choose not to display extensions on the tabs!  If you need to access the file's name, use the command context object.

WndTabs Events

Another service provided by the SDK is WndTabs events.  To get access to event, you may optionally pass an event handler to the SDK initialization function.  This function will be called whenever one of the following events occurs:

The SDK Sample Addon (WTSDK_Samp)

You know what they say: A sample's worth a thousand articles.  And I say that they're right!

The SDK comes with a sample addon - WTSDK_Samp.  The sample demonstrates everything you can do with an addon - text transformations, commands, and UI callbacks.  It also demonstrates proper AddInComm registration.  In short - it's a good place to start.

Tips For Writing Addons

If you're thinking about writing an addon, here are a few pointers to get you started:

• The source code for WndTabs is available for download.  You can compile a debug build that will help you track bugs much more quickly.
• Your addon is just another DevStudio addin.  For tips on debugging addins, check the WndTabs online help under the "Compiling and Debugging" topic.
• If you mix Debug builds of addons with a Release build of WndTabs (or visa versa), your addon dialogs might not appear centered on the screen.  This is normal.  The problem will go away when create a release build.
• Support is just an e-mail away! 

Conclusion

If you install and play around with the SDK and its sample, you will quickly realize that the sky is the limit!  Everything from unique icons to hooking the tabs into your favorite version control system is now possible...  Just write a WndTabs addon!