3D Studio Max like Slidable DialogBar

• Download demo project - 12.4 Kb
• Download source - 47.6 Kb

Introduction

Kinetix and Autodesk always impressed me with their great GUI. 3D Studio Max has a Slidable DialogBar that the user can slide up and down... Well here is how to do it yourself. It is probably one of the easiest code I ever had to show around and anybody with a little experience in VC++ / MFC will get it. (I actually posted it because I have never seen another programmer or company create a GUI similar to 3DS Max)

Here is the Magic Theory behind it

1. Create any kind of CWnd derived class . That will be your TOP level Window (could be a CDialog / CDialogBar / CButton anything...)

   Lets say CDialogBarExt ....derived from CDialogBar.

2. Create a CWnd derived Class that will contain the actual sliding dialog.

   Lets say CDlgContainer ....derived from CWnd

3. Create a member variable for CDialogBarExt of type CDlgContainer.
   
   
4. Create a CDialog derived class .

   Lets say CInnerDlg (this is the actual sliding dialog !!!)

5. Create a member variable of type CInnerDlg for CDlgContainer....

So up till know we have CDialogBarExt--->CDlgContainer--->CInnerDlg ? ok? the Code for Sliding the dialog is below and should be entered in the CInnerDlg

The easiest way to understand, is to look through the code it is very simple!!!

void CInnerDlg::OnLButtonUp(UINT nFlags, CPoint point) 
{
    /// IF WE WHERE DRAGGING THEN RELEASE THE MOUSE CAPTURE
    if(m_bDragging)
    {
        ReleaseCapture();
        m_bDragging = FALSE;
    }
    
    CDialog::OnLButtonUp(nFlags, point);
}

void CInnerDlg::OnMouseMove(UINT nFlags, CPoint point) 
{

 int ydiff;

    if(m_bDragging && nFlags & MK_LBUTTON)
    {
       // GET DIALOGS WINDOW SCREEN COORDINATES
       CRect rcWnd;
       GetWindowRect(&rcWnd);

       // GET PARENTS CLIENT RECTANGLE
       CRect prect;
       GetParent()->GetClientRect (prect);

       // IF WE HAVE TO GO DOWN OR UP // 
       if (m_ptDragFrom.y>point.y) {    
          ydiff = point.y - m_ptDragFrom.y;
          posY+=ydiff;
       }// IF WE HAVE TO GO DOWN OR UP // 
       if (m_ptDragFrom.y<point.y) {    
          ydiff = m_ptDragFrom.y -point.y;
          posY-=ydiff;
       }
       //////////////////////////////


       // CALCULATE IF WE ARE GOING TO EXCEED BOTTOM DIALOG BORDER
       int tmp=prect.Height ()-rcWnd.Height ();
       
       // CONSTRAINTS !
       if (posY<tmp+1) posY=tmp+1;
       if (posY>-1) posY=-1;

       // MOVE THE DIALOG 
        SetWindowPos(NULL, 3, 
                     posY, 
                     rcWnd.Width(), 
                     rcWnd.Height(), SWP_SHOWWINDOW|SWP_NOSIZE);


    }    
    
    CDialog::OnMouseMove(nFlags, point);
}

void CInnerDlg::OnLButtonDown(UINT nFlags, CPoint point) 
{
   // START DRAGGING 
   SetCapture();
   m_bDragging = TRUE;
   m_ptDragFrom = point;
   ::SetCursor(AfxGetApp()->LoadCursor (IDC_CURSOR_HAND));
   CDialog::OnLButtonDown(nFlags, point);
}