Dynamic Dialog Class

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Dynamic Dialog class

These classes are being used for displaying a modal/modelles dialog, on which the controls are dynamically added, without the need of having a dialog template as resource. These classes were developed as base classes for use in a script parser, where users can build there own dialogs, using a VB-script alike language. So basically there can be any number of controls on the dialog, at any place on the dialog.

Global structure of the CDynDialogEx class:

• class is derived of CDialog
• in the class there is an array of CDynDialogItemEx pointers, the dialog controls
• class includes DoDataExchange() function.
• add controls to dialog through function AddDlgControl()

Global structure of the CDynDialogItemEx class:

• class is derived of CWnd
• holds the data of the control that was added to the dialog, like the caption, the rectangle, etc.
• creates the controls on the dialog

Small piece of sample code on how to use the classes

void CTestDynDialogDlg::OnButton1();
{
    int nRadio1 = 0;
    //Create a rectangle in dialog units, where the control should be placed
    CRect rect(10,5,60,19);
    
    CDynDialogEx dlg(this);     //create the dynamic dialog, using this as parent window
    dlg.SetWindowTitle(_T("Dynamic Dialog : WindowTitle....."));

    //Add a button control at the given position
    dlg.AddDlgControl(_T("BUTTON"),    // Type of control OR classname of the control
            _T("Press me!"),    // Caption of control
            STYLE_BUTTON,    // dwStyle of control
            EXSTYLE_BUTTON,    // dwStyleEx of control
            &rect,    // Position of control on dialog in dialog units, default = NULL
            NULL,    // void pointer to variable use for DDX, default = NULL
            IDC_DYN_BUTTON);    // ID of the contol, default = zero

    //Add a group of radio buttons
    //variable nRadio1 is used for DDX
    dlg.AddDlgControl(_T("BUTTON"), _T("Radio1Caption 1"), 
                      STYLE_RADIO_GROUP, EXSTYLE_RADIO, NULL, (void*)&nRadio1);
    dlg.AddDlgControl(_T("BUTTON"), _T("Radio1Caption 2"), 
                      STYLE_RADIO, EXSTYLE_RADIO);

    //Now show me the dialog
    dlg.DoModal()
}

Working explained

• CDynDialogEx::AddDlgControl() function creates new object of class CDynDialogItemEx and adds it to the array of controls. Function also checks/sets the size of the dialog, so the control is seen on the dialog.
• CDynDialogEx::DoModal() function initializes the DLGTEMPLATE structure using the selected font and calls CDialog::InitModalIndirect() for modal dialogs or CDialog::CreateIndirect() for modless dialogs
• CDynDialogEx::OnCreate() function creates all the controls on the dialog
• CDynDialogItemEx::CreateEx() does nothing (ActiveX controls) or creates the window
• CDynDialogEx::OnInitDialog() function repositions all the controls on the dialog or creates the ActiveX controls
• CDynDialogItemEx::SetWindowPos() function converts from dialog units to screen units and creates ActiveX control

Update 18-06-2002

• Class CDynDialogItemEx now derived from CWnd instead of heaving a CWnd member
• Added modless gialog possibility as supposed by CodeBuddy. (CDynDialogEx::SetUseModeless())
• Added subclassed controls, because I needed them. After adding the control you can use SubclassDlgItem with the Control_ID returned by calling CDynDialogEx::AddSubclassedDlgControl()
• Improved DDX_Control support for dialog items
• Added partial ActiveX controls support. Partial because the controls are created, but there is no support for the EVENT_SINK! But there is code for creating licensed controls dynamicly.
• Added examples for modeless dialog, adding and filling a CListbox, an ActiveX control on a dialog

Tip!

Mix this code with the code from Paolo Messina's article CResizableDialog

Possible extensions:

• improving ActiveX controls support, specially EVENT_SINK related
• adding Menus dynamically to the dialog
• ...