Re: recreate a window

From:
".rhavin grobert" <clqrq@yahoo.de>
Newsgroups:
microsoft.public.vc.mfc
Date:
Tue, 11 Nov 2008 09:16:35 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID:
<949ce8dd-2a59-4670-9f38-cf205e3babba@f37g2000pri.googlegroups.com>
On 11 Nov., 17:42, Joseph M. Newcomer <newco...@flounder.com> wrote:

See below...

On Tue, 11 Nov 2008 05:51:17 -0800 (PST), ".rhavin grobert" <cl...@yahoo.=

de> wrote:

On 10 Nov., 20:43, Joseph M. Newcomer <newco...@flounder.com> wrote:

See below...
On Mon, 10 Nov 2008 10:26:29 -0800 (PST), ".rhavin grobert" <cl...@yah=

oo.de> wrote:

On 10 Nov., 18:59, Joseph M. Newcomer <newco...@flounder.com> wrote:

See below...

On Mon, 10 Nov 2008 08:09:56 -0800 (PST), ".rhavin grobert" <cl...@=

yahoo.de> wrote:

a CComboBox and CQControl derived control shall recreate itself, i=

f

the styles given in resource not match the style required for toe
control (here: CBS_OWNERDRAWFIXED must be set). As CComboBox is un=

able

to correctly modify this style with ModifyStyle(), the recreation =

is

called and works.


****
The error is that you did not do this at design time. Essentiall=

y, I treat the failure to

have the wrong styles as an error. Not sure why you are botherin=

g to work around a bug

that shouldn't exist. If this happens, you ASSERT and then fix t=

he dialog at design time,

and omit ALL the code below.
CComboBox is not *supposed* to be able to modify this style after t=

he control is created,

so it is not "unable to correctly modify this style" because it was=

 never defined that

this is even possible.
****


thats why i recreate it.


***
My point is, a program which has one of these which is NOT defined as =

CBS_OWNERDRAWFIXED

is an erroneous program, so you fix it in the dialog template once, an=

d never again worry

about it.
****


if there's no way to let my code correct the error, i'd assert. but i
thought to use this flags myself, e.g. recreate a control with the
appropriate windowsflags needed for the control, and use the user-
defined flags for my own implementation (in this case, calling a user-
defined drawing routine instead of my own default drawing routine.)


****
You should not go to extensive effort to correct a defect that can be cor=

rected at design

time.
****

____________________________________________
//----------------------------------------------------------------=

-------

// recreate the underlying hwnd to match required styles
bool CQControl::QRecreateWindow(DWORD dwStyle, DWORD dwStyleEx)
{
   CWnd* pWnd = CWnd::FromHandlePermanent(m_hwnd);


****
This is unnecessary; 'this' is already the CWnd *. So there is n=

o need for the above

line.


no it is not. 'this' is a CQControl that has no CWnd as baseclass! fo=

r

example, the
CQComboBox is a public CComboBox, public CQControl.


****
That's a different question than the one you asked. You did not spe=

cify that you are

using multiple inheritance.


i did'nt say i'm not using it;-) But you're right, assuming direct(?)
inheritance is the default.


****
On the whole, MFC is not multiple-inheritance friendly. You can get in=

to all kinds of

problems using multiple-inheritance in MFC, which is why most of us avoid=

 it.

ATL and COM use it, but they use it *very carefully*. And they don't u=

se it for ordinary

controls, but special ATL and COM objects
****

But in that case, FromHandle is sufficient.
****


i just wanted to be shure.

****> ASSERT(pWnd != NULL);

   ASSERT(pWnd == CWnd::FromHandle(m_hwnd));
   if (pWnd == NULL)
           return false;


****
The above statements are meaningless. You already have 'this' or=

 you wouldn't be here. It

doesn't matter about what map it is in; you shouldn't care, either.


see above.


****
You have to provide *all* relevant information in order to get a corre=

ct answer

****

Note that I use this technique rather often to create a control in =

a space formerly

occupied by a CStatic, so I'm changing the entire control type. =

This code is FAR too

complicated for such a simple task.
****


a static in Dialog-Editor would not look like a combobox.

   CRect rc;
   HWND hParent = GetParent(m_hwnd); =

    // [1]

****
CWnd * parent = GetParent();
****


wrong. see above.


****
If you use multiple inheritance, a previously unstated case, then yes.=

  But you can't ask

a question without giving all relevant information and expect to get a=

 relevant answer

****

   // get position and size of current window
   GetWindowRect(m_hwnd, &rc); =

                        // [2]

****
I'm surprised this even compiles. There is no need to use the ra=

w HWND. You could just

have written
        GetWindowRect(&rc);
and get everything you need.


see above;-)

   // following fn's need width and size, we recycle rc
   rc.right = rc.Width(); =

                                     =
      // [3]

   rc.bottom = rc.Height(); =

                                    // =
[4]

***
This code is incorrect. You must not set the right and bottom in=

 this fashion, because

you are working with the window rect, and the width and height are =

independent of the

coordinate system. Lose the two assignments above.

   // translate into parents coordinates
   ScreenToClient(hParent, &rc.TopLeft()); =

               // [5]

****
Why are you not doing something as simple as
                CRect rc;
                GetWindowRect(&rc);
                GetParent()->ScreenToClient(&rc);
this is all you need. You have a complex and convoluted solution=

 to a simple problem.

Just translating the top/left coordinate makes no sense, because it=

 will produce a window

that has the wrong size.


no. everything works pretty well. i you insist, one could of course
define a struct RECT_ that has let, top, width and height members, bu=

t

apart from that, my way is completely ok.


****
Why do you need to define a new structure? You can just do
        CRect rc;
        ::GetWindowRect(m_hWnd, &rc);
        ::ScreenToClient(parent, &rc);
where, now that I know you are using multiple inheritance, is still si=

mpler than the

complex code you wrote. And by setting the right and bottom to the =

Width() and Height(),

BEFORE transforming the top and left, you still get the wrong size.
****


=E4hm, no.. both rects are in pixel.


****
Consider the following: the rect is in the more-or-less middle of the scr=

een, and

somewhere inside of the window.

Let the screen coordinates be 600,400, 700, 500, that is, it is a 100x100=

 control

physically at 600,400.

You set rc.right=rc.Width() and rc.bottom=rc.Height(). So we have
        rc.right = 100;
        rc.bottom = 100;

Let the (0,0) of the client area of the window that contains the control =

be at 400, 200 in

screen coordinates.

Now we transform with ScreenToClient the initial coordinates, just top an=

d left, to client

coordinates. In client coordinates, 600,400 translates to 200, 200 in =

client coordinates.

So you have a rectangle that starts at 200,200 and ends at 100,100, when =

your goal is to

have one that starts at 200,200 and goes to 300,300. Since right < lef=

t and bottom < top,

what you have is actually an illegal rectangle.


in the view of "rectangle", you're right. but i have now something
different: i have struct that has x,y,width,height as needed by
CreateWindowEx(). but to dont make thinks to complicated for other i
now use the following struct:

//-------------------------------------------------------------------------=
----
struct SQDim {
    UINT nLeft;
    UINT nTop;
    UINT nWidth;
    UINT nHeight;

    inline SQDim(UINT left = 0, UINT top = 0, UINT width = 0, UINT heigh=
t
= 0) :
        nLeft(left), nTop(top), nWidth(width), nHeight(height) {};

    inline SQDim const& operator =(SQDim const& rDim)
        {memcpy(this, &rDim, sizeof(this));};

    inline SQDim const& operator =(RECT const& rRect)
    {
        nLeft = rRect.left;
        nTop = rRect.top;
        nWidth = rRect.right - nLeft;
        nHeight = rRect.bottom - nTop;
    };

    inline operator RECT() const
        {RECT rc = {nLeft, nTop, nWidth + nLeft, nHeight + nTop}; return
rc;};
};

Had you just done ScreenToClient on the whole rectangle, you would have g=

otten

        200,200, 300, 300
which is what you would want. right and bottom are not distances, but =

absolute positions

within the coordinate system in question, which in this case is the clien=

t coordinate

system (after translation). But you translate left and top as coordina=

tes and right and

bottom as distances. This is erroneous.
****

You have five overly complicated lines doing what two trivial lines=

 will accomplish.

****

   // let derived class modify rc
   OnCreationRect(rc);


****
I have no idea what this does because there is no handler called On=

CreationRect and you

have not given the code for this, but there's nothing I know that n=

eeds to be done to this

rectangle once you have it.
****


in this case, the derived class uses this virtual as following:

void CQComboBox::OnCreationRect(RECT& rc)
{
   RECT rcDropped;
   GetDroppedControlRect(&rcDropped);
   rc.bottom = rcDropped.bottom - rcDropped.top;
}


****
Using the 'On' prefix, which is used for handlers, is confusing. Ca=

lling it something

meaningful like ComputeDroppedRect might have made it less ambiguous a=

s to what was going

on.
****

   // create a new window at current windows coordinates
   HWND hNew = CreateWindowEx(dwStyleEx, QGetClassName(), "=

", dwStyle,

           rc.left, rc.top, rc.right, rc.bottom, hPar=

ent, 0,

           ::AfxGetInstanceHandle(), NULL);


****
Why are you using the raw CreateWindowEx call? You can do this t=

rivially in MFC:

        CWnd temp;
                temp.CreateEx(dwStyleEx, QGetClassN=

ame(), _T(""), dwStyle, rc,

                        GetDlgCtrlId(), par=

ent);

Note how simple this is. For that matter, does CQControl have a =

Create method that would

be better?

I have no idea why you have chosen to change the control ID by sett=

ing it to 0; this kills

off all your handlers in the parent window. For a brief moment y=

ou will have two controls

with the same ID, but this will be changed momentarily, and causes =

no harm.

oh, i thought it was hMenu.


****
Note that it is specified as being the hMenu for a top-level window an=

d the control ID for

a child window. From the documentation:

"For a child window, hMenu specifies the child-window identifer, an in=

teger value..."

It will have to be cast to an HMENU to satisfy the compiler.
                                joe
****

But what you didn't do was make sure it is in the right place in th=

e Z-order

        temp.SetWindowPos(this, 0, 0, 0, 0, SWP_NOMOVE | SW=

P_NOSIZE);

        DestroyWindow();
        Attach(temp.Detach());

All this use of raw API and HWNDs is unneccessay.
*****

   // destroy old window and attach new one
   DestroyWindow(pWnd->Detach());
   pWnd->Attach(hNew);
   m_hwnd = hNew;


****
Get rid of all the above lines.

The convoluted nature of what you are doing is probably what leads =

to the assertion

failure. I wouldn't even try to debug this code, I would rewrite=

 it as indicated. Then,

and only then, if there is still a bug, would I worry about it.


****
Since MFC does not normally support multiple inheritance, there can be=

 some confusing side

effects here that may account for it. What is the type of the objec=

t displayed by the

debugger?


it displayes the expected type (CQComboBox)


****
Then you should not be seeing the error. But, as I indicated, MFC does=

 not play well with

multiple inheritance, and virtual destructors in a multiple inheritance s=

ituation can have

interesting consequences. You're off into uncharted territory here.
****

Is there a reason you chose to use multiple inheritance over direct in=

heritance? You are

working in unsupported areas here.


of course;-) i have a baseclass (CQControl) from with CQButton,
CQTree, CQComboBox and so on derive. Each derived class uses multiple
inheritance to derive from CQControl and its MFC-class. By doind this,
i can do the following:

void SomeFunction(CQControl* pCtrl)
{
   pCtrl->QResetContent();
   // add an red blinking element with id ELEMENT_ID to the control
   pCtrl->QElmSet(ELEMENT_ID, QDS_SHOWN|QDS_BLINK, DYE_RED);
   // set text of element ELEMENT_ID with detail id DETAIL_ID to "S=

ome

Text"
   // and add an image
   pCtrl->QDtlSet(ELEMENT_ID, DETAIL_ID, _T("Some Text"),
ELEMENT_IMAGE);
   // Select element ELEMENT_ID
   pCtrl->QSelectionSet(ELEMENT_ID);
}

if pCtrl is a CQListView, you set element-row ELEMENT_ID, detail-
column DETAIL_ID to image ELEMENT_IMAGE, detail DETAIL_ID. if pCtrl is
a CQButton and you have more than one element, you get a multibutton.
if you dont have "columns" (Button, ListBox,..), the details appear
tab-separated. So you have the same syntax for all controls. Use in
programm: guess you have a function that shall fill a selection-
control with user-names and some additional infos (an icon per user or
a user-state-color and so on). this function just gets a CQControl*
and fills it. if it fills a Listview, a Treeview, a ListBox, a
ComboBox or even a Button just depents on the design of the GUI. More:
CQControl uses a special worker thread and does all the syncronisation
needed, so you could call the above SomeFunction() from ANY Thread;-)


****
Yes, it is a cool idea, but as I've indicated, you are out into seriously=

 uncharted

territory here, and most of the ideas are not supported by the MFC framew=

ork, which

aggressively is single-inheritance.

You can have the same syntax for all controls without requiring multiple =

inheritance, but

I agree it is painful to duplicate code. As far as I know, no one has =

succeeded in doing

this.


;-))))))))))))) What i wrote is no "i plan to do this". IT
WORKS! ;-)))

  I tried it myself some years ago for the same purposes, and after a
lot of

newsgroup discussions, the verdict at that time was "You are never going =

to win at this,

don't bother", and I gave it up. Nothing has changed in the intervenin=

g decade since I

tried this, so it probably doesn't work today, either.

It's not that you have a bad idea, but that you have an idea that is prob=

ably incompatible

with how MFC is designed to work.
                                joe
****

Joseph M. Newcomer [MVP]
email: newco...@flounder.com
Web:http://www.flounder.com
MVP Tips:http://www.flounder.com/mvp_tips.htm

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