Re: How to modalize a dialog?

From:
".rhavin grobert" <clqrq@yahoo.de>
Newsgroups:
microsoft.public.vc.mfc
Date:
Thu, 6 Nov 2008 06:46:31 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID:
<d1b1e2ac-1c16-455b-bd4e-fce9f3d3f6d2@h23g2000prf.googlegroups.com>
On 5 Nov., 21:50, Joseph M. Newcomer <newco...@flounder.com> wrote:

See below...

On Wed, 5 Nov 2008 12:35:44 -0800 (PST), ".rhavin grobert" <cl...@yahoo.d=

e> wrote:

Guess we have a modeless dialog (*pDlg) that is already created and
shown. i now want to provide a way to make it modal, eg, call a fn
that returns only after the dialog was EndDialog'ed. Return value is
not the point here, that is handled by some overloads. The following
snipped should "modalize" a dialog that is already created and shown
and is a copy from the CDialog::DoModal() source. But the call into
RunModalLoop() "locks" everything. Does someone know how to correctly
make an alredy created and shown dialog modal?


****
There are several different questions here.

For example, you CANNOT make a "modeless" dialog "modal" in the sense tha=

t it is

terminated by EndDialog. You CAN make it "modal" in that the parent is=

 disabled until the

dialog terminates, which is a different question. Just call
GetParent()->EnableWIndow(FALSE); and you're done. Make sure that as p=

art of the

OnDestroy handler you re-enable the parent window.

You must make sure that EndDialog is never, ever, called for a modeless d=

ialog. This

means that you have to override OnCancel and OnOK and not call the superc=

lass, but instead

implement DestroyWindow to kill the dialog. You would notify the owner=

 of the dialog by

using SendMessage or PostMessage that the dialog has closed, and include =

as WPARAM or

LPARAM the IDOK/IDCANCEL. I would NOT attempt at all the solution you =

have tried; it

looks like a recipe for disaster.


In MyDialog, EndDialog(), OnCancel(), Create(), OnOk() and DoModal()
will all be overloaded, so the dialog "knows" if it is created modal
or modeless. The point is: In a modal dialog scenario, you can do
something like this:

void CMyClass::DoSomethingFunny()
{
    CMyDialog dlg;
    ThisFnIsCalledBeforeDialog();
    dlg.DoModal();
    ProcessingContinuesHereAfterDialogEnded();
}

what im trying to acomplish is something similar for already existent
dialogs (modeless)

void CMyClass::DoSomethingQuiteMoreFunny(CMyDialog* dlg)
{
    ThisFnIsCalledBeforeDialog();
    pDlg->Modalize();
    ProcessingContinuesHereAfterDialogEnded();
}

Note that "Ended" doesnt neccesarily mean that is has to be destroyed.

A modeless dialog is inherently asynchronous; you have made the common mi=

stake of thinking

you can impose synchronous behavior on an asyncrhonous mechanism. Don't w=

aste time trying.

I didnt understand everything, but the mfc-sources for Create() and
DoModal() seem to do much the same. whats the difference? they dont
seem to run in a different thread.

Since the only purpose of a modal dialog is to disable the main window wh=

ile the dialog is

active, that's trivial; and there is no reason to ever think that it make=

s sense to impose

synchronous behavior on asynchronous mechanisms; that's always a losing g=

ame. You started

out asking the wrong question; the right question is "I want the dialog t=

o have the

illusion of modality at some point", and confused that with an implementa=

tion that

approaches the problem from the wrong direction. The illusion of modal=

ity is simple:

disable the parent window. The notification of completion is asynchrono=

us.

Instead of writing
        A();
        dlg->Modalize();
        B();
you should write
        A();
        Modalize();
LRESULT CMyWhatever::OnDialogFinished(WPARAM wParam, LPARAM)
    {
     if(wParam == IDOK)
        ...
     dlg->Demodalize();
     return 0;
    }

where "Modalize" is now
void CMyDialog::Modalize()
    {
     GetParent()->EnableWIndow(FALSE);
   }
and Demodalize re-enables the window.

Note that this solution is very easy to implement.
                                    =

    joe

yes, but not exactly what i want ;-)

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