Q223439: HOWTO: Using Class Wrappers to Access Windows Common Controls in

Article: Q223439
Product(s): Microsoft C Compiler
Version(s): WINDOWS:3.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbsample kbATLWC kbCtrl kbATL300 kbGrpDSMFCATL
Last Modified: 26-JUN-2001

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The information in this article applies to:

- The Microsoft Active Template Library (ATL) 3.0 
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SUMMARY
=======

When accessing Windows Common Controls in an MFC dialog box, you can use the
thin class wrappers provided by MFC to simplify the task. Unfortunately, ATL
does not "officially" provide this functionality.

Normally, this would require you to create your own classes or communicate with
the controls by using messages. Thankfully, there is another option. In the
ATLCON sample included with Visual C++, you will find ATLControls.h, which has
created thin wrapper classes for the Windows Standard and Common Controls. These
wrapper classes can be used to access controls on an ATL dialog box or ATL
composite control.

Because these classes are not officially in ATL, they are only supported in the
context of the sample included with this article. Should you need to, it is a
straight-forward process to change the source code of your project's version of
ATLControls.h.

MORE INFORMATION
================

The first step is to copy the ATLControls.h file to your project. This can be
done as follows:

1. Go to the Online help and search for "ATL Samples Index".

2. Select the ATLCON sample.

3. Click "Click to open or copy the ATLCON project files" link.

4. Copy the ATLControls.h file to your project directory.

5. In the Visual C++ Workspace window, click the FileView tab.

6. Right-click the Header Files directory and select Add Files to Folder from
  the context menu.

7. Browse to the file directory to which you copied ATLControls.h to select it.

Note that the wrapper classes are part of the ATLControls namespace.
We are ready to use ATLControls.h within our project:

  //***** Adds untested wrapper classes for Win32 common controls.
  //***** Used for CTabCtrl. Found in "ATLCON sample (ATL)".
  #include "AtlControls.h"

  //***** AtlControls.h classes are part of the ATLControls namespace
  using namespace ATLControls;

  class CForm: ... {
     CTabCtrl m_TabCtrl; //*****

     LRESULT OnInitDialog(UINT uMsg, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam, BOOL& bHandled) {
        // Give a Tab Control on the dialog with ID: IDC_TabCtrl
        m_TabCtrl = GetDlgItem(IDC_TabCtrl); //*****

        // We can now use m_TabCtrl to manipulate the Tab Control.
        ...
     }

Additional query words: CAnimateCtrl, CButton, CComboBox, CComboBoxEx, CDateTimePickerCtrl, CDragListBox, CEdit, CFlatScrollBar, CHeaderCtrl, CHotKeyCtrl, CImageList, CIPAddressCtrl, CListBox, CListViewCtrl, CMonthCalendarCtrl, CPagerCtrl, CProgressBarCtrl, CReBarCtrl, CRichEditCtrl, CScrollBar, CStatic, CStatusBarCtrl, CTabCtrl, CToolBarCtrl, CToolInfo, CToolTipCtrl, CTrackBarCtrl, CTreeItem, CTreeViewCtrl, CTreeViewCtrlEx, CUpDownCtrl.

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Keywords          : kbsample kbATLWC kbCtrl kbATL300 kbGrpDSMFCATL 
Technology        : kbAudDeveloper kbATLsearch kbATL300
Version           : WINDOWS:3.0
Issue type        : kbhowto

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