Microsoft Foundation Classes (mfc.hlp) (Table of Contents; Topic list)
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class CDialog
CWnd                                        Up Contents Index Back
──Microsoft Foundation Classes──────────────────────────────────────────────
 
  Description
 
  The CDialog class is an abstract class for displaying dialog boxes on
  the screen. To get a modeless dialog box, you must derive your own class
  from CDialog. To derive modal dialog boxes, use the CModalDialog
  class. The constructors for class CDialog are protected, so you must
  derive your own class.
 
  A modeless dialog box allows the user to display the dialog box and
  return to another task without canceling or removing the dialog box. A
  modal dialog box requires the user to close the dialog box before the
  application continues.
 
  You can create a modeless dialog in one step or two. To create it in one
  step, write the constructor so it calls the object's Create member
  function. To create it in two steps, don't include a call to Create in
  the constructor. Invoke the constructor for your dialog object, then
  call the object's Create member function.
 
  A modeless dialog box receives messages from Windows like any other
  window. To process messages in your derived dialog-box class, provide
  message-handler member functions for the messages the dialog box can
  process.
 
  Your message-handler member functions specify what happens when the user
  works with your dialog box. Typically, you'll override the
  OnInitDialog member function when you need to initialize controls
  (such as setting the initial text of an edit box).
 
  You'll also override the OnClose member function of your derived
  dialog class to call CWnd::DestroyWindow. Instead of calling
  DestroyWindow, you can call the C++ delete operator on the this
  reference, which calls DestroyWindow for you.
 
  Your derived dialog-box class can also add member variables to store
  data entered by the user or data for display to the user. You can add
  member functions to set or get these values. A modeless dialog box can
  also send messages to its parent window.
 
  Create your dialog box from a dialog-box resource template, as in
  traditional Windows. The dialog-box resource specifies a template name
  or ID, a font to use, a set of controls, such as buttons and edit boxes,
  and the window styles that apply to the dialog box. To create a dialog
  box from a template, specify the  template in your .RC file and compile
  it with a resource compiler. The resulting .RES file is sent to the
  linker, which incorporates the resource information with your executable
  program. Specify the name or ID of the template when you call the
  Create member function from your dialog-box constructor.
 
  Instead of creating your dialog box from a compiled resource, you can
  build the resource yourself in memory, construct an object of your class
  derived from CDialog, and use the CreateIndirect member function to
  create the dialog box from the template in memory. The template
  constructed in memory uses a DLGTEMPLATE data structure, as described in
  the Windows Software Development Kit documentation.
 
  If the dialog-box template (in a resource file or in memory) specifies
  the WS_VISIBLE style, the dialog-box window appears in its parent
  window. Otherwise, you must call the ShowWindow member function, which
  CDialog inherits from class CWnd.
 
  After the call to Create, Windows sends a WM_INITDIALOG message to the
  dialog box. You can override the OnInitDialog member function to
  perform dialog-box initialization chores. For example, if your dialog
  box displays statistics about the current font, you can override
  OnInitDialog to set the current values of the static text controls in
  the dialog box to reflect the statistics.
 
  Although the dialog-box template can specify the dialog-box font, you
  can also set the font on the fly. If the dialog-box template specifies
  the DS_SETFONT style, Windows sends a WM_SETFONT message to the dialog
  box before creating the controls. In response to this message, the
  application calls the OnSetFont member function. You can override that
  message-handler function to set the dialog-box font.
 
  When the user terminates a modeless dialog box, call the
  DestroyWindow member function, which CDialog inherits from class
  CWnd, to remove the dialog window and destroy its data  structures.
  You can call DestroyWindow from the OnOK, OnCancel, or OnClose member
  functions, which you can override from class CWnd. If you allocate any
  memory in the dialog object, override the CDialog destructor to dispose
  of the allocations.
 
  See Also
 
  CModalDialog
 
  Public Members
 
  Operations
 
  MapDialogRect     Converts the dialog-box units of a rectangle to
                      screen units.
 
  IsDialogMessage   Determines whether the given message is intended for
                      the modeless dialog box and, if so, processes it.
 
  NextDlgCtrl       Moves the focus to the next dialog-box control in
                      the dialog box.
 
  PrevDlgCtrl       Moves the focus to the previous dialog-box control
                      in the dialog box.
 
  GotoDlgCtrl       Moves the focus to a specified dialog-box control in
                      the dialog box.
 
  SetDefID          Changes the default pushbutton control for a dialog
                      box to a specified pushbutton.
 
  GetDefID          Gets the ID of the default pushbutton control for a
                      dialog box.
 
  EndDialog         Terminates a modal dialog box.
 
  Overridables
 
  OnInitDialog   Override to augment dialog-box initialization.
 
  OnSetFont      Override to specify the font that a dialog-box control
                   is to use when drawing text.
 
  Protected Members
 
  Construction/Destruction
 
  CDialog   Constructs a CDialog object.
 
  Initialization
 
  Create           Initializes the CDialog object. Creates the modeless
                     dialog and attaches it to the CDialog object.
 
  CreateIndirect   Creates a modeless dialog box from a dialog-box
                     template in memory.
 
 
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