Dockable panes created in CChildFrame not visible the second time the app. starts.

Question

Hi,

I have created some dockable panes in CChildFrame::OnCreate() The first time i start the application they are shown. The second time i start the application they are created but the splitterwindows are completly against the sides of the clients area (bottom and right), so not visible. So i have to use the mouse to pull the splitters into the clientarea so that the dockable windows become visible again. If i do File->New in my app a new client window is created and showing the dockable windows as they should be. I Think this has something to do with saving the windows layout in the registry, because if i change SetRegistryKey(_T("61sakjgsajkdg")); in the CWinApp derived class of my app. and rerun they are shown again the first time. (but not the second time i restart the app). How can i save the layout of those dockable windows as well, so if i restart my app. they are visible ? Or else how do i prevent my app. of overwritting the window layout with the one previously saved. Something to do with LoadCustomState() and SaveCustomState() ?, i could no find any info on howto implement those methods. I have here a link to the demo project to demonstrate what i mean:

http://www.4shared.com/file/237193472/c384f0f6/GUI60.html

Could someone tell me how to show those dockable windows in my CChildFrame class the second time the app starts?

Answer 1

The new classes in the MFC Feature Pack all have their window state saved in the registry.

From the sound of it, I think you probably need to call CWinAppEx::SetRegistryBase() in your InitInstance() after you call SetRegistryKey(). MSDN describes it (with little to no detail on why) here in step #4.

Answer 2

I changed it a bit in InitInstance to :

. . . if (!ProcessShellCommand(cmdInfo)) return FALSE;

LoadState((CMainFrame*)AfxGetMainWnd(),_T("Settings4"));

// The main window has been initialized, so show and update it
pMainFrame->ShowWindow(m_nCmdShow);
pMainFrame->UpdateWindow();

. .

AND in:

CMainFrame::~CMainFrame() { theApp.SaveState((CMainFrame*)AfxGetMainWnd(),_T("Settings4")); }

I dont know if this is the way to do it, but it is working for now. Any comments on this are more than welcome.