I have a fairly standard MFC application that consists of a main window, and occasionally brings up modal dialogs. As we all know nothing can be done outside a modal dialog until it is closed.
Therefore, a nice UI feature is to "dim" the rest of the main window behind the dialog, to visually indicate you can't use it until you're done with the modal dialog. Some web apps and java/mac apps do this, but I've never seen it done in a traditional C++/MFC application. I'd like to give it a try, even if it's unusual for the platform.
How can this be done? I have several modal dialogs in the application, used in this pattern:
// pMainFrame is available as a pointer to the CWnd of the main window
CMyDialog dialog;
dialog.DoModal(); // invoke modal dialog; returns after dialog closed
Is there an easy way to have the window dimmed before any DoModal() and restored afterwards? I'm using Visual Studio 2010 in case the updated MFC has any features that might help.
Edit: I've posted a solution based on oystein's answer, but I'm starting a bounty in case anyone can improve on it - especially with a smooth fade in/fade out.