How to handle messages from dynamically created controls in an MFC app?

Question

Imagine I have a CDialog which creates controls dynamically when the user clicks a button. It could be like this:

// We don't know which is the first id for the new buttons until runtime (!)
MyDialog::MyDialog(/*whatever parameters needed*/, first_id)
  : next_id_(first_id) 
{ /*...*/ }

BOOL MyDialog::OnSomeButtonClicked()
{
  CButton* new_button = new CButton;
  new_button->Create("Caption", WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE, this->new_button_rect_, 
                     this, this->next_id_++);
}

Then my question would be: How could I handle messages from this button? Is it possible to use the MFC message map facility?

The solution should work in both vs6 and vs2005.

Thank you!

Answer 1

I believe this article explains it pretty well and has source code. I have not tried this so I can't guarantee it works, but in the time I have thought it might help.

Article

Answer 2

Eventhough you dont know the exact values of the id, if you know the possible range of IDs then the following macro can be used.

BEGIN_MESSAGE_MAP(MyDialog, CDialog)
    ...
    ...
    ON_COMMAND_RANGE(1000, 5000, OnButtonDynamic)
END_MESSAGE_MAP()


void MyDialog::OnButtonDynamic(UINT nID)
{

}

This will work for ids in the range 1000 - 5000.

Answer 3

You can find details (+ a lot more) on modeless dialogs there.

Answer 4

These are the solutions I've found so far in order of relevance:

1. Use ON_COMMAND_RANGE if you can define the range of the control IDs you want to handle.

2. Overload CWnd::PreTranslateMessage() and do whatever stuff you want with the messages received. NOTE: When dealing with buttons, take into account that the BN_CLICKED event is NOT sent to PreTranslateMessage but directly sent to the window procedure.

3. Overload CWnd::WindowProc() and do whatever stuff you want with the messages received. NOTE that when dealing with buttons this is the ONLY WAY I've found to handle the BN_CLICKED event.

Interesting links:

• Please help with PreTranslateMessage and user defined messages handling.
• TN006: Message Maps

I hope this helps... thank you all for your contributions.

Answer 5

insert the entry of ID of the handler in Resouce.h Then insert the entry in the message map of the handler like ON_BN_CLICKED(IDC_BTNCREATE, OnBnClickedrunCreated) or you can directly use the integer ID like ON_BN_CLICKED(1200, OnBnClickedrunCreated). If you use 2nd version then there is no need to insert entry in resource.h. Give defination and declaration of the handler in .h and .cpp file. you will get your answer.