Adding custom control to resource file in MFC application

Question

Adding custom control to resource file in MFC application

technoway 241

I used the only tags I found. They are wrong. I am not using dot net.

I have an MFC application written in C++. I wish to improve the code by using a custom edit control in instead of the regular CEdit class. I am currently running Visual Studio 2019 Community Edition.

I have created a custom edit control derived from the CEdit class.

I wish to replace the text "EDITTEXT" in the resource file that specifies to create a CEdit instance with the window class name for the new custom edit control. That name was created by calling AfxRegisterClass.

However, I cannot get the resource compiler to recognize the new name.

I've made many MFC Applications, and even used custom controls. In this case, I have a complicated dialog, and I'd like to change as little code as is possible.

I'm considering updating to Visual Studio 2022. Does it also support MFC?

(I'm worried that Microsoft will drop support for MFC. I started writing this application in 1994, in my spare time, and I'd hate to have to rewrite it from scratch).

Thanks you for running this website.

Minxin Yu 13,501 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2022-03-14T06:13:18.957+00:00

Could you provide steps to reproduce the problem?
technoway 241 Reputation points

2022-03-14T06:38:00.797+00:00

Yes. Build the code in the article in the link at Castorix31's post below.

Use the dialog editor to create a dialog window with an edit control in it.
Save that.

Create an instance of the control just to cause the RegisterWindowClass method to be called. (I presume that is registered in the system).

Replace "EDITTEXT" in the .rc file for the dialog with the custom control's classsname, which for that example is: "MFCBitmapViewerCtrl"

Now, do a clean and a full build.

My application has a different classname. I get a build error from the resource compiler:

"GenericMDIApplication.rc(427): error RC2104: undefined keyword or key name: EDITFLT"

I don't know how to tell the resource compiler the custom control classname.
Minxin Yu 13,501 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2022-03-14T07:28:21.017+00:00

Did you #include the relevant header files？
technoway 241 Reputation points

2022-03-14T09:30:29.577+00:00

The header file CFloatEdit.h is included in CFloatEdit.cpp.

I just moved the following line to the CFloatEdit.h file:

define FLOAT_EDIT_CTRL_CLASSNAME _T("EDITFLOAT")

And, I tried including file CFloatEdit.h in the resource (.rc) file. That didn't work. I included file <tchar.h> before it too.

From reading an old article for Visual Studio 2005, there was some step about registering the WIndow classname (not a C++ class name) for the Resource Compiler by using a setting in "properties" in some Visual Studio diaolg, however, I haven't been able to figure out how to do that in Visual Studio 2019.

Accepted answer

1 additional answer

Your answer

Minxin Yu 13,501 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2022-03-14T06:13:18.957+00:00

Could you provide steps to reproduce the problem?
technoway 241 Reputation points

2022-03-14T06:38:00.797+00:00

Yes. Build the code in the article in the link at Castorix31's post below.

Use the dialog editor to create a dialog window with an edit control in it.
Save that.

Create an instance of the control just to cause the RegisterWindowClass method to be called. (I presume that is registered in the system).

Replace "EDITTEXT" in the .rc file for the dialog with the custom control's classsname, which for that example is: "MFCBitmapViewerCtrl"

Now, do a clean and a full build.

My application has a different classname. I get a build error from the resource compiler:

"GenericMDIApplication.rc(427): error RC2104: undefined keyword or key name: EDITFLT"

I don't know how to tell the resource compiler the custom control classname.
Minxin Yu 13,501 Reputation points Microsoft External Staff

2022-03-14T07:28:21.017+00:00

Did you #include the relevant header files？
technoway 241 Reputation points

2022-03-14T09:30:29.577+00:00

The header file CFloatEdit.h is included in CFloatEdit.cpp.

I just moved the following line to the CFloatEdit.h file:

define FLOAT_EDIT_CTRL_CLASSNAME _T("EDITFLOAT")

And, I tried including file CFloatEdit.h in the resource (.rc) file. That didn't work. I included file <tchar.h> before it too.

From reading an old article for Visual Studio 2005, there was some step about registering the WIndow classname (not a C++ class name) for the Resource Compiler by using a setting in "properties" in some Visual Studio diaolg, however, I haven't been able to figure out how to do that in Visual Studio 2019.

Answer 1

RLWA32 49,536

I successfully created a VS2019 project with the custom bitmap viewer control from the CodeProject article.

VS2019 Dialog Editor -

.RC file -

    CONTROL         "Custom1",IDC_CUSTOM1,"MFCBitmapViewerCtrl",WS_BORDER | WS_TABSTOP,56,34,150,102

Execution with ugly bitmap -

technoway 241 Reputation points

2022-03-15T02:28:41.657+00:00

RLWA32-6355 - Thank you. I had read that. I've now downloaded it and built it too.

I misread part of that article, and was putting my classname where the keyword "CONTROL" belongs.

I've added the other DDX code, however, and while the constructor for my custom edit control is called, the control doesn't appear. That's a different issue than I opened this for, so I'll accept this answer and work on that.
RLWA32 49,536 Reputation points

2022-03-15T11:34:44.5+00:00

By the way, MFC continues to be supported and is included in Visual Studio 2022.

Answer 2

Castorix31 90,521

I used the only tags I found. They are wrong. I am not using dot net.
I have an MFC application written in C++

Then just use the Tag "c++"...

You can see this old article Creating Custom Controls

technoway 241 Reputation points

2022-03-14T01:26:13.573+00:00

Thank you for replying. Unfortunately, I had already read that article, and several others like it on the Internet. Some of the code I wrote even came from that article. That's why I posted here.

The example there of using "MFCBitmapViewerCtrl" is equivalent to what I want to do - however, that does not work. The resource compiler is unable to find the symbol.

I found numerous articles online about how to use a "properties" to define the symbol that replaced "EDITTEXT", however, I cannot find that in any Visual Studio settings, and it's not clear what I'm supposed to do.

I spent many days searching and trying things in Visual Studio.

With the exception of my variable names being a bit different, my RegisterWindowClass method is exactly the same as in that article.

Share via

Adding custom control to resource file in MFC application

define FLOAT_EDIT_CTRL_CLASSNAME _T("EDITFLOAT")

1 additional answer

Your answer