asked on

Initialise ActiveX Control without specifying pParentWnd...

Hi,

I have an application that utilises an array of MSComm controls.
These are defined in the main application code as...
CMSComm myCommArray[5];

When I initialise the application I wish to 'Initialise' the control to check that it is registered and prepare it for use...
I use the command
myCommArray[x].Create(NULL, WS_VISIBLE, CRect(0,0,0,0), m_pMainWnd, IDC_COM1+x);

This works fine when it is part of the InitInstance() function, after the window has been created and displayed.

I wish to move this code to the InitApplication() function so that it is called BEFORE any window is displayed...

I'm sure this is a fairly simple thing to achieve, but I am not sure how?

Any help would be appreciated...

Best regards,

James

AndyAinscow

from an SDI app - InitInstance function of the App

      CSingleDocTemplate* pDocTemplate;
      pDocTemplate = new CSingleDocTemplate(
            IDR_MAINFRAME,
            RUNTIME_CLASS(CXxxDoc),
            RUNTIME_CLASS(CMainFrame), // main SDI frame window
            RUNTIME_CLASS(CXxxView));
      AddDocTemplate(pDocTemplate);

      // Parse command line for standard shell commands, DDE, file open
      CCommandLineInfo cmdInfo;
      ParseCommandLine(cmdInfo);

      // Dispatch commands specified on the command line
      if (!ProcessShellCommand(cmdInfo))
            return FALSE;

//********************************************
PUT YOUR INITIALISATION HERE - window is created but not yet shown

      // The one and only window has been initialized, so show and update it.
      m_pMainWnd->ShowWindow(SW_SHOW);
      m_pMainWnd->UpdateWindow();

Member_2_99151

ASKER

That's not how the Wizard created my SDI app... I have ...

CSingleDocTemplate* pDocTemplate; <- ***Window is automatically shown at this point***
pDocTemplate = new CSingleDocTemplate(
IDR_MAINFRAME,
RUNTIME_CLASS(CxxxDoc),
RUNTIME_CLASS(CMainFrame),
RUNTIME_CLASS(CxxxView));
AddDocTemplate(pDocTemplate);

EnableShellOpen();
RegisterShellFileTypes(TRUE);

CCommandLineInfo cmdInfo;
ParseCommandLine(cmdInfo);

if (!ProcessShellCommand(cmdInfo))
return FALSE;

// The one and only window has been initialized, so update it.
m_pMainWnd->UpdateWindow();

Any ideas?

AndyAinscow

Hmm.
Does it have to be in the InitInstance of the app?
A view has a function OnInitialUpdate that is called once (I think before the window is shown). That could be a place to put the code.

Member_2_99151

ASKER

It doesn't matter where it it - providing the Window is not visible at the time...

OnInitialUpdate does not appear to be part of CWinApp though - would this be in the CFrameWnd?

AndyAinscow

Its a view function

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AndyAinscow

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Member_2_99151

ASKER

Cool, got it - it DOES execute before the Main window is displayed so I'll try moving the required code to there... Let you know the result shortly...

Member_2_99151

ASKER

Ok,

That works nicely!

Is there a way (being a little fussy now) to stop the Main Window flashing up as the termination is proceeding? I currently set a flag in the main App to say the initialisation has failed, and after returning from the ProcessShellCommand function, this flag is set and I return FALSE from InitInstance().

I guess that if it was possible to return FALSE to the ProcessShellCommand function, it might do it, but I have no idea how to do this !!!

I am accepting your above comment as the answer though as it works quite nicely - the 'Non-Flash' is one of those "Wonder if you can do that" sort of questions ;-)

Thanks for the help...

James

AndyAinscow

Would it not be nicer for the user that the app appears, a messagebox giving some sort of error message appears (In the InitInstance) and then you return false to kill the app. The user knows it attempted to start rather than a blank screen and the user thinks why didn't it start and tries again.

Member_2_99151

ASKER

Part of the Initialisation is a Login procedure. If this is cancelled or fails, the Login Class will display the appropriate message to the user - displaying a message in InitInstance will duplicate the information already given to the user during Login.

AndyAinscow

OK.
There ought to be a way but I can't think of it at present.

Just a guess
In the OnCreate of the MainFrame you get a parameter of type
CREATESTRUCT Structure
The CREATESTRUCT structure has the following form:

typedef struct tagCREATESTRUCT {
LPVOID lpCreateParams;
HANDLE hInstance;
HMENU hMenu;
HWND hwndParent;
int cy;
int cx;
int y;
int x;
LONG style;
LPCSTR lpszName;
LPCSTR lpszClass;
DWORD dwExStyle;
} CREATESTRUCT;

Try modifying the style member so it is a hidden window, if your creation of the controls in the view succeeds then add
m_pmainWnd->ShowWindow(SW_SHOW) before the UpdateWindow() call in InitInstance.

Member_2_99151

ASKER

What's the style for 'Hidden Window' ? Do you just exclude WS_VISIBLE?

AndyAinscow

yes - it might work, not tried it here

Member_2_99151

ASKER

I've tried the following in MainFrame...

int CMainFrame::OnCreate(LPCREATESTRUCT lpCreateStruct)
{
long tmpStyle = lpCreateStruct->style;
tmpStyle = tmpStyle & ~WS_VISIBLE;
lpCreateStruct->style = tmpStyle;

if (CFrameWnd::OnCreate(lpCreateStruct) == -1) return -1;

return 0;
}

But the window still appears briefly...

As I said, not urgent (you've earned your points) but if you have any ideas, please let me know...

James