Embedding CMFCOutlookBar in CSplitterWnd panes

Introduction

This article helps to add a CMFCOutlookbar in CSplitterWnd panes. The above image shows an Office 2007 type UI that is available with Visual Studio 2008 and the MFC feature pack. Refer this link for more details: Visual C++ 2008 Feature Pack: MFC Enhancements.

Using the code

By default, the CMFCOutlookBar in the Office 2007 UI generated code is embedded in a CFrameWnd derived class. Here, we will discuss about adding a CMFCOutlookBar in CSplitterWnd/CSplitterWndEx panes.

BOOL COffice2007Frame::OnCreateClient(LPCREATESTRUCT /*lpcs*/,    
                       CCreateContext* pContext)
{
    BOOL bRet=true;  
    bRet=bRet&m_wndSplitter.CreateStatic(this,2,2);
    CRect rectClient;
    this->GetClientRect(&rectClient); 
    bRet=bRet&m_wndSplitter.CreateView(0,0,RUNTIME_CLASS(CMFCOutlookBar),
         CSize(rectClient.Width()/4,rectClient.Height()/2),pContext); 
    bRet=bRet&m_wndSplitter.CreateView(0,1,RUNTIME_CLASS(COffice2007View),
         CSize(rectClient.Width()*3/4,rectClient.Height()/2),pContext); 
    bRet=bRet&m_wndSplitter.CreateView(1,0,RUNTIME_CLASS(COffice2007View),
         CSize(rectClient.Width()/4,rectClient.Height()/2),pContext); 
    bRet=bRet&m_wndSplitter.CreateView(1,1,RUNTIME_CLASS(COffice2007View),
         CSize(rectClient.Width()*3/4,rectClient.Height()/2),pContext);      
    return bRet;  
}

This above code divides the splitter window in four unequal panes. During the creation of the view in the first pane, a CMFCOutlookBar runtime pointer is given, so it will create an OutlookBar in the first pane.

CMFCOutlookBar* pPane_0_0=(CMFCOutlookBar*)m_wndSplitter.GetPane(0,0);
pPane_0_0->GetParent()->ModifyStyle(WS_CHILDWINDOW,WS_CHILDWINDOW|
                                    WS_CLIPCHILDREN,SWP_DRAWFRAME);

In the above code, we take the pointer of the OutlookBar using the GetPane function and modify the properties of the splitter parent pane to add the WS_CLIPCHILDREN property. If we don't add this property, then on focus change, the splitter window pane will over-paint the OutlookBar.

By changing this property, it creates a problem of debug assertion fail in the Debug compile mode. To solve this problem, derive the class CSplitterWndEx and override the function OnInvertTracker().

void CDSplitterWndEx::OnInvertTracker(const CRect& rect )
{
    this->GetPane(0,0)->GetParent()->ModifyStyle(WS_CLIPCHILDREN,
                        0,SWP_DRAWFRAME);
    this->GetPane(0,1)->GetParent()->ModifyStyle(WS_CLIPCHILDREN,
                        0,SWP_DRAWFRAME);
    this->GetPane(1,0)->GetParent()->ModifyStyle(WS_CLIPCHILDREN,
                        0,SWP_DRAWFRAME);
    this->GetPane(1,1)->GetParent()->ModifyStyle(WS_CLIPCHILDREN,
                        0,SWP_DRAWFRAME);

    CSplitterWndEx::OnInvertTracker(rect); //Base class

    this->GetPane(0,0)->GetParent()->ModifyStyle(0, 
                        WS_CLIPCHILDREN,SWP_DRAWFRAME);
    this->GetPane(0,1)->GetParent()->ModifyStyle(0,
                        WS_CLIPCHILDREN,SWP_DRAWFRAME);
    this->GetPane(1,0)->GetParent()->ModifyStyle(0,
                        WS_CLIPCHILDREN,SWP_DRAWFRAME);
    this->GetPane(1,1)->GetParent()->ModifyStyle(0,
                        WS_CLIPCHILDREN,SWP_DRAWFRAME);
}

The above code removes the WS_CLIPCHILDREN property of each pane before calling OnInverTracker to escape from a debug assertion fail, and then again adds the property back to each pane.

Points of Interest

This code is particularly useful for those who want to modify the MFC Outlook 2008 in their own way. This just demonstrates how to add a CMFCOutlookBar in a SplitterWnd pane in place of the default main frame window.