Understanding the AppWizard and ClassWizard in Visual C++ Version 6.x
by Marshall Brain

Understanding Document Templates

One of the more interesting, and best hidden, features of any AppWizard framework is something called document templates . In this tutorial you will learn about document templates and see how you can add new ones to your applications. By the end of the tutorial you will have used document templates to create a single MDI application that can display both text and drawing documents simultaneously.

Creating a Text Editor

Let's start by using the AppWizard to create a second type of application. In the previous tutorials we have created a drawing editor. Here we will quickly create a text editor. It is interesting to note that you can create a complete text editor - one with all the features of Notepad, along with several others as well - without writing a single line of code. Take the following steps:

• In Visual C++, select the New option from the File menu, make sure the Project tab in the subsequent dialog is selected, and name the new project "Ed". Make sure the type is set to MFC AppWizard (EXE) and select an appropriate directory. Click OK and look over the AppWizard's options in the six configuration screens.
• We want to change two things in the configuration screens: First we want to give a default file extension, and second we want to change the view class. In the fourth screen of the six, click the Advanced button and type "tex" into the File Extension field. In the sixth screen, click on CEdView, and at the bottom of the dialog change the Base Class to CEditView using the combo box.
• Compile and run the program. You will find that you have a complete MDI text editor. You can load and save text files, cut, copy and paste text, print files, and so on.
• If you look at the help page for the CEditView class, you will find that it automatically understands certain menu options. In particular, if you add menu options with the IDs of ID_EDIT_FIND, ID_EDIT_REPEAT, ID_EDIT_REPLACE and ID_EDIT_SELECT_ALL, the program will automatically recognize these new options and perform them properly. You do not need to add anything but the menu options. Do that now and test the program.

This application was so easy to create because the CEditView class has all of the behavior of a normal text editor built into it. There is just one line of code that the AppWizard had to add to make the whole thing work, and that line can be found in the Serialize function of the document class. It looks like this:

((CEditView*)m_viewList.GetHead())->SerializeRaw(ar);

That line loads and saves text files. Just so you are aware of it, the CEditView class violates the strict separation of document and view. The CEditView class contains a normal CEdit control, and this control holds the editor's data itself. Therefore, the data resides inside the CEditView class rather than in the document class, and the line of code above gets or sets that data. Because of this odd structure, you will want to remove the New Window option from the Window menu. Since the document does not hold the data, it is not possible to have multiple views display the same document. This seems like a small price to pay for the ease of using the CEditView class to create quickie text editors.

Now that you have created a complete text editor, let's see what steps are necessary to create a single MDI application that can display both text and drawing documents. To do this, we will take the drawing program from the previous tutorials and modify it so that it can also display text documents. To do this, three steps are required:

• Step 1: Start with the drawing program and add a new document and view class for the text editor
• Step 2: Create a new document template for the new document type
• Step 3: Add three new resources to the drawing editor

Once you have completed these three steps, the program will be able to display both text and drawing documents simultaneously.

Step 1: Add a new document and view class

Open the workspace file for the drawing editor (samp) in Visual C++. Choose the ClassWizard option in the View menu. Click the Add Class button and select New. You will see a dialog with several fields. In the Name field type CEdDoc . In the Base Class field choose CDocument. The ClassWizard will choose a file name of EDDOC.CPP, and this name is fine. Click the OK button. Click the Add Class button again to create another new class. Type CEdView into the Name field and choose CEditView for the base class type. The file name EDVIEW.CPP chosen by the ClassWizard is fine. Click the OK button. Close the ClassWizard by clicking its OK button.

Now modify the Serialize function in the new document class (CEdDoc) so it contains the line seen in the text editor:

((CEditView*)m_viewList.GetHead())->SerializeRaw(ar);

The two new CPP files were automatically added to the drawing project by the ClassWizard. You will add the header files to the CSampApp class in the next step.

Step 2: Add a new document template

Open the CSampApp class, which contains the application class for the application derived from CWinApp, in the ClassView so that you can see a list of its functions. Find the InitInstance function. Double click on it. Look for the following lines:

 CMultiDocTemplate* pDocTemplate;
 pDocTemplate = new CMultiDocTemplate(
    IDR_SAMPTYPE,
    RUNTIME_CLASS(CSampDoc),
    RUNTIME_CLASS(CChildFrame), // custom MDI child frame
    RUNTIME_CLASS(CSampView));
 AddDocTemplate(pDocTemplate);

These lines create a document template. The CWinApp class (see the help file) has built into it the ability to hold a list of document templates. When it holds more than one, it changes the behavior of the application slightly. For example, the New option pops up a list that lets the user choose what type of document he/she wishes to create. What we want to do is change the program so that it contains two templates: one for drawing documents, and another for text documents. Modify the above code so that it looks like this:

CMultiDocTemplate* pDocTemplate;
pDocTemplate = new CMultiDocTemplate(
    IDR_EDTYPE,
    RUNTIME_CLASS(CEdDoc),
    RUNTIME_CLASS(CChildFrame),          // custom MDI child frame
    RUNTIME_CLASS(CEdView));
AddDocTemplate(pDocTemplate); 
pDocTemplate = new CMultiDocTemplate(
    IDR_SAMPTYPE,
    RUNTIME_CLASS(CSampDoc),
    RUNTIME_CLASS(CChildFrame),          // custom MDI child frame
    RUNTIME_CLASS(CSampView));
AddDocTemplate(pDocTemplate);

Note that a new document template has been created. The new one goes first (more on the reason for that in a moment). It specifies IDR_EDTYPE, CEdDoc and CEdView. But what does that mean?

The purpose of a document template is to relate a resource type (IDR_EDTYPE), a document class, a view class, and a window class. When the application framework needs to create a new instance of a document for the user, it looks to the document template, which tells it to create a new instance of the appropriate document, view and window classes. The resource ID is used when the framework needs to change resources. It identifies a specific menu, icon and string resource. So, for example, when the user clicks on a window in the MDI shell, the application framework brings that window to the foreground and it changes the menu to the one appropriate for that window, according to the window's document template.

We put the text document template first because, if the user attempts to open a document whose extension is unknown to the application, the application tries to open it under the first document template registered. Since text documents are far more likely than drawing documents, the text template is placed first in the list of document templates.

Be sure to include EDDOC.H and EDVIEW.H at the top of SAMP.CPP.

Step 3: Create resources

The new document template specifies a resource ID of IDR_EDTYPE. If you open the ResourceView and look through its resources, you will find that it already contains three resources of type IDR_SAMPTYPE as needed by the drawing editor: a menu, an icon, and a string near the top of the string table. The easiest way to create new resources for the text editor type is to copy these three IDR_SAMPTYPE resources to the clipboard, paste them back, and then change their names to IDR_EDTYPE using the Properties option in the View menu. Then modify them as appropriate. For example, to the IDR_EDTYPE menu you will want to add the ID_EDIT_FIND, ID_EDIT_REPEAT, ID_EDIT_REPLACE and ID_EDIT_SELECT_ALL options (also delete the Option menu that got copied). You will also want to remove the New Window option from the Window menu. Change the IDR_EDTYPE icon as you see fit. Change the IDR_EDTYPE string so that it looks like this:

\nEd\nEd\nEd Files (*.tex)\n.TEX\nEd.Document\nEd Document

For more information about this mysterious string, search for the GetDocString function in the help file. It will explain what all seven of the substrings do. Now that you understand the strings, modify the IDR_SAMPTYPE string as well so it contains a file extension:

\nDrawing\nDrawing\nDrawing Files (*.drw)\n.DRW\nDrawing.Document\nDraw Document

Change the two strings in any way that you like.

Step 4 : Build and execute

Build the new application and run it. When it starts you should see a new dialog that lets you choose whether you want to create a text or drawing document. Choose text, and verify that the text editor works properly. Now choose New and create a drawing document. Draw something. Note that when you change windows the menu bar changes as appropriate.

Conclusion

You can see that adding a new document template is easy, and there is really no limit to the number of templates a single application might have. As you create more complex applications, you will find this to be an extremely useful feature of the AppWizard framework.