Explorer-Style Custom Templates

To define additional controls for an Explorer-style Open or Save As dialog box, use the OPENFILENAME structure to specify a template for a child dialog box that contains the additional controls. If your child dialog template is a resource in an application or dynamic-link library, set the OFN_ENABLETEMPLATE flag in the Flags member and use the hInstance and lpTemplateName members of the structure to identify the module and resource name. If the template is already in memory, set the OFN_ENABLETEMPLATEHANDLE flag and use the hInstance member to identify the memory object that contains the template. When providing a child dialog template for an Explorer-style dialog box, you must also set the OFN_EXPLORER flag; otherwise, the system assumes you are providing a replacement template for an old-style dialog box. Typically, if you provide additional controls, you must also provide an Explorer-style hook procedure to process messages for the new controls.

You can create your child dialog box template as you do any other template, except that you must specify the WS_CHILD and WS_CLIPSIBLINGS styles and should specify the DS_3DLOOK and DS_CONTROL styles. The system requires the WS_CHILD style because your template defines a child dialog of the default Open or Save As dialog box. The WS_CLIPSIBLINGS style ensures that the child dialog box does not paint over any of the controls in the default dialog box. The DS_3DLOOK style makes sure that the appearance of the controls in the child dialog box is consistent with the controls in the default dialog box. The DS_CONTROL style makes sure that the user can use the TAB and other navigation keys to move between all controls, default or custom, in the customized dialog box.

To make room for the new controls, the system expands the default dialog box by the width and height of the custom dialog box. By default, all controls from the custom dialog box are positioned below the controls in the default dialog box. However, you can override this default positioning by including a static text control in your custom dialog box template and assigning it the control identifier value of stc32. (This value is defined in the DLG.H header file.) In this case, the system uses the control as the point of reference for determining where to position the new controls. All new controls above and to the left of the stc32 control are positioned the same amount above and to the left of the controls in the default dialog box. New controls below and to the right of the stc32 control are positioned below and to the right of the default controls. In general, each new control is positioned so that it has the same position relative to the default controls as it had to the stc32 control. To make room for these new controls, the system adds space to the left, right, bottom, and top of the default dialog box as needed.

The system requires the hook procedure to process all messages intended for the custom dialog box and therefore sends the same window messages to the hook procedure as to any other dialog box procedure. For example, the hook procedure receives WM_COMMAND messages when the user clicks on button controls in the custom dialog box. The hook procedure is responsible for initializing these controls and retrieving values from the controls when the dialog box is closed. Note that when the hook procedure receives the WM_INITDIALOG message, the system has not yet moved the controls to their final positions.

The default dialog box procedure handles messages for all the controls in the default dialog box, but the hook procedure receives the WM_NOTIFY notification messages for user actions on these controls as described in Explorer-Style Hook Procedures.