Responsive CBitmapButton Class

I used the MFC CBitmapButton class in a project and was annoyed of the fact that it wasn’t as responsive as normal text buttons. It seems to eat double clicks if you click too fast on it. I tried Micrsofts samples of bitmap buttons and experienced the same problem. I think the problem appears for all buttons that have the attribute “owner draw” set but I haven’t confirmed this.

I don’t know if this is the smartest way of solving the problem but it was quite easy once I figured it out. I could not find any solution to this problem on codeguru and not in MS’ knowledgebase.

The following instructions assumes you have basic knowledge on how to use the ClassWizard in DevStudio.

Using the CFixedButton Class

  1. Add the files FixedButton.cpp and FixedButton.h to your project (Project/Add To Project/Files).
  2. Copy the bitmap resources to your project. They are “MOVEUPD”, “MOVEUPF”, and “MOVEUPU”.
  3. Note that these are string resource IDs and not numeric identifiers.
  4. Create a new dialog resource.
  5. Give it the ID IDD_STEPBYSTEP.
  6. Press CTRL+W to bring up the dialog box “Adding a class”.
  7. Select “Create a new class” and then click on OK.
  8. Enter CStepByStep in the Name edit box.
  9. Click on OK.
  10. Click on OK to close the “MFC Class Wizard” dialog box.
  11. Use the Controls toolbar in DevStudio to add a normal pushbutton to the newly created dialog box.
  12. Right-click on the button and give it the ID IDC_STEPBUTTON.
  13. Check the check box Owner draw on the Styles tab.
  14. Close the properties dialog.
  15. Open the file StepByStep.h.
  16. Locate the following line
      CStepByStep(CWnd* pParent = NULL);   // standard constructor
    

    Now insert this line after it.

      CFixedButton  m_btnStep;
    
  17. Open the file StepByStep.cpp.
  18. Below the line…
      #include "stdafx.h"
    

    …add the following two lines:

      #include "resource.h"
      #include "FixedButton.h"
    

  19. Still in StepByStep.cpp, add the following in CStepByStep::CStepByStep():

    if (FALSE == m_btnStep.LoadBitmaps(_T("MOVEUPU"),
                                       _T("MOVEUPD"),
                                       _T("MOVEUPF") ) )
    {
      TRACE0("Failed to load bitmaps for buttons\n");
      AfxThrowResourceException();
    }
    

    Use ClassWizard to add the function BOOL CStepByStep::OnInitDialog() (CTRL+W, select CStepByStep in
    the drop down list Class name, browse to WM_INITDIALOG in the Messages list, click on Add Function).

  20. In CStepByStep::OnInitDialog(), after the base class call, add the following:

    VERIFY( m_btnStep.SubclassDlgItem( IDC_STEPBUTTON, this ) );
    m_btnStep.SizeToContent();
    

  21. To use it in, for example, FixedButtonDlg.cpp, add the include:

      #include "StepByStep.h"
    

  22. Use the ClassWizard to override, let’s say the WM_LBUTTONDOWN message.

  23. Then modify the message handler to look like this:
    void CFixedButtonDlg::OnLButtonDown( UINT nFlags, CPoint point )
    {
      CStepByStep dlg;
      dlg.DoModal();
      CDialog::OnLButtonDown( nFlags, point );
    }
    

  24. Compile and test. That’s it!

Please post any comments and/or improvements you might have.

Downloads

Download demo project – 11 Kb

More by Author

Get the Free Newsletter!

Subscribe to Developer Insider for top news, trends & analysis

Must Read