Two PUSHBUTTON Problems

[Spike Pierson]

Hello All,

I am being perplexed by two different issues regarding the push button control
and the CButton MFC class. To set the groundwork, I am building an app with
VS6, using the MFC App Wizard to lay the foundation. It is SDI with Document/View
support. I derived my view class from CFormView, so the main window is built
from a dialog template.

Okay, first issue: I am utilizing a push button as a toggle; push once to
start an event, push again to stop it. As a visual indication to the user
that the button is down (or toggled "on"), I call the SetState method of
the CButton class, such as follows:

CButton m_btnToggle1;
...
void OnToggle1()
{
if (...) // Toggle is off
{
... // Do toggle "on" stuff
m_btnToggle1.SetState(TRUE); //Toggle ON - Show button down
...
}
else // Toggle is on
{
... // Do toggle "off" stuff
m_btnToggle1.SetState(FALSE); //Toggle OFF - Show button up
...
}
}

The visual effect works fine, but the problem is that when the button is
in the down state (toggle "on"), pushing ANY other button on the form causes
a toggle off. When I comment out the two SetState calls, the problem goes
away. Why is this happening? Is this a bug in Windows / MFC framework,
or am I missing something here? Is there a workaround for this problem?
My boss isn't happy with the lack of visual toggle effect.

Second issue: I have a row of twelve push button controls which I disable
at the get-go (in the view's OnInitialUpdate function by calling each button's
inherited EnableWindow(FALSE) method). I have assigned the twelve keyboard
function keys (F1 - F12) as accelerators for these buttons (in the IDR_MAINFRAME
accelerator resource). After starting the app, when I click any of these
buttons with the mouse, they are disabled like they should be. However,
if I use the keyboard accelerator instead of the mouse, the message hander
for each button gets called even though the button control is disabled.
This definitely seems like a bug. Is there a workaround for this little
anomaly?

Any help here would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Boris Karadjov]

About the first issue:

To have buttons that look like push buttons and act as toggles, you should
use a *check box* with "push-like" style set. Then you use the control like
a normal check box, for example, you should call CButton::SetCheck(...) to
set the initial state of the button instead of CButton::SetState(...). Even
better, use the class wizard to associate "check buttons" with a set of Boolean
member variables and let the dialog data exchange do the rest.


Boris Karadjov
Brainbench MVP for Visual C++
http://www.brainbench.com

"Spike Pierson" <SPierson@xostech.com> wrote:
>
>Hello All,
>
>I am being perplexed by two different issues regarding the push button control
>and the CButton MFC class. To set the groundwork, I am building an app
with
>VS6, using the MFC App Wizard to lay the foundation. It is SDI with Document/View
>support. I derived my view class from CFormView, so the main window is
built
>from a dialog template.
>
>Okay, first issue: I am utilizing a push button as a toggle; push once
to
>start an event, push again to stop it. As a visual indication to the user
>that the button is down (or toggled "on"), I call the SetState method of
>the CButton class, such as follows:
>
>CButton m_btnToggle1;
>...
>void OnToggle1()
>{
> if (...) // Toggle is off
> {
> ... // Do toggle "on" stuff
> m_btnToggle1.SetState(TRUE); //Toggle ON - Show button down
> ...
> }
> else // Toggle is on
> {
> ... // Do toggle "off" stuff
> m_btnToggle1.SetState(FALSE); //Toggle OFF - Show button up
> ...
> }
>}
>
>The visual effect works fine, but the problem is that when the button is
>in the down state (toggle "on"), pushing ANY other button on the form causes
>a toggle off. When I comment out the two SetState calls, the problem goes
>away. Why is this happening? Is this a bug in Windows / MFC framework,
>or am I missing something here? Is there a workaround for this problem?
> My boss isn't happy with the lack of visual toggle effect.

[Nico]

About your second issue,

You can just check if button is enabled or not (e.g. - (GetDlgItem( IDC_CHECK_1
)->IsWindowEnabled()) ) in your button handler.

Good luck,

Nico

"Spike Pierson" <SPierson@xostech.com> wrote:

Hello All,

I am being perplexed by two different issues regarding the push button control
and the CButton MFC class. To set the groundwork, I am building an app with
VS6, using the MFC App Wizard to lay the foundation. It is SDI with Document/View
support. I derived my view class from CFormView, so the main window is built
from a dialog template.

Okay, first issue: I am utilizing a push button as a toggle; push once to
start an event, push again to stop it. As a visual indication to the user
that the button is down (or toggled "on"), I call the SetState method of
the CButton class, such as follows:

CButton m_btnToggle1;
...
void OnToggle1()
{
if (...) // Toggle is off
{
... // Do toggle "on" stuff
m_btnToggle1.SetState(TRUE); //Toggle ON - Show button down
...
}
else // Toggle is on
{
... // Do toggle "off" stuff
m_btnToggle1.SetState(FALSE); //Toggle OFF - Show button up
...
}
}

The visual effect works fine, but the problem is that when the button is
in the down state (toggle "on"), pushing ANY other button on the form causes
a toggle off. When I comment out the two SetState calls, the problem goes
away. Why is this happening? Is this a bug in Windows / MFC framework,
or am I missing something here? Is there a workaround for this problem?

My boss isn't happy with the lack of visual toggle effect.

Second issue: I have a row of twelve push button controls which I disable
at the get-go (in the view's OnInitialUpdate function by calling each button's
inherited EnableWindow(FALSE) method). I have assigned the twelve keyboard
function keys (F1 - F12) as accelerators for these buttons (in the IDR_MAINFRAME
accelerator resource). After starting the app, when I click any of these
buttons with the mouse, they are disabled like they should be. However,
if I use the keyboard accelerator instead of the mouse, the message hander
for each button gets called even though the button control is disabled. This
definitely seems like a bug. Is there a workaround for this little anomaly?

Any help here would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Spike Pierson]

Many thanks to both "Boris Karadjov" and "Nico". Collectively, the suggestions
from the two of you were just the ticket for my two problems. Thanks again!!


With kindest regards,

Spike Pierson



"Boris Karadjov" <bbmvp@cpppp.virtualave.net> wrote:
>
>About the first issue:
>
>To have buttons that look like push buttons and act as toggles, you should
>use a *check box* with "push-like" style set. Then you use the control like
>a normal check box, for example, you should call CButton::SetCheck(...)
to
>set the initial state of the button instead of CButton::SetState(...). Even
>better, use the class wizard to associate "check buttons" with a set of
Boolean
>member variables and let the dialog data exchange do the rest.
>
>
>Boris Karadjov
>Brainbench MVP for Visual C++
>http://www.brainbench.com
>

"Nico" <Nico@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>About your second issue,
>
> You can just check if button is enabled or not (e.g. - (GetDlgItem( IDC_CHECK_1
>)->IsWindowEnabled()) ) in your button handler.
>
> Good luck,
>
>Nico
>
>"Spike Pierson" <SPierson@xostech.com> wrote:
>
>Hello All,
>
>I am being perplexed by two different issues regarding the push button control
>and the CButton MFC class. To set the groundwork, I am building an app
with
>VS6, using the MFC App Wizard to lay the foundation. It is SDI with Document/View
>support. I derived my view class from CFormView, so the main window is
built
>from a dialog template.
>
>Okay, first issue: I am utilizing a push button as a toggle; push once
to
>start an event, push again to stop it. As a visual indication to the user
>that the button is down (or toggled "on"), I call the SetState method of
>the CButton class, such as follows:
>
>CButton m_btnToggle1;
>...
>void OnToggle1()
>{
> if (...) // Toggle is off
> {
> ... // Do toggle "on" stuff
> m_btnToggle1.SetState(TRUE); //Toggle ON - Show button down
> ...
> }
> else // Toggle is on
> {
> ... // Do toggle "off" stuff
> m_btnToggle1.SetState(FALSE); //Toggle OFF - Show button up
> ...
> }
>}
>
>The visual effect works fine, but the problem is that when the button is
>in the down state (toggle "on"), pushing ANY other button on the form causes
>a toggle off. When I comment out the two SetState calls, the problem goes
>away. Why is this happening? Is this a bug in Windows / MFC framework,
>or am I missing something here? Is there a workaround for this problem?
>
>My boss isn't happy with the lack of visual toggle effect.
>
>Second issue: I have a row of twelve push button controls which I disable
>at the get-go (in the view's OnInitialUpdate function by calling each button's
>inherited EnableWindow(FALSE) method). I have assigned the twelve keyboard
>function keys (F1 - F12) as accelerators for these buttons (in the IDR_MAINFRAME
>accelerator resource). After starting the app, when I click any of these
>buttons with the mouse, they are disabled like they should be. However,
>if I use the keyboard accelerator instead of the mouse, the message hander
>for each button gets called even though the button control is disabled.
This
>definitely seems like a bug. Is there a workaround for this little anomaly?
>
>Any help here would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
>