Adding a View and Document to an MDI Application

It is possible to add a View/Document from a previous application to an MDI application. Assume that

The View class is CPrevView and is defined in PrevView.h and PrevView.cpp.
The Document class is CPrevDoc and is defined in PrevDoc.h and PrevDoc.cpp.

Adding the classes to the Application

Copy the classes from the previous application into the current application's directory.
From Solution Explorer of the current app, right click the app name
Select Add
Select Add Existing Item...
Select the .cpp and .h file files for the view and doc and click Open

Add a String Resource

Edit the string table in the current app
Add a resource for the new doc/view. In this example, it will be named IDR_PREV_TYPE
Set teh contents of this resource (use the IDR for the current view as a template)
1. Name of application
2. Default name for file save
3. Document type name (not used in this course)
4. Description for file filter
5. File extension
6. Label for registry entry (short name)
7. Description for registry entry (long name)

Add a document template

Open InitInstance in the current app.

Add a new doc template for the new view and doc

pDocTemplate = new CMultiDocTemplate(
	IDR_PREV_TYPE,
	RUNTIME_CLASS(CPrevDoc),
	RUNTIME_CLASS(CChildFrame), // custom MDI child frame
	RUNTIME_CLASS(CPrevView));
if (!pDocTemplate)
	return FALSE;
AddDocTemplate(pDocTemplate);

Include the headers for the view and doc in the MainFrm.cpp

Include the Current App Header

The old view and doc contain references to the old application header file. Do not copy that header into the current application. Edit the header files for the view and doc, and change the include for the application header so that it includes the current application's header file.

Run the Application

When the application opens, a dialog will display for the two templates that are in the app.
If the dialog does not open,
- It could be due to the fact that a resource that the view or doc needs has not been copied into the resources of the current application. See below for more information on this.
- If the document or a data class uses the template library, then edit stdafx.h to include afxtempl.h.

Adding Other Resources

This is a little trickier, since it requires that the resource.h and the .rc file be edited.

Editing `resource.h`

Open the resource.h file and add any symbols that the dialog needs (controls, dilaog ID, ...). It is okay to use different numbers, but make sure that you don't duplicate any.

Modify the section at the bottom to reflect the new limits. Change the numbers to the next unused number in each range.

// Next default values for new objects
// 
#ifdef APSTUDIO_INVOKED
#ifndef APSTUDIO_READONLY_SYMBOLS
#define _APS_NEXT_RESOURCE_VALUE        134
#define _APS_NEXT_COMMAND_VALUE         32776
#define _APS_NEXT_CONTROL_VALUE         1013
#define _APS_NEXT_SYMED_VALUE           106

Editing the Application's`.rc` file

Open the .rc file for the application
Copy a dialog definition from the previous application's .rc file into this .rc file.
Copy a menu definition from the previous application's .rc file into this .rc file.
Copy a toolbar definition from the previous application's .rc file into this .rc file. Be sure that the .bmp file is actually in the location that you specify.
Be very careful!