Using the Grid Control in a Doc/View framework

A simple tutorial that demonstrates how to use the grid control in a doc/view application.

I have had many, MANY questions asking how to use my MFC grid control in a view instead of in a dialog, so hopefully this will help.

The easiest way as I see it is as follows:

1. Add a member variable of type CGridCtrl* to your view class:

   CGridCtrl* m_pGrid;

2. Initialise this to NULL in your view class' constructor:

   CMyView::CMyView
   {
       m_pGrid = NULL;
   }

3. In the CView function OnInitialUpdate, create a new CGridCtrl object if the m_pGrid is not NULL, and then create the CGridCtrl window:

   CMyView::OnInitialUpdate
   {
       CView::OnInitialUpdate();
   
       if (m_pGrid == NULL)             // Have we already done this bit?
       {
           m_pGrid = new CGridCtrl;     // Create the Gridctrl object
           if (!m_pGrid ) return;
   
           CRect rect;                  // Create the Gridctrl window
           GetClientRect(rect);
           m_pGrid->Create(rect, this, 100);
   
           m_pGrid->SetRowCount(50);     // fill it up with stuff
           m_pGrid->SetColumnCount(10);
           
           // ... etc
       }
   }

   This allows the view to be reused (eg SDI situations).

4. We want the grid to take up the whole of the view's client space, so add a handler to the WM_SIZE message for the view and edit the OnSize function thus:

   CMyView::OnSize(UINT nType, int cx, int cy) 
   {
       CView::OnSize(nType, cx, cy);
       
       if (m_pGrid->GetSafeHwnd())     // Have the grid object and window 
       {                               // been created yet?
           CRect rect;
           GetClientRect(rect);        // Get the size of the view's client
                                       // area
           m_pGrid->MoveWindow(rect);  // Resize the grid to take up that 
                                       // space.
       }
   }

5. Remember to delete the object when you are done:

   CMyView::~CMyView
   {
       delete m_pGrid;
   }

6. You may want to also add an OnCmdMsg overide to your view class and let the grid control have first go at the messages (this will allow commands such as ID_EDIT_COPY to be wired in automatically:

   BOOL CMyView::OnCmdMsg(UINT nID, int nCode, void* pExtra, 
                          AFX_CMDHANDLERINFO* pHandlerInfo) 
   {
       if (m_pGrid && IsWindow(m_pGrid->m_hWnd))
           if (m_pGrid->OnCmdMsg(nID, nCode, pExtra, pHandlerInfo))
               return TRUE;
   
       return CView::OnCmdMsg(nID, nCode, pExtra, pHandlerInfo);
   }

If you want print preview, then check out Koay Kah Hoe's article Print Previewing without the Document/View Framework.