Solving MDI Tab Issues: Permanently Rename Tabs and Taskbar Preview Fixes

Описание: Discover how to solve MDI tab renaming issues and control taskbar previews in your application using simple techniques.
---
This video is based on the question https://stackoverflow.com/q/69402374/ asked by the user 'Tim' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/16396623/ ) and on the answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/69431491/ provided by the user 'Tim' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/16396623/ ) at 'Stack Overflow' website. Thanks to these great users and Stackexchange community for their contributions.

Visit these links for original content and any more details, such as alternate solutions, latest updates/developments on topic, comments, revision history etc. For example, the original title of the Question was: MDI Tab names changing back... / Taskbar Preview not selecting

Also, Content (except music) licensed under CC BY-SA https://meta.stackexchange.com/help/l...
The original Question post is licensed under the 'CC BY-SA 4.0' ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... ) license, and the original Answer post is licensed under the 'CC BY-SA 4.0' ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... ) license.

If anything seems off to you, please feel free to write me at vlogize [AT] gmail [DOT] com.
---
Solving MDI Tab Issues: Permanently Rename Tabs and Taskbar Preview Fixes

Managing Multi-Document Interface (MDI) applications can be tricky, particularly when dealing with dynamic tab names and taskbar previews. This post sheds light on a common problem developers encounter: MDI tab names reverting back to default values, and how to address taskbar preview issues. Let’s dive right into the details!

The Problem

You are developing an MDI application without the Document/View architecture, leveraging tabbed groups to manage multiple child windows. As your application dynamically generates tab names from a database, you face two significant challenges:

Dynamic Tab Name Issue: The tabs, initially named with your application’s name, revert to this default name when you switch between them.

Taskbar Preview Behavior: When previewing tabs on the taskbar, selecting an inactive tab doesn’t render it correctly or switch the view as expected.

It’s crucial to solve these issues to improve user experience and functionality within your application.

Solution to Dynamic Tab Naming

To manage your tab names properly and ensure they remain dynamic, you need to implement an appropriate message handling technique. Here's a step-by-step breakdown of what you can do:

Step 1: Setup Message Mapping

First, you’ll want to set up a message mapping in your window class.

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

This mapping will listen for color change commands that can also handle renaming tabs.

Step 2: Update Tab Colors and Names

Call this function to dynamically update the tab colors and names:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Step 3: Adjust MDI Activation Behavior

To avoid reverting tab names when switching tabs, skip over the CMDIChildWndEx during the activation process. Update your OnMDIActivate function like this:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

This ensures that your tabs retain their custom names upon activation.

Solving Taskbar Preview Issues

While managing MDI tab names, you may encounter unexpected behaviors with the taskbar previews. To accurately render the tabs when mouse hovering occurs, the following adjustments can be made:

Step 1: Refine the MDI Activation Function

When you activate an MDI child window, you will want to carefully manage the state of your window.

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

This ensures that when tabs are activated, their names are properly updated without reverting to the default value.

Step 2: Permanently Update Tab Names

To permanently update tab names, rather than relying solely on visual cues, you can delve into the MFC source to manage frame titles directly. Modify the PreCreateWindow function to disable a certain style:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Then, set your window's title with a custom method:

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Bonus: Controlling Taskbar Previews

If you're interested in displaying only the active tab in the taskbar preview, you’ll need to customize the taskbar display settings further, typically through the Windows API. This might not be straightforward but can be achieved with additional coding adjustments.

Conclusion

By using the outlined methods, you can effectively handle MDI tab name management and fix taskbar preview issues. This not only enhances the user experience but also improves the functionality and stability of your MDI application. Happy coding!