Differences Between Modal and Modeless Dialog Boxes

 As you've seen, modal dialog boxes are created using DialogBox. The function returns a value only after the dialog box is destroyed. It returns the value specified in the second parameter of the EndDialog call that was used within the dialog box procedure to terminate the dialog box. Modeless dialog boxes are created using CreateDialog. This function takes the same parameters as DialogBox:

hDlgModeless = CreateDialog (hInstance, szTemplate, 
                             hwndParent, DialogProc) ;

The difference is that the CreateDialog function returns immediately with the window handle of the dialog box. Normally, you store this window handle in a global variable.

Although the use of the names DialogBox with modal dialog boxes and CreateDialog with modeless dialog boxes may seem arbitrary, you can remember which is which by keeping in mind that modeless dialog boxes are similar to normal windows. CreateDialog should remind you of the CreateWindow function, which creates normal windows.

 

Working with modeless dialog boxes is similar to working with modal dialog boxes, but there are several important differences.

First, modeless dialog boxes usually include a caption bar and a system menu box. These are actually the default options when you create a dialog box in Developer Studio. The STYLE statement in the dialog box template for a modeless dialog box will look something like this:

     STYLE WS_POPUP ¦ WS_CAPTION ¦ WS_SYSMENU ¦ WS_VISIBLE

The caption bar and system menu allow the user to move the modeless dialog box to another area of the display using either the mouse or the keyboard. You don't normally provide a caption bar and system menu with a modal dialog box, because the user can't do anything in the underlying window anyway.

The second big difference: Notice that the WS_VISIBLE style is included in our sample STYLE statement. In Developer Studio, select this option from the More Styles tab of the Dialog Properties dialog. If you omit WS_VISIBLE, you must call ShowWindow after the CreateDialog call:

     hDlgModeless = CreateDialog (  . . .  ) ;
     ShowWindow (hDlgModeless, SW_SHOW) ;

If you neither include WS_VISIBLE nor call ShowWindow, the modeless dialog box will not be displayed. Programmers who have mastered modal dialog boxes often overlook this peculiarity and thus experience difficulties when first trying to create a modeless dialog box.

The third difference: Unlike messages to modal dialog boxes and message boxes, messages to modeless dialog boxes come through your program's message queue. The message queue must be altered to pass these messages to the dialog box window procedure. Here's how you do it: When you use CreateDialog to create a modeless dialog box, you should save the dialog box handle returned from the call in a global variable (for instance, hDlgModeless). Change your message loop to look like

while (GetMessage (&msg, NULL, 0, 0))
{
     if (hDlgModeless == 0 ¦¦ !IsDialogMessage (hDlgModeless, &msg))
     {
          TranslateMessage (&msg) ;
          DispatchMessage  (&msg) ;
     }
}

If the message is intended for the modeless dialog box, then IsDialogMessage sends it to the dialog box window procedure and returns TRUE (nonzero); otherwise, it returns FALSE (0). The TranslateMessage and DispatchMessage functions should be called only if hDlgModeless is 0 or if the message is not for the dialog box. If you use keyboard accelerators for your program's window, the message loop looks like this:

while (GetMessage (&msg, NULL, 0, 0))
{
     if (hDlgModeless == 0 ¦¦ !IsDialogMessage (hDlgModeless, &msg))
     {
          if (!TranslateAccelerator (hwnd, hAccel, &msg))
          {
               TranslateMessage (&msg) ;
               DispatchMessage  (&msg) ;
          }
     }
}

Because global variables are initialized to 0, hDlgModeless will be 0 until the dialog box is created, thus ensuring that IsDialogMessage is not called with an invalid window handle. You must take the same precaution when you destroy the modeless dialog box, as explained below.

The hDlgModeless variable can also be used by other parts of the program as a test of the existence of the modeless dialog box. For example, other windows in the program can send messages to the dialog box while hDlgModeless is not equal to 0.

The final big difference: Use DestroyWindow rather than EndDialog to end a modeless dialog box. When you call DestroyWindow, set the hDlgModeless global variable to NULL.

The user customarily terminates a modeless dialog box by choosing Close from the system menu. Although the Close option is enabled, the dialog box window procedure within Windows does not process the WM_CLOSE message. You must do this yourself in the dialog box procedure:

case WM_CLOSE :
     DestroyWindow (hDlg) ;
     hDlgModeless = NULL ;
     break ;

Note the difference between these two window handles: the hDlg parameter to DestroyWindow is the parameter passed to the dialog box procedure; hDlgModeless is the global variable returned from CreateDialog that you test within the message loop.