You can also invoke the dialog by clicking right mouse button on any place on the RadVC toolbox and then selecting "New C++ Control" context menu item:

Context menu when clicked on the RadVC toolbox

Context menu when clicked on a tool button

Selecting the menu item will display "New C++ Control" dialog box as shown below.

In this dialog, you can make the following changes:

(1) Control Class Name: Change the default class name from "CControl1" to "CCircle" for our "Circle" control. As you change the control class name, the header and the implementation file names for the control will also change. For our "Circle" control, these files  are "circle.h" and "circle.cpp" respectively.

(2) Base Class Name: For "Circle" control, Keep the base class name ("CWnd") unchanged. If you are not that much familiar with MFC, CWnd is a MFC class that encapsulates various Windows functionality. You should consult Visual C++   documentation to  learn more on various MFC classes.

If you choose a base class other than a MFC class, RadVC will insert a [#include "filename"] statement in your control's header file. Here "filename" is the name of the file where the base class is declared. In the dialog, this file name is shown in the edit box next to the "#include" label. You need to edit this name if the actual base class file name is different from what is shown in the edit box.

If you want your control class not to be derived from any other class, simply leave this editbox blank.

(3) Import / Edit Tool Bitmap: For a new RAD C++ control, RadVC supplies a default tool bitmap [C++1]. For our "Circle" control, you can edit this bitmap by clicking on the "Edit" button. When clicked, RadVC will display Windows "Paint" application with the tool button bitmap loaded (figure below).

Once you finish editing the tool button, save the file and close "Paint" program. This will change the tool bitmap in the dialog:

You can also import another tool bitmap by clicking on the "Import" button and then browse the bitmap file of your choice.

(4) Option "Create in Control Repository": Check this option if you want your control to be stored in RadVC "Control Repository". Click here to know more on the "Control Repository".

(5) Option "Invisible at Runtime": Check this option if you want your control not to be visible when the application runs. A typical example of an "invisible" control is the "Timer" control found in RadVC toolbox.

Once you finish setting up various options in the the "New C++ Control" dialog, click on the "OK" button.

RadVC will now add a tool bitmap in the RadVC toolbox for our circle control, as shown bellow. In the next section, we will see how we can play with this control in a test application.

In addition to adding the tool bitmap, RadVC will also display a blank form in the Developer Studio client area. You can add other controls from RadVC toolbox to your control by using the familiar drag and drop operation. Our "Circle" control won't be having any "child" control in it, but you can look at some other controls in the "Samples" section.

In the background, RadVC will generate several files for the control.  We will examine these files in more detail in Part 3: Examining Control Code section. Also, if there is any project active in the workspace, RadVC will include these files in the project.

Next >> Part 2: Testing the New Control

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