Creating Custom Dialog Box in FDK

[anupambakshi]

Hi,

  I've created a custom dialog box and generated the .dlg and the .xdi files for the Windows platform.

  How are these files to be included in a Visual Studio FDK project?

  I have seen the sample/dialog example, but it already has these files included.

  I'm wondering whats the process is to include these files in a new project.

Thanks,

Anupam.

[Russ Ward · Accepted solution]

Hi Anupam,

They need to make it into your resource script (*.rc) file, assuming you have created one. If you have not, follow the directions in the Windows Platform guide. After creating the script, the directions will tell you to use a View > Resouce Includes path, which is valid on older Visual Studio versions. If you are using VS 2008 (Visual C++ 9), you'll need to open up the Resource View tab in the Solution Explorer (by double-clicking the *.rc file), then you can right-click on the *.rc item and Resource Includes will be in the menu.

Once in the *.rc file, it will look something like this, if you were to open it in a text editor;

3 TEXTINCLUDE
BEGIN
    "#include ""MyDialog.dlg""\r\n"
    "#include ""MyDialog.xdi""\r\n"
   
END

Russ

[anupambakshi]

Thanks Russ! That was what I needed. I'm copying here the directions, from the FDK Windows guide in case someone else is looking.

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Using custom dialog boxes
The FDK samples include a template document for designing custom dialog boxes. You open
this document in FrameMaker and edit it with the FrameMaker graphic tools and commands.
FDK 7.2 Platform Guide, Windows 27
Compiling, Registering, and Running FDK Clients 4
When you save a custom dialog box in a Windows version of FrameMaker, it generates two
Windows resource definition files, a .dlg file and a .xdi file.
● The .dlg file is a text file containing resource statements. These statements are standard
Windows descriptions of the dialog box and its controls.
● The .xdi file is a text file containing a user-defined resource statement. This statement
contains data used by FrameMaker to manipulate the dialog boxes.
When creating the .dlg and .xdi files, FrameMaker uses the name of the .dre file
(without the extension) to name the files and the actual dialog resource. For example, when
saving the file named mydlg.dre, FrameMaker creates the resource description files
mydlg.dlg and mydlg.xdi. Both files describe the dialog resource named mydlg.
To compile the .dlg and .xdi files in your dll you must create a resource for the project, and
provide directives to include these files in the resource. In the process of compiling the client,
these resource definition files are compiled into a single resource file (.rc). This resource file
is linked to your client.
To set up the resource definition files to be compiled, follow these general steps:
1. Start Development Environment 2003 (Version 7.1).
2. If one doesn’t already exist for the project, create a resource script.
Choose Add New Item from the File menu. The Add New Item dialog box appears. Choose
Resource File.
3. Include the resource description files generated by FrameMaker.
Choose Resource Includes from the Edit menu. The Resource Includes dialog box appears.
In the Compile-Time Directives field, type #include statements to include the resource
description files.
For example, suppose you create two custom dialog boxes named pgftag.dre and
chartag.dre. When FrameMaker saves these files it also creates the files pgftag.dlg,
pgftag.xdi, chartag.dlg, and chartag.xdi.
To include these files in the resource script, type the following in the Compile-Time
Directives field:
#include "pgftag.dlg"
#include "pgftag.xdi"
#include "chartag.dlg"
#include "chartag.xdi"
Make sure you use the correct syntax; Development Environment 2003 (Version 7.1) does
not check the syntax or warn you of this before you dismiss the dialog box.
4. Save the resource script.
For information on adding your resource script to your client, see “Compiling and
registering the client” on page 24.
4 Compiling, Registering, and Running FDK Clients
28 FDK 7.2 Platform Guide, Windows
Compiling clients with custom dialog boxes
If your FDK client uses custom dialog boxes, you need to specify a special link option before
compiling it:
1. In Development Environment 2003 (Version 7.1), choose Project->Properties.
This displays the Project Properties dialog box.
2. Choose Linker and then Command Line.
3. Add the following option to the Additional Options field:
/section:.rsrc,w
This link option makes the dialog resources writable. If you do not specify it before
compiling, your FDK client may exit unexpectedly when it attempts to display a custom
dialog box.
4. Repeat steps 3 for each target in your project.
Making adjustments to custom dialog boxes
Since the .dlg files produced by FrameMaker are text files containing resource statements,
you can open these files in Development Environment 2003 (Version 7.1) as resources. You
can use the built-in tools for dialog editing to view, adjust, and test the dialog box.
Because you are modifying the .dlg file but not the .xdi file, you should not make major
changes to the dialog box (for example, do not add new items to the dialog box). If you do, the
description in the .dlg file will not match the description in the .xdi file.