How to make Borland C++ 5.02 know new controls in comctl32.dll ?

[c wanaphan]

Hi there,

I'm using Borland C/C++ 5.02 to make a small project for personal use.
I would like to try those new controls in COMCTL32.DLL such as
DateTimePicker. But my Borland compiler doesn't know those new
controls. Is there any way to remedy this problem?

And is it possible that I download the Platform SDK from Microsoft and
make BC++ 5.02 use the new sdk instead of the old ones?

Thanks.

[Tim Robinson]

It's doubtful that the Platform SDK would work with BC++ without some
modification, but if you just want to use extra controls, it should be easy.

What you'll need to do is copy any message, structure and notification
definitions to your own header files. Does BC++ 5.02 recognise
InitCommonControlsEx? If not, you'll need to find a way to call that, too
(probably using LoadLibrary/GetProcAddress). Then it will be a matter of
creating a window using the DATETIMEPICK_CLASS class (note that this is
#define'd in commctrl.h; the class name is really "SysDateTimePick32").

--
Tim Robinson, MVP (Windows SDK)
http://www.themobius.co.uk/

[c wanaphan]

On Sat, 4 Jan 2003 18:52:27 -0000, "Tim Robinson"
<tim_at_gaat.f...@nowhere.com> wrote:

>What you'll need to do is copy any message, structure and notification
>definitions to your own header files. Does BC++ 5.02 recognise
>InitCommonControlsEx? If not, you'll need to find a way to call that, too
>(probably using LoadLibrary/GetProcAddress). Then it will be a matter of
>creating a window using the DATETIMEPICK_CLASS class (note that this is
>#define'd in commctrl.h; the class name is really "SysDateTimePick32").

Well, I did it with 90% satisfactory!

I just copy the file commctrl.h and comctl32.lib from Visual Studio on
my friend's machine to appropriate BC5 directories without any
modification.

Now I can include the DateTimePicker control in my project even though
Borland Resource Workshop still doesn't include any new common
controls. I just have to edit the dialog resource file to change the
class name of the target control to be "SysDateTimePick32". As long
as I can call InitCommonControlsEx(), I think the other calls to
manage the control are available there.

So the remaining 10% includes:
1) Borland Resource Workshop still doesn't know of any new common
controls.
2) I have to manually update the Win32 API help file as to new
structures and APIs. Copying it from Visual Studio may be impossible
because MSDN is used as its help system.

I wonder if there's still be someone using Borland C/C++ 5 for serious
use without any updates for new features like these new controls in
COMCTL32.DLL. And also I wonder how Visual Studio users update their
SDK to include new features without repeating buying new version of
the compiler?

Anyway, having new toys to play with makes my life more fun and
happier! ;->

Regards.

[David Liebtag]

You can download the header and help files for free by getting the Platform
SDK from:

http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/platformsdk/sdkupdate/