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Asked: 2026-05-10T16:45:57+00:00

I have an MFC sdi app that uses a splitter window to contain a

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I have an MFC sdi app that uses a splitter window to contain a tree control alongside the main view showing the data.

When the user selects something in the tree, that view keeps focus until the user deliberately clicks in the main data window. This means that any toolbar buttons associated with the main view are disabled.

Is there any way to programmatically switch focus back to the main view after the user has clicked the tree control? Or am I doing something fundamentally wrong using a CSplitterWnd and 2 views?

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  1. You don’t want to bring the focus back to the other view as soon as someone clicks the tree: It would make your app unusable. e.g. It would prevent users from navigating through the tree using the keyboard since the tree would never keep the focus long enough.

    I you really want the toolbar to keep reflecting the state of your 2nd view (I’m not sure it’s a good idea), you have a few options. Make your pick. 2 come to mind:

    1. Your tree view should NOT be a CView. Use a simple CTreeCtrl. Not very nice because it kind of break the doc/view paradigm (e.g. no more tree’s OnUpdate() called whenever an UpdateAllViews() is called).

    2. Prevent the tree from becoming the active view. To do so:

      2.a. When you view gets the focus (OnSetFocus()):

      STATIC_DOWNCAST(CFrameWnd, AfxGetMainWnd())->SetActiveView(pTheOtherView);

      2.b. Derive a CMySplitterWnd class from CSplitterWnd, then override CMySplitterWnd::SetActivePane() to prevent it from setting the treeview as the active view.

    In all cases, welcome to the wonderful world of MFC internals where diving into the source code is the mandatory daily sport 😉

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