The Splitter Window

A splitter window appears as a special type of frame window that holds several views in panes. The application can split the window on creation, or the user can split the window by choosing a menu command or by dragging a splitter box on the window's scroll bar. After the window has been split, the user can move the splitter bars with the mouse to adjust the relative sizes of the panes. Splitter windows can be used in both SDI and MDI applications. You can see examples of splitter windows in this chapter.

An object of class CSplitterWnd represents the splitter window. As far as Windows is concerned, a CSplitterWnd object is an actual window that fully occupies the frame window (CFrameWnd or CMDIChildWnd) client area. The view windows occupy the splitter window pane areas. The splitter window does not take part in the command dispatch mechanism. The active view window (in a splitter pane) is connected directly to its frame window.