How to create MFC applications that do not have a menu bar in Visual C++

MORE INFORMATION

Steps to Create SDI Application that Has No Menu Bar

1. Generate an SDI application with AppWizard. Do not delete the IDR_MAINFRAME menu resource. If you have an application that was not generated with AppWizard, do not delete the corresponding main menu resource. Leaving the menu resource is required to avoid assertion failures in the MFC code.
2. To prevent the main application window from having a menu bar, delete the already loaded menu, and set the hMenu field of the CREATESTRUCT structure to NULL in the CFrameWnd::PreCreateWindow() function:

         BOOL CMainFrame::PreCreateWindow(CREATESTRUCT& cs)
         {
            if(cs.hMenu!=NULL)
            {
                ::DestroyMenu(cs.hMenu);      // delete menu if loaded
                cs.hMenu = NULL;              // no menu for this window
            }
   
            return CFrameWnd::PreCreateWindow(cs);
         }
   						

Steps to Create MDI Application that Has No Menu Bar

1. Generate an MDI application with AppWizard. Do not delete the IDR_MAINFRAME menu resource. If you have an application that was not generated with AppWizard, do not delete the corresponding main menu resource. Leaving the menu resource is required to avoid assertion failures in the MFC code.
2. Delete menu resources associated with MDI child windows (IDR_xxxTYPE). They are not used. By deleting them, you avoid a resource (memory) leak.
3. Override the PreCreateWindow() function for the CMainFrame class:

         BOOL CMainFrame::PreCreateWindow(CREATESTRUCT& cs)
         {
            if(cs.hMenu!=NULL)
            {
                ::DestroyMenu(cs.hMenu);      // delete menu if loaded
                cs.hMenu = NULL;              // no menu for this window
            }
   
            return CMDIFrameWnd::PreCreateWindow(cs);
         }
   						

4. Modify the code responsible for switching menus by overriding the LoadFrame() and OnCreateClient() methods of CMainFrame. This is necessary because MFC has already loaded and switched menus automatically. The following shows what must be done:

         // Overridden method declarations for CMainFrame
   
         BOOL LoadFrame( UINT nIDResource,
                DWORD dwDefaultStyle = WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW | FWS_ADDTOTITLE,
                CWnd* pParentWnd = NULL, CCreateContext* pContext = NULL );
         BOOL CMainFrame::OnCreateClient(LPCREATESTRUCT lpcs,
                CCreateContext* /*pContext*/);
   
         // Overridden method declarations for CMainFrame
   
         BOOL CMainFrame::LoadFrame(UINT nIDResource, DWORD dwDefaultStyle,
                CWnd* pParentWnd, CCreateContext* pContext)
         {
             return CFrameWnd::LoadFrame(nIDResource,dwDefaultStyle,
                 pParentWnd,pContext);
         }
   
         BOOL CMainFrame::OnCreateClient(LPCREATESTRUCT lpcs,
                 CCreateContext* /*pContext*/)
         {
             return CreateClient(lpcs,NULL);
         }