XP-style Common Dialogs

If you are using Qt to create Windows apps for XP then you might of noticed that the standard file dialogs (e.g. QFileDialog::getOpenFileName) are still using 'classic mode':

If you want XP mode versions then you'll have to add a resource file that contains a reference to a magic manifest file which specifies that your app using v6 of the MS common controls library. This is a similar process to adding an application icon as described in my previous post.

First create a file with a .manifest extension (e.g. MyApp.manifest) containing the following XML:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8' standalone='yes'?>

<assembly xmlns='urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1' manifestVersion='1.0'>

<dependency>

<dependentAssembly>

<assemblyIdentity type='win32' name='Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls' version='6.0.0.0' publicKeyToken='6595b64144ccf1df' language='*' processorArchitecture='*' />

</dependentAssembly>

</dependency>

</assembly>

Then create (or edit) your applications resource file (e.g. MyApp.rc) and add the following line:

1 24 DISCARDABLE "MyApp.manifest"

If you haven't done already, add a win32 specific entry to your .pro file that points to your .rc file:

win32:RC_FILE = MyApp.rc

Build your project and you'll now have shiny XP common file dialogs: