Window creation failed - LoadFrame(IDR_MAINFRAME) Fails C++

Question

I'm in the middle of upgrading some windows applications (Legacy Code) from VC 6 to VS2010. Most of the applications compiled and would run after cleaning up expected conversion errors, but I'm having a lot of trouble with this. Here is where LoadFrame() fails and the application exits. The error returned here is 0.

     CMainFrame* pMainFrame = new CMainFrame;// Create main MDI Frame window
     if (!pMainFrame->LoadFrame(IDR_MAINFRAME))
         DWORD err = GetLastError();
     return FALSE;

Here is the LoadFrame() function from above:(pParentWnd and pContext are both Null on entering the function and I don't understand why?)

BOOL CMDIFrameWnd::LoadFrame(UINT nIDResource, DWORD dwDefaultStyle,
CWnd* pParentWnd, CCreateContext* pContext)
{
    if (!CFrameWnd::LoadFrame(nIDResource, dwDefaultStyle,
      pParentWnd, pContext))
        return FALSE;

    // save menu to use when no active MDI child window is present
    ASSERT(m_hWnd != NULL);
    m_hMenuDefault = ::GetMenu(m_hWnd);
    return TRUE;
}

After stepping through the LoadFrame and examining the create methods, I discovered that this is where the error occurs here: HWND hWnd = ::AfxCtxCreateWindowEx(..) I noted that cs.hwndParent and cs.hMenu are both showing this error "unused = CXX0030: Error: expression cannot be evaluated". I know that this error can mean that the expression is referring to memory outside the programs address space, but I don't see this being the issue.I have seen other issues online which are similar to this, but nothing has helped me understand the problem.

BOOL CWnd::CreateEx(DWORD dwExStyle, LPCTSTR lpszClassName,
LPCTSTR lpszWindowName, DWORD dwStyle,
int x, int y, int nWidth, int nHeight,
HWND hWndParent, HMENU nIDorHMenu, LPVOID lpParam)
{
    ASSERT(lpszClassName == NULL || AfxIsValidString(lpszClassName) || 
        AfxIsValidAtom(lpszClassName));
    ENSURE_ARG(lpszWindowName == NULL || AfxIsValidString(lpszWindowName));

    // allow modification of several common create parameters
    CREATESTRUCT cs;
    cs.dwExStyle = dwExStyle;
    cs.lpszClass = lpszClassName;
    cs.lpszName = lpszWindowName;
    cs.style = dwStyle;
    cs.x = x;
    cs.y = y;
    cs.cx = nWidth;
    cs.cy = nHeight;
    cs.hwndParent = hWndParent;
    cs.hMenu = nIDorHMenu;
    cs.hInstance = AfxGetInstanceHandle();
    cs.lpCreateParams = lpParam;

    if (!PreCreateWindow(cs))
    {
        PostNcDestroy();
        return FALSE;
    }

AfxHookWindowCreate(this);
HWND hWnd = ::AfxCtxCreateWindowEx(cs.dwExStyle, cs.lpszClass,
        cs.lpszName, cs.style, cs.x, cs.y, cs.cx, cs.cy,
        cs.hwndParent, cs.hMenu, cs.hInstance, cs.lpCreateParams); // RMC here's the error

GetLastError());
DWORD err = GetLastError();

#ifdef _DEBUG
if (hWnd == NULL)
{
    TRACE(traceAppMsg, 0, "Warning: Window creation failed: GetLastError returns 0x%8.8X\n",
        GetLastError());
}

The problem is stemming from the LoadFrame() where the Parent Window and Context are Null. Why are they "null/???"? (This application runs fine in VC 6, so it has to be a result of the upgrade) If someone has seen this issue or has any information that may enlighten me about the problem, I would be extremely grateful. Thanks in Advance.

Answer 1

It turns out that my library path (Linker -> Additional Dependencies) contained a library which supported SDI(Single-Document Interface) opposed to MDI(Multiple-Document Interface). As well as that, the library for MDI was an older version (VC6) which did not support the new MDI methods that are used in Visual Studio 2010.