WS_CHILD vs WS_POPUP deactivation of window

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C++

MFC

I have a dropdown list nested in a grid cell that sits on a CFormView that I have created.

CreateEx(WS_EX_TOOLWINDOW, "MFCGridListDrpDnCtrl", "dropdownlist", WS_POPUP|WS_BORDER,
        CRect(0,0,0,0), GetDesktopWindow(), NULL, NULL)){

FYI, I am using the WS_EX_TOOLWINDOW style so that the dropdown window does not show up in the task bar.

When the window drops down, the dialog window where the dropdown is hosted becomes deactivated. The only window that is active is the dropdown list. To prevent this, one should be able to substitute the WS_CHILD for the WS_POPUP style. When I do that, it now behaves as it should (the dialog is not deactivated, however, my dropdown now does not display correctly. I am missing the scrollbars and the border. The scrollbars are there because you can click the area where they should appear and they are suddenly drawn (although not completely).

Note: I can make the dropdown list a child of the grid and it appears to display correctly but is clipped by the grid. I need the droplist to overlap the grid if necessary.

I am not sure what is going on. Any help would be appreciated.