While loop on popup window not responding - c++

Question

I've a popup window that displays a picture. Each time it displays a picture, the content is changed by another code to make it look like a motion picture.
Without using a while loop, it just displays the picture and the window doesn't hang, it responds perfectly well.
But I'm unable to achieve what I want without a while loop. when I use the while loop to create the motion picture. It works, but after a while the window stops responding.
Here's an example of the window procedure:
LRESULT CALLBACK WindowProcedure(HWND hWnd, UINT msg, WPARAM wp, LPARAM lp){
HDC hdc;
PAINTSTRUCT ps;
switch(msg){
case WM_PAINT:{
hdc = BeginPaint(hWnd, &ps);
Gdiplus::Graphics graph(hdc);
while(true){
Sleep(100);
Image img(L"Test.png");
graph.DrawImage(&img, 0, 0, 1000, 700);
}
EndPaint(hWnd, &ps);
}
break;
case WM_DESTROY:
PostQuitMessage(0);
break;
default:
return DefWindowProcW(hWnd,msg,wp,lp);
}
}

Answer 1

As #RetiredNinja said in comments, this code really needs a timer, not a while loop. If you block the window procedure, the window will stop responding to messages. You must return flow to the thread's message loop after each message is processed.
At startup, load your initial image, start the timer, and invalidate the window. Done.
Whenever the timer fires, update the image as needed and invalidate the window to trigger a repaint. Done.
Every time the window procedure receives a WM_PAINT message, draw the current image as-is onto the window. Done.
That is all you need to do. No threads are needed. And the app remains responsive at all times, because no single message is blocked for more than a few milliseconds.
Try something more like this instead:
Image *img = nullptr;
LRESULT CALLBACK WindowProcedure(HWND hWnd, UINT msg, WPARAM wp, LPARAM lp){
switch(msg){
case WM_CREATE:
img = Image::fromFile(L"Test.png", FALSE);
SetTimer(hWnd, 1, 100, NULL);
break;
case WM_DESTROY:
KillTimer(hWnd, 1);
delete img;
PostQuitMessage(0);
break;
case WM_TIMER:{
// update img as needed...
InvalidateRect(hWnd, NULL, TRUE);
break;
}
case WM_PAINT:{
PAINTSTRUCT ps;
HDC hdc = BeginPaint(hWnd, &ps);
Gdiplus::Graphics graph(hdc);
graph.DrawImage(img, 0, 0, 1000, 700);
EndPaint(hWnd, &ps);
break;
}
default:
return DefWindowProcW(hWnd, msg, wp, lp);
}
return 0;
}