Cant create window using CreateWindowEx function - c++

Question

I cant create the window using code below although i get no error in compilation.Only a window with title of my project name appears.I also set hwnd=NULL after CreateWindowEx invocation to see whether MessageBox works but it does not work too.
#include <windows.h>
#include <StdAfx.h>
const char* myClassName="myWindowsClassName";
//The window procedure
LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc( HWND hwnd , UINT msg , WPARAM wParam , LPARAM lParam){
switch(msg){
case WM_CLOSE:
DestroyWindow( hwnd );
break;
case WM_DESTROY:
PostQuitMessage(0);
break;
default:
return DefWindowProc( hwnd , msg , wParam , lParam );
}
return 0;
}
//Registering window
int WINAPI WinMain( HINSTANCE hInstance , HINSTANCE hPrevInstance , LPSTR lPCmdLine , int nCmdShow ){
WNDCLASSEX wc;
HWND hwnd;
MSG msg;
wc.cbSize=sizeof( WNDCLASSEX );
wc.style=0;
wc.lpfnWndProc= WndProc;
wc.cbClsExtra=0;
wc.hInstance=hInstance;
wc.hIcon=LoadIcon( NULL , IDI_APPLICATION);
wc.hCursor=LoadCursor(NULL , IDC_ARROW);
wc.hbrBackground= (HBRUSH)(COLOR_WINDOW+1);
wc.lpszMenuName=NULL;
wc.lpszClassName= (LPCWSTR) myClassName;
wc.hIconSm=LoadIcon( NULL , IDI_APPLICATION );
if( !RegisterClassEx( &wc ) ){
MessageBox( NULL ,L"Window registeration failed" ,L"Error!" , MB_ICONEXCLAMATION | MB_OK );
return 0;
}
//Creating the window
hwnd=CreateWindowEx( WS_EX_CLIENTEDGE , (LPCWSTR)myClassName , L"The title of my window" , WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW , CW_USEDEFAULT , CW_USEDEFAULT, 320 , 240 , NULL , NULL , hInstance , NULL );
hwnd=NULL;
if( hwnd==NULL ){
MessageBox( NULL ,L"Window creation failed",L"Error!", MB_ICONEXCLAMATION | MB_OK );
return 0;
}
ShowWindow ( hwnd , nCmdShow );
UpdateWindow(hwnd);
// Step 3: The Message Loop
while(GetMessage(&msg, NULL, 0, 0) > 0)
{
TranslateMessage(&msg);
DispatchMessage(&msg);
}
return msg.wParam;
}
Where is the problem?
Thanks

Answer 1

Unicode vs ANSI mismatch?
myClassName is char* but you cast it to (LPCWSTR). If you are compiling as Unicode (and you should) then you should define the class name as const WCHAR* myClassName=L"myWindowsClassName"; and remove the casts (or use const_cast<LPTSTR>().
You also fail to initialize .cbWndExtra. Change WNDCLASSEX wc; to WNDCLASSEX wc = {};
You should perform better error checking to diagnose failures. Check on MSDN to see if a function sets the last error when it fails. If it does, call GetLastError() after the function fails.