Setting text color of child window - c++

Question

I'm trying to change text/background color for the static control. I can do this just fine the following way:
// This is the 'main' window
BOOL InitInstance(HINSTANCE hInstance, int nCmdShow)
{
hInst = hInstance;
HWND hWnd = CreateWindowW(szWindowClass, szTitle, WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW &~WS_MAXIMIZEBOX | WS_CLIPCHILDREN | WS_CLIPSIBLINGS,
CW_USEDEFAULT, 0, 1035, 764, nullptr, nullptr, hInstance, nullptr);
...
}
LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc(HWND hWnd, UINT message, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)
{
case WM_CTLCOLORSTATIC:
{
MessageBox( NULL, "CTLCOLORSTATIC called", "", MB_OK );
HDC hdcStatic = (HDC)wParam;
SetTextColor(hdcStatic, RGB(200, 200, 20));
SetBkColor(hdcStatic, RGB(10, 10, 10));
return (INT_PTR)CreateSolidBrush(RGB(30, 30, 30));
}
default:
return DefWindowProc( hWnd, message, wParam, lParam );
}
But if I place the window inside another window, the child control text/background color stays default:
// This is the 'parent' window, which resides in the 'main' window
HWND parent = CreateWindowEx
(
0,
_TEXT("STATIC"),
"",
WS_TABSTOP | WS_VISIBLE | BS_SOLID | WS_CLIPCHILDREN,
10, 10, 500, 500,
hwnd,
NULL,
(HINSTANCE)GetWindowLong(hwnd, GWLP_HINSTANCE),
NULL
);
// This is the 'child' window which resides in the 'parent' window
HWND child = CreateWindowEx
(
0,
_TEXT("STATIC"),
"SubItem",
WS_TABSTOP | WS_VISIBLE | WS_CHILD | BS_SOLID,
10, 10, 100, 100,
parent,
NULL,
(HINSTANCE)GetWindowLong(parent, GWLP_HINSTANCE),
NULL
);
To conclude, I have 3 windows:
HWND hwnd; // the 'main' application window (color changes fine)
HWND parent; // the 'parent/container' window which is inside the 'main' window (color changes fine)
HWND child; // the 'child' window which is inside the 'parent' window (color DOES NOT change)
Even though if I put MessageBox inside the WM_CTLCOLORSTATIC, I see it triggering every time the children is drawn, yet the color is not being changed for the child, only for the parent.
As far as I understood I need to handle the message in the main window procedure, but I'm not entirelly clear how to do this. if I compare the (HWND)lParam to the childrens HWND, they're the same (within the default switch case), so I can get the reference in the 'default' section, but I'm not sure how I should handle it from there..
LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc(HWND hWnd, UINT message, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)
{
case WM_CTLCOLORSTATIC:
{
if ((HWND)lParam == child )
MessageBox( NULL, "Reference Match for CTLCOLORSTATIC", "", MB_OK ); // <-- THIS NEVER TRIGGERS
}
....
default:
if ((HWND)lParam == child )
MessageBox( NULL, "Reference Match for DEFAULT", "", MB_OK ); // <-- THIS DOES TRIGGER
return DefWindowProc( hWnd, message, wParam, lParam );
}
return 0;
}
The reason I'm placing one window inside another is so that I can use WS_CLIPCHILDREN property in the parent (becase the child will move/scroll).

Answer 1

WM_CTLCOLORSTATIC is sent by a static control to its parent window, not the top level window.
hwndMain: WM_CTLCOLORSTATIC for hwnd1
|
\--hwnd1: WM_CTLCOLORSTATIC for hwnd2 (You might have to subclass hwnd1)
|
\--hwnd2
You are also leaking brushes, store the brush from CreateSolidBrush somewhere when you create the window and delete it when the window is destroyed.

Answer 2

By reading the MSDN document, I know a function, SetWindowsLongPtr, whose parameter GWLP_WNDPROC can set a new address for the window procedure.
This function can change the text color and background color of the child window, that is to say, it can trigger WM_CTLCOLORSTATIC.
But after testing, I found that it is invalid to the secondary window, that is to say, it can not change the text color of the parent window.
I also consulted a lot of information, and very few documents related to three-tier windows.
So, I think to solve this problem and make all three windows change the color of the text, you may have to rewrite WndProc by yourself, but this is very complicated and involves a lot of things.
Edit: If you just need to change the text color and background color
of the static control, you can customize a control so that you can
handle all its operations.
Hope to help you.