I can't seem to find how to select text in my console application via WinAPI. Pretty much what could be done with the mouse, if someone right-clicks the console window and selects "Mark":
and then drags the mouse on the console window:
Can I do this with WinAPIs?
There is no API to do what you are asking for. So you will have to simulate it instead.
Use SetConsoleMode() to enable the ENABLE_QUICK_EDIT_MODE to enable selecting text with the mouse. Then use SendInput() or mouse_event() to manipulate mouse movement and clicks as needed.
Use GetConsoleWindow() to get the console's HWND, and GetWindowRect() to get its position onscreen. Use GetConsoleScreenBufferInfo/Ex() to get the column/row counts of the console, and the rectangle where the characters appear within the console window. Then you should be able to use some math to translate character column/row offsets into screen coordinates as needed when sending mouse actions.
Use ReadConsoleOutput to read the area that you want to select. Change the received CHAR_INFO Attributes for each character to reflect different (e.g. inverted) colours. Use WriteConsoleOutput to write the modified data to the same rectangular area. This will show a 'selected' area. If needed use SetConsoleCursorPosition to change the cursor position. An example how to use the ReadConsoleOutput and WriteConsoleOutput can be seen here.
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we have one desktop(1st screen) to display the image and another touchscreen(2nd screen) for the control, we wrote a virtual keyboard(html&javascript) on touchscreen, ideally when we touch the keys on the touchscreen, we could input text in editbox(in an input dialog window) in the 1st desktop. Now the problem is the mouse is lost(originally it is in a input dialog in 1st desktop) when we touch the touchscreen, so we have to create a global window in C++ program, and manually copy each possible input dialog window to this global window when it is in use, also we need to set focus for each possible editbox in this input dialog window. please see this:
for each possible input dialog, we add
extern HWND activeInputWindow;
activeInputWindow=m_Edit_Name.m_hWnd;
also for each possible input box in this window we have to add
activeInputWindow=GetDlgItem(IDC_EDIT_TEST)->m_hWnd;
then the program always do this to get back the original window after clicking the touchscreen(2nd window)
extern HWND activeInputWindow;
if(IsWindow(activeInputWindow))
::SetFocus(activeInputWindow);
suppose we have 10 input window and 10 input boxes in each window,then I need to code 100 places! There must have some simple ways, windows osk.exe (virtual keyboard) have no problem for this but we have to use our own virtual keyboard.... I tried GetTopWindow() and GetForegroundWindow() but not working.. Many thanks for the help
This is trying to solve the problem using the wrong tools. What you really want is a window that receives input, but rejects activation. To achieve this, handle the WM_MOUSEACTIVATE message by returning MA_NOACTIVATE. This also works for touch input.
See How can I have a window that rejects activation but still receives pointer input? for all the ins and outs.
The problem is that your virtual keyboard is stealing the focus of the edit control. You'll need to prevent this.
Try to set the flag WS_EX_NOACTIVATE for a window's style or other approaches from this or this answers.
I must find the coordinates of a point which is out of the application window.
I intend to have a button "Specify Point" and when the user clicks this button, their next mouseclick will be registered by the program as this desired point. The problem is I don't know how to implement this....Any ideas ?
You can call SetCapture to direct mouse clicks from anywhere on the desktop to your window. Call ReleaseCapture after the click to return to normal.
If the user clicks on another application you will receive the click but the other application will also be activated, which you probably don't want. To avoid this, an alternative approach is to overlay the entire desktop with an always-on-top very nearly fully transparent window (a fully transparent window won't get clicks). Transparent windows are known as layered windows; use the WS_EX_LAYERED extended style to create one.
In windows: I would like to know if it is possible (and if so, how) to make a program in C++ that displays images/text on the screen directly, meaning no window; if you are still confused about what I am after some examples are: Rocketdock and Rainmeter.
you can do it certainly without using Qt or any other framework. Just Win32 API helps you do that and internally, every framework calls these API so there is no magic in any of these frameworks
First of all, understand that no image or text can be displayed without a window. Every program uses some kind of window to display text or image. You can verify it using the Spy++ that comes with windows SDK. click the cross-hair sign, click the image or text you think is displayed without any windows. The Spy++ will show you the window it is contained in.
Now how to display such image or text that seems like not contained in any window. Well you have to perform certain steps.
Create a window with no caption bar, resize border, control box, minimize, maximize or close buttons. Use the CreateWindowEx() and see the various windows style WS_EX_XXX, WS_XXX for the desired window style.
Once the window is there you need to cut the window. Much like a cookie cutter. for this you need to define an area. This area is called region and you can define it using many functions like CreateEllipticRgn(), CreatePolygonRgn(), CreateRectRgn(), CreateRoundRectRgn() etc. all these functions return a HRGN which is the handle to the region. Elliptical or rectangle regions are OK as starter.
Now the last part. You have to cut the window like that particular region. Use the SetWindowRgn() function which requires a handle to your window and a handle to that region (HRGN). This function will cut the window into your desired shape.
Now for the image or text. Draw the image or text inside the window. I assume you must have cut the window according to your image, You just need to give window a face. so just draw the image either on WM_ERRASE BACKGROUND or WM_PAINT messages
Use the SetWindowPos() to move the window to the location you wish to on screen. If you have used correct parameters in CreateWindowEx() then this step is not necessary
You can set any further styles of windows using SetWindowLong() function.
Congratulations, you have your image displayed without using any windows ;)
I have a dialog box with a list box,slider and a button.
I tried to change the background color but I couldn't managed to change that, so i thought that if I add a "picture control" as a bitmap and put it in the background i will succed, but now the problem is that the "picture control" is on top of all the controls.
I tried to change the the tab control with Ctrl+d but it didn't change anything.
I also tried to use SetWindowPos to top or buttom but also it didn't change anything.
I noticed that if I click in the location of the button it's brought to the front as I want.
Is there any way to "click" all the controls at the begining? do i miss something in order to bring the control to the top?
If you need to change the background colour of the dialog box, you need to handle the WM_CTLCOLORDLG message and return the handle to a brush (if the brush is not a stock object, make sure you delete the brush after the dialog box is closed) -- or, you can process the WM_ERASEBKGND message and erase the background yourself.
I tried to change the the tab control with Ctrl+D but it didn't change anything. I also tried to use SetWindowPos to top or buttom but also it didn't change anything.
Ctrl+D does get you in reordering mode, however there is a more reliable way of checking. The dialog template is in text form in .RC file, where you can review the order of control with text editor and sort lines manually the way you wish. This will be the order of control creation and tab order as well. Sometimes it's even easier to reorder controls this way.
More to that, when your application is running, Spy++ SDK tool can enumerate windows and again it will give you window order for checking.
SetWindowPos with proper arguments changes Z-order of controls on runtime as well.
I would like to send some keystrokes from a C++ program into another window.
For that reason I would like to have the user select the target window similar to how it is done in the Spy++ utility that comes with Visual Studio (drag a crosshair cursor over target window and have target window highlighted by a frame).
How is this dragging and selecting done in Windows? I am completely lost as to where I might start to look for a mechanism to implement this feature.
Here's how it's usually done:
Capture the mouse using SetCapture. This will cause all mouse messages to be routed toward your app's window.
Handle the WM_MOUSEMOVE message. In your handler code, grab the window underneath the mouse using WindowFromPoint. That will get you the HWND of the window the mouse is currently over.
Now that you've got the window, you need a device context (HDC). You can get one using GetWindowDC for the specified window.
Now you can draw into the DC using typical GDI functions.
There are some things you have to look out for - cleanly erasing the selection rectangle and so forth, but that's one way to do it.
You could also draw into a screen DC to do this, but in any case you'll need the window handle in order to get the window rect.
If you Google around Spy++ source code you'll see a few examples of this technique.
Formers answers are wrong.
Spy++ source code has been given on G. Groups for years (see mainly Win32 api ng news://194.177.96.26/comp.os.ms-windows.programmer.win32)