The Tab-key doesn't works in the child controls - c++

Question

The following is my winapi program that window contains 3 sets of controls:
The controls that created directly in the window
The controls in Group1
The controls in Group2
When I press Tab-key , it only traverse in set1.
Why I can't switch to the child control of the group1 and group2 by Tab-key?
#include <Windows.h>
LRESULT __stdcall WndProc(HWND hWnd, UINT message, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam) {
switch (message)
{
case WM_CTLCOLORSTATIC:
{
HDC hdcStatic = (HDC)wParam;
SetTextColor(hdcStatic, RGB(0, 0, 255));
SetBkMode(hdcStatic, TRANSPARENT);
return (LRESULT)GetStockObject(NULL_BRUSH);
}
case WM_DESTROY:
PostQuitMessage(0);
break;
default:
return DefWindowProc(hWnd, message, wParam, lParam);
}
return 0;
}
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
void CreateEdit(const HWND &parent, const int &x, const int &y, const int &id) {
CreateWindow(L"EDIT", L"", WS_BORDER | WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | WS_TABSTOP, x, y, 200, 20, parent, (HMENU)id, NULL, NULL);
}
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
int __stdcall wWinMain(_In_ HINSTANCE hInstance, _In_opt_ HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, _In_ LPWSTR lpCmdLine, _In_ int nCmdShow)
{
WNDCLASSEX wndclass{};
wndclass.cbSize = sizeof(wndclass);
wndclass.style = CS_HREDRAW | CS_VREDRAW;
wndclass.lpfnWndProc = WndProc;
wndclass.hInstance = hInstance;
wndclass.hbrBackground = CreateSolidBrush(RGB(255, 128, 255));
wndclass.lpszClassName = L"test";
RegisterClassEx(&wndclass);
HWND hWndMainWindow = CreateWindow(
wndclass.lpszClassName,
L"test",
WS_EX_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW | WS_CAPTION | WS_SYSMENU | WS_MINIMIZEBOX | WS_VISIBLE,
100, 100, 500, 500,
NULL, NULL, hInstance, NULL);
::ShowWindow(hWndMainWindow, SW_SHOW);
::UpdateWindow(hWndMainWindow);
//Creating Controls~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
int x = 10, y = 20, id = 100;
HWND g1 = CreateWindow(L"button", L"Group1", WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | BS_GROUPBOX | WS_TABSTOP | WS_GROUP, 0, 50, 220, 200, hWndMainWindow, (HMENU)++id, NULL, NULL);
//Controls in Group1
CreateEdit(g1, x, (y += 30), ++id);
CreateEdit(g1, x, (y += 30), ++id);
CreateEdit(g1, x, (y += 30), ++id);
CreateEdit(g1, x, (y += 30), ++id);
HWND g2 = CreateWindow(L"button", L"Group2", WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | BS_GROUPBOX | WS_TABSTOP | WS_GROUP, 260, 50, 220, 200, hWndMainWindow, (HMENU)++id, NULL, NULL);
y = 20;
//Controls in Group2
CreateEdit(g2, x, (y += 30), ++id);
CreateEdit(g2, x, (y += 30), ++id);
CreateEdit(g2, x, (y += 30), ++id);
CreateEdit(g2, x, (y += 30), ++id);
//The controls that create directly in the main window
y = 270;
CreateWindow(L"static", L"Main Window Controls", WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE, x, y, 200, 30, hWndMainWindow, (HMENU)++id, NULL, NULL);
CreateEdit(hWndMainWindow, x, (y += 30), ++id);
CreateEdit(hWndMainWindow, x, (y += 30), ++id);
CreateEdit(hWndMainWindow, x, (y += 30), ++id);
CreateEdit(hWndMainWindow, x, (y += 30), ++id);
//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MSG msg;
while (GetMessage(&msg, NULL, 0, 0) > 0) {
if (!IsDialogMessage(hWndMainWindow, &msg))
{
TranslateMessage(&msg);
DispatchMessage(&msg);
}
}
return (int)msg.wParam;
}

Answer 1

The two child windows that host "Group1" and "Group2" both need to be marked as "control parents" with the WS_EX_CONTROLPARENT style. This style means:
The window itself contains child windows that should take part in
dialog box navigation. If this style is specified, the dialog manager
recurses into children of this window when performing navigation
operations such as handling the TAB key, an arrow key, or a keyboard
mnemonic
Change your code to create those windows as follows:
HWND g1 = CreateWindowEx(WS_EX_CONTROLPARENT, L"button", L"Group1", WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | BS_GROUPBOX | WS_TABSTOP | WS_GROUP, 0, 50, 220, 200, hWndMainWindow, (HMENU)++id, NULL, NULL);
HWND g2 = CreateWindowEx(WS_EX_CONTROLPARENT, L"button", L"Group2", WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | BS_GROUPBOX | WS_TABSTOP | WS_GROUP, 260, 50, 220, 200, hWndMainWindow, (HMENU)++id, NULL, NULL);
(As an aside, it seems wrong to make your windows children of the groupbox. They don't need to be - you can just position them inside it but make them siblings of it instead of children. The groupbox is specifically designed to work this way - I don't know how well it will work with the controls as children.)

Answer 2

Since you're not creating a dialog box, your main window should be created with the WS_EX_CONTROLPARENT style.
Make sure that you only place this style on your main window. The child windows should not be using this style.