How to set a bitmap as the background of a CHILD window (WIN32) - c++

Question

First of all this is not MFC.
Here is a cropped version of the GUI I have been working on:
As you can see there is a bitmap image above the tab control (which uses the default window's handle), I will refer to it as "Blue Bitmap" I have no problems with it, it is functioning perfectly.
The problem I am having is setting another bitmap (from a bitmap file on disk) to the background of the child window (more specifically the tab control child window), replacing the grey colour. Here are some things I did to try and set the bitmap as the background for the child window (the tab).
1) I used the same method as was used to assign the blue bitmap to the window by first importing the bitmap using LoadImage like so:
index->hbmBitmapBanner = (HBITMAP)LoadImage(index->hInstance,L"Images\\horizontal.bmp",IMAGE_BITMAP,0,0,LR_LOADFROMFILE);
Then in the WM_PAINT message:
case WM_PAINT:
{
PAINTSTRUCT ps1;
if (BeginPaint(WINDOWHANDLE,&ps1))
{
HDC hdcBanner = CreateCompatibleDC(ps1.hdc);
HBITMAP hbmOldHorizontal = (HBITMAP)SelectObject(hdcBanner,index->hbmBitmapBanner); // banner
BitBlt(ps1.hdc,0,0,516,101,hdcBanner,5,0,SRCCOPY);
SelectObject(hdcBanner,hbmOldHorizontal);
DeleteDC(hdcBanner);
EndPaint(WINDOWHANDLE,&ps1);
}
break;
}
That code was successful in setting blue bitmap to the window, but not in setting the other bitmap into the window, (with the blue bitmap's variables substituted into, size and orientation changed as well of course). It simply did not display the bitmap on the screen, and the window remained unchanged, yet no functions failed. ALSO, when I swapped the file locations around, it loaded the bitmap into where the blue bitmap was, so there is definitely no failure in the loading function.
2) Using the above code, I tried changing the first argument of BeginPaint to the window handle of the tab control box, this proved yet again of no use, and the window remained unchanged. I also tried changing the first argument of BeginPaint to a child window which is displayed on the information tab, this caused the child window (which is a groupbox) to disappear, yet still no bitmap appeared on the window.
3) As a last resort I stupidly attempted to use this function on the child window
SetClassLongPtr(tab->hTabIndex[0],GCLP_HBRBACKGROUND,(DWORD)GetStockObject(BLACK_BRUSH));
And of course, it didn't work
If it is of any use, here is how I created the tabbing in my window:
TCITEM tie = {0};
tab->hTab = CreateWindowEx(0,WC_TABCONTROL,L"",WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE,0,101,600,400,
WINDOWHANDLE,NULL,(HINSTANCE)GetWindowLong(WINDOWHANDLE,GWLP_HINSTANCE),NULL
);
Is the main tab control, followed by inserting individual the tabs (i.e the information tab)
TCHAR pszTab1 [] = L"Information"; // tab1's text
tie.pszText = pszTab1; // the tab's text/caption
TabCtrl_InsertItem(tab->hTab, 0, &tie); // insert the tab
Additional info: The tab control, and the windows are working/interacting perfectly apart from this. I was testing/attempting this for only one tab, because I knew if it worked on one tab, then it would work on all the tabs, hence saving time.
I have Programming For Windows Fifth Edition, by Charles Petzold beside me as reference, and there is a rather large section on bitmaps, but he doesn't go into talking about loading a bitmap to a child window, the closest he gets is using a bitmap in a menu, which is completely different than a window.

Answer 1

I think that the issue here is that Windows Common Controls do not interact with your application via your main thread's window procedure but via their own (system-defined) window procedures.
So, for example, when your tab window redraws itself, it does not do so in response to a WM_PAINT message arriving at the window procedure defined in your code. You should be able to verify for yourself that this is so by examining the window handles of messages passed to your window procedure, eg WM_PAINT.
If you wish to 'tap into' the default behaviour of a common control you have to 'subclass' it (see here) but in my experience attempting to change the re-draw behaviour is generally problematic.
In the case of a tab control the best thing to do is create an array of child windows sized to the client area of the tab control and arrange that the one displayed at any one time corresponds to the tab that is selected.
If you're using C++ you might consider creating a base class to wrap these windows in which the background (bitmap) drawing is handled. You can then derive a series of wrappers to handle each individual tab. I've used exactly this approach in the past and it works well.
It may be helpful to bear in mind that the tabs of the tab control do not extend over the whole of the control's client area but are just literally the tabs themselves. I don't remember the details but I think they are handled internally by the control and that manipulating them in any way is rather trick, even when the control is subclassed - may be wrong about that.
Hope that helps.
Cheers, Ian.