As you can see in the following images:
there are unfilled areas when the checkbox is clicked(mainly in the corners). I have enabled visual styles through
#pragma comment(linker,"\"/manifestdependency:type='win32' \
name='Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls' version='6.0.0.0' \
processorArchitecture='*' publicKeyToken='6595b64144ccf1df' language='*'\"")
And I have also called InitCommonControlsEx
INITCOMMONCONTROLSEX controls = { sizeof(INITCOMMONCONTROLSEX), ICC_STANDARD_CLASSES };
if (!InitCommonControlsEx(&controls)) { MessageBoxA(NULL, "Loading controls failed\n", NULL, 0); }
Here is my code for creating the button in WM_CREATE:
int cx_check_box = GetSystemMetrics(SM_CXMENUCHECK) - GetSystemMetrics(SM_CXEDGE);
int cy_check_box = GetSystemMetrics(SM_CYMENUCHECK) - GetSystemMetrics(SM_CYEDGE);
HWND check_box = CreateWindowW(L"BUTTON", L"", WS_VISIBLE | WS_CHILD | BS_AUTOCHECKBOX, 100, 100,
cx_check_box, cy_check_box, hWnd, NULL, (HINSTANCE)GetWindowLongPtr(hWnd, GWLP_HINSTANCE), NULL);
if (!check_box)
MessageBoxA(NULL, "check box creation failed :(", NULL, MB_RETRYCANCEL);
How can I go about making the checkbox occupy the entire space? Or make the extra space go away/transparent?
Thanks in advance for the help.
Windows SDK version - 10.0.22621.0 (which is windows 11 afaik)
You can handle the WM_CTLCOLORBTN message and set the background to Red.
case WM_CTLCOLORSTATIC:
{
static HBRUSH hBrushColor;
if (!hBrushColor)
{
hBrushColor = CreateSolidBrush(RGB(255, 0, 0));
SetBkColor((HDC)wParam,RGB(255, 0, 0));
}
return (LRESULT)hBrushColor;
}
break;
One of my application is ported from windows Xp to WIN7. For this application tool tip control is not working in win7 while it is working for XP.
Code logic:
We are setting tooltip in a const string. aToolTipText =anImageTypeStr;
and passing in a function SetToolTipText(LPCTSTR tooltiptext, long Id) which is calling ActivateToolTipText(int Id, bool activateFlag) which is actually handling Tooltip based on id.
bool ActivateToolTipText(int Id, bool activateFlag)
{
CSA_TRY
{
// struct specifying info about tool in ToolTip control
TOOLINFO ti;
unsigned int uid = Id; // for ti initialization
LPTSTR lptstr = (LPTSTR)(LPCTSTR)m_strToolTipText[Id];
// CREATE A TOOLTIP WINDOW
if(activateFlag)
{
m_ToolTipHWND[Id] = CreateWindowEx(WS_EX_TOPMOST,
TOOLTIPS_CLASS,
NULL,
WS_POPUP | TTS_NOPREFIX | TTS_ALWAYSTIP,
CW_USEDEFAULT,
CW_USEDEFAULT,
CW_USEDEFAULT,
CW_USEDEFAULT,
m_hWnd,
NULL,
0,
NULL
);
}
// INITIALIZE MEMBERS OF THE TOOLINFO STRUCTURE
ti.cbSize = sizeof(TOOLINFO);
ti.uFlags = TTF_SUBCLASS ;
ti.hwnd = m_hWnd;
ti.hinst = 0;
ti.uId = uid;
ti.lpszText = lptstr;
// ToolTip control will cover the rect of Id
CRect rect_out;
GetIdArea(Id, &rect_out);
ti.rect = rect_out;
if( activateFlag )
::SendMessage(m_ToolTipHWND[Id], TTM_ADDTOOL, 0, (LPARAM) (LPTOOLINFO)&ti);
}
else
{
::SendMessage(m_ToolTipHWND[Id], TTM_DELTOOL, 0, (LPARAM) (LPTOOLINFO) &ti);
}
return TRUE;
}
}
The problem is with common controls version 6. for xp+, the header file CommCtrl.h assume we will use comctl version 6, but if we dont enable it explictly with manifest file, we'll still use the old comctl version 5.x. problem starts here, the size of TOOLINFO of version 5.x is different to version 6.x. So if you need to use comctl version 5 under windows xp+, you should init TOOLINFO with follwing code, TOOLINFO ti; ti.cbSize = sizeof(TOOLINFO) - 4;
I'm trying to learn some windows and directX programming and I was messing around trying some different things. When suddently my the windows stopped appearing, even tho it was a successful build. I figured I must have messed something up and I undid everything until i got back to the place where I last managed to get the window to appear, but now when I run (with a successful build) it still doesn't show :( And I'm starting to run out of ideas what the problem could be, it so strange. One of the thing I did since last time I got it to work was add some libs directories but I have a hard time seeing how that would affect the program this way. Have anyone of you run in to this problem before, and if so how did you solve it? Here is the code of the func creating the window (and yes I am aware of the infinite loop, it shouldn't cause this problem tho, right?) :
ps. I have also tried changing between WINDCLASSEX and WINDCLASS, with all the functions that need to be change with it, didn't make any difference ds.
int WINAPI wWinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE, PWSTR pCmdLine, int nCmdShow){
// Register the window class.
const wchar_t CLASS_NAME[] = L"Sample Window Class";
WNDCLASS wc = { };
wc.lpfnWndProc = WindowProc;
wc.hInstance = hInstance;
wc.lpszClassName = CLASS_NAME;
wc.style = CS_HREDRAW | CS_VREDRAW;
wc.hCursor = LoadCursor(NULL, IDC_ARROW);
wc.hbrBackground = (HBRUSH)COLOR_WINDOW;
RegisterClass(&wc);
RECT wr = {0, 0, 500, 400}; // set the size, but not the position
AdjustWindowRect(&wr, WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW, FALSE); // adjust the size
// Create the window.
HWND hwnd = CreateWindowEx(
0, // Optional window styles.
CLASS_NAME, // Window class
L"My first window", // Window text
WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW, // Window style
CW_USEDEFAULT, CW_USEDEFAULT,//position x,y
wr.right-wr.left, wr.bottom-wr.top,//width, height
NULL, // Parent window
NULL, // Menu
hInstance, // Instance handle
NULL // Additional application data
);
if (hwnd == NULL){
return 0;
}
InitD3D(hwnd);
// Run the message loop.
MSG msg = { };
while (true){
if(PeekMessage(&msg, NULL, 0, 0, PM_REMOVE)){
TranslateMessage(&msg);
DispatchMessage(&msg);
}
else{
}
}
return 0;
}
looks like you need a ShowWindow call in there (unless InitD3D does that, you haven't shown the code)
windows are by default created non-visible, so that you can do various initialization without the user seeing what goes on
as an alternative you can create the window already visible, but generally it's a good idea to keep to a single convention
by the way, you can just use a standard int main, no need to use the Microsoft monstrosity
with GNU toolchain that's all, with Microsoft's tools you then have to tell the linker to accept the standard code, if you use the GUI subsystem, via linker option /entry:mainCRTStartup.
also, the call to non-blocking PeekMessage means your message loop will most likely be a CPU hog
instead, use blocking GetMessage
and remember to exit the loop when GetMessage returns 0 (which indicates a WM_QUIT message has been posted)
I'm trying to create a dialog box using C++ and the windows API, but I don't want the dialog defined in a resource file. I can't find anything good on this on the web, and none of the examples I've read seem to define the dialog programmatically.
How can I do this?
A simple example is fine. I'm not doing anything complicated with it yet.
Raymond Chen wrote a few posts about the dialog manager:
The dialog manager, part 1: Warm-ups
The dialog manager, part 2: Creating the frame window
The dialog manager, part 3: Creating the controls
The dialog manager, part 4: The dialog loop
The dialog manager, part 5: Converting a non-modal dialog box to modal
The dialog manager, part 6: Subtleties in message loops
The dialog manager, part 7: More subtleties in message loops
The dialog manager, part 8: Custom navigation in dialog boxes
The dialog manager, part 9: Custom accelerators in dialog boxes
If all you want to do is show a window with controls, it's possible to create a window without using resource (.rc) files / scripts.
This isn't the same as a dialog, but it might be easier than creating a dialog programmatically.
First, a few notes about how this is done:
Instead of designing the dialog in the rc file, you could manually use CreateWindow (or CreateWindowEx) to create child windows of a main window. (for .NET Windows Forms programmers, these windows are like Controls).
This process will not be graphical at all (you will need to manually type in the location and size of each window), but I think this can be a great way to understand how dialogs are created under the hood.
There are some disadvantages to not using a real dialog, namely that tab will not work when switching between controls.
About the example:
This example features a dialog box with two buttons, an edit box (.NET Windows Forms programmers would think of it as a TextBox), and a check box.
It has been tested under the following conditions:
x86 build
x64 build
Unicode build (UNICODE and _UNICODE defined)
Non-Unicode build (UNICODE and _UNICODE not defined)
Built with Visual Studio's C compiler
Built with Visual Studio's C++ compiler
OS: Windows 10 64 bit
Note: UNICODE
As of the time of writing, UTF-8 is still in beta for Windows 10
If you have not enabled this setting, you should assume that any char* is ACP, not UTF-8, this applies to standard library functions too
Even though in Linux, that same standard library function would be UTF-8.
Sadly, some C++ standard library features only work with char* (e.g., exception messages).
You can still use UTF-8 in Windows without the option set, you will just have to encode it back to UTF-16 before calling winapi functions.
Here is a reddit thread with a reply from somebody who claims to have worked on UTF-8 on Windows, it has some good information.
UNICODE in Windows means "UTF-16", not "UTF-8".
Using Unicode of some kind is strongly recommended for any version of Windows that is not very old.
Be aware that if you don't use Unicode, your program may be utterly unable to open file names containing Unicode characters, handle directories (e.g., usernames) with non-ACP characters, etc.
Using ACP functions (SendMessageA,etc) without somehow verifying that UTF-8 is enabled (it's disabled by default) is probably a bug.
For max portability/flexibility, I would recommend using UTF-16 and the W version of all API functions, translating from UTF-8 to UTF-16 at the last minute. Read this page very carefully.
Now for the code:
Note that a large amount of comments have been added to try to document the windows functions, I recommend copy/pasting this into a text editor, for best results.
// This sample will work either with or without UNICODE, it looks like
// it's recommended now to use UNICODE for all new code, but I left
// the ANSI option in there just to get the absolute maximum amount
// of compatibility.
//
// Note that UNICODE and _UNICODE go together, unfortunately part
// of the Windows API uses _UNICODE, and part of it uses UNICODE.
//
// tchar.h, for example, makes heavy use of _UNICODE, and windows.h
// makes heavy use of UNICODE.
#define UNICODE
#define _UNICODE
//#undef UNICODE
//#undef _UNICODE
#include <windows.h>
#include <tchar.h>
// I made this struct to more conveniently store the
// positions / size of each window in the dialog
typedef struct SizeAndPos_s
{
int x, y, width, height;
} SizeAndPos_t;
// Typically these would be #defines, but there
// is no reason to not make them constants
const WORD ID_btnHELLO = 1;
const WORD ID_btnQUIT = 2;
const WORD ID_CheckBox = 3;
const WORD ID_txtEdit = 4;
const WORD ID_btnShow = 5;
// x, y, width, height
const SizeAndPos_t mainWindow = { 150, 150, 300, 300 };
const SizeAndPos_t btnHello = { 20, 50, 80, 25 };
const SizeAndPos_t btnQuit = { 120, 50, 80, 25 };
const SizeAndPos_t chkCheck = { 20, 90, 185, 35 };
const SizeAndPos_t txtEdit = { 20, 150, 150, 20 };
const SizeAndPos_t btnShow = { 180, 150, 80, 25 };
HWND txtEditHandle = NULL;
// hwnd: All window processes are passed the handle of the window
// that they belong to in hwnd.
// msg: Current message (e.g., WM_*) from the OS.
// wParam: First message parameter, note that these are more or less
// integers, but they are really just "data chunks" that
// you are expected to memcpy as raw data to float, etc.
// lParam: Second message parameter, same deal as above.
LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc(HWND hwnd, UINT msg, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)
{
switch (msg)
{
case WM_CREATE:
// Create the buttons
//------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
// Note that the "parent window" is the dialog itself. Since we are
// in the dialog's WndProc, the dialog's handle is passed into hwnd.
//
//CreateWindow( lpClassName, lpWindowName, dwStyle, x, y, nWidth, nHeight, hWndParent, hMenu, hInstance, lpParam
//CreateWindow( windowClassName, initial text, style (flags), xPos, yPos, width, height, parentHandle, menuHandle, instanceHandle, param);
CreateWindow( TEXT("Button"), TEXT("Hello"), WS_VISIBLE | WS_CHILD, btnHello.x, btnHello.y, btnHello.width, btnHello.height, hwnd, (HMENU)ID_btnHELLO, NULL, NULL);
CreateWindow( TEXT("Button"), TEXT("Quit"), WS_VISIBLE | WS_CHILD, btnQuit.x, btnQuit.y, btnQuit.width, btnQuit.height, hwnd, (HMENU)ID_btnQUIT, NULL, NULL);
// Create a checkbox
//------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CreateWindow( TEXT("button"), TEXT("CheckBox"), WS_VISIBLE | WS_CHILD | BS_CHECKBOX, chkCheck.x, chkCheck.y, chkCheck.width, chkCheck.height, hwnd, (HMENU)ID_CheckBox, NULL, NULL);
// Create an edit box (single line text editing), and a button to show the text
//------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
//Handle = CreateWindow(windowClassName, windowName, style, xPos, yPos, width, height, parentHandle, menuHandle, instanceHandle, param);
txtEditHandle = CreateWindow(TEXT("Edit"), TEXT("Initial Text"), WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | WS_BORDER, txtEdit.x, txtEdit.y, txtEdit.width, txtEdit.height, hwnd, (HMENU)ID_txtEdit, NULL, NULL);
//CreateWindow( windowClassName, windowName, style, xPos, yPos, width, height, parentHandle, menuHandle, instanceHandle, param);
CreateWindow( TEXT("Button"), TEXT("Show"), WS_VISIBLE | WS_CHILD, btnShow.x, btnShow.y, btnShow.width, btnShow.height, hwnd, (HMENU)ID_btnShow, NULL, NULL);
// Create an Updown control. Note that this control will allow you to type in non-number characters, but it will not affect the state of the control
break;
// For more information about WM_COMMAND, see
// https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms647591(v=vs.85).aspx
case WM_COMMAND:
// The LOWORD of wParam identifies which control sent
// the WM_COMMAND message. The WM_COMMAND message is
// sent when the button has been clicked.
if (LOWORD(wParam) == ID_btnHELLO)
{
MessageBox(hwnd, TEXT("Hello!"), TEXT("Hello"), MB_OK);
}
else if (LOWORD(wParam) == ID_btnQUIT)
{
PostQuitMessage(0);
}
else if (LOWORD(wParam) == ID_CheckBox)
{
UINT checked = IsDlgButtonChecked(hwnd, ID_CheckBox);
if (checked)
{
CheckDlgButton(hwnd, ID_CheckBox, BST_UNCHECKED);
MessageBox(hwnd, TEXT("The checkbox has been unchecked."), TEXT("CheckBox Event"), MB_OK);
}
else
{
CheckDlgButton(hwnd, ID_CheckBox, BST_CHECKED);
MessageBox(hwnd, TEXT("The checkbox has been checked."), TEXT("CheckBox Event"), MB_OK);
}
}
else if (LOWORD(wParam) == ID_btnShow)
{
int textLength_WithNUL = GetWindowTextLength(txtEditHandle) + 1;
// WARNING: If you are compiling this for C, please remember to remove the (TCHAR*) cast.
TCHAR* textBoxText = (TCHAR*) malloc(sizeof(TCHAR) * textLength_WithNUL);
GetWindowText(txtEditHandle, textBoxText, textLength_WithNUL);
MessageBox(hwnd, textBoxText, TEXT("Here's what you typed"), MB_OK);
free(textBoxText);
}
break;
case WM_DESTROY:
PostQuitMessage(0);
break;
}
return DefWindowProc(hwnd, msg, wParam, lParam);
}
// hInstance: This handle refers to the running executable
// hPrevInstance: Not used. See https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20040615-00/?p=38873
// lpCmdLine: Command line arguments.
// nCmdShow: a flag that says whether the main application window
// will be minimized, maximized, or shown normally.
//
// Note that it's necessary to use _tWinMain to make it
// so that command line arguments will work, both
// with and without UNICODE / _UNICODE defined.
int APIENTRY _tWinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, LPTSTR lpCmdLine, int nCmdShow)
{
MSG msg;
WNDCLASS mainWindowClass = { 0 };
// You can set the main window name to anything, but
// typically you should prefix custom window classes
// with something that makes it unique.
mainWindowClass.lpszClassName = TEXT("JRH.MainWindow");
mainWindowClass.hInstance = hInstance;
mainWindowClass.hbrBackground = GetSysColorBrush(COLOR_3DFACE);
mainWindowClass.lpfnWndProc = WndProc;
mainWindowClass.hCursor = LoadCursor(0, IDC_ARROW);
RegisterClass(&mainWindowClass);
// Notes:
// - The classname identifies the TYPE of the window. Not a C type.
// This is a (TCHAR*) ID that Windows uses internally.
// - The window name is really just the window text, this is
// commonly used for captions, including the title
// bar of the window itself.
// - parentHandle is considered the "owner" of this
// window. MessageBoxes can use HWND_MESSAGE to
// free them of any window.
// - menuHandle: hMenu specifies the child-window identifier,
// an integer value used by a dialog box
// control to notify its parent about events.
// The application determines the child-window
// identifier; it must be unique for all
// child windows with the same parent window.
//CreateWindow( windowClassName, windowName, style, xPos, yPos, width, height, parentHandle, menuHandle, instanceHandle, param);
CreateWindow( mainWindowClass.lpszClassName, TEXT("Main Window"), WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW | WS_VISIBLE, mainWindow.x, mainWindow.y, mainWindow.width, mainWindow.height, NULL, 0, hInstance, NULL);
while (GetMessage(&msg, NULL, 0, 0))
{
TranslateMessage(&msg);
DispatchMessage(&msg);
}
return (int)msg.wParam;
}
// This code is based roughly on tutorial code present at http://zetcode.com/gui/winapi/
Further reading
The builtin set of window classes are rather limited, so you might be curious as to how you can define your own window classes ("Controls") using the Windows API, see the articles below:
Custom Controls in Win32 API: The Basics (Code Project)
The WINE emulator source serves as a good example of how the Windows API could be implemented, and how you can make your own window classes that imitate the behavior of builtin classes.
Zetcode.com's tutorials
NOTE: I originally intended this post to cover the creation of dialogs programmatically. Due to a mistake on my part I didn't realize that you can't just "show" a window as a dialog. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get the setup mentioned by Raymond Chen working. Even looking at WINE's source, it's not super clear.
Take a look at this toolkit that describes how to create dialogs without resource files.
It's in WTL. However, I'm sure you can pick apart the internals to achieve the same thing using the Win32 API directly.
Here you can find how to use Windows API dialogs without using resource files.
The Windows API (only the C Win32 API, no MFC) tutorial:
Windows API tutorial
Try to search MSDN for "dialog templates in memory".
See this for example: Dialog Boxes