Use DrawText to update label - c++

I am currently writing a program in c++ (no MFC) and want to update a label (win32 static control) using the win32 DrawText function. However when i call the function nothing is written to the label. I use the following code:
HDC devCon = ::GetDC(GetDlgItem(IDC_TITLE).m_hWnd);
RECT rect = {10, 10, 100, 15};
::DrawText(devCon, _T("TEST DC TEXT!!!"), -1, &rect, DT_NOCLIP);
::ReleaseDC(GetDlgItem(IDC_TITLE).m_hWnd, devCon);
As you see with the GetDlgItem(...) I am using ATL but that should not be a problem in my opinion. When I specify NULL in the GetDC method the text is drawn in the upper left corner of the screen as it is supossed to be since the method return the DC to the entire screen.
Why doesn't this work with the DC of the label?
Hope you folks can help me.

If you want to draw the text manually because setting the control text doesn't do what you want, then you need to tell Windows that you're doing that. Otherwise the control will draw itself over whatever you do whenever it needs to be redrawn.
To draw it yourself, mark your control as owner draw by setting the SS_OWNERDRAW style, and then handle the WM_DRAWITEM message to draw it in the window procedure of the parent window, or subclass the window and handle the WM_PAINT message in your new window procedure.

I guess that the text is drawn but at the next window message is set to the default text.
Try to set the text with SendMessage(..,WM_SETTEXT,...);

Use SetDlgItemText() to set the text for the control.
You are trying to paint directly onto the static control's device context.
This is not going to be so simple, because:
the control will repaint itself whenever it's update region is invalidated
usually the controls share the device context with the parent window, so what you are getting in GetDC(...) is actually your dialog's device context.
So, use SetDlgItemText, or SetWindowText to set the text of the window.
To use a custom font (or set the text/background color), handle the WM_CTLCOLORSTATIC message in your WindowProc.

Related

How can I erase the window background in an owner drawn static control?

I am currently developing a kind of "WinMerge" clone, and currently I am trying to implement a custom scrollbar which should later represent both compared files as a rectangle in the background each.
This is what it looks like at the startup:
However, after scrolling around a little bit, this is what I end up with:
As you can clearly see, only those parts look correct which I explicitely paint over in my paint routine:
void LocationPane::OnPaint(CDCHandle dc)
{
DefWindowProc();
dc = GetDC();
DrawLocationPaneFigures(dc);
}
This is how my control is configured in my .rc file:
CONTROL "",IDC_LOCATIONPANE,"Static",SS_OWNERDRAW | SS_NOTIFY | WS_BORDER | WS_GROUP,7,21,91,541
As you can see, it is an owner drawn control.
How can I erase the background for this control while repainting it?
A static control with SS_OWNERDRAW style receives a WM_DRAWITEM message when it needs to be redrawn.
So first you need to replace your OnPaint() handler by a handler for WM_DRAWITEM. Instead of calling GetDC() use the device context supplied to you in the DRAWITEMSTRUCT.
To erase the background it's generally best to do it as part of the regular painting code to reduce flickering (by calling FillRect() for instance).
I suggest to always draw the whole client area of your control. Then you may handle WM_ERASEBKGND to return TRUE without calling DefWindowProc() to reduce flickering even more.

C++ redraw with DrawText

Currently i'm drawing the text from a textbox in my window. I successfully get the text i need to draw and it draws the text. It's ok.
Here's the problem: when i write something else in my input box and draw the text again (via button push), the new text is drawn right on top of the previous text as to be expected.
I'm new to all of this and i can't find a way to clear the previous text before drawing the new text.
Here's my code:
void DrawMyText(HWND hwnd) {
int iTextLength = GetWindowTextLength(hDrawInput) + 1;
char cDrawText[1000] = "";
HDC wdc = GetWindowDC(hwnd);
RECT canvas;
canvas.left = 168;
canvas.top = 108;
canvas.right = 500;
canvas.bottom = 500;
GetWindowText(hDrawInput, cDrawText, iTextLength);
SetTextColor(wdc, 0x00FF0066);
SetBkMode(wdc,TRANSPARENT);
DrawText(wdc, cDrawText, -1, &canvas, DT_LEFT);
DeleteDC(wdc);
}
Any tips on how to do this? I will gladly provide any additional information if needed. Thanks in advance!
DrawText is more like a spray can - it paints over top whatever is already there. I'd recommend switching to SetWindowText. The difference is DrawText is more like a canvas rendering call, and doesn't consider much about the type of control it's drawing to. SetWindowText is an explicit "set the text of this window to this specific value", and is specific to text-based controls. More to the point, it will replace the current text with the new text value.
If you absolutely must do it with DrawText (i.e. you prefer a canvas approach as above), then you'll have to manually clear the text area yourself with something like InvalidateRect() (using the RECT of the text area). Or, by drawing a rectangle equal in size to the text area and with the same color as the background. Let me know if that's not enough detail.
If some other window covers and then uncovers the place where you drew the text it will be gone! The illusion that windows can sit on top of each other is destroyed! Windows provides a scheme to overcome this problem but you are not cooperating with the scheme.
Paint your text only in response to the WM_PAINT message, using the BeginPaint and EndPaint API calls. On the button click just call InvalidateRect, which asks Windows to send you a WM_PAINT. BeginPaint erases your window just before you paint. So by putting your painting code in the right place - the WM_PAINT handler - you solve two problems: It erases any old text, and it repaints whenever your window is uncovered.

Filling a PictureBox of Type Rectangle, C++ WINAPI

I'm recreating an application that mimics the Windows Color Editing Dialog (ie from Paint), for study purposes.
http://i.stack.imgur.com/UGdtU.jpg
I created an identical looking Dialog, using PictureBox(es) as the "color containers".
I set the PictureBox type to "Rectangle", I figured it would be easier to use a LOGBRUSH to fill a Rectangle Object; instead of setting the PictureBox to type "Bitmap" and setting every pixel of the bitmap to the necessary color.
The issue I am having is... I don't know how to use the HWND of the PictureBox Control with the LOGBRUSH, to fill it.
I was having trouble finding the PictureBox Notifications and Messages to communicate with the Control.
Can anyone give me some insight in how to communicate correctly with the PictureBox Control?
Use a static control with SS_SIMPLE style and no text. Then handle WM_CTLCOLORSTATIC message in the parent window. The parent window can then return the brush which the system uses to paint the background. Remember that its your responsibility to free the brush unless its a system brush. i.e if you have created the brush using CreateSolidBrush or similar functions, then you need to free the brush once it is no longer used, otherwise it will lead to GDI objects to leak. For the implementation you are proposing, you can have an array of brush handles created while initializing the dialog and supply appropriate brush for a particular box in response to WM_CTLCOLORSTATIC. And when the dialog box is about to destroy, you can free the brush handles.
Another way to implement is to create a custom control which only saves the colors for various boxes in an array in the window's private data, and draw them manually in response to WM_PAINT.

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

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.
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.

What cause WS_TABSTOP to affect window painting order?

In WTL, CBitmapButton does not support picture with transparent layer, like PNG.
so i customize the code to use GDI+ to draw PNG, name it as CPNGButton.
But things are strange on win XP.
When the button is overlaped by other window, the button receives WM_PAINT first, and then the parent, causing incorrect result.
--->
I check the resource and remove WS_TABSTOP attribute from the template of the button, things go ok,parent window receives WM_PAINT first, then the button.
What cause WS_TABSTOP to affect window painting order?
This is what happens when you don't draw the background. That leaves a 'hole' in the window, you see the pixels of whatever window is behind yours. Or the desktop if there is no such window. Not otherwise sure what this has to do with WS_TABSTOP.
Use the WS_EX_TRANSPARENT style flag. That tells Windows that you want the parent of the button to draw itself in the client window to provide the background pixels.