WinAPI - CreateWindow

Are you compiling with or without Unicode support? Try changing to
CreateWindowEx(NULL, WINDOW_CLASS_NAME, TEXT("Your Basic Window"), WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW | WS_VISIBLE, 100, 100, 400, 400, NULL,NULL, hInstance, NULL)
or disable unicode support (in the project properties in Visual Studio).

Edit: In general, avoid using the xA or xW versions, just use the function without ending, and the compiler will choose the right version for you.

Thank's a lot :)

Why do we use TEXT() macro?

I always write
"Your Basic Window"
instead of
TEXT("Your Basic Window")
and it works without any problem.

Quote:

Original post by Battousai Why do we use TEXT() macro? I always write "Your Basic Window" instead of TEXT("Your Basic Window") and it works without any problem.

Depends on if your compiling for UNICODE support or not. If you have UNICODE/_UNICODE set in your preprocessor definitions then it will use the WCHAR version of the functions which is a wide character. Using the TEXT() macro ensures the correct char size is used for text.

CreateWindowA() <-- 8-bit ANSI char
CreateWindowW() <-- 16-bit UNICODE WCHAR

But as Promethium said don't use the *A or *W versions just let the compiler choose depending on if you have the UNICODE/_UNICODE variables set.

Are there any performance gains in using unicode?

No, unicode is a way of representing text that allows you to do things you can't do with ANSI/ASCII text, for instance print asian glyphs: Wikipedia entry for Unicode. It has nothing to do with performance.

Again me.. I put some string resource to my resource file and I try do this:
char window_name[80];
if(!LoadString(hInstance, ID_STRING_WINDOW_NAME, window_name, 80))
return 0;

and then I get: rror C2664: 'LoadStringW' : cannot convert parameter 3 from 'char [80]' to 'LPWSTR' [..]

and error C2664: 'CreateWindowExW' : cannot convert parameter 3 from 'char [80]' to 'LPCWSTR' becouse I want to use window_name as lpWindowName in CreateWindow..
Help! :) And thanks in advance..

Screenshot: http://rafek.winweb.pl/shot01220.jpg

[Edited by - rafek on May 18, 2008 6:54:47 AM]

I thought we just explained this? Change char to WCHAR since your obviously compiling for UNICODE support. Also if you need to convert a char to WCHAR use MultiByteToWideChar()

Thanks. I'm a little confused about this UNICODE stuff. Thanks anyway. :)

Quote:

Original post by Firecore Are there any performance gains in using unicode?

If you're running on a Windows NT-flavored OS (NT, 2000, XP, Vista) then there will be a performance gain. The A versions of the Win32 API functions will convert their string arguments from narrow-characters into wide-characters and then call the W versions of the same functions.

If you're running on a 9x-flavored OS (95, 98, ME) then the opposite is true.

Quote:

Original post by Colin Jeanne If you're running on a Windows NT-flavored OS (NT, 2000, XP, Vista) then there will be a performance gain. The A versions of the Win32 API functions will convert their string arguments from narrow-characters into wide-characters and then call the W versions of the same functions. If you're running on a 9x-flavored OS (95, 98, ME) then the opposite is true.

Very interesting never knew this!