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Creating a child window?

Started by MatsVed Mar 10, 2010 at 9:10 AM 17 replies 4.5k views

Original Post

Mar 10, 2010 at 9:10 AM

I'm creating an installer in C++ (or at least I'm trying to...) I messed around a bit to get the standard Win32 application to display a bitmap on the main window. Now I'd like a child window on top of the main window that is borderless! I couldn't actually find any examples of this on Google Image Search, so I made a mockup:

; This is what my InitInstance() function looks like:

//
//   FUNCTION: InitInstance(HINSTANCE, int)
//
//   PURPOSE: Saves instance handle and creates main window
//
//   COMMENTS:
//
//        In this function, we save the instance handle in a global variable and
//        create and display the main program window.
//
BOOL InitInstance(HINSTANCE hInstance, int nCmdShow)
{
   HWND hWnd;
   HWND ChildWnd;

   hInst = hInstance; // Store instance handle in our global variable

   hWnd = CreateWindow(szWindowClass, szTitle, WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW,
      CW_USEDEFAULT, 0, CW_USEDEFAULT, 0, NULL, NULL, hInstance, NULL);
   ChildWnd = CreateWindow(szChldWndClass, szTitle, WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW,
	   CW_USEDEFAULT, WS_VISIBLE | WS_CHILD | BS_VCENTER | BS_CENTER, 
	   500, 100, NULL, NULL, hInst, NULL);

   if (!hWnd)
   {
      return FALSE;
   }

   ShowWindow(hWnd, nCmdShow);
   ShowWindow(ChildWnd, nCmdShow);
   UpdateWindow(hWnd);
   UpdateWindow(ChildWnd);

   return TRUE;
}

The child window still doesn't display! Why is this?

Rattrap

Mar 10, 2010 at 9:33 AM

You need to define the parent in CreateWindowEx if you want to make it a real child window

   ChildWnd = CreateWindow(szChldWndClass, szTitle, WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW,	   CW_USEDEFAULT, WS_VISIBLE | WS_CHILD | BS_VCENTER | BS_CENTER, 	   500, 100, hWnd /* Parent Parameter */, NULL, hInst, NULL);

MatsVed

Mar 10, 2010 at 9:45 AM

Thanks! :)

The window still doesn't display though :(

popsoftheyear

Mar 10, 2010 at 9:50 AM

You have

ChildWnd = CreateWindow(szChldWndClass, szTitle, WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW,	   CW_USEDEFAULT, WS_VISIBLE | WS_CHILD | BS_VCENTER | BS_CENTER, 	   500, 100, NULL, NULL, hInst, NULL);

You want

ChildWnd = CreateWindow(szChldWndClass, szTitle, WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW | WS_VISIBLE | WS_CHILD | BS_VCENTER | BS_CENTER,	   CW_USEDEFAULT, CW_USEDEFAULT, 	   500, 100, NULL, NULL, hInst, NULL);

I question the BS_VCENTER and BS_CENTER styles though...
[edit] Plus you want to include the parent hWnd as Rattrap specified of course
[edit again] Plus WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW will give you a border ... but get the thing to display first and then mess with the styles I'd say.

MatsVed

Mar 10, 2010 at 10:03 AM

Thanks again!
Still doesn't display...

Should I call BeginPaint() on the childwindow? And where should I call it?

popsoftheyear

Mar 10, 2010 at 11:20 AM

Also, when you create your main window:

hWnd = CreateWindow(szWindowClass, szTitle, WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW,      CW_USEDEFAULT, 0, CW_USEDEFAULT, 0, NULL, NULL, hInstance, NULL);

In order you have
CW_USEDEFAULT, // x pos
0, // y pos
CW_USEDEFAULT, // width
0, // height
So you create your parent window with a height of 0. Nothing will display, and your button/editbox/whatever child window you are making of course won't display because there is no parent window to display.
try CW_USEDEFAULT, CW_USEDEFAULT, 600, 200
or something since your child window is 500x100 and needs to fit inside it.

Note that CW_USEDEFAULT will pretty much plop the window anywhere, and the child. If you know where you want them, specify.

LessBread

Mar 10, 2010 at 11:20 AM

You might want to use CreateWindowEx instead of the CreateWindow macro, so that you can specify WS_EX_TRANSPARENT, which might be necessary to achieve the effect shown in your mock up.

Also, and probably more importantly, you need to specify an identifier for the window in the hMenu parameter.

Quote:

hMenu
[in] Handle to a menu, or specifies a child-window identifier, depending on the window style. For an overlapped or pop-up window, hMenu identifies the menu to be used with the window; it can be NULL if the class menu is to be used. For a child window, 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.

Identifiers are usually #define[d] in the resource header.

hiigara

Mar 10, 2010 at 3:28 PM

I am not sure exactly what you are trying to achieve.
You want a see through Box where you can display Text. Is that it?
WS_EX_TRANSPARENT should do the Trick.
The only Alternative, which requires a bit of Work, is creating a normal Child Window and then during WM_PAINT, send a Message to the Parent to request it to paint itself in the Child's Device Context, then the Child paints on top of that. This second Option would give you also the possibility of Alphablending.
Which is a very nice Effect.

Anon Mike

Mar 10, 2010 at 3:46 PM

You're probably drawing over the top of your child window. Try adding WS_CLIPCHILDREN to the parent. In addition to what popsoftheyear and rattrap said.

MatsVed

Mar 11, 2010 at 8:29 AM

I don't want my child window to be transparent!
I just want it to be like a normal window, but without a border!

I already created an ID... I had to, to be able to call LoadString() in the beginning;

	// Initialize global strings	LoadString(hInstance, IDS_APP_TITLE, szTitle, MAX_LOADSTRING);	LoadString(hInstance, IDC_INSTALLER, szWindowClass, MAX_LOADSTRING);	LoadString(hInstance, IDC_INSTALLER_CHLD, szChldWndClass, MAX_LOADSTRING);	MyRegisterClass(hInstance);

I added the ID to the hMenu param, and used WS_CLIPCHILDREN on the parent:

BOOL InitInstance(HINSTANCE hInstance, int nCmdShow){   HWND hWnd;   HWND ChildWnd;   hInst = hInstance; // Store instance handle in our global variable   hWnd = CreateWindow(szWindowClass, szTitle, WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW | WS_CLIPCHILDREN,      CW_USEDEFAULT, 0, CW_USEDEFAULT, 0, NULL, NULL, hInstance, NULL);   ChildWnd = CreateWindow(szChldWndClass, szTitle, WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW | WS_VISIBLE | 	   WS_CHILD | BS_VCENTER | BS_CENTER, CW_USEDEFAULT, CW_USEDEFAULT, 	   500, 100, hWnd, (HMENU)IDC_INSTALLER_CHLD, hInst, NULL);   if (!hWnd)   {      return FALSE;   }   ShowWindow(hWnd, nCmdShow);   ShowWindow(ChildWnd, nCmdShow);   UpdateWindow(hWnd);   UpdateWindow(ChildWnd);   return TRUE;}

The child window still isn't displaying!

Edit:

This is how I'd like the child window to be, without the image and the border:

popsoftheyear

Mar 11, 2010 at 9:08 AM

Your main window is being created with a height of 0, thus it doesn't really exist, so there is no where for the child window to go since it's parent isn't even there. Read my most recent post that explains why and what to do. Then, check all your parameters for CreateWindow and figure out if you did everything you meant to.

My recommendation? Comment out code for the child control, and get your parent window to display first. No sense in trying to get the child control to display if you can't get the parent first.

MatsVed

Mar 11, 2010 at 9:47 AM

Uhm, what?
The parent window is in the first post! It's been displayed all along!

Edit: Don't ask me how it's displayed with a height of 0, but it's there!

Anon Mike

Mar 11, 2010 at 10:55 AM

Your (revised) code works for me.

You aren't checking for errors in the second CreateWindow call. I suspect CreateWindow is failing and you're getting back NULL for ChildWnd. If that's true then 99% of the time it's failing because you've screwed up your WndProc, does the WndProc for the child window ever get called?

It could also be something like you forgot to register your szChldWndClass or for some reason RegisterClass[Ex] is failing. Just for testing purposes I would recommend you try one of the built-in window classes (e.g. "EDIT" rather than szChldWndClass) and see if that works.

Some more nitpicking for whenever you get it figured out:

You say you want the child to be borderless but you're specifying WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW.

BS_* styles apply to the built-in BUTTON window class yet it looks very much like you're using a custom window class for your child.

Calling ShowWindow on the child window with nCmdShow is just plain wierd.

Calling UpdateWindow is (very likely) completely unnecessary.

You really need to read the docs about for CreateWindow, the large number of minor errors you're making make me suspect you're just cut&pasting code.

MatsVed

Mar 11, 2010 at 12:06 PM

I did read the docs about CreateWindow(), but it doesn't seem to explain anything about creating child windows?
I've been Googling around for tutorials on this topic, but there really isn't much information available, so I've had to guesstimate which functions to call and where.

How do I call RegisterClassEx() for the child window?!
The only time it's being called at present is after initializing the global strings;

	// Initialize global strings	LoadString(hInstance, IDS_APP_TITLE, szTitle, MAX_LOADSTRING);	LoadString(hInstance, IDC_INSTALLER, szWindowClass, MAX_LOADSTRING);	LoadString(hInstance, IDC_INSTALLER_CHLD, szChldWndClass, MAX_LOADSTRING);	MyRegisterClass(hInstance);

This is what MyRegisterClass looks like:

////  FUNCTION: MyRegisterClass()////  PURPOSE: Registers the window class.////  COMMENTS:////    This function and its usage are only necessary if you want this code//    to be compatible with Win32 systems prior to the 'RegisterClassEx'//    function that was added to Windows 95. It is important to call this function//    so that the application will get 'well formed' small icons associated//    with it.//ATOM MyRegisterClass(HINSTANCE hInstance){	WNDCLASSEX wcex;	wcex.cbSize = sizeof(WNDCLASSEX);	wcex.style			= CS_HREDRAW | CS_VREDRAW;	wcex.lpfnWndProc	= WndProc;	wcex.cbClsExtra		= 0;	wcex.cbWndExtra		= 0;	wcex.hInstance		= hInstance;	wcex.hIcon			= LoadIcon(hInstance, MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDI_INSTALLER));	wcex.hCursor		= LoadCursor(NULL, IDC_ARROW);	wcex.hbrBackground	= (HBRUSH)(COLOR_WINDOW+1);	wcex.lpszMenuName	= MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDC_INSTALLER);	wcex.lpszClassName	= szWindowClass;	wcex.hIconSm		= LoadIcon(wcex.hInstance, MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDI_SMALL));	return RegisterClassEx(&wcex);}

Anyways, I added a function called EnumChildProc() that is supposed to (I think) redraw any child windows when the parent window has changed size. I found it in this article.

BOOL CALLBACK EnumChildProc(HWND hwndChild, LPARAM lParam) {     LPRECT rcParent;     int i, idChild;      // Retrieve the child-window identifier. Use it to set the     // position of the child window.      idChild = GetWindowLong(hwndChild, GWL_ID);      if (idChild == IDC_INSTALLER_CHLD)         i = 0;     else         i = 2;      // Size and position the child window.       rcParent = (LPRECT) lParam;     MoveWindow(hwndChild,                (rcParent->right / 3) * i,                0,                rcParent->right / 3,                rcParent->bottom,                TRUE);      // Make sure the child window is visible.      ShowWindow(hwndChild, SW_SHOW);      return TRUE;}

I'm calling it from my WndProc() like so:

	case WM_SIZE: //main window changed size 		// Get the dimensions of the main window's client         // area, and enumerate the child windows. Pass the         // dimensions to the child windows during enumeration.         GetClientRect(hWnd, &rcClient);         EnumChildWindows(hWnd, EnumChildProc, (LPARAM) &rcClient);         return 0;

It doesn't seem to have helped anything though...

I am at a loss as to what to do at this point! :(

LessBread

Mar 11, 2010 at 12:36 PM

Focus on getting the window up and running before worrying about the style or about repainting it after the parent window has been resized.

Anon Mike

Mar 11, 2010 at 4:20 PM

You aren't registering a class for your child window.

MatsVed

Mar 14, 2010 at 9:35 AM

The question is;

How do I do it? :\

jwezorek

Mar 14, 2010 at 8:31 PM

The following are instructions for creating a custom child window that I posted in an old thread. I'm calling it "FrameWindow" because the OP in that thread wanted to use it as a Win32 parent for other child controls, but call it whatever you want.

Quote:
1.) Register your custom frame class. Write something like the following and then call it when your app starts up:
void RegisterMyFrameClass(HINSTANCE app_instance) {    WNDCLASSEX  wndclass;    ZeroMemory(&wndclass, sizeof (wndclass));    wndclass.cbSize        = sizeof (wndclass) ;    wndclass.style         = CS_HREDRAW | CS_VREDRAW;    wndclass.lpfnWndProc   =  MyFrameWindowProc;    wndclass.cbWndExtra    = 0 ;    wndclass.hInstance     = app_instance;    wndclass.lpszMenuName  = NULL ;    wndclass.lpszClassName = "MyFrameClass";    wndclass.hbrBackground = GetSysColorBrush(COLOR_WINDOW);    wndclass.hCursor = LoadCursor(NULL, IDC_ARROW);    RegisterClassEx(&wndclass);}
2.) Write a barebones window procedure like the following. You could actually just use DefWindowProc in the wndclass above, but you may find that you want the frame to do something and you'll have to add this later anyway.
LRESULT MyFrameWindowProc(HWND hwnd, UINT msg, WPARAM wparam, LPARAM lparam)    return DefWindowProc(hwnd, msg, wparam, lparam);}
3.) Create a frame by calling a function like this:
HWND CreateFrameWindow(HWND parent, int id, HINSTANCE app_inst,                        int x, int y, int wd, int hgt) {    return CreateWindowEx(0, "MyFrameClass", "", WS_CHILD|WS_VISIBLE,                       x, y, wd, hgt, parent, (HMENU)id, app_inst, NULL);}
4.) When you create your controls use the hwnd of your frame as their parent.

Just do this in your program, put a break point in the MyFrameWindowProc, and if execution hits the break point you've created a child window.

MatsVed

Mar 15, 2010 at 1:35 AM

Got it working!

Thanks! :D

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