Hi --

Does anyone know how to make a Win32 program have a dialog as its main
application window? I know that this can be done using MFC, but I'm trying
to hold out as long as possible using the Win32 API. <g>

Here's my (non-working) code:

BOOL CALLBACK DialogProc(HWND hwndDlg, UINT uMsg, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM
lParam)
{
 switch(uMsg)
 {
 case WM_INITDIALOG:
       // get window handles
   hwndOption[0] = GetDlgItem(hwndDlg, IDC_DELETEALL);
   hwndOption[1] = GetDlgItem(hwndDlg, IDC_DELETESOME);
   hwndOption[2] = GetDlgItem(hwndDlg, IDC_RADIOSTATIONS);
   break;
 case WM_DESTROY:
   // if using DialogBox, then uncomment the following line
   // EndDialog(hwndDlg, 0);
   break;
 }
 return 1;

int WINAPI WinMain(...)
{
 HWND hwndDesk = GetDesktopWindow();
 // int rc = DialogBox(hInst, MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDD_MYDLG), hwndDesk,
DialogProc);
 CreateDialog(hInst, MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDD_MYDLG), hwndDesk, DialogProc);
// CreateDialog(hInst, MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDD_MYDLG), NULL, DialogProc); GPF's
in user32
 /*
 etc.
*/
return 0;

--
Damit Senanayake
http://www.*-*-*.com/
ICQ: 6930718
Please reply to the group, unless your newsreader doesn't work or you don't
have a reliable connection!

Damit,

Are you creating a modal  or a modeless dialog as your main window? If it's the
first, simply doing WinMain sort of like this works for me:

int WINAPI _tWinMain (HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance,
       LPTSTR lpszCmdLine, int nCmdShow)
{

 DialogBox (hInstance, MAKEINTRESOURCE (IDD_MAINWINDOW), NULL, MainDlgProc);
 return 0;

If you need a modeless dialog (very useful!), I do it like this:

int WINAPI WinMain (HINSTANCE hInst, HINSTANCE hPrevInst,
     LPSTR lpCmdLine, int nCmdShow)
{

 MSG msg;

  // Create Dialog Window
 HWND hDlg = CreateDialog(hInst, MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDD_MAIN_DLG), NULL,
MainDlgProc);

 if (hDlg == NULL) {
  MessageBox (NULL, _T("Can't create Window!"), _T("Tray Menu"),
     MB_OK | MB_ICONERROR);
  return 1;
 }

 ShowWindow (hDlg, SW_HIDE);
 SetForegroundWindow (hDlg);

 while (GetMessage (&msg, NULL, 0, 0) && hDlg != NULL)
 {
  if (!IsDialogMessage (hDlg, &msg))
  {
   TranslateMessage (&msg);
   DispatchMessage (&msg);
  }
 }

Both have worked fine for me.

As for your code, you were creating a modeless dialog, but I don't see a message
loop in your winmain. Without, the dialog would never show. Also, make sure you
have the Visisble style in your dialog template, or explicitly call ShowWindow()
for it.

Hope it helps.
--
Tomas Restrepo

http://members.xoom.com/trestrep/

Damit,

This is all you need for a dialog application:

LRESULT CALLBACK About(HWND hDlg, UINT message, WPARAM wParam,
                        LPARAM lParam)
{
        switch (message)
        {
                case WM_INITDIALOG:
                                return TRUE;

                case WM_COMMAND:
                        if (LOWORD(wParam) == IDOK ||
                                LOWORD(wParam) == IDCANCEL)
                        {
                                EndDialog(hDlg, LOWORD(wParam));
                                return TRUE;
                        }
                        break;
        }
        return FALSE;

int APIENTRY WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance,
                     HINSTANCE hPrevInstance,
                     LPSTR     lpCmdLine,
                     int       nCmdShow)
{
        DialogBox(hInst, (LPCTSTR)IDD_ABOUTBOX, NULL, (DLGPROC)About);
        return 0;

Dave
----
My address is altered to discourage junk mail.
Please post responses to the newsgroup thread,
there's no need for follow-up email copies.

Tomas, Dave:

I tested this on NT4 SP4 (but I haven't updated my symbols yet), and the
dialog failed to create, using this code. However, if I set the "No fail
create" style in the dialog's properties (I'm using VC5) then it is created
(obviously) but GetLastError() is still 183 (ERROR_ALREADY_EXISTS).

This is the revised code (I decided to use a modal dialog box):

#define STRICT

#include "resource.h"
#include <windows.h>

BOOL CALLBACK DialogProc(HWND hwndDlg, UINT uMsg WPARAM wParam, LPARAM
lParam)
{
 switch(uMsg)
 {
 case WM_INITDIALOG:
   return TRUE;
 case WM_COMMAND:
  if(LOWORD(wParam) == IDOK || LOWORD(wParam) == IDCANCEL)
  {
   EndDialog(hwndDlg, LOWORD(wParam));
   return TRUE;
  }
  break;
 case WM_DESTROY:
   break;
 }
 return FALSE;

int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE hInst, HINSTANCE hInstPrev, LPSTR lpCmdLine,
int nCmdShow)
{
 int rc = DialogBox(hInst, (LPCTSTR) IDD_MYDLG, NULL, (DLGPROC) DialogProc);
 LPSTR buf = (LPSTR) HeapAlloc(GetProcessHeap(), 0, sizeof(int));
 wsprintf(buf, "%d", rc);
 MessageBox(NULL, buf, "DialogBox returned", MB_OK);
 HeapFree(GetProcessHeap(), 0, buf);
 return GetLastError();

Loaded 'C:\WINNT\System32\ntdll.dll', no matching symbolic information
found.
Loaded 'C:\WINNT\system32\KERNEL32.DLL', no matching symbolic information
found.
Loaded 'C:\WINNT\system32\USER32.DLL', no matching symbolic information
found.
Loaded 'C:\WINNT\system32\GDI32.DLL', no matching symbolic information
found.
Loaded 'C:\WINNT\system32\ADVAPI32.DLL', no matching symbolic information
found.
Loaded 'C:\WINNT\system32\RPCRT4.DLL', no matching symbolic information
found.
Loaded 'C:\Program Files\Winamp\Plugins\GEN_DOCK.DLL', no matching symbolic
information found.
Loaded 'C:\WINNT\system32\msidle.dll', no matching symbolic information
found.
Loaded 'C:\Program Files\Microsoft Hardware\Mouse\msh_zwf.dll', no matching
symbolic information found.
Loaded symbols for 'C:\WINNT\system32\version.dll'
Loaded 'C:\WINNT\system32\SHELL32.DLL', no matching symbolic information
found.
Loaded 'C:\WINNT\system32\COMCTL32.DLL', no matching symbolic information
found.
Loaded symbols for 'C:\WINNT\system32\lz32.dll'
The thread 0x118 has exited with code 183 (0xB7).
The program 'C:\Program Files\DevStudio\MyProjects\MyDlg\Debug\MyDlg.exe'
has exited with code 183 (0xB7).

--
Damit Senanayake
http://members.xoom.com/damit
ICQ: 6930718
Please reply to the group, unless your newsreader doesn't work or you don't
have a reliable connection!

: Hi --
:
: Does anyone know how to make a Win32 program have a dialog as its main
: application window? I know that this can be done using MFC, but I'm trying
: to hold out as long as possible using the Win32 API. <g>
:
: Here's my (non-working) code:
:
: BOOL CALLBACK DialogProc(HWND hwndDlg, UINT uMsg, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM
: lParam)
: {
:  switch(uMsg)
:  {
:  case WM_INITDIALOG:
:        // get window handles
:    hwndOption[0] = GetDlgItem(hwndDlg, IDC_DELETEALL);
:    hwndOption[1] = GetDlgItem(hwndDlg, IDC_DELETESOME);
:    hwndOption[2] = GetDlgItem(hwndDlg, IDC_RADIOSTATIONS);
:    break;
:  case WM_DESTROY:
:    // if using DialogBox, then uncomment the following line
:    // EndDialog(hwndDlg, 0);
:    break;
:  }
:  return 1;
: }
:
:
: int WINAPI WinMain(...)
: {
:  HWND hwndDesk = GetDesktopWindow();
:  // int rc = DialogBox(hInst, MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDD_MYDLG), hwndDesk,
: DialogProc);
:  CreateDialog(hInst, MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDD_MYDLG), hwndDesk, DialogProc);
: // CreateDialog(hInst, MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDD_MYDLG), NULL, DialogProc);
GPF's
: in user32
:  /*
:  etc.
: */
: return 0;
: }
:
:
: --
: Damit Senanayake
: http://members.xoom.com/damit
: ICQ: 6930718
: Please reply to the group, unless your newsreader doesn't work or you
don't
: have a reliable connection!
:
:

Did you remember to include your .RC file in the list of files for the
project? That's what I usually forget to do when I do this...

--- Tom

TA Software Systems
C{*filter*}tesville, VA, USA

Hi Tom --

: Did you remember to include your .RC file in the list of files for the
: project? That's what I usually forget to do when I do this...

No, the RC file is already included, and I #include'd "resource.h" in the
source file.

I'm using VC5 (SP3), BTW.
--
Damit Senanayake
http://members.xoom.com/damit
ICQ: 6930718
Please reply to the group, unless your newsreader doesn't work or you don't
have a reliable connection!

Damit,

Is rc == -1 when DialogBox() returns? Because if it isn't, then GetLastError()
is most likely returning {*filter*}and you can't trust it's value. Also, Just as a
comment, consider that the code you are using to display the number can cause a
memory overwrite because the buffer allocated is too small. Other than that I
can't see any particular problems with your code.

--
Tomas Restrepo

http://www.*-*-*.com/

I can't see anything in particular wrong with your code, what do you
have on your dialog? Try making it as simple as possible with a single
OK button and see if that works.

 wsprintf(buf, "%d", rc);
 MessageBox(NULL, buf, "DialogBox returned", MB_OK);
 HeapFree(GetProcessHeap(), 0, buf);
<

Zoiks, what are you doing here?

Why not use something simpler for your diagnostics?

        char szBuff[100];
        wsprintf( szBuff, "DialogProc returned %d", rc );

By the time you do this you've made other API calls such as HeapAlloc
& MessageBox, which will have changed the value - you need to call
GetLastError immediately after the API that failed. Even then, in the
case of a complex operation like DialogBox, it might not give you a
precise answer.

Dave
----
My address is altered to discourage junk mail.
Please post responses to the newsgroup thread,
there's no need for follow-up email copies.

Hi Damit,

Go Figure :)

YEs, but when you allocate a buffer for chars, sizeof(int) == 4*sizeof(char)
which means you'll only be able to store a 3-digit number in it's string form
(3chars + '\0'), which is definitly not enough. If the error returned was, say,
124454, you'd get a buffer overrun, which can be pretty tricky to find if they
don't cause an access violatyion right away.

--
Tomas Restrepo

http://members.xoom.com/trestrep/

No, sizeof(int) will give you 4 bytes. You're allocating a 4 byte
buffer for a string representation of an integer value. For a 32-bit
integer that string could be much longer, for example "-2147483647"
which would overrun your buffer and cause you quite a few problems.

Then go slowly, and review your understanding of some basic 'C' coding
issues first.

Dave
----
My address is altered to discourage junk mail.
Please post responses to the newsgroup thread,
there's no need for follow-up email copies.

Tomas --

: Is rc == -1 when DialogBox() returns? Because if it isn't, then
GetLastError()
: is most likely returning {*filter*}and you can't trust it's value.

The weird thing is that now it works, and I didn't make any changes to the
code at all! The only thing I did was to remove the "No fail create" style
from the dialog box. I suppose you are right, GetLastError() is returning
crap; I have had that happen before with COM HRESULT errors as well...

:Also, Just as a
: comment, consider that the code you are using to display the number can
cause a
: memory overwrite because the buffer allocated is too small.

But surely sizeof(int) should be large enough? I mean, DialogBox is supposed
to return an int.

: Other than that I
: can't see any particular problems with your code.

Thanks! Now, onto the next stage. <g>
--
Damit Senanayake
http://www.*-*-*.com/
ICQ: 6930718
Please reply to the group, unless your newsreader doesn't work or you don't
have a reliable connection!

Hi Tomas --

: Go Figure :)

Good heavens, this thing is temperamental! Now, it's failing with
GetLastError = 1407 ! (What *is* that, anyway?)

: YEs, but when you allocate a buffer for chars, sizeof(int) ==
4*sizeof(char)
: which means you'll only be able to store a 3-digit number in it's string
form
: (3chars + '\0'), which is definitly not enough. If the error returned was,
say,
: 124454, you'd get a buffer overrun, which can be pretty tricky to find if
they
: don't cause an access violatyion right away.

I took David's suggestion of using
char buf[100];
instead.

Thanks though.
--
Damit Senanayake
http://members.xoom.com/damit
ICQ: 6930718
Please reply to the group, unless your newsreader doesn't work or you don't
have a reliable connection!

Hi Damit,
1407 == "Cannot Find Window Class"

That's what I call "the sensible solution" :)

--
Tomas Restrepo

http://members.xoom.com/trestrep/