Thread: creating window interfaces

would anyone recommend this?

Introduction to C & GUI Programming


Introduction to C & GUI Programming: Amazon.co.uk: Simon Long: 9781912047659: Books

I'm not familiar with that book, but just be aware that it's for GTK rather than for native Windows GUI programming. GTK does work on Windows but it might be more challenging to set up. But it can be an advantage since you can learn a cross-platform GUI toolkit rather than being tied down to just Windows (especially as the world moves away from Windows to other operating systems).

Originally Posted by john.c

Module 1. Your First Windows Program - Win32 apps | Microsoft Learn

thanks,

but is that c++?

I am using C

Originally Posted by john.c

Why do you think it's C++?

because it says C++ at the top of the code

I don't know any modern good books about Win32 GUI programming. I recommend an old one: Charles Petzold's Windows Programming (for Windows 95 or an older one: for Windows 3.1 - really outdated, but the basis is still there).

Essentially, your programming will shift from a sequential point of view to an assynchronous one (where your application responds to "messages").

Here's the usual "Hello, World" example for Win32 GUI:

Code:

/* main.c */
#include <windows.h>

/* Windows procedure (will deal with the messages) */
LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc(HWND, UINT, WPARAM, LPARAM);

/* the main() procedure for Windows Apps */
int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE hInst,
                     HINSTANCE hPrevInst,
                     LPSTR lpszCmdLine,
                     int nCmdShow)
{
  /* your window must have a "classname" */
  const static LPCSTR szClassName = "SimpleAppClass";

  HWND hWnd;
  MSG msg;

  /* An Window class have attributes for your window, including its class name */
  WNDCLASS wc =
  {
    .style = CS_HREDRAW | CS_VREDRAW,      // redraw window if there's WIDTH or HEIGHT changes.
    .lpfnWndProc = WndProc,                // pointer to the window procedure.
    .hInstance = hInst,                    // "instance" is a handler for your "process".
    .hIcon = LoadIcon(NULL, IDI_APPLICATION),
    .hCursor = LoadCursor(NULL, IDC_ARROW),
    .hbrBackground = (HBRUSH)(COLOR_BTNFACE + 1),
    .lpszClassName = szClassName
  };

  // register your class in Windows.
  RegisterClass(&wc);


  /* These window styles will create a 'normal' Window,
     which cannot be maximized or its area changed. */
  #define WINDOW_STYLE WS_OVERLAPPED  | \
                       WS_SYSMENU     | \
                       WS_VISIBLE     | \
                       WS_BORDER      | \
                       WS_MINIMIZEBOX | \
                       WS_CAPTION

  // Finally, ask Windows to create the window.
  // this will send WM_CREATE message to the window procedure.
  hWnd = CreateWindowEx( 0,
                         szClassName,
                         "My Simple App",             // Window "title".
                         WINDOW_STYLE,
                         CW_USEDEFAULT, CW_USEDEFAULT,
                         320, 100,
                         NULL, NULL,
                         hInst,
                         NULL );

  if ( ! hWnd )
  {
    /* If cannot create Window, show to the user and exit app. */
    MessageBox( NULL,
                "Erro ao tentar criar a janela da aplicação.",
                "Erro",
                MB_OK | MB_ICONERROR);

    return 0;
  }

  // Makes window visible, sending messages like WM_PAINT.
  UpdateWindow( hWnd );
  ShowWindow( hWnd, SW_SHOW );

  // Process enqueued messages for our window.
  while ( GetMessage( &msg, NULL, 0, 0 ) )
  {
    TranslateMessage( &msg );  // keyboard messages must be translated!

    DispatchMessage( &msg );  // dispatch enqueued messages to our window procedure.
  }

  // if received WM_QUIT, the loop ends and we return the errorcode.
  return msg.wParam;
}

Code:

// winproc.c

#include <windows.h>

// Our simple Window Procedure.
LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc( HWND hWnd,
                          UINT uMsg,
                          WPARAM wParam,
                          LPARAM lParam )
{
  PAINTSTRUCT ps;
  RECT rc;

  switch (uMsg)
  {
  // When our window is destroyed, WM_DESTROY should be processed.
  case WM_DESTROY:
    PostQuitMessage(0);   // Enqueue WM_QUIT message.
    return 0;

  // When Windows needs to paint a Windows, WM_PAINT is sent to our procedure.
  case WM_PAINT:
    GetClientRect( hWnd, &rc );
    BeginPaint( hWnd, &ps );
      DrawText( ps.hdc, "Hello, world!", -1, &rc, DT_CENTER | DT_VCENTER );
    EndPaint( hWnd, &ps );
    return 0;
  }

  // Ask Windows to Deal with other messages.
  return DefWindowProc(hWnd, uMsg, wParam, lParam);
}

Code:

# Makefile for mingw-w64 (linux)... Change
# CC and LDLIBS for MSYS2 or Cygwin (or change the Makefile for nmake, cl.exe and link.exe - for Visual Studio).

CC=x86_64-w64-mingw32-gcc
CFLAGS=-O2 -march=native -fomit-frame-pointer -fcf-protection=none
LDFLAGS=-s -Wl,-subsystem=windows
LDLIBS=-lkernel32 -luser32 -lgdi32

app.exe: main.o winproc.o
    $(CC) $(LDFLAGS) -o $@ $^ $(LDLIBS)

main.o: main.c
winproc.o: winproc.c

.PHONY: clean distclarn

clean:
    -rm *.o

distclean: clean
    rm app.exe

Originally Posted by WaterSerpentM

would anyone recommend this?

Introduction to C & GUI Programming


Introduction to C & GUI Programming: Amazon.co.uk: Simon Long: 9781912047659: Books

As a linux desktop user, I really like the looks of that book, and am surprised I haven't come across it because I have looked for a book on GUI programming in C multiple times over the past year. Based on the reviews and description, it seems pretty good, at least if you are not tremendously experienced with C.

However, I'm going to say that based on what you have said so far, there isn't a whole lot interesting you can do in C without an extensive understanding of of how to make custom headers/functions and memory management, so you should also continue to work on the text based stuff because there's a lot you can do with that. The GUI stuff can be pretty mind mindbogglingly complicated as you have to deal with windowing systems and the libraries needed to make those happen.

thanks,

but is that c++?

I am using C

C++ is C, it just has a lot more features and capabilities. The comment syntax is exactly the same, and a c++ compiler will run c programs written in the same language. C++ has iosteam.h instead of stdio.h but c++ compilers will still compile the c standard library. I don't know anything about c# though except that it tends to be used as the backend for websites.