do you have to use createwindow to create the main directx window?

[Anddos]

do you have to use createwindow to create the main directx window? or does the directx api have its own way?

plus which compiler is best ,
i read in the directx update visual studio 6 is no longer supported :
so do i go with visual studio 2003.net
thanks

[cboard_member]

I use VS 2003 and it works fine for me.
AFAIK you'll have to use the windows API or MFC to create a window in which to run your DirectX apps.

[Anddos]

ok thanks i wasnt sure if directx had something to make a window as well

if your using 2003 .net ,
which .h direct includes do i need ,
because alot of diferent tutorials show diferent ones

[sand_man]

I use the Microsoft Visual C++ Toolkit 2003 command line compiler.

Do you mean the CreateWindow/CreateWindowEx functions? Then yes, you set up a window just as you would normally. When you create a D3D device you pass it the HWND of the window you want it to draw to.

[Anddos]

yes i mean Createwindow
and do you need the msg loop running and the switch ?

[cboard_member]

ok thanks i wasnt sure if directx had something to make a window as well

if your using 2003 .net ,
which .h direct includes do i need ,
because alot of diferent tutorials show diferent ones

The one I can remember off the top of my head is d3d9.h sorry.
EDIT: That's assuming you're using the DirectX 9 SDK.

[Quantum1024]

which .h direct includes do i need ,
because alot of diferent tutorials show diferent ones

You'll need to download the directx 9 SDK.

[Anddos]

ive got it

[Anddos]

so how do you make the ShowWindow in full screen without the taskbar at the bottom ,
ive tried all the parameters that comes with the function

[cboard_member]

You really need to start following a DirectX tutorial now. Have a google about for one.

EDIT:
http://www.drunkenhyena.com/
Is the best one I've found, IIRC.

[Anddos]

ahluka not being funny or anything but that tut dosent even show about adding inlclude and libs plus saying what .h files you need
plus adding the stuff to link
but the rest is pritty good

[cboard_member]

ahluka not being funny or anything but that tut dosent even show about adding inlclude and libs plus saying what .h files you need
plus adding the stuff to link
but the rest is pritty good

Trust me when I say you're unlikely to find anything much better online other than sifting through example apps. that come with the SDK. Take this advice handed to me by Bubba: buy books. There's a surprising lack of good material online.

[VirtualAce]

bool CD3DApp::InitD3D(HINSTANCE hInstance,
	                    int width, 
                      int height,
	                    bool windowed,
	                    D3DDEVTYPE DeviceType)
                      
{
  m_iWidth=width;
  m_iHeight=height;
  m_bWindowed=windowed;
  m_hAppInstance=hInstance;
  m_pDeviceType=DeviceType;
  
  //
	// Create the main application window.
	//

  WNDCLASS wc;

	wc.style=0;
  wc.style         = CS_HREDRAW | CS_VREDRAW;
  wc.lpfnWndProc   = (WNDPROC)g_WndProc; 
	wc.cbClsExtra    = 0;
	wc.cbWndExtra    = 0;
	wc.hInstance     = hInstance;
	wc.hIcon         = LoadIcon(0, IDI_APPLICATION);
	wc.hCursor       = LoadCursor(0, IDC_ARROW);
	wc.hbrBackground = (HBRUSH)GetStockObject(WHITE_BRUSH);
	wc.lpszMenuName  = 0;
	wc.lpszClassName = "CD3DApp";

	if( !RegisterClass(&wc) ) 
	{
		::MessageBox(0, "RegisterClass() - FAILED", 0, 0);
		return false;
	}
  
  HWND hwnd=0;
	DWORD style=0;
  if (m_bWindowed)
  {
    style=WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW;
  }
  else
  {
    style=WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW | WS_VISIBLE;
  }

  m_hwndAppWindowHandle = ::CreateWindow("CD3DApp", 
                                         NULL, 
		                                     style,
		                                     0, 
                                         0, 
                                         m_iWidth, 
                                         m_iHeight,
		                                     0,
                                         0, 
                                         hInstance, 
                                         0); 
  

	if( !m_hwndAppWindowHandle )
	{
    ::MessageBox(0,0,"CreateWindow() - FAILED",0);
		return false;
	}

  //
	// Init D3D: 
	//

	HRESULT hr = 0;

	// Step 1: Create the IDirect3D9 object.

	IDirect3D9* d3d9 = 0;
    d3d9 = Direct3DCreate9(D3D_SDK_VERSION);

    if( !d3d9 )
	{
		::MessageBox(0, "Direct3DCreate9() - FAILED", 0, 0);
		return false;
	}

	// Step 2: Check for hardware vp.

	d3d9->GetDeviceCaps(D3DADAPTER_DEFAULT, DeviceType, &m_pDeviceCaps);

	int vp = 0;
	if( m_pDeviceCaps.DevCaps & D3DDEVCAPS_HWTRANSFORMANDLIGHT )
		vp = D3DCREATE_HARDWARE_VERTEXPROCESSING;
	else
		vp = D3DCREATE_SOFTWARE_VERTEXPROCESSING;

	// Step 3: Fill out the D3DPRESENT_PARAMETERS structure.
 
	
	if (m_bWindowed)
  {
    m_pPresentParams.BackBufferWidth            = 0;
	  m_pPresentParams.BackBufferHeight           = 0;
    m_pPresentParams.BackBufferFormat           = D3DFMT_UNKNOWN;

	  
  }
  else
  {
	  m_pPresentParams.BackBufferWidth            = m_iWidth;
	  m_pPresentParams.BackBufferHeight           = m_iHeight;
	  m_pPresentParams.BackBufferFormat           = D3DFMT_A8R8G8B8;
  }

    
    m_pPresentParams.BackBufferCount            = 1;
	  m_pPresentParams.MultiSampleType            = D3DMULTISAMPLE_NONE;
    m_pPresentParams.MultiSampleQuality         = 0;
	  m_pPresentParams.SwapEffect                 = D3DSWAPEFFECT_DISCARD; 
	  m_pPresentParams.hDeviceWindow              = m_hwndAppWindowHandle;
	  m_pPresentParams.Windowed                   = m_bWindowed;
	  m_pPresentParams.EnableAutoDepthStencil     = true; 
	  m_pPresentParams.AutoDepthStencilFormat     = D3DFMT_D24S8;
	  m_pPresentParams.Flags                      = 0;
	  m_pPresentParams.FullScreen_RefreshRateInHz = D3DPRESENT_RATE_DEFAULT;
	  m_pPresentParams.PresentationInterval       = D3DPRESENT_INTERVAL_ONE;
  
  
	// Step 4: Create the device.

	 

  hr = d3d9->CreateDevice(D3DADAPTER_DEFAULT,     
		                      DeviceType,             
		                      m_hwndAppWindowHandle,                 
		                      vp,                     
	                        &m_pPresentParams,     
	                        &m_pDevice);             
  

	if( FAILED(hr) )
	{
		// try again using a 16-bit depth buffer
		m_pPresentParams.AutoDepthStencilFormat = D3DFMT_D16;
		
		hr = d3d9->CreateDevice(D3DADAPTER_DEFAULT,
			                      DeviceType,
			                      m_hwndAppWindowHandle,
			                      vp,
			                      &m_pPresentParams,
			                      &m_pDevice);

		if( FAILED(hr) )
		{
			d3d9->Release(); // done with d3d9 object
			::MessageBox(0, "CreateDevice() - FAILED", 0, 0);
			return false;
		}
	}

  if (m_bWindowed)
  {
    ShowWindow(m_hwndAppWindowHandle,SW_SHOW);
  }


	d3d9->Release(); // done with d3d9 object

  	
	return true;
}

Most of this can be found in books. This comes from one of my sources - Introduction to 3D Game Programming with DirectX 9.0 by Frank Luna. www.moon-labs.com is it's website and a 2nd edition is due out soon which I'll grab in a heartbeat. You can get it at www.amazon.com.

I used a lot of ideas from this book, however, have significantly altered the entire setup to better suit my needs. His approach was too "C-like" for me so I encapsulated, re-arranged, sorted, off-loaded some code to other classes, and the like.

The class looks like this:

#ifndef CD3DApplication
#define CD3DApplication

#include <d3dx9.h>
#include <string>
#include <limits>

#include "CDXInput.h"
#include "CMouse.h"
#include "CKeyboard.h"
#include "CDXAudio.h"
#include "CDXShowWnd.h"




const float INFINITY = FLT_MAX;
const float EPSILON  = 0.001f;

LRESULT CALLBACK      g_WndProc(HWND hwnd,UINT msg,WPARAM wParam,LPARAM lParam);
LRESULT CALLBACK      g_VideoWndProc(HWND hwnd,UINT msg,WPARAM wParam,LPARAM lParam);


#define CDX_AUDIO_SOUNDFX   0x01
#define CDX_AUDIO_MUSIC     0x03

#define MODE_START          0x01
#define MODE_PAUSE          0x02
#define MODE_GAME           0x03


class CD3DApp
{
  
  protected:
    int                   m_iWidth;
    int                   m_iHeight;
    bool                  m_bWindowed;
    D3DDEVTYPE            m_pDeviceType;
    D3DPRESENT_PARAMETERS m_pPresentParams;

    HWND                  m_hwndAppWindowHandle;
    HINSTANCE             m_hAppInstance;
    D3DCAPS9              m_pDeviceCaps;
    DWORD                 m_dwStyle;

    //Add ins
    CDXInput              Input;
    CMouse                *Mouse;
    CKeyboard             *Keyboard;
    CDXAudio              *Audio;
    CDXSoundEmitter       *SoundFX;
    CDXSoundEmitter       *Music;
    CDXShowWnd            *m_pDirectShow;

    IDirect3DDevice9      *m_pDevice;

    int                   m_iGameMode;

  public:

    int EnterMsgLoop(void);
    
    CD3DApp(void):m_iWidth(0),m_iHeight(0),m_bWindowed(false),
                  m_hwndAppWindowHandle(0),m_hAppInstance(0),
                  m_pDevice(NULL),m_pDirectShow(NULL) { }

    virtual ~CD3DApp(void)
    {
      delete Keyboard;
      delete Mouse;
    }
    
    int GetMode(void) {return m_iGameMode;}
    void SetMode(int iGameMode) {m_iGameMode=iGameMode;}

    CDXSoundEmitter *GetSoundSystem(WORD wSoundObject)
    {
      switch (wSoundObject)
      {
        case CDX_AUDIO_SOUNDFX: return SoundFX;break;
        case CDX_AUDIO_MUSIC:   return Music;break;
      }
    }


    CKeyboard *GetKeyboard(void) 
    {
      if (Keyboard)
      {
        return Keyboard;
      } else return NULL;
    }

    CMouse *GetMouse(void)
    {
      if (Mouse)
      {
        return Mouse;
      } else return NULL;
    }

    
    void SetWindowStyle(DWORD dwStyle) {m_dwStyle=dwStyle;}   
    //DWORD GetWindowStyle(void) { return m_dwStyle;}

    //void SetPresentParams(D3DPRESENT_PARAMETERS d3dpp) {m_PresentParams=d3dpp;};
    //void GetPresentParams(D3DPRESENT_PARAMETERS *d3dpp) {d3dpp=&m_PresentParams;};

   
    bool GetCaps(D3DCAPS9 *devCaps)
    {
      devCaps=&m_pDeviceCaps;
      return true;
      
    }

    
  //
	// Init
	//
	bool InitD3D(HINSTANCE hInstance,       // [in] Application instance.
		           int width,                 // [in] Backbuffer dimensions.
               int height,                
		           bool windowed,             // [in] Windowed (true)or full screen (false).
		           D3DDEVTYPE deviceType);
		
  bool InitInput(void);
  bool InitAudio(DWORD dwNumPChannels,DWORD dwMSLatency);
  

  
  // Lights
	//

	D3DLIGHT9 InitDirectionalLight(D3DXVECTOR3* direction, D3DXCOLOR* color);
	D3DLIGHT9 InitPointLight(D3DXVECTOR3* position, D3DXCOLOR* color);
	D3DLIGHT9 InitSpotLight(D3DXVECTOR3* position, D3DXVECTOR3* direction, D3DXCOLOR* color);

	//
	// Materials
	//
	D3DMATERIAL9 InitMtrl(D3DXCOLOR a, D3DXCOLOR d, D3DXCOLOR s, D3DXCOLOR e, float p);

	//
	// Bounding Objects
	//
	struct BoundingBox
	{
		BoundingBox();

		bool isPointInside(D3DXVECTOR3& p);

		D3DXVECTOR3 _min;
		D3DXVECTOR3 _max;
	};

	struct BoundingSphere
	{
		BoundingSphere();

		D3DXVECTOR3 _center;
		float       _radius;
	};

	float GetRandomFloat(float lowBound, float highBound);
	void GetRandomVector(
		D3DXVECTOR3* out,
		D3DXVECTOR3* min,
		D3DXVECTOR3* max);

	//
	// Conversion
	//
	DWORD FtoDw(float f);

	
	// Interpolation
	float LI(float a, float b, float t);

  virtual bool Setup(void)=0;
  virtual bool Render(float fTimeDelta)=0;
  virtual bool Cleanup(void)=0;

};

#endif

It's a mess and needs sep classes for lights and materials. I show you this to prove you need not just one book, but many. So far I have over 30 some books about all of this stuff. The more the better.