Creating a Dialog Based Application without MFC

Hi,

I am just a beginner at windows programming, so I am wondering, how do I create a dialog-based application (similar to that of using VC++ and MFC) with just the pure windows API?

Currently I am just doing the following, but I have a slight feeling in my gut it's not the correct way to do it ;)

Code:

---

HWND g_dlg = NULL;

int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, LPSTR lpCmdLine, int nShowCmd)
{
        g_dlg = CreateDialog(hInstance, MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDD_CALC), NULL, CalcProc);
        ShowWindow(g_dlg, SW_SHOW);

        MSG msg;
        while (GetMessage(&msg, NULL, 0, 0) > 0)
        {
                if (!IsDialogMessage(g_dlg, &msg))
                {
                        TranslateMessage(&msg);
                        DispatchMessage(&msg);
                }
        }
        return 0;
}

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Any help is greatly appreciated :D Thank you very much.

Since you are using the dialog as your main window then you could just use a modal dialog and avoid create a message loop with the DialogBox macro.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Quantum1024

Since you are using the dialog as your main window then you could just use a modal dialog and avoid create a message loop with the DialogBox macro.

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Blah, its been a long day. :) Thank you Quantum, of course I could do that. Revised code would look something like this for future reference:

Code:

---

int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, LPSTR lpCmdLine, int nShowCmd)
{
        return DialogBox(hInstance, MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDD_CALC), NULL, CalcProc);
}

---

I think... I didn't look up the API but I think the CreateDialog and DialogBox functions have the same parameters. But what they do is quite different :)

Use MFC. In this case, it will make your life a lot easier.

1. Start an MFC project
2. Choose dialog-based
3. Create your dialog resource using the resource editor
4. Link the controls/variables with classes/names using class wizard.
5. Create a message map using class wizard.
6. Put your code in where MFC tells you to in the new message handler functions.
7. Create the dialog box using CDialog::DoModal()

Done.

I would show you how to do this in Win32, but it only complicates things and probably isn't the easiest way. The simplest way is to use MFC - you will be up and running within 20 min max.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bubba

Use MFC. In this case, it will make your life a lot easier.

...

I would show you how to do this in Win32, but it only complicates things and probably isn't the easiest way. The simplest way is to use MFC - you will be up and running within 20 min max.

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I know how to do it in MFC. I kinda did the backwards route and learned MFC before learning the pure APIs. So now that I know MFC and I know I couldve done this very easily in MFC, I'd like to learn how to do it with the pure APIs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MitchellH

I know how to do it in MFC. I kinda did the backwards route and learned MFC before learning the pure APIs. So now that I know MFC and I know I couldve done this very easily in MFC, I'd like to learn how to do it with the pure APIs.

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I work purely in the API and won't touch MFC. Ever. The first site that I went to to learn how to work with the API was here, theForger's API tutorial.

The MSDN will also help a great deal once you learn how to search it easily (Read: Use google).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lithorien

I work purely in the API and won't touch MFC. Ever. The first site that I went to to learn how to work with the API was here, theForger's API tutorial.

The MSDN will also help a great deal once you learn how to search it easily (Read: Use google).

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Yes, I also used that tutorial and it was great! :) But I was wondering how to make a dialog-based app. The DialogBox() way seems pretty good... is that the correct way?

>> is that the correct way?
It's one of many "correct ways".

About Dialog Boxes

gg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MitchellH

Yes, I also used that tutorial and it was great! :) But I was wondering how to make a dialog-based app. The DialogBox() way seems pretty good... is that the correct way?

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One of many correct ways, yes.