msg loop/child window

Just starting learning the win32 API last night and I was wondering if I wanted to create a child window... like the one you'd get if you went to Help->About if I need to create a new class style. That would only be if I wanted to new class style traits for it right? I should be able to use the global variable which has the class name right?

Basically, what I think I need to do is create a new window, and a new WinProc for that window but I can still use the old window class? If I do that will my message loop in WinMain get the messages coming from that window too?

you are right, you only should need a separate class for windows that require different class styles n such, not window styles. However for simple windows like about boxes, you can use a modal dialog box to save a lot of extra code. If using msvs the dialog editor makes it a simple process ).

DialogBox Function

Ok, well I'm trying to create a child window without using .rc just to get to know somethings a bit better. MSDN says

HWND WINAPI CreateDialog(
__in_opt HINSTANCE hInstance,
__in LPCTSTR lpTemplate,
__in_opt HWND hWndParent,
__in_opt DLGPROC lpDialogFunc
);

Now, if using .rc I could MAKEINTRESOURCE(ID_HABOUT) my the lpTemplate parameter.

My question is can I create my template some other way? I found structs called DLGTEMPLATE and DLGITEMTEMPLATE but my problem is how to pass them in as LPCTSTR after filling them out.

Also how do I handle the messages in my message loop?

After some googling I found

IsDialogMessage(HWND,MSG)

Is that all I need to check for in my message loop?

Does DialogBox() handle the message loop automatically?

the message loop is provided by the DialogBox function, if you use CreateDialog ( modeless ) you will be using your own message loop. yes you can create a memory block and put a DLGTEMPLATE first then DLGITEMTEMPLATE members all in one contigious block, then pass the pointer of the block into the template paramater as

Code:

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CreateDialog( myinst, ( LPDLGTEMPLATE ) myalloc, hwnd, dlgproc );

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Creating a non-resource template has its own advantages, but a waste of time for simple dialogs. an unfinished resource can quickly be loaded, then in the WM_INITDIALOG message, creation of variable controls can be done with a few CreateWindow calls