Intro to Windows Programming

1. Intro to Windows Programming Basic Ideas

2. Program Entry Point • Int WINAPI WinMain (HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, PSTR szCmdLine, int iCmdShow) • Acts as an entry point just as a main function would act in a C program.

3. Common Header Files • WINDEF.H – Basic type definitions. • WINNT.H – Type definitions for Unicode support • WINBASE.H – Kernel functions. • WINUSER.H – User interface functions • WINGDI.H – Graphics device interface functions.

4. Message Box function • int WINAPI messageBox (HWND,LPCSTR,LPCSTR, UINT) • Acts as a way do display a message onto the screen.

5. Different String Functions • ILength • pString • IComp • They can do a variety of things such as calculate string lengths, copy strings, concatenate strings, and compare strings.

6. Handles • HINSTANCE – Handle to an “instance” – the program itself • HWND – Handle to the window • HDC – Handle to a device context • The type of the object allows your program to know how to use the handle

7. Data Structures • MSG – Message structure • WNDCLASS – Window class structure • PAINTSTRUCTURE – Paint structure • RECT – Rectangle structure • First two data structures are used in WinMain and the second two are used in WndProc

8. Other Messages • wParm – a 32-bit message parameter dependent on the particcular message • lParam – same as above • Pt – mouse coordinates at the time the message was placed in the message queue