Common Return Types for Windows Functions

Data Type	Value to Indicate Failure
VOID	This function cannot possibly fail. Very few Windows functions have a return type of VOID.
BOOL	If the function fails, the return value is 0; otherwise, the return value is non-zero. Avoid testing  the return value to see if it is TRUE: it is always best to test this return value to see if it is different from FALSE.
HANDLE	If the function fails, the return value is usually NULL; otherwise, the HANDLE identifies an object that you can  manipulate. Be careful with this one because some functions return a handle value of INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE,  which is defined as -1. The Platform SDK documentation for the function will clearly state whether the function returns  NULL or INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE to indicate failure.
PVOID	If the function fails, the return value is NULL; otherwise, PVOID identifies the memory address of a data block.
LONG/DWORD	This is a tough one. Functions that return counts usually return a LONG or DWORD. If for some reason the function  can't count the thing you want counted, the function usually returns 0 or -1 (depending on the function).  If you are calling a function that returns a LONG/DWORD, please read the Platform SDK documentation carefully to  ensure that you are properly checking for potential errors.