API CreateWindow

CreateWindow Function

The CreateWindow function creates an overlapped, pop-up, or child window. It specifies the window class, window title, window style, and (optionally) the initial position and size of the window. The function also specifies the window's parent or owner, if any, and the window's menu.

To use extended window styles in addition to the styles supported by CreateWindow, use the CreateWindowEx function.

Syntax

HWND CreateWindow(      
    LPCTSTR lpClassName,
    LPCTSTR lpWindowName,
    DWORD dwStyle,
    int x,
    int y,
    int nWidth,
    int nHeight,
    HWND hWndParent,
    HMENU hMenu,
    HINSTANCE hInstance,
    LPVOID lpParam
);

Parameters

lpClassName

[in] Pointer to a null-terminated string or a class atom created by a previous call to the RegisterClass or RegisterClassEx function. The atom must be in the low-order word of lpClassName; the high-order word must be zero. If lpClassName is a string, it specifies the window class name. The class name can be any name registered with RegisterClass or RegisterClassEx, provided that the module that registers the class is also the module that creates the window. The class name can also be any of the predefined system class names. For a list of system class names, see the Remarks section.

lpWindowName

[in] Pointer to a null-terminated string that specifies the window name. If the window style specifies a title bar, the window title pointed to by lpWindowName is displayed in the title bar. When using CreateWindow to create controls, such as buttons, check boxes, and static controls, use lpWindowName to specify the text of the control. When creating a static control with the SS_ICON style, use lpWindowName to specify the icon name or identifier. To specify an identifier, use the syntax "# num".

dwStyle

[in] Specifies the style of the window being created. This parameter can be a combination of window styles, plus the control styles indicated in the Remarks section.

x

[in] Specifies the initial horizontal position of the window. For an overlapped or pop-up window, the x parameter is the initial x-coordinate of the window's upper-left corner, in screen coordinates. For a child window, x is the x-coordinate of the upper-left corner of the window relative to the upper-left corner of the parent window's client area. If this parameter is set to CW_USEDEFAULT, the system selects the default position for the window's upper-left corner and ignores the y parameter. CW_USEDEFAULT is valid only for overlapped windows; if it is specified for a pop-up or child window, the x and y parameters are set to zero.

y

[in] Specifies the initial vertical position of the window. For an overlapped or pop-up window, the y parameter is the initial y-coordinate of the window's upper-left corner, in screen coordinates. For a child window, y is the initial y-coordinate of the upper-left corner of the child window relative to the upper-left corner of the parent window's client area. For a list box, y is the initial y-coordinate of the upper-left corner of the list box's client area relative to the upper-left corner of the parent window's client area.

If an overlapped window is created with the WS_VISIBLE style bit set and the x parameter is set to CW_USEDEFAULT, then the y parameter determines how the window is shown. If the y parameter is CW_USEDEFAULT, then the window manager calls ShowWindow with the SW_SHOW flag after the window has been created. If the y parameter is some other value, then the window manager calls ShowWindow with that value as the nCmdShow parameter.

nWidth

[in] Specifies the width, in device units, of the window. For overlapped windows, nWidth is either the window's width, in screen coordinates, or CW_USEDEFAULT. If nWidth is CW_USEDEFAULT, the system selects a default width and height for the window; the default width extends from the initial x-coordinate to the right edge of the screen, and the default height extends from the initial y-coordinate to the top of the icon area. CW_USEDEFAULT is valid only for overlapped windows; if CW_USEDEFAULT is specified for a pop-up or child window, nWidth and nHeight are set to zero.

nHeight

[in] Specifies the height, in device units, of the window. For overlapped windows, nHeight is the window's height, in screen coordinates. If nWidth is set to CW_USEDEFAULT, the system ignores nHeight.

hWndParent

[in] Handle to the parent or owner window of the window being created. To create a child window or an owned window, supply a valid window handle. This parameter is optional for pop-up windows.

Windows 2000/XP: To create a message-only window, supply HWND_MESSAGE or a handle to an existing message-only window.

hMenu

[in] Handle to a menu, or specifies a child-window identifier depending on the window style. For an overlapped or pop-up window, hMenu identifies the menu to be used with the window; it can be NULL if the class menu is to be used. For a child window, hMenu specifies the child-window identifier, an integer value used by a dialog box control to notify its parent about events. The application determines the child-window identifier; it must be unique for all child windows with the same parent window.

hInstance

[in] Handle to the instance of the module to be associated with the window.

lpParam

[in]  Pointer to a value to be passed to the window through the CREATESTRUCT structure ( lpCreateParams member) pointed to by the lParam param of the WM_CREATE message. This message is sent to the created window by this function before it returns.

If an application calls CreateWindow to create a multiple-document interface (MDI) client window, lpParam should point to a CLIENTCREATESTRUCT structure. If an MDI client window calls CreateWindow to create an MDI child window, lpParam should point to a MDICREATESTRUCT structure. lpParam may be NULL if no additional data is needed.

Windows Controls

Windows系统预定义了很多类型的控件，包括按钮（Button）、文本框（Edit）、树视图（Tree View）等，这些被称为公共控件（Common Controls），它们被定义在Comctl32.dll中，并且其版本也一直在更新。可以想象对每一种控件Windows系统都注册了特定的窗口类，在创建控件时只要指定窗口类名称即可，比如按钮的窗口类名称为“Button”。