An example demonstrating how to create and display a tab common control using WinAPI (Win32) C++ programming.
Much credit needs to go to Ken Fitlike’s excellent WinAPI site, from which I orginally learned how to do stuff like this. I don’t think the site has been updated for a number of years but it contains a ton of useful material on showing you how to create various things using the WinAPI.
All that is required to create a Tabbed Dialog is some small modifications to the Simple Window example: the WndProc function handles WM_CREATE and WM_SIZE messages in addition to WM_DESTROY:
LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc(HWND hwnd,UINT uMsg,WPARAM wParam,LPARAM lParam)
{
switch (uMsg)
{
case WM_CREATE:
{
return OnCreate(hwnd,reinterpret_cast<CREATESTRUCT*>(lParam));
}
case WM_DESTROY:
{
OnDestroy(hwnd);
return 0;
}
case WM_SIZE:
{
OnSize(hwnd,LOWORD(lParam),HIWORD(lParam),static_cast<UINT>(wParam));
return 0;
}
default:
return DefWindowProc(hwnd,uMsg,wParam,lParam);
}
}
This example does nothing but demonstrate the creation and display of controls of the WC_TABCONTROL class. Tab controls are created with the CreateWindowEx API function by varying the window styles. The API function CreateWindow can also be used:
HWND hwnd=CreateWindowEx(0, // extended styles
classname.c_str(), // name: wnd 'class'
_T("Tabbed Dialog Example"), // wnd title
WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW, // wnd style
desktopwidth / 4, // position:left
desktopheight / 4, // position: top
desktopwidth / 2, // width
desktopheight / 2, // height
0, // parent wnd handle
0, // menu handle/wnd id
hInst, // app instance
0); // user defined info
To get started with this tabbed dialog example first create an empty project in Visual Studio:
Create a new cpp file ‘main.cpp’, and the full code listing for main.cpp is as follows:
#include <windows.h>
#include <tchar.h>
#include <commctrl.h>
#include <string>
#include <vector>
#pragma comment(lib, "comctl32.lib")
#if defined __MINGW_H
#define _WIN32_IE 0x0400
#endif
typedef std::basic_string<TCHAR> ustring;
enum {
IDC_TAB=200,
};
inline int ErrMsg(const ustring& s)
{
return MessageBox(0,s.c_str(),_T("ERROR"),MB_OK|MB_ICONEXCLAMATION);
}
void StartCommonControls(DWORD flags)
{
INITCOMMONCONTROLSEX iccx;
iccx.dwSize=sizeof(INITCOMMONCONTROLSEX);
iccx.dwICC=flags;
InitCommonControlsEx(&iccx);
}
HWND CreateTab(const HWND hParent,const HINSTANCE hInst,DWORD dwStyle,
const RECT& rc,const int id)
{
dwStyle |= WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE;
return CreateWindowEx(0, //extended styles
WC_TABCONTROL, //control 'class' name
0, //control caption
dwStyle, //wnd style
rc.left, //position: left
rc.top, //position: top
rc.right, //width
rc.bottom, //height
hParent, //parent window handle
//control's ID
reinterpret_cast<HMENU>(static_cast<INT_PTR>(id)),
hInst, //instance
0); //user defined info
}
int InsertItem(HWND hTc,const ustring& txt,int item_index,int image_index,
UINT mask = TCIF_TEXT|TCIF_IMAGE)
{
std::vector<TCHAR> tmp(txt.begin(),txt.end());
tmp.push_back(_T('\0'));
TCITEM tabPage={0};
tabPage.mask=mask;
tabPage.pszText=&tmp[0];
tabPage.cchTextMax=static_cast<int>(txt.length());
tabPage.iImage=image_index;
return static_cast<int>(SendMessage(hTc,TCM_INSERTITEM,item_index,
reinterpret_cast<LPARAM>(&tabPage)));
}
int OnCreate(const HWND hwnd,CREATESTRUCT *cs)
{
RECT rc={0,0,0,0};
StartCommonControls(ICC_TAB_CLASSES);
HWND hTabCntrl=CreateTab(hwnd,cs->hInstance,TCS_FIXEDWIDTH,rc,IDC_TAB);
// Store the tab control handle as the user data associated with the
// parent window so that it can be retrieved for later use
SetWindowLongPtr(hwnd,GWLP_USERDATA,reinterpret_cast<LONG_PTR>(hTabCntrl));
InsertItem(hTabCntrl,_T("Page 1"),0,0);
InsertItem(hTabCntrl,_T("Page 2"),1,1);
InsertItem(hTabCntrl,_T("Page 3"),2,2);
//set the font of the tabs to a more typical system GUI font
SendMessage(hTabCntrl,WM_SETFONT,
reinterpret_cast<WPARAM>(GetStockObject(DEFAULT_GUI_FONT)),0);
return 0;
}
void OnDestroy(const HWND hwnd)
{
HWND hTabCntrl=reinterpret_cast<HWND>(static_cast<LONG_PTR>
(GetWindowLongPtr(hwnd,GWLP_USERDATA)));
HIMAGELIST hImages=reinterpret_cast<HIMAGELIST>(SendMessage(hTabCntrl,
TCM_GETIMAGELIST,0,0));
ImageList_Destroy(hImages);
PostQuitMessage(0);
}
void OnSize(const HWND hwnd,int cx,int cy,UINT flags)
{
// Get the header control handle which has been previously stored in the user
// data associated with the parent window.
HWND hTabCntrl=reinterpret_cast<HWND>(static_cast<LONG_PTR>
(GetWindowLongPtr(hwnd,GWLP_USERDATA)));
MoveWindow(hTabCntrl, 2, 2, cx - 4, cy - 4, TRUE);
}
LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc(HWND hwnd,UINT uMsg,WPARAM wParam,LPARAM lParam)
{
switch (uMsg)
{
case WM_CREATE:
{
return OnCreate(hwnd,reinterpret_cast<CREATESTRUCT*>(lParam));
}
case WM_DESTROY:
{
OnDestroy(hwnd);
return 0;
}
case WM_SIZE:
{
OnSize(hwnd,LOWORD(lParam),HIWORD(lParam),static_cast<UINT>(wParam));
return 0;
}
default:
return DefWindowProc(hwnd,uMsg,wParam,lParam);
}
}
int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE hInst,HINSTANCE,LPSTR pStr,int nCmd)
{
ustring classname=_T("SIMPLEWND");
WNDCLASSEX wcx={0}; //stores information about the wnd 'class'
wcx.cbSize = sizeof(WNDCLASSEX);
wcx.lpfnWndProc = WndProc;
wcx.hInstance = hInst;
wcx.hIcon = reinterpret_cast<HICON>(LoadImage(0,IDI_APPLICATION,
IMAGE_ICON,0,0,LR_SHARED));
wcx.hCursor = reinterpret_cast<HCURSOR>(LoadImage(0,IDC_ARROW,
IMAGE_CURSOR,0,0,LR_SHARED));
wcx.hbrBackground = reinterpret_cast<HBRUSH>(COLOR_BTNFACE+1);
wcx.lpszClassName = classname.c_str();
// first register the window 'class' (not c++ class) with the system
// before doing anything else
if (!RegisterClassEx(&wcx))
{
ErrMsg( _T("Failed to register wnd class") );
return -1;
}
int desktopwidth=GetSystemMetrics(SM_CXSCREEN);
int desktopheight=GetSystemMetrics(SM_CYSCREEN);
HWND hwnd=CreateWindowEx(0, // extended styles
classname.c_str(), // name: wnd 'class'
_T("Tabbed Dialog Example"), // wnd title
WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW, // wnd style
desktopwidth / 4, // position:left
desktopheight / 4, // position: top
desktopwidth / 2, // width
desktopheight / 2, // height
0, // parent wnd handle
0, // menu handle/wnd id
hInst, // app instance
0); // user defined info
if (!hwnd)
{
ErrMsg(_T("Failed to create wnd"));
return -1;
}
ShowWindow(hwnd,nCmd);
UpdateWindow(hwnd);
MSG msg;
while (GetMessage(&msg,0,0,0)>0)
{
TranslateMessage(&msg);
DispatchMessage(&msg);
}
return static_cast<int>(msg.wParam);
}
Upon building and compiling a dialog containing three tabs is show like so:
