How do I create a normal win32 edit control?

Question

I'm trying to create an edit control with the regular 3D border around it (in the classic windows style, anyway), but it just has a 1px black border around it. Here is my CreateWindowEx call:

return CreateWindowEx(0, "EDIT", "E:\\bk",
                      WS_VISIBLE | WS_CHILD | WS_BORDER | ES_LEFT,
                      87, 81, 150, 17,
                      main_window.hwnd,
                      (HMENU)5, hInstance, NULL);

If I exclude WS_BORDER then it's just a white box. Any ideas on what's wrong here?

Update

WS_EX_CLIENTEDGE did the trick. I don't know anything about manifest files, or how to make the window use the more modern windows themes (XP, for example), instead of the chunky 3D borders. But, when I do learn all that, will WS_EX_CLIENTEDGE make them use those themes instead, or will it enforce the 3D look?

Answer 1

Try using WS_EX_CLIENTEDGE. That will create an inset 3-D window border under typical situations.

return CreateWindowEx(WS_EX_CLIENTEDGE, "EDIT", "E:\\bk",
                      WS_VISIBLE | WS_CHILD | WS_BORDER | ES_LEFT,
                      87, 81, 150, 17,
                      main_window.hwnd,
                      (HMENU)5, hInstance, NULL);

Also see the following link for the rest of the available flags for CreateWindowEx.

CreateWindowEx at MSDN

Answer 2

He is right WS_EX_CLIENTEDGE will do the 3D border.

Answer 3

I think you mean the 'WS_EX_DLGMODALFRAME' style. It makes it look like the old-style 3d raised type look. Combined with 'WS_BORDER' to make it look a like a 3d border around the control.

Answer 4

Below code Creates an input box and a button, when clicked updates title.

#include <windows.h>

LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc(HWND, UINT, WPARAM, LPARAM);

int main() {
  HINSTANCE hInstance;
  MSG msg;
  WNDCLASSW wc = {0};
  wc.lpszClassName = L"Edit control";
  wc.hInstance = hInstance;
  wc.hbrBackground = GetSysColorBrush(COLOR_3DFACE);
  wc.lpfnWndProc = WndProc;
  wc.hCursor = LoadCursor(0, IDC_ARROW);
  RegisterClassW(&wc);

  CreateWindowW(wc.lpszClassName, L"Edit control",
                WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW | WS_VISIBLE, 220, 220, 280, 200, 0, 0,
                hInstance, 0);

  while (GetMessage(&msg, NULL, 0, 0)) {
    TranslateMessage(&msg);
    DispatchMessage(&msg);
  }
  return (int)msg.wParam;
}

LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc(HWND hwnd, UINT msg, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam) {
  static HWND hwndEdit;
  HWND hwndButton;
  switch (msg) {
  case WM_CREATE:

    hwndEdit = CreateWindowW(L"Edit", NULL, WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | WS_BORDER,
                             50, 50, 150, 20, hwnd, (HMENU)102, NULL, NULL);

    hwndButton = CreateWindowW(L"button", L"Set title", WS_VISIBLE | WS_CHILD,
                               50, 100, 80, 25, hwnd, (HMENU)103, NULL, NULL);

    break;

  case WM_COMMAND:

    if (HIWORD(wParam) == BN_CLICKED) {

      int len = GetWindowTextLengthW(hwndEdit) + 1;
      wchar_t text[len];

      GetWindowTextW(hwndEdit, text, len);
      SetWindowTextW(hwnd, text);
    }

    break;

  case WM_DESTROY:
    PostQuitMessage(0);
    break;
  }
  return DefWindowProcW(hwnd, msg, wParam, lParam);
}

To compile:

g++ test.cpp -o test.exe -mwindows

source: zetcode.com/editcontrol