Producing a GUI

Hey! I've recently been working with C++ a lot. I've mastered all the basics, up to datatypes, switches, strings, arrays, and basically anything that I know you can do without taking it a step further. I would like to start working on GUI. However, while following a tutorial, I ran into a roadblock. My code used is this:

Code:

---

#include <windows.h>

const char g_szClassName[] = "myWindowClass";

// Step 4: the Window Procedure
LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc(HWND hwnd, UINT msg, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)
{
    switch(msg)
    {
        case WM_LBUTTONDOWN:  // <-
                              // <-    we just added this stuff
                break;                // <-
                case WM_CLOSE:
            DestroyWindow(hwnd);
        break;
        case WM_DESTROY:
            PostQuitMessage(0);
        break;
        default:
            return DefWindowProc(hwnd, msg, wParam, lParam);
    }
    return 0;
}

int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance,
    LPSTR lpCmdLine, int nCmdShow)
{
    WNDCLASSEX wc;
    HWND hwnd;
    MSG Msg;

    //Step 1: Registering the Window Class
    wc.cbSize        = sizeof(WNDCLASSEX);
    wc.style        = 0;
    wc.lpfnWndProc  = WndProc;
    wc.cbClsExtra    = 0;
    wc.cbWndExtra    = 0;
    wc.hInstance    = hInstance;
    wc.hIcon        = LoadIcon(NULL, IDI_APPLICATION);
    wc.hCursor      = LoadCursor(NULL, IDC_ARROW);
    wc.hbrBackground = (HBRUSH)(COLOR_WINDOW+1);
    wc.lpszMenuName  = NULL;
    wc.lpszClassName = g_szClassName;
    wc.hIconSm      = LoadIcon(NULL, IDI_APPLICATION);

    if(!RegisterClassEx(&wc))
    {
        MessageBox(NULL, "Window Registration Failed!", "Error!",
            MB_ICONEXCLAMATION | MB_OK);
        return 0;
    }

    // Step 2: Creating the Window
    hwnd = CreateWindowEx(
        WS_EX_CLIENTEDGE,
        g_szClassName,
        "The title of my window",
        WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW,
        CW_USEDEFAULT, CW_USEDEFAULT, 240, 120,
        NULL, NULL, hInstance, NULL);

    if(hwnd == NULL)
    {
        MessageBox(NULL, "Window Creation Failed!", "Error!",
            MB_ICONEXCLAMATION | MB_OK);
        return 0;
    }

    ShowWindow(hwnd, nCmdShow);
    UpdateWindow(hwnd);

    // Step 3: The Message Loop
    while(GetMessage(&Msg, NULL, 0, 0) > 0)
    {
        TranslateMessage(&Msg);
        DispatchMessage(&Msg);
    }
    return Msg.wParam;
}

---

The window it produces looks like this:

http://i37.tinypic.com/sgiwas.jpg

The only error I see is that the title should be "The title of my window" but instead it is several squares... What have I done wrong?

It may be mismatch between ASCII and unicode setting for project. There is enough resource on the net about unicode so I won't repeat here, but try this:

Code:

---

// Step 2: Creating the Window
    hwnd = CreateWindowEx(
        WS_EX_CLIENTEDGE,
        g_szClassName,
        L"The title of my window",
        WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW,
        CW_USEDEFAULT, CW_USEDEFAULT, 240, 120,
        NULL, NULL, hInstance, NULL);

---

Also

Code:

---

const TCHAR g_szClassName[] = L"myWindowClass";

---

There might be other mismatches, and I would suggest to read on this topic (it's huge).
You can also change your project settings to non-unicode and use plain ascii text. It's in project properties/Configuration Properties/General and set "Character Set" to "Not Set" option. As always your YMVM.

Wow! Thank you so much! You have no idea how much this helped me.