how to create textbox (edit text) in win32?

Question

how to create text box?

I created window using CreateWindowEx with WS_CHILD and then set TextColor and SetBKColor

but when I type something to it nothing happened.

Answer 1

Hi, @mc

Below is an edit box sample,
create a default Win32 desktop application: project1

#include "targetver.h"
#define WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN             // Exclude rarely-used stuff from Windows headers
// Windows Header Files
#include <windows.h>
// C RunTime Header Files
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <malloc.h>
#include <memory.h>
#include <tchar.h>
#include"Resource.h"
#define MAX_LOADSTRING 100
// Global Variables:
HINSTANCE hInst;                                // current instance
WCHAR szTitle[MAX_LOADSTRING];                  // The title bar text
WCHAR szWindowClass[MAX_LOADSTRING];            // the main window class name
HWND  hEdit;
// Forward declarations of functions included in this code module:
LRESULT CALLBACK    WndProc(HWND, UINT, WPARAM, LPARAM);
INT_PTR CALLBACK    About(HWND, UINT, WPARAM, LPARAM);
int APIENTRY wWinMain(_In_ HINSTANCE hInstance,
                     _In_opt_ HINSTANCE hPrevInstance,
                     _In_ LPWSTR    lpCmdLine,
                     _In_ int       nCmdShow)
{
 
    // TODO: Place code here.
    // Initialize global strings
    LoadStringW(hInstance, IDS_APP_TITLE, szTitle, MAX_LOADSTRING);
    LoadStringW(hInstance, IDC_PROJECT1, szWindowClass, MAX_LOADSTRING);
    WNDCLASSEXW wcex;
    wcex.cbSize = sizeof(WNDCLASSEX);
    wcex.style = CS_HREDRAW | CS_VREDRAW;
    wcex.lpfnWndProc = WndProc;
    wcex.cbClsExtra = 0;
    wcex.cbWndExtra = 0;
    wcex.hInstance = hInstance;
    wcex.hIcon = LoadIcon(hInstance, MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDI_PROJECT1));
    wcex.hCursor = LoadCursor(nullptr, IDC_ARROW);
    wcex.hbrBackground = (HBRUSH)(COLOR_WINDOW + 1);
    wcex.lpszMenuName = MAKEINTRESOURCEW(IDC_PROJECT1);
    wcex.lpszClassName = szWindowClass;
    wcex.hIconSm = LoadIcon(wcex.hInstance, MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDI_SMALL));
    (ATOM) RegisterClassExW(&wcex);
    // Perform application initialization:
  
    hInst = hInstance; // Store instance handle in our global variable
    HWND hWnd = CreateWindowW(szWindowClass, szTitle, WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW,
        CW_USEDEFAULT, 0, CW_USEDEFAULT, 0, nullptr, nullptr, hInstance, nullptr);
    if (!hWnd)
    {
        return FALSE;
    }
    ShowWindow(hWnd, nCmdShow);
    UpdateWindow(hWnd);
    MSG msg;
   
    while (GetMessage(&msg, nullptr, 0, 0))
    {
            TranslateMessage(&msg);
            DispatchMessage(&msg);   
    }
    return (int) msg.wParam;
}
LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc(HWND hWnd, UINT message, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)
{
    switch (message)
    {
    
    case WM_COMMAND:
        {
            int wmId = LOWORD(wParam);
            // Parse the menu selections:
            switch (wmId)
            {
           
            default:
                return DefWindowProc(hWnd, message, wParam, lParam);
            }
        }
        break;
        case  WM_CREATE:
        {
            hEdit = CreateWindowA("EDIT",
                NULL,
                WS_BORDER | WS_CHILD | WS_VISIBLE | WS_VSCROLL | ES_LEFT |
                ES_MULTILINE | ES_AUTOVSCROLL,
                10, 10, 460, 300,
                hWnd,
                NULL,
                (HINSTANCE)GetWindowLongPtr(hWnd, GWLP_HINSTANCE),
                NULL);
            break;
        }
        case WM_CTLCOLOREDIT:
        {
            COLORREF textColor = RGB(210, 10, 0);  
            COLORREF bkColor = RGB(0, 150, 200);
            HDC hdc = (HDC)wParam;
            SetBkColor(hdc, bkColor);
            SetTextColor(hdc, textColor);
            SetDCBrushColor(hdc, bkColor);
            return  (LRESULT)GetStockObject(DC_BRUSH);
        }
        break;
    case WM_PAINT:
        {
            PAINTSTRUCT ps;
            HDC hdc = BeginPaint(hWnd, &ps);
            // TODO: Add any drawing code that uses hdc here...
            EndPaint(hWnd, &ps);
        }
        break;
    case WM_DESTROY:
        PostQuitMessage(0);
        break;
    default:
        return DefWindowProc(hWnd, message, wParam, lParam);
    }
    return 0;
}

Best regards,

Minxin Yu

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Answer 2

Like the basic sample in MSDN : https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/controls/edit-control-styles

(by setting width/height) or

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/controls/use-a-multiline-edit-control