How Do I Create Rounded Drop-down Menus on Windows 11?

Question

How Do I Create Rounded Drop-down Menus on Windows 11?

norepimorphism 1

Hello,

I'd like to achieve the following style in my Win32 app:

When I click on a menu name for the first time, the rounded drop-down menu displays correctly. However, when I move the cursor across a different menu name, or open the same drop-down menu again, the style changes to that of Windows 10:

Why is this, and how can I ensure that my drop-down menus consistently use the Windows 11 style? I'm using the C++ WinAPI directly.

Thanks,
norepi

David Lowndes 4,726 Reputation points

2022-04-28T15:49:21.63+00:00

Do other Win32 applications have the same issue on your machine?
If you create a new clean application, does that exhibit the same issue?
If other applications and a clean one don't exhibit the same issue, you may have some incorrect message handling in your code that's giving rise to this.
If they do reproduce the issue, it may be a display driver issue - see if there are any updated drivers.
norepimorphism 1 Reputation point

2022-04-28T15:53:08.517+00:00

I'll have to confirm when I get home, but I believe I do remember this behavior being exhibited in other applications as well. I'll see if my graphics drivers are up-to-date.

Thank you for the insightful comment!
David Lowndes 4,726 Reputation points

2022-04-28T16:03:24.69+00:00

You're welcome.
Let us know the outcome.

norepimorphism 1

Now at home, I can confirm this behavior with Audacity and 7-Zip Manager. However, I also discovered that the rounded drop-down menus work consistently on Wolfram Mathematica. So, it looks like a programming issue.

I'm using libui-ng. The main loop looks like this:

while(true) {
    MSG msg;
    int result = GetMessageW(msg, NULL, 0, 0);

    if(result < 0) {
        abort();
    } else if(result == 0) {
        break;
    } else {
        HWND parent;
        if(msg->hwnd == NULL) {
            parent = GetActiveWindow();
        } else {
            parent = GetAncestor(msg->hwnd, GA_ROOT);
        }

        if((parent == NULL) || (IsDialogMessage(parent, msg) != 0)) {
            continue;
        }

        TranslateMessage(msg);
        DispatchMessageW(msg);
    }
}

Then, when creating a menu, I do the equivalent of the following:

HMENU createMenu(void) {
    HMENU menu = CreatePopupMenu();
    if (menu == NULL) {
        abort();
    }

    for (unsigned int i = 0; i < MENU_ITEM_COUNT; i++) {
        // XXX: Append menu item...
    }

    return menu;
}

I tried updating my manifest to include the compatibility GUIDs for Windows 8, 8.1, 10, and 11, but it has no effect. Just in case, I updated my graphics drivers to no avail. At this point, I'm considering disassembling Wolfram Mathematica to see if there's any WinAPI calls I'm missing.

norepi

David Lowndes 4,726 Reputation points

2022-04-28T22:44:19.217+00:00

Unless there's something specific you're doing that I'm not, I don't see any such issue with the 7-zip UI, so I'd still assume it's a system problem.
Have you tried your software on a different Win11 PC?

3 answers

Your answer

David Lowndes 4,726 Reputation points

2022-04-28T15:49:21.63+00:00

Do other Win32 applications have the same issue on your machine?
If you create a new clean application, does that exhibit the same issue?
If other applications and a clean one don't exhibit the same issue, you may have some incorrect message handling in your code that's giving rise to this.
If they do reproduce the issue, it may be a display driver issue - see if there are any updated drivers.
norepimorphism 1 Reputation point

2022-04-28T15:53:08.517+00:00

I'll have to confirm when I get home, but I believe I do remember this behavior being exhibited in other applications as well. I'll see if my graphics drivers are up-to-date.

Thank you for the insightful comment!
David Lowndes 4,726 Reputation points

2022-04-28T16:03:24.69+00:00

You're welcome.
Let us know the outcome.
norepimorphism 1 Reputation point

2022-04-28T20:25:50.837+00:00

Now at home, I can confirm this behavior with Audacity and 7-Zip Manager. However, I also discovered that the rounded drop-down menus work consistently on Wolfram Mathematica. So, it looks like a programming issue.

I'm using libui-ng. The main loop looks like this:

while(true) { MSG msg; int result = GetMessageW(msg, NULL, 0, 0); if(result < 0) { abort(); } else if(result == 0) { break; } else { HWND parent; if(msg->hwnd == NULL) { parent = GetActiveWindow(); } else { parent = GetAncestor(msg->hwnd, GA_ROOT); } if((parent == NULL) || (IsDialogMessage(parent, msg) != 0)) { continue; } TranslateMessage(msg); DispatchMessageW(msg); } }

Then, when creating a menu, I do the equivalent of the following:

HMENU createMenu(void) { HMENU menu = CreatePopupMenu(); if (menu == NULL) { abort(); } for (unsigned int i = 0; i < MENU_ITEM_COUNT; i++) { // XXX: Append menu item... } return menu; }

I tried updating my manifest to include the compatibility GUIDs for Windows 8, 8.1, 10, and 11, but it has no effect. Just in case, I updated my graphics drivers to no avail. At this point, I'm considering disassembling Wolfram Mathematica to see if there's any WinAPI calls I'm missing.

norepi
David Lowndes 4,726 Reputation points

2022-04-28T22:44:19.217+00:00

Unless there's something specific you're doing that I'm not, I don't see any such issue with the 7-zip UI, so I'd still assume it's a system problem.
Have you tried your software on a different Win11 PC?

Answer 1

Castorix31 90,681

Did you follow Apply rounded corners in desktop apps for Windows 11 ?

norepimorphism 1 Reputation point

2022-04-28T20:27:34.517+00:00

I think so. The main window of the application is rounded; it's only the drop-down menus that aren't, or at least persistently. See the reply to @David Lowndes for my code.
Castorix31 90,681 Reputation points

2022-04-28T21:10:12.717+00:00

did you call DwmSetWindowAttribute to force rounding ?
norepimorphism 1 Reputation point

2022-04-28T21:12:53.593+00:00

I'm unsure of what to call it with. How do I get a handle to the drop-down pop up windows?

Answer 2

Xiaopo Yang - MSFT 12,731 Microsoft External Staff

I cannot reproduce it with my Win32 application created by VisualStudio WindowsDesktopApplication template.
Also as the Apply rounded corners in desktop apps for Windows 11 document said,

If your app is not rounded by policy, it could be caused by one of the following things:

Lack of frame styles
Empty non-client area
Other customizations, such as extra non-child windows used for custom shadows

Answer 3

As @David Lowndes suggested, I created a new application that uses the same underlying GUI library, and now my rounded corners are persistent. I'm really not sure what the issue was, but at this point, I'd rather accept this fact and move on without spending any more time debugging the issue.

For reference, the affected program was built on Rust bindings to libui-ng and packaged alongside a manifest with compatibility GUIDs for Windows Vista and beyond.

Thanks, everyone, for your input!

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How Do I Create Rounded Drop-down Menus on Windows 11?

3 answers

Your answer