Share via

Windows User Interface

  • Article

The Windows User Interface functions enable applications to create and manage a user interface. These functions create and use windows to display output, prompt for user input, and carry out the other tasks necessary to support interaction with the user. Most applications create at least one window.

Applications define the general behavior and appearance of their windows by creating window classes and corresponding window procedures. A window class identifies default characteristics such as whether the window processes mouse button clicks or has a menu. The corresponding window procedure contains code that defines the behavior of the window, carries out requested tasks, and processes user input.

Applications generate output for a window by using the GDI functions. Because all windows share the display screen, applications do not receive access to the entire screen. Instead, the system aligns and clips all output to fit within the corresponding window. Applications can draw in a window in response to a request from the system or while processing input messages. When the size or position of a window changes, the system typically sends a message to the application requesting that it paint any previously unexposed area of its window.

Applications receive mouse and keyboard input in the form of messages. The system translates mouse movement, mouse button clicks, and keystrokes into input messages and places these messages in the message queue for the application. The system automatically provides a queue for each application. The application uses message functions to extract messages from the queue and dispatch them to the appropriate window procedure for processing.

Applications can process the mouse and keyboard input directly or let the system translate this low-level input into command messages by using menus and keyboard accelerators. You use menus to present a list of commands to the user. The system manages all actions required to let the user choose a command and then sends a message to the window identifying the choice. Keyboard accelerators are application-defined combinations of keystrokes that the system translates into messages. Accelerators typically correspond to commands in a menu and generate the same messages.

Applications often respond to command messages by prompting the user for additional information with dialog boxes. A dialog box is a temporary window that displays information or requests input. A dialog box typically includes controls — small, single-purpose windows — that represent buttons and boxes through which the user provides information. There are controls for typing text, scrolling text, selecting items from a list of items, and so on. Dialog boxes manage and process the input from these controls, making this information available to the application so that it can complete the requested command.

You can share useful data, such as bitmaps, icons, fonts, and strings, by adding this data as "resources" to the file for an application or DLL. Applications retrieve the data by using the resource functions to locate the resources and load them into memory.

Window management functions provide other features related to windows, such as carets, the clipboard, cursors, hooks, icons, and menus.

The Windows Shell supports a variety of objects used for running applications and managing the operating system. The shell organizes these objects and provides an interface through which applications can interact with these objects. Applications can also use the shell interfaces and functions to enhance various aspects of the Windows Shell.

The Windows Controls give Windows its distinctive look and feel. Because these controls are supported by DLLs that are a part of the operating system, they are available to all applications. Using these controls helps keep an application's user interface consistent with that of the shell and other applications. Because developing a control can be a substantial undertaking, using the Windows Controls can also save you a significant amount of development time.

For more information, see the following overviews.

 

 

Build date: 3/25/2010