C++ – How to enable common controls in a Windows app

cwinapi

I'm trying to enable common controls in an application. I followed the steps given in this MSDN article, specifically the section Using ComCtl32.dll Version 6 in an Application That Uses Only Standard Extensions. But I can't get it to work.

The only thing I'm doing differently from the article is that I add the manifest information in Project Property Pages | Configuration Properties | Linker | Manifest File | Additional Manifest Dependencies. This is what I enter in the textbox:

"type='Win32' name='Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls' version='6.0.0.0' processorArchitecture='*' publicKeyToken='6595b64144ccf1df' language='*' xmlns='http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003'";%(AdditionalManifestDependencies)

When I check the generated manifest (MyApp.exe.intermediate.manifest), it looks correct.

I also add a link dependency to ComCtl32.lib in Project Properties | Configuration Properties | Linker | Input | Additional Dependencies. I also call InitCommonControlsEx at startup with the INITCOMMONCONTROLSEX structure initialized like this:

INITCOMMONCONTROLSEX icex;
icex.dwSize = sizeof(INITCOMMONCONTROLSEX);
icex.dwICC = ICC_STANDARD_CLASSES;

But the call to InitCommonControlsEx always returns FALSE (which means it failed). After some investigation I found out that the error code returned from GetLastError is ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND. What could be the problem?

UPDATE: I noticed something that could be related to the "file not found error". When I run the app from the debugger, one of the lines in the Output window is:

'MyApp.exe': Loaded 'C:\Windows\winsxs\x86_microsoft.windows.common-controls_6595b64144ccf1df_5.82.6002.18305_none_88f3a38569c2c436\comctl32.dll', Cannot find or open the PDB file

However, there are a bunch of similar lines for some of the more standard libraries like kernel32.lib, user32.lib, etc:

'MyApp.exe': Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\ntdll.dll', Cannot find or open the PDB file

'MyApp.exe': Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\kernel32.dll', Cannot find or open the PDB file

'MyApp.exe': Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\msvcrt.dll', Cannot find or open the PDB file

'MyApp.exe': Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\user32.dll', Cannot find or open the PDB file

Those lines always appear for any application, and it causes no problems. Could it be different for ComCtl32.dll?

Best Answer

OK. I did some homework on this and discovered something new myself. How I eventually got this to work was almost what you're trying to do:

Go to Project/Properties/Linker/Manifest File/Additional Manifest Dependencies
Enter the following text verbatim (meaning all single and double quotes exactly as below). This is all on a single line, btw.

"type='win32' name='Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls' version='6.0.0.0' processorArchitecture='*' publicKeyToken='6595b64144ccf1df' language='*'"
Save your settings an do a FULL project (if not solution) rebuild to force manifest and PCH regeneration.

Prior to doing this the following was in my load-list:

Loaded 'C:\Windows\winsxs\x86_microsoft.windows.common-controls_6595b64144ccf1df_5.82.7601.17514_none_ec83dffa859149af\comctl32.dll'

After hand-forcnig the manifest version for common controls, the load list now includes this (and properly answers TRUE to InitCommonControlsEx(), which is the point of all this in the first place):

Loaded 'C:\Windows\winsxs\x86_microsoft.windows.common-controls_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.7601.17514_none_41e6975e2bd6f2b2\comctl32.dll'

Note: you can also do this with an in-source #pragma, ideally in your stdafx.h header, but I prefer it this way.

Hope it helps.

Setting a bit

Use the bitwise OR operator (|) to set a bit.

number |= 1UL << n;

That will set the nth bit of number. n should be zero, if you want to set the 1st bit and so on upto n-1, if you want to set the nth bit.

Use 1ULL if number is wider than unsigned long; promotion of 1UL << n doesn't happen until after evaluating 1UL << n where it's undefined behaviour to shift by more than the width of a long. The same applies to all the rest of the examples.

Clearing a bit

Use the bitwise AND operator (&) to clear a bit.

number &= ~(1UL << n);

That will clear the nth bit of number. You must invert the bit string with the bitwise NOT operator (~), then AND it.

Toggling a bit

The XOR operator (^) can be used to toggle a bit.

number ^= 1UL << n;

That will toggle the nth bit of number.

Checking a bit

You didn't ask for this, but I might as well add it.

To check a bit, shift the number n to the right, then bitwise AND it:

bit = (number >> n) & 1U;

That will put the value of the nth bit of number into the variable bit.

Changing the nth bit to x

Setting the nth bit to either 1 or 0 can be achieved with the following on a 2's complement C++ implementation:

number ^= (-x ^ number) & (1UL << n);

Bit n will be set if x is 1, and cleared if x is 0. If x has some other value, you get garbage. x = !!x will booleanize it to 0 or 1.

To make this independent of 2's complement negation behaviour (where -1 has all bits set, unlike on a 1's complement or sign/magnitude C++ implementation), use unsigned negation.

number ^= (-(unsigned long)x ^ number) & (1UL << n);

unsigned long newbit = !!x;    // Also booleanize to force 0 or 1
number ^= (-newbit ^ number) & (1UL << n);

It's generally a good idea to use unsigned types for portable bit manipulation.

number = (number & ~(1UL << n)) | (x << n);

(number & ~(1UL << n)) will clear the nth bit and (x << n) will set the nth bit to x.

It's also generally a good idea to not to copy/paste code in general and so many people use preprocessor macros (like the community wiki answer further down) or some sort of encapsulation.

C++ – How to iterate over the words of a string

I use this to split string by a delimiter. The first puts the results in a pre-constructed vector, the second returns a new vector.

#include <string>
#include <sstream>
#include <vector>
#include <iterator>

template <typename Out>
void split(const std::string &s, char delim, Out result) {
    std::istringstream iss(s);
    std::string item;
    while (std::getline(iss, item, delim)) {
        *result++ = item;
    }
}

std::vector<std::string> split(const std::string &s, char delim) {
    std::vector<std::string> elems;
    split(s, delim, std::back_inserter(elems));
    return elems;
}

Note that this solution does not skip empty tokens, so the following will find 4 items, one of which is empty:

std::vector<std::string> x = split("one:two::three", ':');