Next and previous control button in winAPI to go to next page (c++)

Question

I am creating an winAPI application in c++ I have a photo in preview pane and I want to create two buttons NEXT and PREVIOUS on clicking them I will go to the next page .

Could you please give me the idea how to do that in c++ ??

Do I need to use QT libraray or it can be done using the in built function of WinAPI like -

HWND hwndButton1 = CreateWindow(L"BUTTON",L"NEXT",WS_TABSTOP | WS_VISIBLE | WS_CHILD | BS_DEFPUSHBUTTON,550,800,100,30,m_hwndPreview,(HMENU)buttonid1,(HINSTANCE)GetWindowLong(m_hwndPreview, -6),NULL);

    HWND hwndButton2 = CreateWindow(L"BUTTON",L"PREVIOUS",WS_TABSTOP | WS_VISIBLE | WS_CHILD | BS_DEFPUSHBUTTON,650,800,100,30,m_hwndPreview,(HMENU)buttonid2,(HINSTANCE)GetWindowLong(m_hwndPreview, -6),NULL);

and then using WM_COMMAND for both the button clicks.

Am I going right?

I just want my API application work like a .pdf extension file...as in PDF files we have up and down arrow and on clicking upon them we can go to the next page..In winAPIc++ I couldn't find any such arrow function.. please tell me if there is any such arrow up/down function present to go to next page (because I am very less interested in creating NEXT and PREVIOUS button using createwindow function.. It looks odd).

Answer 1

You have not mentioned what tools you are using, so we don't know if you have a resouce editor. You should research that in a forum appropriate for the tools. If you think writing one line of code to create a button is "very complicated" then you need a better tool.

If you do not want the buttons to appear on top of the picture then you need another place to put them. One common possibility is a toolbar. It is a strip for buttons along the top or bottom of the main window:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/bb760435(v=vs.85).aspx

With a resource editor you can draw an arrow on the button. Without a resource editor you can set the button text to a unicode arrow:

SetWindowText(hwndButton1, L"\x25bc"); // down arrow, use 25b2 for up arrow

Answer 2

Most buttons (and other controls) are created using a resource editor, placing the controls on a dialog template or a toolbar resource. If you do that Windows will create the buttons when you create the dialog or toolbar. This method is much preferred because Windows will adjust the size of the buttons as required for the screen settings in use.

If you can't do that you must use CreateWindow as you are doing.

Answer 3

Finally it is done.. I have created the buttons neither using Qt or nor using any createWindowEx..The best and easy approach to follow is resource editor ...just put some button on dialog and use IDD_MAINDIALOG (in my case)

m_hwndPreview = CreateDialogParam( g_hInst,MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDD_MAINDIALOG), m_hwndParent,(DLGPROC)DialogProc, (LPARAM)this);

and then

BOOL CALLBACK AMEPreviewHandler::DialogProc(HWND m_hwndPreview, UINT Umsg, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam) 
    { 
switch(Umsg) // handle these messages
        {  .........
}
....
}

and thats done. Very easy task.