C++ Builder XE, Passing and handling user-defined messages

Question

I am trying to learn how to pass and handle messages in a VCL forms app. I've been digging the internet for some time and found this

Suppose I have a progress bar I want to update using messages (btw if there's any other better way, I am eager to hear it) So I made a simple project to test the stuff and here's what I have (RECEIVER is a name of a form with progress bar, SENDER is a button used to send messages, updBar is a function to update progress bar, and 123456 is a message ID I want to use): Unit1.cpp:

#include <vcl.h>
#pragma hdrstop

#include "Unit1.h"
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
#pragma package(smart_init)
#pragma resource "*.dfm"
TRECIEVER *RECIEVER;
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
__fastcall TRECIEVER::TRECIEVER(TComponent* Owner)
    : TForm(Owner)
{
}
void __fastcall TRECIEVER::barUPD(TMessage& msg){
    BAR->StepIt();
}
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
void __fastcall TRECIEVER::SENDERClick(TObject *Sender)
{
//BAR->StepIt();
PostMessage(FindWindow(0,(wchar_t*)"RECIEVER"),123456,0,0);
}

Unit1.h:

#ifndef Unit1H
#define Unit1H
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
#include <System.Classes.hpp>
#include <Vcl.Controls.hpp>
#include <Vcl.StdCtrls.hpp>
#include <Vcl.Forms.hpp>
#include <Vcl.ComCtrls.hpp>
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
class TRECIEVER : public TForm
{
__published:    // IDE-managed Components
    TButton *SENDER;
    TProgressBar *BAR;
    void __fastcall SENDERClick(TObject *Sender);
private:    // User declarations
public:     // User declarations
    void __fastcall barUPD(TMessage& msg);
    __fastcall TRECIEVER(TComponent* Owner);
    BEGIN_MESSAGE_MAP
    MESSAGE_HANDLER(123456,TMessage,barUPD);
    END_MESSAGE_MAP(TForm)
};
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
extern PACKAGE TRECIEVER *RECIEVER;
//---------------------------------------------------------------------------
#endif

As you can see I have defined both the handling function and appropriate message handler for my message. But when I look it through via debugger (after sending the message using the button), the execution point never seems to go to neither my function nor the handler line. Thanks in advance

Answer 1

There are two problems with your code:

1) 123456 (0x1E240) is not a valid user-level message ID. Values above 0xFFFF are reserved by the OS. Custom messages MUST be in the WM_USER (0x0400 - 0x7FFF), WM_APP (0x8000 - 0xBFFF), or RegisterWindowMessage() (0xC000 - 0xFFFF) ranges.

2) you are passing a bad string pointer to FindWindow(). You are type-casting a char[] to a wchar_t*, which is an invalid type-cast. To specify that the string literal should use wchar_t instead of char, you have to prefix the literal with the L specifier instead. Or more generically, when using any TCHAR-senstive API (like FindWindow()), use the TEXT() macro instead.

In addition, although not strictly an error, you should ue VCL_MESSAGE_HANDLER() instead of MESSAGE_HANDLER(), only because MESSAGE_HANDLER() is defined differently by ATL. If you are not using ATL in your project, you won't run into a problem, but it is better to use VCL_MESSAGE_HANDLER() just to make absolutely sure, and to document that the code is using the VCL's version of MESSAGE_HANDLER() and not some other version.

Try this:

Unit1.h:

#ifndef Unit1H 
#define Unit1H 
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
#include <System.Classes.hpp> 
#include <Vcl.Controls.hpp> 
#include <Vcl.StdCtrls.hpp> 
#include <Vcl.Forms.hpp> 
#include <Vcl.ComCtrls.hpp> 
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
#define WM_BAR_STEP_IT  (WM_USER+1)
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
class TRECIEVER : public TForm 
{ 
__published:    // IDE-managed Components 
    TButton *SENDER; 
    TProgressBar *BAR; 
    void __fastcall SENDERClick(TObject *Sender); 
private:    // User declarations 
    void __fastcall barUPD(TMessage&); 
public:     // User declarations 
    __fastcall TRECIEVER(TComponent* Owner); 
    BEGIN_MESSAGE_MAP 
      VCL_MESSAGE_HANDLER(WM_BAR_STEP_IT, TMessage, barUPD); 
    END_MESSAGE_MAP(TForm) 
}; 
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
extern PACKAGE TRECIEVER *RECIEVER; 
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
#endif 

Unit1.cpp:

#include <vcl.h> 
#pragma hdrstop 

#include "Unit1.h" 
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
#pragma package(smart_init) 
#pragma resource "*.dfm" 
TRECIEVER *RECIEVER; 
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
__fastcall TRECIEVER::TRECIEVER(TComponent* Owner) 
    : TForm(Owner) 
{ 
} 
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
void __fastcall TRECIEVER::barUPD(TMessage&)
{ 
    BAR->StepIt(); 
} 
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
void __fastcall TRECIEVER::SENDERClick(TObject *Sender) 
{ 
    // this assumes the Form's Caption is set to "RECEIVER"
    // also specifying the class type for good measure...
    PostMessage(FindWindow(TEXT("TRECEIVER"), TEXT("RECIEVER")), WM_BAR_STEP_IT, 0, 0); 

    //Alternatively:
    //PostMessage(FindWindowW(ClassName().c_str(), Caption.c_str()), WM_BAR_STEP_IT, 0, 0); 
} 
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

With that said, since the message is private to the app, there is no need to use FindWindow() at all, use the TForm::Handle property instead. And I would even go a step further by getting rid of the MESSAGE_HANDLER() altogether. The message is private to the internals of TRECEIVER, so that is where it should stay:

Unit1.h:

#ifndef Unit1H 
#define Unit1H 
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
#include <System.Classes.hpp> 
#include <Vcl.Controls.hpp> 
#include <Vcl.StdCtrls.hpp> 
#include <Vcl.Forms.hpp> 
#include <Vcl.ComCtrls.hpp> 
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
class TRECIEVER : public TForm 
{ 
__published:    // IDE-managed Components 
    TButton *SENDER; 
    TProgressBar *BAR; 
    void __fastcall SENDERClick(TObject *Sender); 
private:    // User declarations 
protected:
    void __fastcall WndProc(TMessage& Message); 
public:     // User declarations 
    __fastcall TRECIEVER(TComponent* Owner); 
}; 
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
extern PACKAGE TRECIEVER *RECIEVER; 
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
#endif 

Unit1.cpp:

#include <vcl.h> 
#pragma hdrstop 

#include "Unit1.h" 
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
#pragma package(smart_init) 
#pragma resource "*.dfm" 
TRECIEVER *RECIEVER; 
#define WM_BAR_STEP_IT  (WM_USER+1)
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
__fastcall TRECIEVER::TRECIEVER(TComponent* Owner) 
    : TForm(Owner) 
{ 
} 
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
void __fastcall TRECIEVER::WndProc(TMessage& Message)
{ 
    if (Message.Msg == WM_BAR_STEP_IT)
        BAR->StepIt(); 
    else
        TForm::WndProc(Message);
} 
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
void __fastcall TRECIEVER::SENDERClick(TObject *Sender) 
{ 
    PostMessage(Handle, WM_BAR_STEP_IT, 0, 0); 
} 
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

If you want other pieces of your app to post messages to the Revceiver, you could expose a public method for that:

Unit1.h:

#ifndef Unit1H 
#define Unit1H 
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
#include <System.Classes.hpp> 
#include <Vcl.Controls.hpp> 
#include <Vcl.StdCtrls.hpp> 
#include <Vcl.Forms.hpp> 
#include <Vcl.ComCtrls.hpp> 
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
class TRECIEVER : public TForm 
{ 
__published:    // IDE-managed Components 
    TButton *SENDER; 
    TProgressBar *BAR; 
    void __fastcall SENDERClick(TObject *Sender); 
private:    // User declarations 
protected:
    void __fastcall WndProc(TMessage& Message); 
public:     // User declarations 
    __fastcall TRECIEVER(TComponent* Owner); 
    void __fastcall PostBarStepIt();
}; 
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
extern PACKAGE TRECIEVER *RECIEVER; 
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
#endif 

Unit1.cpp:

#include <vcl.h> 
#pragma hdrstop 

#include "Unit1.h" 
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
#pragma package(smart_init) 
#pragma resource "*.dfm" 
TRECIEVER *RECIEVER; 
#define WM_BAR_STEP_IT  (WM_USER+1)
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
__fastcall TRECIEVER::TRECIEVER(TComponent* Owner) 
    : TForm(Owner) 
{ 
} 
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
void __fastcall TRECIEVER::WndProc(TMessage& Message)
{ 
    if (Message.Msg == WM_BAR_STEP_IT)
        BAR->StepIt(); 
    else
        TForm::WndProc(Message);
} 
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
void __fastcall TRECIEVER::SENDERClick(TObject *Sender) 
{ 
    PostBarStepIt(); 
} 
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 
void __fastcall TRECIEVER::PostBarStepIt() 
{ 
    PostMessage(Handle, WM_BAR_STEP_IT, 0, 0); 
} 
//--------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

SomeOtherFile.cpp:

#include "Unit1.h"

void __fastcall TSomeOtherClass::SomeMethod()
{
    RECIEVER->PostBarStepIt(); 
}