How to Create Static Controls

Article
2020-06-17

The example in this section demonstrates how to create an animated static control.

What you need to know

Technologies

Windows Controls

Prerequisites

C/C++
Windows User Interface Programming

Instructions

Create a Static Control

The following code example uses a timer and the STM_SETICON message to animate a static icon control in a dialog box.

#define MAXICONS 3 
#define HALF_SECOND 500

INT_PTR CALLBACK StaticDlgProc(HWND hDlg, UINT message, WPARAM wParam, 
    LPARAM lParam) 
{ 
    static HICON aIcons[MAXICONS]; 
    static UINT i = 0; 
    static UINT idTimer = 1; 

    switch (message) 
    { 
        case WM_INITDIALOG: 

            // Load the icon resources. g_hInst is the global instance handle.
            aIcons[i]   = LoadIcon(g_hInst, MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDI_ICON1)); 
            aIcons[++i] = LoadIcon(g_hInst, MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDI_ICON2)); 
            aIcons[++i] = LoadIcon(g_hInst, MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDI_ICON3)); 
            
            // Reset the array index.
            i = 0;
 
            // Set a timer. 
            SetTimer(hDlg, idTimer, HALF_SECOND, (TIMERPROC) NULL); 
            return TRUE; 

        case WM_TIMER: 

            // Use STM_SETICON to associate a new icon with the static icon
            // control whenever a WM_TIMER message is received. 
            SendDlgItemMessage(hDlg, IDC_STATIC_ICON, STM_SETICON, 
                (WPARAM) aIcons[i], 0);                    

            // Reset the array index, if necessary.
            if (++i == MAXICONS)
                i = 0;

            return 0; 

        case WM_COMMAND: 
            if (wParam == IDOK 
                || wParam == IDCANCEL) 
            { 
                EndDialog(hDlg, TRUE); 
            } 
            return TRUE; 
 
        case WM_DESTROY: 
            KillTimer(hDlg, idTimer); 

            // Note that it is not necessary to call DestroyIcon here. LoadIcon
            // obtains a shared icon, which is valid as long as the module from 
            // which it was loaded is in memory. 
 
            return 0; 
    } 
    return FALSE; 

    UNREFERENCED_PARAMETER(lParam); 
}

Remarks

The identifier of the static icon control (IDI_STATIC_ICON) is defined in a global header file, and the icons are loaded from the application resources.

Using Static Controls
Windows common controls demo (CppWindowsCommonControls)

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