If you are new to Windows programming, it can be disconcerting when you first see a Windows program. The code is filled with strange type definitions like DWORD_PTR and LPRECT, and variables have names like hWnd and pwsz (called Hungarian notation). It's worth taking a moment to learn some of the Windows coding conventions.
The vast majority of Windows APIs consist of either functions or Component Object Model (COM) interfaces. Very few Windows APIs are provided as C++ classes. (A notable exception is GDI+, one of the 2-D graphics APIs.)
Typedefs
The Windows headers contain a lot of typedefs. Many of these are defined in the header file WinDef.h. Here are some that you will encounter often.
Integer types
Data type Size Signed?
BYTE 8 bits Unsigned
DWORD 32 bits Unsigned
INT32 32 bits Signed
INT64 64 bits Signed
LONG 32 bits Signed
LONGLONG 64 bits Signed
UINT32 32 bits Unsigned
UINT64 64 bits Unsigned
ULONG 32 bits Unsigned
ULONGLONG 64 bits Unsigned
WORD 16 bits Unsigned
As you can see, there is a certain amount of redundancy in these typedefs. Some of this overlap is simply due to the history of the Windows APIs. The types listed here have fixed size, and the sizes are the same in both 32-bit and 64-applications. For example, the DWORD type is always 32 bits wide.
Boolean Type
BOOL is a typedef for an integer value that is used in a Boolean context. The header file WinDef.h also defines two values for use with BOOL.
Copy #define FALSE 0 #define TRUE 1
Despite this definition of TRUE, however, most functions that return a BOOL type can return any non-zero value to indicate Boolean truth. Therefore, you should always write this:
Copy // Right way.BOOL result = SomeFunctionThatReturnsBoolean();if (result) { ...}
and not this:
Copy // Wrong!if (result == TRUE) { ... }
Be aware that BOOL is an integer type and is not interchangeable with the C++ bool type.
Pointer Types
Windows defines many data types of the form pointer-to-X. These usually have the prefix P- or LP- in the name. For example, LPRECT is a pointer to a RECT, where RECT is a structure that describes a rectangle. The following variable declarations are equivalent.
Copy RECT* rect; // Pointer to a RECT structure.LPRECT rect; // The samePRECT rect; // Also the same.
Historically, P stands for "pointer" and LP stands for "long pointer". Long pointers (also called far pointers) are a holdover from 16-bit Windows, when they were needed to address memory ranges outside the current segment. The LP prefix was preserved to make it easier to port 16-bit code to 32-bit Windows. Today there is no distinction — a pointer is a pointer.
Pointer Precision Types
The following data types are always the size of a pointer — that is, 32 bits wide in 32-bit applications, and 64 bits wide in 64-bit applications. The size is determined at compile time. When a 32-bit application runs on 64-bit Windows, these data types are still 4 bytes wide. (A 64-bit application cannot run on 32-bit Windows, so the reverse situation does not occur.)
DWORD_PTR
INT_PTR
LONG_PTR
ULONG_PTR
UINT_PTR
These types are used in situations where an integer might be cast to a pointer. They are also used to define variables for pointer arithmetic and to define loop counters that iterate over the full range of bytes in memory buffers. More generally, they appear in places where an existing 32-bit value was expanded to 64 bits on 64-bit Windows.
Hungarian Notation
Hungarian notation is the practice of adding prefixes to the names of variables, to give additional information about the variable. (The notation's inventor, Charles Simonyi, was Hungarian, hence its name).
In its original form, Hungarian notation gives semantic information about a variable, telling you the intended use. For example, i means an index, cb means a size in bytes ("count of bytes"), and rw and col mean row and column numbers. These prefixes are designed to avoid the accidental use of a variable in the wrong context. For example, if you saw the expression rwPosition + cbTable, you would know that a row number is being added to a size, which is almost certainly a bug in the code
A more common form of Hungarian notation uses prefixes to give type information — for example, dw for DWORD and w for WORD.
If you search the Web for "Hungarian notation," you will find a lot of opinions about whether Hungarian notation is good or bad. Some programmers have an intense dislike for Hungarian notation. Others find it helpful. Regardless, many of the code examples on MSDN use Hungarian notation, but you don't need to memorize the prefixes to understand the code.
The vast majority of Windows APIs consist of either functions or Component Object Model (COM) interfaces. Very few Windows APIs are provided as C++ classes. (A notable exception is GDI+, one of the 2-D graphics APIs.)
Typedefs
The Windows headers contain a lot of typedefs. Many of these are defined in the header file WinDef.h. Here are some that you will encounter often.
Integer types
Data type Size Signed?
BYTE 8 bits Unsigned
DWORD 32 bits Unsigned
INT32 32 bits Signed
INT64 64 bits Signed
LONG 32 bits Signed
LONGLONG 64 bits Signed
UINT32 32 bits Unsigned
UINT64 64 bits Unsigned
ULONG 32 bits Unsigned
ULONGLONG 64 bits Unsigned
WORD 16 bits Unsigned
As you can see, there is a certain amount of redundancy in these typedefs. Some of this overlap is simply due to the history of the Windows APIs. The types listed here have fixed size, and the sizes are the same in both 32-bit and 64-applications. For example, the DWORD type is always 32 bits wide.
Boolean Type
BOOL is a typedef for an integer value that is used in a Boolean context. The header file WinDef.h also defines two values for use with BOOL.
Copy #define FALSE 0 #define TRUE 1
Despite this definition of TRUE, however, most functions that return a BOOL type can return any non-zero value to indicate Boolean truth. Therefore, you should always write this:
Copy // Right way.BOOL result = SomeFunctionThatReturnsBoolean();if (result) { ...}
and not this:
Copy // Wrong!if (result == TRUE) { ... }
Be aware that BOOL is an integer type and is not interchangeable with the C++ bool type.
Pointer Types
Windows defines many data types of the form pointer-to-X. These usually have the prefix P- or LP- in the name. For example, LPRECT is a pointer to a RECT, where RECT is a structure that describes a rectangle. The following variable declarations are equivalent.
Copy RECT* rect; // Pointer to a RECT structure.LPRECT rect; // The samePRECT rect; // Also the same.
Historically, P stands for "pointer" and LP stands for "long pointer". Long pointers (also called far pointers) are a holdover from 16-bit Windows, when they were needed to address memory ranges outside the current segment. The LP prefix was preserved to make it easier to port 16-bit code to 32-bit Windows. Today there is no distinction — a pointer is a pointer.
Pointer Precision Types
The following data types are always the size of a pointer — that is, 32 bits wide in 32-bit applications, and 64 bits wide in 64-bit applications. The size is determined at compile time. When a 32-bit application runs on 64-bit Windows, these data types are still 4 bytes wide. (A 64-bit application cannot run on 32-bit Windows, so the reverse situation does not occur.)
DWORD_PTR
INT_PTR
LONG_PTR
ULONG_PTR
UINT_PTR
These types are used in situations where an integer might be cast to a pointer. They are also used to define variables for pointer arithmetic and to define loop counters that iterate over the full range of bytes in memory buffers. More generally, they appear in places where an existing 32-bit value was expanded to 64 bits on 64-bit Windows.
Hungarian Notation
Hungarian notation is the practice of adding prefixes to the names of variables, to give additional information about the variable. (The notation's inventor, Charles Simonyi, was Hungarian, hence its name).
In its original form, Hungarian notation gives semantic information about a variable, telling you the intended use. For example, i means an index, cb means a size in bytes ("count of bytes"), and rw and col mean row and column numbers. These prefixes are designed to avoid the accidental use of a variable in the wrong context. For example, if you saw the expression rwPosition + cbTable, you would know that a row number is being added to a size, which is almost certainly a bug in the code
A more common form of Hungarian notation uses prefixes to give type information — for example, dw for DWORD and w for WORD.
If you search the Web for "Hungarian notation," you will find a lot of opinions about whether Hungarian notation is good or bad. Some programmers have an intense dislike for Hungarian notation. Others find it helpful. Regardless, many of the code examples on MSDN use Hungarian notation, but you don't need to memorize the prefixes to understand the code.
