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Archive for the ‘Win32 API’ Category

I have been using a utility function in my TaskbarExt application for years to get the current Desktop ListView window handle (SysListView32 to be exact) to show/hide the icons depending on user preferences. This has worked well for years, but recently I enabled the Windows Desktop wallpaper rotation, and I noticed that this function randomly […]

If you program Unicode applications using Microsoft Visual C/C++ compiler, then you most probably use the TCHAR strings. While using TCHAR strings is very easy, one of the most common problem for me, after a years of ANSI string experience, is to find a correct C/C++ string function to do the same job as I […]

It’s common for Windows executable to get and process the additional parameters from the command line. This way you can pass any custom actions when launching an application i.e. open a particular file, print a file, control the application visibility state, etc. If you are working on C/C++ console application, then you can easily get […]

When developing a desktop application, it’s often required that only one instance of application should be executable at a time. This is usually implemented in different ways depending on Language/Tools you are using to build the application. Some common techniques used are either using the Mutex or getting a list of active processes and making […]

If you are writing any application which adds an icon to the Taskbar notification area, it’s recommend to handle the “WM_TASKBARCREATED” the message sent by explorer. This message is sent by explorer when it’s creating the taskbar. As after crash explorer doesn’t remember the original notification icons, you should handle this message and then re-register […]