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Overview

Dialog boxes are a fundamental part of the Win32 API, providing a simple way to collect user input, display messages, and create custom UI components. This article covers creation, template design, message handling, and common pre‑defined dialogs.

Creating a Modal Dialog

Use DialogBoxParam to create a modal dialog from a template resource.

#include <windows.h>

INT_PTR CALLBACK DialogProc(HWND hDlg, UINT message, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)
{
    switch (message)
    {
        case WM_INITDIALOG:
            return TRUE;
        case WM_COMMAND:
            if (LOWORD(wParam) == IDOK || LOWORD(wParam) == IDCANCEL)
            {
                EndDialog(hDlg, LOWORD(wParam));
                return TRUE;
            }
            break;
    }
    return FALSE;
}

int APIENTRY wWinMain(HINSTANCE hInst, HINSTANCE, PWSTR, int nCmdShow)
{
    DialogBoxParamW(hInst, MAKEINTRESOURCEW(IDD_MYDIALOG), NULL, DialogProc, 0);
    return 0;
}

Dialog Template (Resource Script)

IDD_MYDIALOG DIALOGEX 0, 0, 186, 95
STYLE DS_MODALFRAME | WS_POPUP | WS_CAPTION | WS_SYSMENU
CAPTION "Sample Dialog"
FONT 8, "MS Shell Dlg"
BEGIN
    DEFPUSHBUTTON   "OK",IDOK,129,74,50,14
    PUSHBUTTON      "Cancel",IDCANCEL,73,74,50,14
    CONTROL         "Name:",STATIC,SS_RIGHT,7,10,50,8
    EDITTEXT        IDC_EDIT_NAME,60,8,110,14,ES_AUTOHSCROLL
END

Common Predefined Dialogs

• OpenFileDialog – GetOpenFileName
• SaveFileDialog – GetSaveFileName
• Color Picker – ChooseColor
• Font Picker – ChooseFont