Is it true that putting standard windows controls like edit boxes and labels into non-dialog box windows is not recommended? I'm getting bugs like edit boxes losing the ability to receive input by users and labels not being drawn properly when I create these controls inside child windows and run the program in release mode outside the debugger. I think I read this in one of the MSDN articles, but I'm not sure, that you're only supposed to put controls into dialog boxes. I'll post some pictures. http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a350/luisjoseromero/Releasemodeinsidedebugger.jpg http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a350/luisjoseromero/Releasemodeoutsidedebugger.jpg One is from Release mode inside the debugger and another in Release mode OUTSIDE the debugger. The one that is run outside the debugger is the one that's causing trouble. This has caused me a great deal of embarassment when I've shown the program at work as people are unable to input data into the edit boxes. Oh, and what's worse, It behaves differently on every machine. How can I guarantee that controls in regular child windows won't go berzerk like this?

You need to look at your event handling, this normally happens when a control is recieving an event, not responding to it and NOT passing it on.

theTroll

I just heard a guy say that you can't just position controls willy nilly inside non dialog windows. He said something about aligning the controls according to font sizes and such. As for diagnosing the problem, I've gotten to the point where there's some sort of "magical" alignment of controls that runs fine and text is not obscured and edit boxes receive input normally. But the moment I run it on a different computer the bug shows up again! It's a real shame since I can't debug the program on that particular computer.

well, the worst part is that when the bug shows up I even stop receiving input messages on the affected edit boxes. I even tracked it with Spy++

Quote:Original post by Journey
I just heard a guy say that you can't just position controls willy nilly inside non dialog windows. He said something about aligning the controls according to font sizes and such.

Bovine Dungus.

You have two options. If you can share your code, we can look for errors you might be missing. Alternatively, you can go over the MSDN documentation for each control you are using with a fine comb and ensure that you are following the recommended practices in terms of construction and event handling to a tee. However, some of the documentation is wrong! This is where you cross-check MSDN against The Code Project, because of the MS-centricity of that site and because it's hardcore Win32 enough that WTL was originally released there and the only available documentation was cobbled by its members.