Hi everyone, I believe this is my first topic, created by me. Helping people gives me great joy, but sadly enough I have a problem of my own at the moment, which I'm unable to solve. The solution is probably very simple and/or my mistakes are probably something stupid. But somehow I can't solve it. So that's why I need you guys! I still suck at expressing myself in English, I apologize for this. I'm working on it by speaking and writing it regularly, helping people at Gamedev and writing blog posts on my website.

In my University College we work via DirectX and WIN32 for our Windows PC Games. ( For some project we work with XNA, which enables us to create Xbox360 games). For my private windows projects I'm creating a WIN32 API based framework. So what do I already have and how do I do certain things?

1. Create very fast a win32 application with custom style settings, windows class settings, window general settings, etc...
   
2. Draw simple geometrical figures(normal or filled), polygons. Normal or filled), lines, etc...
   
3. Change window application settings dynamically at runtime
   
4. Draw Text
   
5. I paint everything via the Double buffering concept. I got that concept from here. I made some changes to it and extended it, thanks to the help of my prof.
   

Now what are my problems?

1. When I start the application the menu is hidden by default, it is only when I resize my window that the menu appears. From then on the menu stays as well.
   
2. After a short period, between 30 and 40 seconds, my entire window ( client rect + caption + ... ) gets filled with a static gray color. So the entire window is just that gray color. Nothing is disabled nor painted. So for example, you can still click the close (cross at the top right corner ) button to close the application.
   

Because of the size of my framework, and the many files + my own library (which is getting quite big) it is impossible to upload all my code. Here you can see the code which paints everything. If something is unclear or if you need more code related to a specific action, then please ask it. I'm trying to be as clear as possible.
Code from my WinMain part:

//..... a lot of code lines
//.... WinMain() {
//.....some code lines
#pragma warning ( disable : 4127 )
while(true)
{
if (PeekMessage(&msg, nullptr, 0, 0, PM_REMOVE))
{
// Process the message
if (msg.message == WM_QUIT) break;
TranslateMessage(&msg);
DispatchMessage(&msg);
}
else // Game Cycle / OpenGl Cycle / DirectX Cycle
{
if(!WinEngine::GetSingleton()->GetSleep() && _bAppLoop_) //win engine aint sleeping
{
// Make sure the game engine isn't sleeping
//Tick timing is independent from Paint timing
_swpAppTimer_->Tick();
double tickTimeNow = _swpAppTimer_->GetAppTime();
if( tickTimeNow > GetFrameRate())
{
//.... Keyboard stuff
RECT rect;
HDC hDC = GetDC(_hWND_);
GetClientRect(_hWND_, &rect);
//Double buffering code (c) Kevin Hoefman
HDC hBufferDC = CreateCompatibleDC(hDC);
//Create the bufffer
HBITMAP hBufferBmp = CreateCompatibleBitmap(hDC, GetWindowWidth(), GetWindowHeight());
HBITMAP hOldBmp = (HBITMAP) SelectObject(hBufferDC, hBufferBmp);
// user defined drawning
_hDC_ = hBufferDC;
_bIsDoubleBuffering_ = true;
_pApp_->AppTick(tickTimeNow);
_fpspApp_->Tick(tickTimeNow); // FPS timer...
UserPaint();
//UserPaint();
_bIsDoubleBuffering_ = false;
// As a last step copy the memdc to the hdc
BitBlt(hDC, 0, 0, _iWinWidth_, _iWinHeight_, hBufferDC, 0, 0, SRCCOPY);
//reset the old bmp of the buffer
SelectObject(hBufferDC,hOldBmp);
//kill the buffer
DeleteObject(hBufferBmp);
DeleteDC(hBufferDC);
//Release DC
ReleaseDC(_hWND_, _hDC_);
//reset Timer
_swpAppTimer_->Reset();
_swpAppTimer_->Start();
}
else
Sleep(1); // if no cpu cycle has ellpases sleep than for 1 ms
// doing this prevent the loop from hogging the cpu hog
}
else
WaitMessage(); // If sleeping or if looping is disabled we just
// handle the window messages...
}
}
#pragma warning ( default : 4127 )
//..... some code lines
// } // WinMain closes
//..... a lot of code lines


code from in my WM_PAINT message in my WndProc function

case WM_PAINT:
?//..... a lot of code
// .... WndProc {
// .. some code
GetClientRect(_hWND_, &rect);
nw = rect.right-rect.left; // new main window width
nh = rect.bottom-rect.top; // new main window height
if(_bDoubleBuffering_ == false) //Single Buffer
{
_hDC_ = BeginPaint (hwnd, &ps);
_bIsPainting_ = true;
UserPaint();
PaintRatioBorders(rect);
_bIsPainting_ = false;
EndPaint (hwnd, &ps);
}
else //Double buffer
//http://www.gamedev.net/topic/411559-win32-double-buffering/
{
hdc = BeginPaint(hwnd,&ps);

_hDC_ = CreateCompatibleDC(_hDC_);
bitmap = CreateCompatibleBitmap(hdc,nw,nh);
hOldBmp = (HBITMAP) SelectObject(_hDC_,bitmap);
_bIsPainting_ = true;
UserPaint();
PaintRatioBorders(rect);
_bIsPainting_ = false;
BitBlt(hdc, 0, 0, nw, nh, _hDC_, 0, 0, SRCCOPY); // copy the memdc to the hdc
SelectObject(_hDC_, hOldBmp); // reset old buffer.OldBMP
// Kill buffer
DeleteObject(bitmap);
DeleteDC(_hDC_);
// End paint
EndPaint(_hWND_,&ps);
}
return 0;
// some code
// } // WndProc closes
//... a lot of code


Here you see what I mean with the second problem. (The problem which specifies that everything gets gray after a short period of running time ).

I hope you guys can help me. Thanks already for your time!

I've had that gray issue before when I was leaking GDI resources. After a while, the program would exhaust the supply of GDI resources from the kernel and gray out like that. Have a look at your program in Task Manager with the GDI objects column enabled - see if this number keeps increasing. If so, you have a GDI leak somewhere.

Hard to say on the menu, need to see how you are creating the menu and displaying it, or your code to register your window class if you are loading the menu from a resource.

Hard to say on the menu, need to see how you are creating the menu and displaying it, or your code to register your window class if you are loading the menu from a resource.

Code in the WinMain function:

if(_bWinMenu_ == true && _vMenuContainer_.size() > 0) // Menu
_hMenu_ = CreateMenu();


Code in my WM_CREATE handling in the WndProc function


//... a lot of code
// ... WM_CREATE:
// ... some code
if(_bWinMenu_ == true && _vMenuContainer_.size() > 0) // Menu + submenus, if wanted
{
std::for_each(_vMenuContainer_.begin() // Add all menu's in container via the CreatMenu() void function
,_vMenuContainer_.end()
,CreateNewMenu);
SetMenu(_hWND_,_hMenu_);
}
// ... some code
// .. break; // end WM_CREATE
// ..a lot of code


The CreateNewMenu function:


void CreateNewMenu(_sMenu & menu)
{
HMENU nMenu = CreatePopupMenu(); // new menu
if(menu.itemlist.size() > 0 ) // if there are subItems
{
for ( auto it = menu.itemlist.begin() // Create every submenu
; it != menu.itemlist.end() ; ++it )
{

HMENU subMenu = CreateMenu();
AppendMenu ( nMenu, (*it).wFlags, (WORD)subMenu, (*it).tsTitle.c_str());
}
}
AppendMenu(WIN_ENGINE->_hMenu_,MF_STRING | MF_POPUP,(WORD)nMenu,menu._tsMenuTitle.c_str());
}


The info gets passed and filled in by custom things in my framework, but I do nothing specific to windows there. So not really important to show all that code.

Here is the code where I create the windows class:

void WinEngine::InitiateWindow()
{
_hWND_ = CreateWindow ( _tsAppTitle_.c_str(), // window class name
_tsWinCaption_.c_str(), // window caption
_lWindowStyle_, // window style
CW_USEDEFAULT, // initial x position
CW_USEDEFAULT, // initial y position
_iWinWidth_, // initial x size
_iWinHeight_, // initial y size
nullptr, // parent window handle
_hMenu_, // window menu handle
_hMainInstance_, // program instance handle
(DWORD)0); // creation parameters
}


I hope this enables you to check the menu problem.

Dunno. There's no point passing the menu pointer into CreateWindow if you are then going to call SetMenu directly. Maybe that is confusing it. Or maybe WM_CREATE is not a safe place to call SetMenu.

I'd try populating your menu in WinMain before you create the window then just passing the menu into CreateWindow. Get rid of the code in WM_CREATE. Just speculating here though.

Aardvajk, you nailed both problems.
I have indeed 2 resource leaks, one device context handle and one Brush Handle. I already found the HDC (forgot to delete a certain HDC), still searching the brush.
Btw I also found this free 3rd party application. It enables you to see the addresses and specific GDCI objects.

I fixed the menu by moving the code from WM_CREATE to my WinMain, just like you said. That solution worked perfectly. Thank you for finding these 2 problems so fast.
Can I re-use this topic later, if I bump into new problems regarding my custom win32 framework? Or should I make a new topic for new problems?

[EDIT] I found the Brush leak. Often I used CreateSolidBrush() as a parameter for a certain windows function. By doing this I was unable to delete the brush. I fixed this problem by creating a HBRUSH object and assigning the CreateSolidBrusH() to that local variable, Than I use that local variable in the scope of the function. near the end of the scope of the function I delete the HBRUSH object via DeleteObject(). Now my application is free from leakage. Thx again Aardvajk you really made my day. My framework is really getting awesome and it is now bug free thanks to you. You're my hero of the day

Aardvajk, you nailed both problems.
I have indeed 2 resource leaks, one device context handle and one Brush Handle. I already found the HDC (forgot to delete a certain HDC), still searching the brush.
Btw I also found this free 3rd party application. It enables you to see the addresses and specific GDCI objects.

I fixed the menu by moving the code from WM_CREATE to my WinMain, just like you said. That solution worked perfectly. Thank you for finding these 2 problems so fast.
Can I re-use this topic later, if I bump into new problems regarding my custom win32 framework? Or should I make a new topic for new problems?

Normally best form to create a new thread for a new topic, increases the chances that someone knowledgeable about the subject or seeking a similar answer will find it.

[EDIT] I found the Brush leak. Often I used CreateSolidBrush() as a parameter for a certain windows function. By doing this I was unable to delete the brush. I fixed this problem by creating a HBRUSH object and assigning the CreateSolidBrusH() to that local variable, Than I use that local variable in the scope of the function. near the end of the scope of the function I delete the HBRUSH object via DeleteObject(). Now my application is free from leakage. Thx again Aardvajk you really made my day. My framework is really getting awesome and it is now bug free thanks to you. You're my hero of the day

Yeah, GDI is a pain like that. Maybe you could look into using GDI+ is you are sticking with Win32? As well as providing more functionality, it provides a C++ wrapper around the library that frees you up from a lot of this sort of pain.