How to disable the close button in C?

Question

Does anyone know how to disable the close button on a windows console window with an .exe executable that was created from a C program?

You can't. The console window is a separate component. The only way is to build GUI program where you have control of your own windows. — Mysticial, Aug 17 '12 at 08:07
i just want to make a prank to my brother. but i have to make sure that he will freak out. dou you know any other way that i can use? by the way the only programming language i konw is c, unfortunately — user1590836, Aug 17 '12 at 08:12
@Mysticial it might be separate component, but as long as you can get a window handle to it, you can do plenty to it. — weston, Aug 17 '12 at 08:15
@Mysticial Aside from pranks, I can think of situations were I have had to run something in a console window at a client and I don't want them to close it accidentally. — weston, Aug 17 '12 at 08:19
Close button? I don't have such a thing when I run my executables. Perhaps you are missing to provide us with crucial information about your programming environment? — Jens Gustedt, Aug 17 '12 at 08:36
@JensGustedt He means the Console Window close button. People's edits to the question have made it unclear. — weston, Aug 17 '12 at 08:43
@weston: What is a "Console Window close button" :) this is a system specific question, but the system is mentioned nowhere. And no, it haven't been the edits. — Jens Gustedt, Aug 17 '12 at 09:05
@JensGustedt fair point, have added windows to tags for him (awaiting peer review) — weston, Aug 17 '12 at 09:12
Can't believe people are still up voting the comment that says you can't do this. See the answer below people! — weston, Aug 17 '12 at 14:53

weston · Answer 1 · 2012-08-17T08:29:39.633

4

From here:

#define _WIN32_WINNT 0x0500
#include <stdio.h>
#include <windows.h>

int main(int argc, _TCHAR* argv[]){
  HWND h;   
  HMENU sm;
  int i, j, c; 
  LPTSTR buf;  
  // get the handle to the console
  h = GetConsoleWindow(); 
  // get handle to the System Menu
  sm = GetSystemMenu(h, 0);  
  // how many items are there?  
  c = GetMenuItemCount(sm);   
  j = -1;  
  buf = (TCHAR*) malloc (256 *sizeof(TCHAR));  
  for (i=0; i<c; i++) {
    // find the one we want   
    GetMenuString(sm, i, buf, 255, MF_BYPOSITION);   
    if (!strcmp(buf, "&Close")) {        
      j = i;        
      break;      
    }
  }
  // if found, remove that menu item  
  if (j >= 0)
    RemoveMenu(sm, j, MF_BYPOSITION); 
  return 0;
}

edited Aug 17 '12 at 08:29

answered Aug 17 '12 at 08:13

weston

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I'm not setup to test this, so +1 assuming it works. I didn't know you could grab the handle to the console window like that. – Mysticial Aug 17 '12 at 08:17
didn't work, try this on online compiler: cmpe150-1.cmpe.boun.edu.tr/ – user1590836 Aug 17 '12 at 08:17
1

i'm sorry, it works. i just did write the other code befor this – user1590836 Aug 17 '12 at 08:20
@user1590836 well it worked for me on that online compiler, nice link, thanks. Don't double click the exe, run console window first and then run the exe. – weston Aug 17 '12 at 08:23
1

@user1590836 If it works, you can accept this as the answer. As you're new take a moment to look at the [faq](http://stackoverflow.com/faq) and welcome to Stack Overflow! – weston Aug 17 '12 at 08:32

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 17 '12 at 08:12

0

If you want to disable a button in a running program there are methods to do this.

The principle is to find the window, then find the button inside the window and then send a WM_DISABLE message to the button.

answered Aug 17 '12 at 08:12

AndersK

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How to disable the close button in C?

2 Answers2