How to tame the Windows headers (useful defines)?

Question

In one of the answers to this question jalf spoke about useful define NOMINMAX, that could prevent from unwanted defining min/max macros. Are there other useful defines that can help to control windows.h (or other Windows headers, for instance Microsoft C Runtime headers or STL implementation) behavior?

Ugh. I wasted half an hour on this nonsense of min and max on win32 platform. — Tim, Dec 17 '09 at 01:30

Cat Plus Plus · Accepted Answer · 2009-09-08T16:37:45.000

The most commonly used is probably WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN - it disables rarely used parts of the API. You can find more on MSDN's Using the Windows Headers.

I remembered wrong about MSDN listing those defines, so here's list from windows.h:

/*  If defined, the following flags inhibit definition
 *     of the indicated items.
 *
 *  NOGDICAPMASKS     - CC_*, LC_*, PC_*, CP_*, TC_*, RC_
 *  NOVIRTUALKEYCODES - VK_*
 *  NOWINMESSAGES     - WM_*, EM_*, LB_*, CB_*
 *  NOWINSTYLES       - WS_*, CS_*, ES_*, LBS_*, SBS_*, CBS_*
 *  NOSYSMETRICS      - SM_*
 *  NOMENUS           - MF_*
 *  NOICONS           - IDI_*
 *  NOKEYSTATES       - MK_*
 *  NOSYSCOMMANDS     - SC_*
 *  NORASTEROPS       - Binary and Tertiary raster ops
 *  NOSHOWWINDOW      - SW_*
 *  OEMRESOURCE       - OEM Resource values
 *  NOATOM            - Atom Manager routines
 *  NOCLIPBOARD       - Clipboard routines
 *  NOCOLOR           - Screen colors
 *  NOCTLMGR          - Control and Dialog routines
 *  NODRAWTEXT        - DrawText() and DT_*
 *  NOGDI             - All GDI defines and routines
 *  NOKERNEL          - All KERNEL defines and routines
 *  NOUSER            - All USER defines and routines
 *  NONLS             - All NLS defines and routines
 *  NOMB              - MB_* and MessageBox()
 *  NOMEMMGR          - GMEM_*, LMEM_*, GHND, LHND, associated routines
 *  NOMETAFILE        - typedef METAFILEPICT
 *  NOMINMAX          - Macros min(a,b) and max(a,b)
 *  NOMSG             - typedef MSG and associated routines
 *  NOOPENFILE        - OpenFile(), OemToAnsi, AnsiToOem, and OF_*
 *  NOSCROLL          - SB_* and scrolling routines
 *  NOSERVICE         - All Service Controller routines, SERVICE_ equates, etc.
 *  NOSOUND           - Sound driver routines
 *  NOTEXTMETRIC      - typedef TEXTMETRIC and associated routines
 *  NOWH              - SetWindowsHook and WH_*
 *  NOWINOFFSETS      - GWL_*, GCL_*, associated routines
 *  NOCOMM            - COMM driver routines
 *  NOKANJI           - Kanji support stuff.
 *  NOHELP            - Help engine interface.
 *  NOPROFILER        - Profiler interface.
 *  NODEFERWINDOWPOS  - DeferWindowPos routines
 *  NOMCX             - Modem Configuration Extensions
 */

Link leads to the article which mention only WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN. Wrong link? — Kirill V. Lyadvinsky, Sep 08 '09 at 16:31
Hm, I though it lists NOxxx defines. I'll edit my answer to include that list. — Cat Plus Plus, Sep 08 '09 at 16:36
The article also says to look in windows.h for more macros. ("For a list of support NOapi symbols, see Windows.h") I don't think there is any complete reference documentation. — jalf, Sep 08 '09 at 16:37
Well, that comment is apparently the only one. I could swear I saw this on MSDN somewhere, though. — Cat Plus Plus, Sep 08 '09 at 16:39
This isn't a list of useful defines, it's a list of `NOXXX` defines. Most are useless. And `STRICT` isn't listed... — user541686, Apr 30 '21 at 01:14
A few more: #define NOCRYPT #define NOTAPE #define NOIMAGE #define NOPROXYSTUB #define NORPC — Thief, Aug 31 '23 at 09:52

user7116 · Answer 2 · 2009-09-08T16:38:47.947

6

MFC projects can use VC_EXTRALEAN since WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN is already defined by MFC. I also recommend enabling STRICT.

edited Sep 08 '09 at 16:38

answered Sep 08 '09 at 16:29

user7116

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How to tame the Windows headers (useful defines)?

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