How do I insert text in a window in C++?

Question

I'm pretty new to C++ and I tried making a window, I wanted to insert a text inside the window. I tried googling and finding some way of doing this, one method I saw was by using the PAINSTRUCT function. I keep getting a const char error, which I can't seem to understand or fix. Can someone help me? I have pasted the code.

#include "framework.h"
#include "MyFirstWindow.h"

#define MAX_LOADSTRING 100


HINSTANCE hInst;                                
WCHAR szTitle[MAX_LOADSTRING];                  
WCHAR szWindowClass[MAX_LOADSTRING];           

ATOM                MyRegisterClass(HINSTANCE hInstance);
BOOL                InitInstance(HINSTANCE, int);
LRESULT CALLBACK    WndProc(HWND, UINT, WPARAM, LPARAM);
INT_PTR CALLBACK    About(HWND, UINT, WPARAM, LPARAM);

int APIENTRY wWinMain(_In_ HINSTANCE hInstance,
                     _In_opt_ HINSTANCE hPrevInstance,
                     _In_ LPWSTR    lpCmdLine,
                     _In_ int       nCmdShow)
{
    UNREFERENCED_PARAMETER(hPrevInstance);
    UNREFERENCED_PARAMETER(lpCmdLine);


    LoadStringW(hInstance, IDS_APP_TITLE, szTitle, MAX_LOADSTRING);
    LoadStringW(hInstance, IDC_MYFIRSTWINDOW, szWindowClass, MAX_LOADSTRING);
    MyRegisterClass(hInstance);

    if (!InitInstance (hInstance, nCmdShow))
    {
        return FALSE;
    }

    HACCEL hAccelTable = LoadAccelerators(hInstance, MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDC_MYFIRSTWINDOW));

    MSG msg;

    while (GetMessage(&msg, nullptr, 0, 0))
    {
        if (!TranslateAccelerator(msg.hwnd, hAccelTable, &msg))
        {
            TranslateMessage(&msg);
            DispatchMessage(&msg);
        }
    }

    return (int) msg.wParam;
}




ATOM MyRegisterClass(HINSTANCE hInstance)
{
    WNDCLASSEXW wcex;

    wcex.cbSize = sizeof(WNDCLASSEX);

    wcex.style          = CS_HREDRAW | CS_VREDRAW;
    wcex.lpfnWndProc    = WndProc;
    wcex.cbClsExtra     = 0;
    wcex.cbWndExtra     = 0;
    wcex.hInstance      = hInstance;
    wcex.hIcon          = LoadIcon(hInstance, MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDI_MYFIRSTWINDOW));
    wcex.hCursor        = LoadCursor(nullptr, IDC_ARROW);
    wcex.hbrBackground  = (HBRUSH)(COLOR_WINDOW+1);
    wcex.lpszMenuName   = MAKEINTRESOURCEW(IDC_MYFIRSTWINDOW);
    wcex.lpszClassName  = szWindowClass;
    wcex.hIconSm        = LoadIcon(wcex.hInstance, MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDI_SMALL));

    return RegisterClassExW(&wcex);
}



BOOL InitInstance(HINSTANCE hInstance, int nCmdShow)
{
   hInst = hInstance; 

   HWND hWnd = CreateWindowW(szWindowClass, szTitle, WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW,
      CW_USEDEFAULT, 0, CW_USEDEFAULT, 0, nullptr, nullptr, hInstance, nullptr);

   if (!hWnd)
   {
      return FALSE;
   }

   ShowWindow(hWnd, nCmdShow);
   UpdateWindow(hWnd);

   return TRUE;
}


LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc(HWND hWnd, UINT message, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)
{
    switch (message)
    {
    case WM_COMMAND:
        {
            int wmId = LOWORD(wParam);

            switch (wmId)
            {
            case IDM_ABOUT:
                DialogBox(hInst, MAKEINTRESOURCE(IDD_ABOUTBOX), hWnd, About);
                break;
            case IDM_EXIT:
                DestroyWindow(hWnd);
                break;
            default:
                return DefWindowProc(hWnd, message, wParam, lParam);
            }
        }
        break;
    case WM_PAINT:
        {
            PAINTSTRUCT ps;
            HDC hdc = BeginPaint(hWnd, &ps);
            char* cpaText[] = {
                "Hello World!","Your Boy Made His First Window!"
            };
            int iY = 5;
            for (int iLoopCounter = 0; cpaText[iLoopCounter] != '\0'; iLoopCounter++, iY += 20) {
                TextOut(hdc, 5, iY, cpaText[iLoopCounter], strlen(cpaText[iLoopCounter]));
            }
            EndPaint(hWnd, &ps);

        }
        break;
    case WM_DESTROY:
        PostQuitMessage(0);
        break;
    default:
        return DefWindowProc(hWnd, message, wParam, lParam);
    }
    return 0;
}
HWND textfield;
INT_PTR CALLBACK About(HWND hDlg, UINT message, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)
{
    UNREFERENCED_PARAMETER(lParam);
    switch (message)
    {
    case WM_INITDIALOG:
        return (INT_PTR)TRUE;

    case WM_COMMAND:
        if (LOWORD(wParam) == IDOK || LOWORD(wParam) == IDCANCEL)
        {
            EndDialog(hDlg, LOWORD(wParam));
            return (INT_PTR)TRUE;
        }
        break;
    }
    return (INT_PTR)FALSE;
}

Answer 1

I think you should firstly know const char* and char*.

char* is a mutable pointer to a mutable character/string.

const char* is a mutable pointer to an immutable character/string. You cannot change the contents of the location(s) this pointer points to. Also, compilers are required to give error messages when you try to do so. For the same reason, conversion from const char * to char* is deprecated.

Refer: Difference between char* and const char*?

Then your project is created in a Unicode Character way, so you should use the Unicode Character API to create a string array, such as LPCWSTR, _tcslen.

Minimal code:

case WM_PAINT:
        {
            PAINTSTRUCT ps;
            HDC hdc = BeginPaint(hWnd, &ps);
            // TODO: Add any drawing code that uses hdc here...
            std::vector<LPCWSTR> cpaText;
            cpaText = {L"Hello World!",L"Your Boy Made His First Window!",L"YEAH"};
            int iY = 5;
            for (int iLoopCounter = 0; iLoopCounter < cpaText.size(); iLoopCounter++, iY += 20)
            {               
                TextOut(hdc, 5, iY, cpaText[iLoopCounter], _tcslen(cpaText[iLoopCounter]));             
            }           
            EndPaint(hWnd, &ps);
        }
        break;

Note: Don't forget to add #include <vector>.