Step 1: Creating a Window

The first thing any Microsoft® Windows® application must do when it is executed is create an application window to display to the user. To do this, the CreateDevice sample project begins execution at its WinMain function. The following sample code performs window initialization.

INT WINAPI WinMain( HINSTANCE hInst, HINSTANCE, LPSTR, INT )
{
    // Register the window class.
    WNDCLASSEX wc = { sizeof(WNDCLASSEX), CS_CLASSDC, MsgProc, 0L, 0L, 
                      GetModuleHandle(NULL), NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL,
                      "D3D Tutorial", NULL };
    RegisterClassEx( &wc );

    // Create the application's window.
    HWND hWnd = CreateWindow( "D3D Tutorial", "D3D Tutorial 01: CreateDevice", 
                              WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW, 100, 100, 300, 300,
                              GetDesktopWindow(), NULL, wc.hInstance, NULL );

The preceding code sample is standard Windows programming. The sample starts by defining and registering a window class called "D3D Tutorial." After the class is registered, the sample code creates a basic top-level window that uses the registered class, with a client area of 300 pixels wide by 300 pixels tall. This window has no menu or child windows. The sample uses the WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW window style to create a window that includes Minimize, Maximize, and Close buttons common to windowed applications. (If the sample were to run in full-screen mode, the preferred window style is WS_EX_TOPMOST, which specifies that the created window should be placed above all non-topmost windows and should stay above them, even when the window is deactivated). Once the window is created, the code sample calls standard Microsoft Win32® functions to display and update the window.

With the application window ready, you can begin setting up the essential Microsoft Direct3D® objects, as described in Step 2: Initializing Direct3D.