Choosing a Control Style

The control styles, which depend on the control class, determine the control's appearance and function. You specify a control style when you create the control. To do so, include the control style (for example, BS_PUSHBUTTON) as the dwStyle parameter for the CreateWindow function.

Windows provides many predefined control styles. The following styles are some of the most commonly used:

BS_PUSHBUTTON

Specifies a push-button control. This is a small window containing a label that the user can choose in order to notify the parent window.

BS_DEFPUSHBUTTON

Specifies a default push-button control. A default push-button control is identical to a push-button control except that it has a special border.

BS_CHECKBOX

Specifies a check-box control. The user can select the box to turn the control on and off. When the control is on, the box contains an “X”.

BS_RADIOBUTTON

Specifies a radio-button control. The user can select a circle to turn the control on and off. When the control is on, the circle contains a solid bullet.

ES_LEFT

Specifies a single-line, left-adjusted edit control.

ES_MULTILINE

Specifies a multiple-line edit control.

SS_LEFT

Specifies a left-adjusted, static text control.

SS_RIGHT

Specifies a right-adjusted, static text control.

LBS_STANDARD

Specifies a standard list box. A standard list box includes a scroll bar and notifies its parent window when the user makes a selection.

CBS_DROPDOWN

Specifies a combo box consisting of an edit control and a list box that is displayed when the user selects a box next to the selection field. If an item in the list box is selected, the edit control displays the selected item.

For a complete list of control styles, see the online reference.