SetCursor

The SetCursor function establishes the cursor shape.

HCURSOR SetCursor(
  HCURSOR hCursor   // handle to cursor
);
 

Parameters

hCursor

Handle to the cursor. The cursor must have been created by the CreateCursor or loaded by the LoadCursor or LoadImage function. If this parameter is NULL, the cursor is removed from the screen.

Windows 95: The width and height of the cursor must be the values returned by the GetSystemMetrics function for SM_CXCURSOR and SM_CYCURSOR. In addition, the cursor bit depth must match the bit depth of the display or the cursor must be monochrome.

Return Values

The return value is the handle to the previous cursor, if there was one.

If there was no previous cursor, the return value is NULL.

Remarks

The cursor is set only if the new cursor is different from the previous cursor; otherwise, the function returns immediately.

The cursor is a shared resource. A window should set the cursor shape only when the cursor is in its client area or when the window is capturing mouse input. In systems without a mouse, the window should restore the previous cursor before the cursor leaves the client area or before it relinquishes control to another window.

If your application must set the cursor while it is in a window, make sure the class cursor for the specified window's class is set to NULL. If the class cursor is not NULL, the system restores the class cursor each time the mouse is moved.

The cursor is not shown on the screen if the internal cursor display count is less than zero. This occurs if the application uses the ShowCursor function to hide the cursor more times than to show the cursor.

Windows CE: Use the cursor component when targeting a platform that does not support mouse cursors. The only cursor this component supports is the wait cursor. Use the following code to set the wait cursor:

SetCursor(LoadCursor(NULL, IDC_WAIT));

Use the mcursor component when targeting a platform that does support mouse cursors. This component does not support color cursors.

QuickInfo

  Windows NT: Requires version 3.1 or later.
  Windows: Requires Windows 95 or later.
  Windows CE: Requires version 1.0 or later.
  Header: Declared in winuser.h.
  Import Library: Use user32.lib.

See Also

Cursors Overview, Cursor Functions, CreateCursor, GetCursor, GetSystemMetrics, LoadCursor, LoadImage, SetCursorPos, ShowCursor