WM_GETTEXT

This message is sent by an application to copy the text that corresponds to a window into a buffer provided by the caller.

At a Glance

Header file:	Winuser.h
Windows CE versions:	1.0 and later

Syntax

WM_GETTEXT wParam = (WPARAM) cchTextMax; lParam = (LPARAM) lpszText;

Parameters

cchTextMax

Specifies the maximum number of characters to be copied, including the terminating null character.

lpszText

Long pointer to the buffer that is to receive the text.

Return Values

The return value is the number of characters copied.

Default Action

The DefWindowProc function copies the text associated with the window into the specified buffer and returns the number of characters copied.

Remarks

For an edit control, the text to be copied is the content of the edit control. For a combo box, the text is the content of the edit control (or static-text) portion of the combo box. For a button, the text is the button name. For other windows, the text is the window title. To copy the text of an item in a list box, an application can use the LB_GETTEXT message.

When the WM_GETTEXT message is sent to a static control with the SS_ICON style, a handle to the icon will be returned in the first four bytes of the buffer pointed to by lpszText. This is true only if the WM_SETTEXT message has been used to set the icon.

In a rich edit control, if the text to be copied exceeds 64K, use either the message EM_STREAMOUT or EM_GETSELTEXT.