WM_MEASUREITEM

This message is sent to the owner window of an owner-drawn button or menu item when the control or menu is created.

At a Glance

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

Syntax

WM_MEASUREITEM idCtl = (UINT) wParam; lpmis = (LPMEASUREITEMSTRUCT) lParam;

Parameters

idCtl

Contains the value of the CtlID member of the MEASUREITEMSTRUCT structure pointed to by the lpmis parameter. This value identifies the control that sent the WM_MEASUREITEM message.

If the value is zero, the message was sent by a menu. If the value is nonzero, the message was sent by a combo box or by a list box. If the value is nonzero, and the value of the itemID member of the MEASUREITEMSTRUCT pointed to by lpmis is (UINT) –1, the message was sent by a combo edit field.

lpmis

Long pointer to a MEASUREITEMSTRUCT structure that contains the dimensions of the owner-drawn control or menu item.

Return Values

An application should return TRUE if it processes this message.

Remarks

When the owner window receives the WM_MEASUREITEM message, the owner fills in the MEASUREITEMSTRUCT structure pointed to by the lParam parameter of the message and returns; this informs the system of the dimensions of the control. If a list box or combo box is created with the LBS_OWNERDRAWVARIABLE or CBS_OWNERDRAWVARIABLE style, this message is sent to the owner for each item in the control; otherwise, this message is sent once.

The system sends the WM_MEASUREITEM message to the owner window of combo boxes and list boxes created with the OWNERDRAWFIXED style before sending the WM_INITDIALOG message. As a result, when the owner receives this message, the system has not yet determined the height and width of the font used in the control; function calls and calculations requiring these values should occur in the main function of the application or library.