Modern Native Windows API

Mastering the Win32 API with C23 and the Latest Windows SDK

Introduction: Why Native Windows Still Matters

1. The Enduring Power of Native Code
2. What Is “Modern” Win32 Development
3. How This Book Is Organized
4. A Minimal Working Program Before You Begin

Chapter 1: Setting Up Your Development Environment

1. Installing Visual Studio and Workloads
2. Understanding the Windows SDK Structure
3. Configuring MSVC with C23 Support
4. Building with CMake for Modern Projects
5. Debugging Tools: WinDbg, Visual Studio Debugger and Beyond
6. Project Layout and Build Configuration Best Practices
7. Chapter Summary

Chapter 2: Windows Architecture and the Application Lifecycle

1. Kernel Mode versus User Mode
2. Processes, Threads and Address Spaces
3. The Windows Memory Model
4. How an Application Starts: Entry Points and Subsystems
5. The Win32 Subsystem and DLL Loading
6. Shutdown, Events and Graceful Termination
7. Chapter Summary

Chapter 3: Unicode, Strings and Text Encoding

1. Why You Cannot Escape Unicode on Modern Windows
2. UTF-16: The Native Encoding of Windows
3. UTF-8 Support in the Modern Windows SDK
4. String APIs: Wide Character Functions and CRT Alternatives
5. Converting Between Encodings Safely
6. Localized Resources and Language-Specific Text
7. Chapter Summary

Chapter 4: The Message Loop, Window Classes and Creating Windows

1. How Windows Event Handling Works
2. Designing Your Message Loop
3. Registering a Window Class
4. Creating Top-Level Windows with CreateWindowEx
5. The Window Procedure: Handling Messages Systematically
6. Common Pitfalls in Message Routing
7. Chapter Summary

Chapter 5: Drawing with GDI, GDI+ and Direct2D

1. The GDI Legacy: When It Still Makes Sense
2. GDI+ for Simple Graphics and Image Handling
3. Direct2D: Modern Hardware-Accelerated Rendering
4. DirectWrite for Professional Text Rendering
5. Choosing the Right Rendering API for Your Application
6. High-DPI Aware Drawing and Per-Monitor Scaling
7. Chapter Summary

Chapter 6: Controls, Dialogs, Menus and Resources

1. Common Controls Initialization and Usage
2. Building Dialog Boxes from Templates
3. Menus, Toolbar Integration and Context Menus
4. Resource Scripts: Icons, Cursors, Bitmaps and Strings
5. Accelerators and Keyboard Navigation
6. Custom Controls and Owner-Draw Techniques
7. Chapter Summary

Chapter 7: File I/O, Registry Access and Asynchronous Operations

1. The Win32 File API: CreateFile, ReadFile, WriteFile
2. Directory Operations and Path Handling
3. Overlapped I/O for Asynchronous File Access
4. Registry APIs for Application Configuration
5. Modern Async Patterns: IOCP and Completion Routines
6. Secure File Handling and ACL Basics
7. Chapter Summary

Chapter 8: Processes, Threads, Synchronization and Parallelism

1. Creating and Managing Processes
2. Thread Creation and Lifecycle Management
3. Synchronization Primitives: Mutexes, Critical Sections, Events
4. Condition Variables and Modern Threading with C++23
5. Thread Pools and Work Stealing
6. Keeping the UI Responsive Under Load
7. Chapter Summary

Chapter 9: Networking with WinSock and Modern Alternatives

1. WinSock Initialization and Socket Basics
2. TCP Client and Server Patterns
3. UDP Communication and Broadcast
4. Secure Sockets with Schannel
5. Async Networking with Completion Ports
6. Modern HTTP Clients for Windows Desktop
7. Chapter Summary

Chapter 10: COM Fundamentals and Windows Runtime Integration

1. What Is COM and Why It Still Matters
2. The COM Object Model: Interfaces and Reference Counting
3. Initializing COM and Creating Objects
4. HRESULT Error Handling Patterns
5. Using COM for Shell Integration and System Services
6. Connecting Native Code with Windows Runtime APIs
7. Chapter Summary

Chapter 11: Memory Management, Error Handling and Security

1. Heap Allocation and Memory Pool Strategies
2. Structured Exception Handling versus SEH Alternatives
3. The HRESULT Convention and Error Propagation
4. Secure Coding: Buffer Overflows, Injection and Mitigation
5. Token Manipulation and Privilege Escalation Prevention
6. Debugging Memory Leaks with Visual Studio and WinDbg
7. Chapter Summary

Chapter 12: Services, Shell Integration and System Programming

1. Writing Windows Services
2. Shell Extensions and Context Menu Integration
3. System Tray Icons and Notification Areas
4. Task Scheduler Registration and Execution
5. Event Logging for Production Applications
6. Interprocess Communication: Pipes, Named Events and Shared Memory
7. Chapter Summary

Chapter 13: Accessibility, Internationalization and Modern UX Standards

1. Making Your Application Accessible with UI Automation
2. Keyboard Navigation and Focus Management
3. High-DPI Awareness: Per-Monitor V2 Best Practices
4. Dark Mode Support and Theming
5. Internationalization Beyond String Resources
6. Following the Fluent Design System Guidelines
7. Chapter Summary

Chapter 14: Debugging, Profiling, Testing and Deployment

1. Advanced Debugging with Visual Studio and WinDbg
2. Performance Profiling: CPU, Memory and GPU
3. Crash Dump Analysis and Post-Mortem Debugging
4. Unit Testing Native Windows Code
5. Packaging with MSI, AppX and ClickOnce Alternatives
6. Side-by-Side Assemblies and Runtime Dependencies
7. Chapter Summary

Conclusion: The Future of Native Windows Development

1. What You Now Know and Can Build
2. Where Native Development Is Headed
3. Continuing Your Journey as a Windows Developer
4. Final Thoughts on Craft and Longevity

References