Question

I had this idea of creating a count down timer, like 01:02, on the screen (fullsize). One thing is that I really don’t have a clue on how to start.

I do know basic c/c++, win32 api and a bit of gdi.

Anyone have any pointers on how to start this? My program would be like making the computer into a big stopwatch (but with added features)

Not asking for code, just some ideas/primers on how to start this. Doing mostly web stuff has made me a bit rusty in win programming.

Any ideas are welcomed

Thanks

Note: I think I have to do this with c/c++ because of speed. My stopwatch program would run in a very slow pc, something like a p3 800mhz, so speed is really important.

Answer 1

If you have some experience with windows message processing and the Win32 API, this should get you started.

LRESULT WndProc (HWND hwnd, UINT message, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)  {    HDC hdc;    PAINTSTRUCT ps;    RECT r;    char szBuffer[200];    static int count = 120;    int seconds = 0;   int minutes = 0;   int hours  = 0;    switch (message) {    case WM_CREATE:      // create a 1 second timer      SetTimer (hwnd, ID_TIMER, 1000, NULL);      return 0;          case WM_PAINT:     if(count > 0)     {         hdc = BeginPaint (hwnd, &ps);          GetClientRect (hwnd, &r);         hours = count / 3600;         minutes = (count / 60) % 60;         seconds = count % 60;         wsprintf (szBuffer, 'Hours: %d Minutes: %d Seconds: %d', hours, minutes, seconds);          DrawText (hdc, szBuffer, -1, &r, DT_LEFT);          EndPaint (hwnd, &ps);      }     else     {         SendMessage (hwnd, WM_CLOSE, 0, 0L)     }     return 0;     case WM_TIMER:      count--;            InvalidateRect (hwnd, NULL, TRUE);     return 0;            case WM_DESTROY:      KillTimer (hwnd, ID_TIMER);      PostQuitMessage (0);      return 0;    }  /* end switch */   }  

Here’s a good link on using timers:

Using Timers