Question about the safety of customized MessageBox

Question

Hi!

I have found a very smart solution through the Internet.

Could I have a question about safety/stability, please?

Below I have attached a code with a hook.

It is a bit different from original, but it is not important.

	LRESULT CALLBACK CBTProc(INT nCode, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)
	{
		lParam;
		// notification that a window is about to be activated
		// window handle is wParam
		if( HCBT_ACTIVATE == nCode )
		{
			HWND hChildWnd;    // msgbox is "child"
			// set window handles
			hChildWnd = (HWND)wParam;
			//to get the text of the Yes button
			SetDlgItemText(hChildWnd,IDYES,GetYes().c_str());
			SetDlgItemText(hChildWnd,IDOK,GetOK().c_str());
			SetDlgItemText(hChildWnd,IDNO,GetNo().c_str());
			SetDlgItemText(hChildWnd,IDCANCEL,GetCancel().c_str());
			//Continue changing other button captions

			// exit CBT hook
			UnhookWindowsHookEx(hhk);
		}
		// otherwise, continue with any possible chained hooks
		//else 
		CallNextHookEx(hhk, nCode, wParam, lParam);
		return 0;
	}

	int MonadMessageBox( HWND hWnd, LPCTSTR lpText, LPCTSTR lpCaption, UINT uType )
	{
		hhk = SetWindowsHookEx( WH_CBT, &CBTProc, 0, GetCurrentThreadId() );
		const int iRes = MessageBox( hWnd, lpText, lpCaption, uType | MB_SETFOREGROUND );

		return iRes;
	}

Is it possible to use such code in the official release of application?

The problem would be, that this method is altering the system dialog box.

Thank you very much

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Włodzimierz O. Kubera

Answer 1

For most uses MessageBoxes are fairly straightforward. I would write a custom MessageBox rather than trying to hack the built in one.

What you're doing there will probably work, but depends on the MessageBox keeping a flat window hierarchy. This hierarchy is an undocumented implementation detail, so not something to depend on if you want to future-proof your application.

It also depends on your new text fitting nicely in the existing button.

--Rob

Answer 2

I highly appreciate the answer.

It would be enough.

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Włodzimierz O. Kubera