Displays a modal dialog box that contains a system icon, a set of buttons, and a brief application-specific message, such as status or error information. The message box returns an integer value that indicates which button the user clicked.
Syntax
- int MessageBox(
- HWND hWnd,
- LPCTSTR lpText,
- LPCTSTR lpCaption,
- UINT uType
- );
Parameters
hWnd
- [in] Handle to the owner window of the message box to be created. If this parameter is NULL, the message box has no owner window.
lpText- [in] Pointer to a null-terminated string that contains the message to be displayed. If the string consists of more than one line, you can separate the lines using a carriage return and/or linefeed character between each line.
lpCaption- [in] Pointer to a null-terminated string that contains the dialog box title. If this parameter is NULL, the default title is Error.
uType- [in] Specifies the contents and behavior of the dialog box. This parameter can be a combination of flags from the following groups of flags.
- To indicate the buttons displayed in the message box, specify one of the following values.
MB_ABORTRETRYIGNORE
- The message box contains three push buttons: Abort, Retry, and Ignore.
MB_CANCELTRYCONTINUE
- Microsoft Windows 2000/XP: The message box contains three push buttons: Cancel, Try Again, Continue. Use this message box type instead of MB_ABORTRETRYIGNORE.
MB_HELP
- Windows 95/98/Me, Windows NT 4.0 and later: Adds a Help button to the message box. When the user clicks the Help button or presses F1, the system sends a WM_HELP message to the owner.
MB_OK
- The message box contains one push button: OK. This is the default.
MB_OKCANCEL
- The message box contains two push buttons: OK and Cancel.
MB_RETRYCANCEL
- The message box contains two push buttons: Retry and Cancel.
MB_YESNO
- The message box contains two push buttons: Yes and No.
MB_YESNOCANCEL
- The message box contains three push buttons: Yes, No, and Cancel.
- To display an icon in the message box, specify one of the following values.
MB_ICONEXCLAMATION
- An exclamation-point icon appears in the message box.
MB_ICONWARNING
- An exclamation-point icon appears in the message box.
MB_ICONINFORMATION
- An icon consisting of a lowercase letter i in a circle appears in the message box.
MB_ICONASTERISK
- An icon consisting of a lowercase letter i in a circle appears in the message box.
MB_ICONQUESTION
- A question-mark icon appears in the message box. The question-mark message icon is no longer recommended because it does not clearly represent a specific type of message and because the phrasing of a message as a question could apply to any message type. In addition, users can confuse the message symbol question mark with Help information. Therefore, do not use this question mark message symbol in your message boxes. The system continues to support its inclusion only for backward compatibility.
MB_ICONSTOP
- A stop-sign icon appears in the message box.
MB_ICONERROR
- A stop-sign icon appears in the message box.
MB_ICONHAND
- A stop-sign icon appears in the message box.
- To indicate the default button, specify one of the following values.
MB_DEFBUTTON1
- The first button is the default button.
MB_DEFBUTTON1 is the default unless MB_DEFBUTTON2, MB_DEFBUTTON3, or MB_DEFBUTTON4 is specified.
MB_DEFBUTTON2
- The second button is the default button.
MB_DEFBUTTON3
- The third button is the default button.
MB_DEFBUTTON4
- The fourth button is the default button.
- To indicate the modality of the dialog box, specify one of the following values.
MB_APPLMODAL
- The user must respond to the message box before continuing work in the window identified by the hWnd parameter. However, the user can move to the windows of other threads and work in those windows.
Depending on the hierarchy of windows in the application, the user may be able to move to other windows within the thread. All child windows of the parent of the message box are automatically disabled, but pop-up windows are not.
MB_APPLMODAL is the default if neither MB_SYSTEMMODAL nor MB_TASKMODAL is specified.
MB_SYSTEMMODAL
- Same as MB_APPLMODAL except that the message box has the
WS_EX_TOPMOST
style. Use system-modal message boxes to notify the user of serious, potentially damaging errors that require immediate attention (for example, running out of memory). This flag has no effect on the user's ability to interact with windows other than those associated with hWnd.MB_TASKMODAL
- Same as MB_APPLMODAL except that all the top-level windows belonging to the current thread are disabled if the hWnd parameter is NULL. Use this flag when the calling application or library does not have a window handle available but still needs to prevent input to other windows in the calling thread without suspending other threads.
- To specify other options, use one or more of the following values.
MB_DEFAULT_DESKTOP_ONLY
- Windows NT/2000/XP: Same as desktop of the interactive window station. For more information, see Window Stations.
Windows NT 4.0 and earlier: If the current input desktop is not the default desktop, MessageBox fails.
Windows 2000/XP: If the current input desktop is not the default desktop, MessageBox does not return until the user switches to the default desktop.
Windows 95/98/Me: This flag has no effect.
MB_RIGHT
- The text is right-justified.
MB_RTLREADING
- Displays message and caption text using right-to-left reading order on Hebrew and Arabic systems.
MB_SETFOREGROUND
- The message box becomes the foreground window. Internally, the system calls the SetForegroundWindow function for the message box.
MB_TOPMOST
- The message box is created with the
WS_EX_TOPMOST
window style.MB_SERVICE_NOTIFICATION
- Windows NT/2000/XP: The caller is a service notifying the user of an event. The function displays a message box on the current active desktop, even if there is no user logged on to the computer.
Terminal Services: If the calling thread has an impersonation token, the function directs the message box to the session specified in the impersonation token.
If this flag is set, the hWnd parameter must be NULL. This is so that the message box can appear on a desktop other than the desktop corresponding to the hWnd.
For more information on the changes between Microsoft Windows NT 3.51 and Windows NT 4.0, see Remarks.
For information on security considerations in regard to using this flag, see Interactive Services.
MB_SERVICE_NOTIFICATION_NT3X
- Windows NT/2000/XP: This value corresponds to the value defined for MB_SERVICE_NOTIFICATION for Windows NT version 3.51.
For more information on the changes between Windows NT 3.51 and Windows NT 4.0, see Remarks.
Return Value
If a message box has a Cancel button, the function returns the IDCANCEL value if either the ESC key is pressed or the Cancel button is selected. If the message box has no Cancel button, pressing ESC has no effect.
If the function fails, the return value is zero. To get extended error information, call GetLastError.
If the function succeeds, the return value is one of the following menu-item values.