Win32 Manifest Causes MessageBox to Not Appear

[Deluge]

For testing purposes I've created a simple hello world messagebox in C++ and compiled with MinGW's g++:

hello.cpp:

#include <windows.h>

int main()
{
    MessageBox(NULL, "Hello World!", "Hi", MB_OK);
    
    return 0;
}

The app works fine, displaying the window.

I then created a manifest file and named it to match the executable.

hello.exe.manifest:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes"?>
<assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0">
<description>Simple Dialog</description>
<dependency>
    <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity
	        type="win32"
	        name="Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls"
	        version="6.0.0.0"
	        processorArchitecture="*"
	        publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df"
	        language="*"
	    />
    </dependentAssembly>
</dependency>
</assembly>

But with the manifest there the window doesn't show up. I hear the beep notification of the messagebox, but nothing visually. I have tested that the manifest works for other apps. Does anyone know why the manifest prevents the window from appearing?

[blackcoder41]

You should call InitCommonControls() or InitCommonControlsEx before doing some GUI stuff.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb775695(v=vs.85).aspx

[Deluge]

Thank you.

#include <windows.h>
#include <Commctrl.h>

int main()
{
    InitCommonControls();
    MessageBox(NULL, "Hello World!", "Hi", MB_OK);
    
    return 0;
}

compile:
g++ hello.cpp -o hello -lcomctrl32

Although, MSDN says that I should use InitCommonControlsEx(), but if I try it the compiler complains that it is not defined:

error: 'InitCommonControlsEx' was not declared in this scope

Does MinGW not come with this function?

[blackcoder41]

Try this..
1. Make all necessary files.

main.cpp

#include <windows.h>
#include <Commctrl.h>

int main()
{
    InitCommonControls();
    MessageBox(NULL, "Hello World!", "Hi", MB_OK);
    
    return 0;
}

resource.rc

1                 24                "manifest.xml"

manifest.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes"?>
<assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0">
<description>Simple Dialog</description>
<dependency>
    <dependentAssembly>
        <assemblyIdentity
	        type="win32"
	        name="Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls"
	        version="6.0.0.0"
	        processorArchitecture="*"
	        publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df"
	        language="*"
	    />
    </dependentAssembly>
</dependency>
</assembly>

2. Compile the with this line.

windres -i resource.rc -J rc -o resource.res -O coff
g++ main.cpp -o main resource.res -lgdi32 -luser32 -lkernel32 -lcomctl32 -mwindows