How to enable common controls in a Windows app

Question

I'm trying to enable common controls in an application. I followed the steps given in this MSDN article, specifically the section Using ComCtl32.dll Version 6 in an Application That Uses Only Standard Extensions. But I can't get it to work.

The only thing I'm doing differently from the article is that I add the manifest information in Project Property Pages | Configuration Properties | Linker | Manifest File | Additional Manifest Dependencies. This is what I enter in the textbox:

"type='Win32' name='Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls' version='6.0.0.0' processorArchitecture='*' publicKeyToken='6595b64144ccf1df' language='*' xmlns='http://schemas.microsoft.com/developer/msbuild/2003'";%(AdditionalManifestDependencies)

When I check the generated manifest (MyApp.exe.intermediate.manifest), it looks correct.

I also add a link dependency to ComCtl32.lib in Project Properties | Configuration Properties | Linker | Input | Additional Dependencies. I also call InitCommonControlsEx at startup with the INITCOMMONCONTROLSEX structure initialized like this:

INITCOMMONCONTROLSEX icex;
icex.dwSize = sizeof(INITCOMMONCONTROLSEX);
icex.dwICC = ICC_STANDARD_CLASSES;

But the call to InitCommonControlsEx always returns FALSE (which means it failed). After some investigation I found out that the error code returned from GetLastError is ERROR_FILE_NOT_FOUND. What could be the problem?

UPDATE: I noticed something that could be related to the "file not found error". When I run the app from the debugger, one of the lines in the Output window is:

'MyApp.exe': Loaded 'C:\Windows\winsxs\x86_microsoft.windows.common-controls_6595b64144ccf1df_5.82.6002.18305_none_88f3a38569c2c436\comctl32.dll', Cannot find or open the PDB file

However, there are a bunch of similar lines for some of the more standard libraries like kernel32.lib, user32.lib, etc:

'MyApp.exe': Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\ntdll.dll', Cannot find or open the PDB file

'MyApp.exe': Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\kernel32.dll', Cannot find or open the PDB file

'MyApp.exe': Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\msvcrt.dll', Cannot find or open the PDB file

'MyApp.exe': Loaded 'C:\Windows\System32\user32.dll', Cannot find or open the PDB file

Those lines always appear for any application, and it causes no problems. Could it be different for ComCtl32.dll?

Blowup

So I'll ask the obvious question. Does it work without the manifest info manually added ? – Evincive

@Evincive Tried it, didn't work. – Blowup

Did you consider calling InitCommonControls() (not the Ex verson) as the first line of WinMain. Wouldn't that work? Or are you trying to get one of the newer visual styles? – Kostman

Answer 1

OK. I did some homework on this and discovered something new myself. How I eventually got this to work was almost what you're trying to do:

1. Go to Project/Properties/Linker/Manifest File/Additional Manifest Dependencies

2. Enter the following text verbatim (meaning all single and double quotes exactly as below). This is all on a single line, btw.

   "type='win32' name='Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls' version='6.0.0.0' processorArchitecture='*' publicKeyToken='6595b64144ccf1df' language='*'"

3. Save your settings an do a FULL project (if not solution) rebuild to force manifest and PCH regeneration.

Prior to doing this the following was in my load-list:

Loaded 'C:\Windows\winsxs\x86_microsoft.windows.common-controls_6595b64144ccf1df_5.82.7601.17514_none_ec83dffa859149af\comctl32.dll'

After hand-forcnig the manifest version for common controls, the load list now includes this (and properly answers TRUE to InitCommonControlsEx(), which is the point of all this in the first place):

Loaded 'C:\Windows\winsxs\x86_microsoft.windows.common-controls_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.7601.17514_none_41e6975e2bd6f2b2\comctl32.dll'

Note: you can also do this with an in-source #pragma, ideally in your stdafx.h header, but I prefer it this way.

Hope it helps.

Evincive

Thanks, it works now! So the only thing that was causing the error was that "xmlns" attribute. I don't even know how that attribute got there in the first place as I just copied and pasted what was on the MSDN article. It must have been added by VS while I tried to get the quotes right. – Blowup

BTW, you also need to add comctl32.lib in Project/Properties/Linker/Input/Additional Dependencies if you don't want to modify source file. – Chamonix

Answer 2

No, the warnings about the PDB files are just there to tell you that you don't have debugging info for the Windows system DLLs. Getting a FALSE return from InitializeCommonControlsEx() is of course the key problem.

There is something wrong with the Additional Manifest Dependencies string you use. I tinkered with it for a while but couldn't find the flaw. It is often easier to specify linker options in your source code. Everything worked well when I used:

#include <CommCtrl.h>
#pragma comment(lib,"comctl32.lib")
#pragma comment(linker,"/manifestdependency:\"type='win32' name='Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls' version='6.0.0.0' processorArchitecture='*' publicKeyToken='6595b64144ccf1df' language='*'\"")

Just copy and paste the above code snippet into one of your source files.

Impudence