Windows API - Win32
A core set of Windows application programming interfaces (APIs) for desktop and server applications. Previously known as Win32 API.
2,737 questions
What are different error cases in Win32 APIs
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Harshithraj1871
1,581
Reputation points
Hi,
I'm working on Win32 desktop application in CPP. I'm trying to find all the error cases where a Win32 API can fail. But the documentation does not give us a clear information when can a particular API fail. It just tells to get the error status with GetLastError which has a large possible list of error codes. There are case where an API has a few list of failure cases like CreateWindow still I'm not able to get the comprehensive list of all the failure cases for a particular API.
I tried to get a list of failure cases, There are developer errors, which can fail because of passing wrong parameters, passing wrong paths etc and there are Non recoverable failure because of system resources. Excluding this are there any error cases/segment of failure cases which I need to look into?
PS : I'm looking for only rendering APIs, not file or any IO related API
{count} votes
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RLWA32 47,246 Reputation points2025-02-06T08:23:39.2733333+00:00 I don't know how you would classify a failure where security features caused a Windows API to fail with GetLastError returning an access denied (5) code. Maybe security should be its own failure case.
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Harshithraj1871 1,581 Reputation points
2025-02-06T08:32:00.8466667+00:00 @RLWA32 Can Security issues be a concern for rendering APIs?
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RLWA32 47,246 Reputation points
2025-02-06T08:39:01.3833333+00:00 Window stations and desktops have their own security descriptors. For example, take a look at Microsoft's sample at Starting an Interactive Client Process in C++
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Junjie Zhu - MSFT 20,441 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor2025-02-06T08:45:31.9633333+00:00 I tried to get a list of failure cases, There are developer errors, which can fail because of passing wrong parameters, passing wrong paths etc and there are Non recoverable failure because of system resources. Excluding this are there any error cases/segment of failure cases which I need to look into?
The official documentation does not contain the information you are looking for.
To obtain an error string for system error codes, use the FormatMessage function. For a complete list of error codes provided by the operating system, see System Error Codes.
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Harshithraj1871 1,581 Reputation points
2025-02-06T09:14:18.95+00:00 @RLWA32 Thanks for the reference, considering simple rendering APIs like just created Window and setting properties to it like position, style etc - Will security issues be a concern
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RLWA32 47,246 Reputation points
2025-02-06T09:20:55.0366667+00:00 There are also the limits imposed by UIPI. For example, see https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/2152111/not-working-setwindowpos-for-on-screen-keyboard-is where the Questioner's use of SetWindowPos fails.
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