__stdcall
Microsoft Specific
The __stdcall calling convention is used to call Win32 API functions. The callee cleans the stack, so the compiler makes vararg functions __cdecl. Functions that use this calling convention require a function prototype.
return-type __stdcall function-name[(argument-list)]
Remarks
The following list shows the implementation of this calling convention.
| Element | Implementation |
|---|---|
Argument-passing order |
Right to left. |
Argument-passing convention |
By value, unless a pointer or reference type is passed. |
Stack-maintenance responsibility |
Called function pops its own arguments from the stack. |
Name-decoration convention |
An underscore (_) is prefixed to the name. The name is followed by the at sign (@) followed by the number of bytes (in decimal) in the argument list. Therefore, the function declared as |
Case-translation convention |
None |
The /Gz compiler option specifies __stdcall for all functions not explicitly declared with a different calling convention.
Functions declared using the __stdcall modifier return values the same way as functions declared using __cdecl.
On Itanium Processor Family (IPF) and x64 processors, __stdcall is accepted and ignored by the compiler; on IPF, by convention, parameters are passed in register.
For non-static class functions, if the function is defined out-of-line, the calling convention modifier does not have to be specified on the out-of-line definition. That is, for class non-static member methods, the calling convention specified during declaration is assumed at the point of definition. Given this class definition,
struct CMyClass {
void __stdcall mymethod();
};
this
void CMyClass::mymethod() { return; }
is equivalent to this
void __stdcall CMyClass::mymethod() { return; }
Example
In the following example, use of __stdcall results in all WINAPI function types being handled as a standard call:
// Example of the __stdcall keyword
#define WINAPI __stdcall
// Example of the __stdcall keyword on function pointer
typedef BOOL (__stdcall *funcname_ptr)(void * arg1, const char * arg2, DWORD flags, ...);