First Window, constant loop?

[newbieg]

Hi, this is my first attempt at opening a window using Windows API, I copied it out of my book, but it's hand typed, so there's probably something I missed and I just can't find it.
My problem is that the window isn't being opened/painted on my screen, but my debugger keeps running like it's caught in a loop (the loop part is what this should do until the exit button is pressed). Can someone please take a look at this and tell me where I went wrong?

#include <windows.h>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

LRESULT CALLBACK WindowProc(HWND hWnd, UINT message, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam);
int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, LPSTR lpCmdLine, int CmdShow)
{
	WNDCLASSEX WindowClass;
	static LPCTSTR szAppName = L"OFWin";
	HWND hWnd;
	MSG msg;
	WindowClass.cbSize = sizeof(WNDCLASSEX);

	WindowClass.style = CS_HREDRAW | CS_VREDRAW;
	WindowClass.lpfnWndProc=WindowProc;
	WindowClass.cbClsExtra = 0;
	WindowClass.cbWndExtra = 0;
	WindowClass.hInstance = hInstance;
	WindowClass.hIcon = LoadIcon(0, IDI_APPLICATION);
	WindowClass.hCursor = LoadCursor(0, IDC_ARROW);
	WindowClass.hbrBackground = static_cast<HBRUSH>(GetStockObject(GRAY_BRUSH));
	WindowClass.lpszMenuName = 0;
	WindowClass.lpszClassName = szAppName;
	WindowClass.hIcon = 0;
	RegisterClassEx(&WindowClass);

	//Now We Create the Window.
	hWnd = CreateWindow(szAppName, L"A BASIC WINDOW The Hard Way", WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW, CW_USEDEFAULT, 
		CW_USEDEFAULT,CW_USEDEFAULT,CW_USEDEFAULT,0,0,hInstance, 0);
	ShowWindow(hWnd, CmdShow);
	UpdateWindow(hWnd);

	//Message Loop
	while(GetMessage(&msg,0,0,0)==TRUE)
	{
		TranslateMessage(&msg);
		DispatchMessage(&msg);
	}
	return static_cast<int>(msg.wParam);
}

LRESULT CALLBACK WindowProc(HWND hWnd, UINT message, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)
{
	HDC hDC;
	PAINTSTRUCT PainSt;
	RECT aRect;
	switch(message)
	{
	case WM_PAINT:
		hDC=BeginPaint(hWnd, &PainSt);
		GetClientRect(hWnd, &aRect);
		SetBkMode(hDC, TRANSPARENT);

		DrawText(hDC, L" HELLO WORLD!", -1, &aRect, DT_SINGLELINE | DT_CENTER|DT_VCENTER);
		EndPaint(hWnd, &PainSt);	
		return 0;

	case WM_DESTROY:

		PostQuitMessage(0);
		return 0;

	default:
		return DefWindowProc(hWnd, message, wParam, lParam);
	}
}

I tried placing cout<<"got this far"; on the first line under my winmain() but no console opened, does this mean that the program didn't even open winmain?

[modoran]

Windows GUI applications does not work that way. To get a console you need to use AllocConsole() first and only then you can use iostreams:

AllocConsole();
freopen("CONIN$", "r",stdin);
freopen("CONOUT$", "w",stdout);
freopen("CONOUT$", "w",stderr);
std::cout << "blarg" << std::endl;

Before exiting don't forget to call FreeConsole() API.

[newbieg]

Thanks Modoran, I'll have to remember that.

[newbieg]

I just want to post this link here in case anyone reads this post and wants an example for a working WINAPI program with "Hello world" as a starting template. The tutorial supplied there was just a bit confusing and didn't explain things well, but the final example does work correctly with visual C++ 2012.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/vstudio/bb384843%28v=vs.100%29

Using that and my book Horton's "Beginning Visual C++ 2010" at the same time helped out.