Any suggestions to effectively update the status bar of an application? - winapi

Question

The status bar window of this program needs to be updated every time the user press a key that is likely to move the caret of the EDIT control, and the code below works like a charm! In a nutshell, pressing a key on the keyboard will update some values and send a message "ECM_GETLINEINFOS" that is next processed in the main window procedure (code below)
However, there is flickering that is not disturbing, of course, but I wonder if it's related to how I set the text on the status bar (maybe too many updates ?) or just a problem with the drawing part.
PS: The flickering occurs on the text, not the status bar in itself, so that is why I'm questioning how I should manage the update of my window.
constexpr int failed_val = -1;
LRESULT MainWindow::HandleMessage(UINT msg, WPARAM wParam, LPARAM lParam)
{
switch (msg)
{
// Custom message sent by an EDIT control, I
// use this message to tell the status bar it must update its text.
case CEM_GETLINEINFO:
{
const size_t buffSz = 24;
std::wstring buffer(buffSz, L'\0');
int line = LOWORD(wParam);
int column = HIWORD(wParam);
int count = _snwprintf_s(buffer.data(), buffer.size(),
_TRUNCATE, L"Ln %d, Col %d", line, column);
if (count != failed_val) {
// Param 1 : The text to be displayed
// Param 2 : Which status bar part
m_statusBar->SetText(buffer, 0);
}
}
return 0;
}
}

Answer 1

Just as Flicker-Free Displays Using an Off-Screen DC directed by the answer said,
What makes this window flicker when we update it frequently? The
answer is that Windows asks the window procedure to repaint the window
as a two-step process. First, it sends a WM_ERASEBKGND message and
then a WM_PAINT message. The default handling for the WM_ERASEBKGND
message is to fill the area with the current window background color.
So the sequence of events is first to fill the area with solid color
and then to draw the text on top. The net result of doing this
frequently is that the window state alternates between its erased
state and its drawn state—it flickers.
And
To prevent the control from flickering when we update it frequently,
we need to make two changes to how the control handles messages.
First, we need to prevent Windows from providing the default handling
of WM_ERASEBKGND messages. Secondly, we need to handle WM_PAINT
messages so that the background is painted with the window background
color and so that the changes to the control's client area happen at
once.
A status bar flicker free solution in .NET: Searching Visual Studio .NET style status bar. Or Simple Mode Status Bars could be enough.