DirectX 9.0c and C++ GUI

Question

Well, I'm trying to code a gui for my engine, but I've got some problems. I know how to make a UI overlay but buttons are still black magic for me. Anything I tried was to compilcated ( if it goes big ). To Example I tried to look if the mouse position is the same as the Pixel that is showing the button. But If I use some bigger areas it's getting to complicated. Now I'm searching for a Tutorial how to implement your own gui. I'm really confused about it. Well I hope you have/ know some good tutorials.

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By the way, I took a look at the DXUTSample, but it's to big to get overview.

Answer 1

So what I'm understanding is that you are looking for a quick way to test for GUI button presses?

The way I check is to have each button contain its own rectangle and check for a collision between the mouse and the button rectangle.

#include <windows.h>

class Button
{
 public:
     //The 'rect' variable is the 'Hotspot' for the button
     //Whether that is the whole button or just a select piece of it.
     RECT rect;

     //The constructor sets the 'rect' var accordingly.
     Button(RECT rect){this->rect = rect;};

     //Checks for collision between two RECTs
     bool RectCollision(RECT rectA, RECT rectB)
     {
         if(rectA.left > rectB.right)
             return false;
         if(rectA.right < rectB.left)
             return false;
         if(rectA.top > rectB.bottom)
             return false;
         if(rectA.bottom < rectB.top)
             return false;

         return true;
     }

     //This function is ran if the mouse button is pressed
     //which is checked in your 'WindowProc' function.
     bool CheckForButtonPress()
     {
          POINT mousePos;
          if(GetCursorPos(&mousePos)) //Gets the mousePos on the screen
          {
              if(ScreenToClient(hwnd, &mousePos)) //Sets the mousePos relative to the window
              {
                  RECT mouseRect = {mousePos.x, mousePos.y, 1, 1};
                  if(RectCollision(rect, mouseRect))
                      return true;
                  return false;
              }
          }

          return false;
     }
}

Obviously you can do some optimizations and changes. But I hope you get the gist of it.

Sincerely -MasterBaldwin