Win32Chrome is a lightweight C++20 library to help implement fully custom, native window titlebars (Window Chrome) for Windows applications. When building user interfaces with GLFW and Dear ImGui, for example, achieving a seamless dark mode or a modern, borderless design usually requires stripping away the native window frame, which breaks default OS behaviors.
This library solves that problem by implementing non-intrusive Window Subclassing. It hooks into the Win32 message pipeline, sits transparently between the OS and your windows original logic (WndProc), and intercepts non-client area messages (such as WM_NCHITTEST) using your UIs layout coordinates.
Personal Project: Otari
Important: Windows only. The library links against Win32 system libraries and will not build on other platforms.
The library does not draw a custom title bar. This must be done on your end. See GLFW & ImGUI example.
git clone https://github.com/Bastitron/Win32Chrome
add_subdirectory(win32chrome)
target_link_libraries(MyApp PRIVATE Win32Chrome)include(FetchContent)
FetchContent_Declare(
win32chrome
GIT_REPOSITORY https://github.com/Bastitron/Win32Chrome.git
GIT_TAG main
)
FetchContent_MakeAvailable(win32chrome)
target_link_libraries(MyApp PRIVATE Win32Chrome)// ...
Win32Chrome::Callbacks callbacks{
.TitlebarBoundingBox = [window] {
int width, height;
glfwGetWindowSize(window, &width, &height);
return Win32Chrome::Rect{
0, 0, width, TITLEBAR_HEIGHT
};
},
.TitlebarControlsBoundingBox = [window] {
int width, height;
glfwGetWindowSize(window, &width, &height);
return Win32Chrome::ControlRects{
.Close = Win32Chrome::Rect{
width - TITLEBAR_CONTROL_WIDTH, 0, TITLEBAR_CONTROL_WIDTH, TITLEBAR_HEIGHT
},
.Maximize = Win32Chrome::Rect{
width - (TITLEBAR_CONTROL_WIDTH * 2), 0, TITLEBAR_CONTROL_WIDTH, TITLEBAR_HEIGHT
},
.Minimize = Win32Chrome::Rect{
width - (TITLEBAR_CONTROL_WIDTH * 3), 0, TITLEBAR_CONTROL_WIDTH, TITLEBAR_HEIGHT
}
};
},
.TitlebarControlHittest = [](int x, int y) {
bool inside = (x >= 0 && x < (0 + TITLEBAR_TITLE_SPACE)) && (y >= 0 && y < (0 + TITLEBAR_HEIGHT));
return inside;
}
};
HWND hwnd = glfwGetWin32Window(window);
// Window, Callbacks, Max, Min
Win32Chrome::Win32Chrome chrome = Win32Chrome::Win32Chrome(hwnd, callbacks, true, true);
// ...