An application typically creates a frame window by using WinCreateStdWindow, which creates a frame window, a client window, and the specified frame controls. The application also can call WinCreateWindow with the WC_FRAME window class, which creates the frame window and controls but not the client window. To create the client, the application can call WinCreateWindow, specifying the original frame window as the parent and owner.

An application also can use a frame window to create a dialog window. For a dialog window, the frame window contains control windows but no client window. The application creates the dialog window by using WinLoadDlg or WinCreateDlg. These functions require an appropriate dialog template from the application's resource-definition file. The dialog template specifies the styles and dimensions for the frame window and for the control windows that compose the dialog window.