CBT Hooks in Windows... What does "CBT" stand for?

Question

Here's a quick one.

I'm starting out with using hooks in in Windows, and I notice that there's a hook type called a "CBT" hook. Though I know how it's used from the documentation, what does CBT stand for, exactly? I'm having a bit of trouble finding that in the docs...

Answer 1

"Computer Based Training" is exactly what I used this feature for back in the day. It enabled my training applications to "hook into" the events happening behind the scenes (hence the name) and determine what a user was doing.

One way I used this feature was to develop "authentic assessments" to test users' skills in Windows applications. For example, my application would launch an application like Word or Excel, open a document and establish a context within the application. It would pop up a little window that asked the user to perform a particular task.

The whole time the user was performing the task, my application would use CBT Hooks, VBA, general Windows messaging, file system events, and other available information to determine if the student had performed the task correctly. This resulted in a much truer evaluation of the student's capabilities than simply asking a multiple choice or true/false question.

Answer 2

CBT stands for "Computer-Based Training". In addition to its original, intended purpose of enabling instructional software, a CBT hook is most commonly used to provide notification when a window is created, destroyed, activated, resized, moved, minimized, etc.

See the CBTProc Callback Function docs on MSDN for more information.

Answer 3

It stands for Computer Based Training.

Answer 4

I believe it is "Computer Based Training": it's intended to be used in (very basic level!) instructional software that shows the user how to move and click the mouse.