I know this is MFC but the extended styles should apply for MFC and Win32 API. I'm not sure what the Excel like tabs are like but this style makes buttons out of the tabs. Is that what you're looking for?
m_pTabCtrl = new CMyTabCtrl;
CRect cltRect;
GetClientRect(&cltRect); // CRect(0,0, 370, 600)
m_pTabCtrl->Create(WS_CHILD|WS_VISIBLE | TCS_BUTTONS | TCS_FLATBUTTONS, cltRect, this, IDC_TAB1);
DWORD dwExtStyle = m_pTabCtrl->GetExtendedStyle();
m_pTabCtrl->SetExtendedStyle(dwExtStyle | TCS_EX_FLATSEPARATORS);
m_pTabCtrl->ShowWindow(true);
TC_ITEM TabCtrlItem;
TabCtrlItem.mask = TCIF_TEXT;
TabCtrlItem.iImage = -1;
for(i = gSites.size(); i > 0; i--)
{
TabCtrlItem.pszText = gSites[i-1].GetId();
m_pTabCtrl->InsertItem( 0, &TabCtrlItem );
}
m_pTabCtrl->SetCurSel(0);