Usually when starting out with C/C++, one would begin to write programs for the console. Inputting/outputting was easy as pie with cin and cout, so here's a way to use them to output to a console in a windows program.
Console.h
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <io.h>
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>
#ifndef _USE_OLD_IOSTREAMS
using namespace std;
#endif
void RedirectIOToConsole(WORD MaxLines)
{
int hConHandle;
long lStdHandle;
CONSOLE_SCREEN_BUFFER_INFO coninfo;
FILE *fp;
// allocate a console for this app
AllocConsole();
// set the screen buffer to be big enough to let us scroll text
GetConsoleScreenBufferInfo(GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE),
&coninfo);
coninfo.dwSize.Y = MaxLines;
SetConsoleScreenBufferSize(GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE),
coninfo.dwSize);
// redirect unbuffered STDOUT to the console
lStdHandle = (long)GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);
hConHandle = _open_osfhandle(lStdHandle, _O_TEXT);
fp = _fdopen( hConHandle, "w" );
*stdout = *fp;
setvbuf( stdout, NULL, _IONBF, 0 );
// redirect unbuffered STDIN to the console
lStdHandle = (long)GetStdHandle(STD_INPUT_HANDLE);
hConHandle = _open_osfhandle(lStdHandle, _O_TEXT);
fp = _fdopen( hConHandle, "r" );
*stdin = *fp;
setvbuf( stdin, NULL, _IONBF, 0 );
// redirect unbuffered STDERR to the console
lStdHandle = (long)GetStdHandle(STD_ERROR_HANDLE);
hConHandle = _open_osfhandle(lStdHandle, _O_TEXT);
fp = _fdopen( hConHandle, "w" );
*stderr = *fp;
setvbuf( stderr, NULL, _IONBF, 0 );
// make cout, wcout, cin, wcin, wcerr, cerr, wclog and clog
// point to console as well
ios::sync_with_stdio();
}
void ClearScreen()
{
HANDLE hStdOut;
CONSOLE_SCREEN_BUFFER_INFO csbi;
DWORD count;
DWORD cellCount;
COORD homeCoords = { 0, 0 };
hStdOut = GetStdHandle( STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE );
if (hStdOut == INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE) return;
/* Get the number of cells in the current buffer */
if (!GetConsoleScreenBufferInfo( hStdOut, &csbi )) return;
cellCount = csbi.dwSize.X *csbi.dwSize.Y;
/* Fill the entire buffer with spaces */
if (!FillConsoleOutputCharacter(
hStdOut,
(TCHAR) ' ',
cellCount,
homeCoords,
&count
)) return;
/* Fill the entire buffer with the current colors and attributes */
if (!FillConsoleOutputAttribute(
hStdOut,
csbi.wAttributes,
cellCount,
homeCoords,
&count
)) return;
/* Move the cursor home */
SetConsoleCursorPosition( hStdOut, homeCoords );
}
void OpenConsole() { RedirectIOToConsole(500); }
void OpenConsole(WORD MaxLines) { RedirectIOToConsole(MaxLines); }
void CloseConsole() { HWND hConsole = GetConsoleWindow(); if(hConsole) CloseWindow(hConsole); FreeConsole(); }
void ClearConsole() { ClearScreen(); }
RedirectIOToConsole:
http://www.halcyon.com/~ast/dload/guicon.htm
ClearScreen:
http://www.cplusplus.com/forum/articles/10515/
Usage:
#include "DarkGDK.h"
#include "Console.h"
void DarkGDK()
{
dbSyncOn();
dbSyncRate(60);
OpenConsole();
while(LoopGDK()) {
if(dbSpaceKey())
cout << "The space key is being pressed" << endl;
dbSync();
}
}
"A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing."
Emo Philips