Running w/o the Console Window

How do I run my program without the console window appearing? My program doesn't produce any to the screen and I don't want my users having to stare at a console window.

Thanks,

Chris

If the program doesn't output or writes something to the screen, the console window will close automatically, it's only when you run it through MSVC++ that you get the "Press any key to.......".

When you choose to make a Windows Console App (VC++ App Wizard)

DONT !!

Choose Windows Application (i think it is)

Then just put

int WINAPI WinMain (HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, LPSTR lpCmdLine, int nCmdShow)
{

// Put Code Here

}

I didn't use as wizard to create this. I just opened and saved a couple of source and header files. I guess where I went wrong is using main() instead of WinMain().

Next question, is lpCmdLine the command line parameter? When I call this program, I pass it the name of an output file. Do I get this value from lpCmdLine instead of argv[1]?

Sorry, but I've never programmed in windows using C++.

Chris

I get the following Linking error when trying to use the int WINAPI WinMain() entry function:

Code:

---

LIBC.lib(crt0.obj) : error LNK2001: unresolved external symbol _main
Release/AppTracker.exe : fatal error LNK1120: 1 unresolved externals

---

Any ideas?

Here's a simple app I wrote that run in the background for a few minutes and attempt to maximize notepad:

Code:

---

#include <windows.h>

//function prototypes
int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, LPSTR lpCmdLine, int nShowCmd);


//application entry point
int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, LPSTR lpCmdLine, int nShowCmd) {
        HWND hApp = NULL;
        int i = 0;

        for (i = 0; i <= 10; i++) {
                hApp = FindWindow("Notepad", NULL);
               
                if (hApp) {
                        SetForegroundWindow(hApp);
                        ShowWindow(hApp, SW_SHOWMAXIMIZED);
                        break;
                } else {
                        Sleep(15000);
                }

        }//end for loop

        return 0;
}

---

It should get you started. There's great documentation on at MSDN.

Here is the entire program:

Code:

---

#include <windows.h>

int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, LPSTR lpCmdLine, int nShowCmd);

int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, LPSTR lpCmdLine, int nShowCmd)
//void main(int argc, char *argv[])
{

        HANDLE  hFile;
        long        lRet;

        //Delete the File
        lRet = DeleteFile(lpCmdLine);

        //Recreate the File
        hFile = CreateFile(lpCmdLine,
                                          GENERIC_WRITE,
                                          NULL,
                                          NULL,
                                          CREATE_ALWAYS,
                                          FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL,
                                          NULL);

        //Close the Open File Handle
        CloseHandle(hFile);

        return 1;
}

---

I still get the linker error when I try to build this program. WHY?????????????

You get the linker error because your project is a Win32 Console Application and not a Win32 Application.

In the linker options, change /subsystem:console to /subsystem:windows.