Win32 Console App... multiple console buffers

I want to have multiple consoles in a program, and switch between them.

So I can have multiple screens the user can swap between by pressing a button... that would be especially useful for debugging.

Code:

#include <iostream.h>
#include <windows.h>
#include <conio.h>

int main()
{
	HANDLE oldConsole = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);
	int junk;

	cout << "Old!" << endl;

	getch();

	HANDLE newConsole = CreateConsoleScreenBuffer(GENERIC_WRITE, FILE_SHARE_WRITE, NULL, CONSOLE_TEXTMODE_BUFFER, NULL);
	FreeConsole();
	cout << "This shouldn't show up" << endl;
	SetConsoleActiveScreenBuffer(newConsole);
	system("cls");

	cout << "New!" << endl;
	getch();

	system("cls");
	FreeConsole();
	SetConsoleActiveScreenBuffer(oldConsole);
	return 0;
}

I know I'm not doing this exactly right, but I don't know exactly how to do so.

I know there is a way to do it with the Console APIs... http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/de..._functions.asp

I wrote a class called Console that does such things... Source of a sample app is attached. Please forgive the state it's in. It works and all, but I never did get to putting the finishing touches on it...

Hope it helps.

Code:

class Console {
  HANDLE  _scr;
  WORD     _textColor;
  WORD     _bgColor;

  void setColor() { if (isValid()) SetConsoleTextAttribute(_scr, _textColor | _bgColor); }

public:
  Console(int textColor=COLOR_WHITE | COLOR_BOLD, int bgColor=COLOR_BLUE);
  ~Console();

  bool open();
  void show();// show our console (more than one may be used)
  void close();  

  void clear();// "cls"
  void goToXY(int x, int y);// reposition cursor

  void setTextColor(int color);
  void setBgColor(int color);
  
  DWORD print(const LPTSTR text);
  DWORD print(TCHAR ch);

  void flush();// empty the buffer
  bool keyHit();// was a key pressed?
  DWORD read(LPTSTR buf, int size);// buffered read
  bool getChar(TCHAR &ch);// unbuffered read
  TCHAR getChar() { TCHAR ch = 0; getChar(ch); return ch; }

  void setTitle(const LPTSTR title) { SetConsoleTitle(title); }
  bool isValid() const { return _scr != INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE; }

  // output operators
  Console& operator<<(const LPTSTR text) { print(text); return *this; }
  Console& operator<<(TCHAR ch) { print(ch); return *this; }
  Console& operator<<(int num);
  Console& operator<<(long num);
  Console& operator<<(double num);

  // input operators
  Console& operator>>(int &num);
  Console& operator>>(long &num);
  Console& operator>>(double &num);
};

Thanks, I'm trying it now. Run a search for the "Apoutput" thing if you're interested... an object oriented printf thing, where each object has its own cursor position, not changing the cout/printf's position.

You can change the color using escape sequences, too. Or move the cursor using escape sequences or colors.