creating an application

I've been programming in C++ for a little while now, creating projects in this manner:

Using Visual Studio 2005:
Creating a new project
Under Visual C++ - going to Win32
Win32 Console Application
Application Settings
Checking Empty Project

Currently, when I code like this and compile, an executable will be created, and I can run my program by opening it. This was the only way I was taught.
However, now I would like to make an actual application with a window (not the dos-like window that the executable uses), buttons, and space for input and output. I have a few questions.

1) Would I still create the project like I did above? If differently, how?
2) I created a project like i did above, and copied and pasted some code from the tutorial

Code:

---

#include <windows.h>
int APIENTRY WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance,
                    HINSTANCE hPrevInstance,
                    LPSTR    lpCmdLine,
                    int      nCmdShow)
{
       
        MessageBox(NULL, "\tHello World!", "My first windows app", NULL);
        return 0;
}

//http://www.cprogramming.com/tutorial/opengl_windows_programming.html

---

And I get this error:

Code:

---

Error        1        error C2664: 'MessageBoxW' : cannot convert parameter 2 from 'const char [14]' to 'LPCWSTR'

---

Since I've never coded like this before, I am not able to figure out the problem.

Basically, I want to take some of my C++ programs that I've created (using the method at the top) and make them have actual windows, buttons, and space for input and output.

I am learning this on my own (following online tutorials), and any help would be greatly appreciated.
Also, I wasn't sure if i should post this here, or in the Windows Programming section.

I do believe it's something to do with UNICODE?
You need to make sure you open the new project as a Windows App not a console app.

something like

Code:

---

MessageBox(NULL, TEXT("\tHello World!"), TEXT("My first windows app"), NULL);

---

may help...

You need to make sure ALL your string constants passed to Win32 API functions are written as

Code:

---

MessageBox(NULL, T("\tHello World!"), TEXT("My first windows app"), NULL);

---

The T/TEXT macro may have a leading underscore, I can't remember at the moment.

Edit: Vart beat me to it :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Salem

The T/TEXT macro may have a leading underscore, I can't remember at the moment.

Edit: Vart beat me to it :)

---

;)

I think it is _T not just T...

Yeah, it's _T. Also replace char with TCHAR.
And for Windows projects, I really do suggest the use of PCH. Just do as you do, but don't click empty project. Select windows app instead.
Put Windows.h in stdafx.h (and don't forget to put #include "stdafx.h") in all source files.

Also, PCH is completely optional. Your program would function just fine without it.

But it speeds up compilation, especially with the monolith Windows.h ;)

Have you profiled it and determined it to be a bottleneck?

Indeed, windows.h takes a lot of time to compile (as in, not instant, as pretty much all other standard library headers are). Especially if you start inserting it into every source file.

I wonder what the numbers are...

How long it takes to compile.
How many source files Cpro has.

Don't be so anti-PCH. They are good thing™.
You will probably want to learn them sooner or later and they don't add complexity.

I run Linux.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Elysia

But it speeds up complication, especially with the monolith Windows.h ;)

---

I just noticed what you said. And I agree with you. It does speed up complications.

Apologies.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by robwhit

I run Linux.

---

GCC supports PCHs since 3.4.


But, windows.h taking long? It's an extremely straight-forward C header. Big, yeah, but quick to parse.

On a 2 GHz machine, it takes a second or two instead of an instant to include windows.h.

That's odd. It's been a long time, but I remember a Win32 hello world compiling in less than a second, on a 600MHz computer.

Wasn't there a WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN thing somewhere?

CornedBee, I didn't know about that. I'll check it out sometime.

Yeah.
#define WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN

Kicks out a lot of stuff, like networking and multimedia. Don't mix it with PCHs, though.

The times I got for including windows.h are:

Without WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN: 00:02:49
With WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN: 00:02:04

My processor is an Athlon X2 3800+ (2 GHz).

Thank you all for your help. It works now.

One last question (although i'm sure to have more in the future).
Is creating a Windows Application alot different than the Console Application programming I have been doing?
For example, I want to try to take my previous Console Applications and turn them into Windows Applications (have a window, buttons, etc.). Is this going to be as simple as adding some code, or am I going to have to basically re-write my programs?
Like, it appears from this code, that instead of using "cout" to ouput text to the screen, I use "TEXT("My first windows app")". So, do cout, if statements, loops, etc. still work?

Thanks.

It's much different from console (which is why everyone is suggested to begin with consoles to learn the basics before venturing on to GUI programs). The basics are still there, of course (string handling, ifs, etc), but cout & co will be useless in a windows app.
And yes, you're pretty much going to have to re-write a lot and add a lot of code to make it work. Windows programming is far from easy.