No output- std::cout

Hi all, huge noob here.

Ive only ever used one scripting language prior to my jump, and these are my early days of C++, please excuse my ignorance.

I have been reading the brilliant tuts on your site, and decided to register on the forums to try and find out a way to convert a long type var to a string.

After reading the FAQs I found a solution which worked fine on its own, and highly delighted me.
However: This hurled me into another problem which I cannot find the answer to at my present level of experience with C++.

My problem is that when I tried to use the code I found in my own project it failed to output anything at all.
I have stripped it down to its bare bones to demonstrate my problem, and hope someone can help me understand my error(s).

Code:

---

#include <iostream>
#include <sstream>
#include <string>
#include <Windows.h>

std::string IntToString ( int number )
{
  std::ostringstream oss;

  // Works just like cout
  oss<< number;

  // Return the underlying string
  return oss.str();
}

int APIENTRY WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance,
                    HINSTANCE hPrevInstance,
                    LPSTR    lpCmdLine,
                    int      nCmdShow)

{
       
        std::cout<< "Hi World" << "\n";
        system("Pause");
  return 0;
}

---

std::cout<< "Hi World" << "\n"; shows nothing at all.

I would really appreciate any help.

WinMain is the entry point for Windows programs, specifically ones that have GUI. If you want a console (where cout would work) you have to create a window. So yeah, you're doing Windows programming when you really want to do a console project.

Thank you for the reply.

Unfortunately, for some reason, when I try to use the external dll essential to me in a console project, I get compile time errors, (although it works in debug) so for now, I'd like to stick to whats I have working.

I dont actually have a GUI in my project (and maybe I wont need one, Im not certain yet).

Do you think the actuall IntToString() function will be ok in my project ie just the cout failing?

Or do I need to find another way?

I don't know if the cout is failing, but that is less important now, since you have no windows to see anything.

The entry point for a console project is main. If you create a console project, your IDE should provide you with a bare-bones file with main in it. I think you just created the wrong type of project by accident and started using WINAPI. Not the end of the world, but you do want a different project.

The IntToString function does look like it is written properly, though testing is always important.

Okay, I'll go off and do some more reading and testing while trying to get my code to compile in a console project.

Thanks once again for you help and time.