Hiding the console window?

I wrote a short application that searches for a file. If it finds it, it will run it... if it doesn't, it will ask if you want to install it.

The application is a console application. While it is searching, I would like to hide the console window. Is this possible?

Note 1: I've tested it with Notepad.exe and it works, finding it and running it when I press any key...

Note 2: I am using Visual C++ as my compiler.

Thanks,

Xeno

Minimize it? or don't show the bar in the staus bar?

Sorry, I should have mentioned that... I would like to not show it at all but if that isn't an option, I'd like to minimize it and / or not show it in the taskbar.

Thanks.

In MSVC, create a new Win32 Application. Put your code inside WinMain. Simple, no window, nothing. If you want to alert the user of something, use MessageBox();

This is what the main cpp would look like:

Code:

---

int APIENTRY WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance,
                    HINSTANCE hPrevInstance,
                    LPSTR    lpCmdLine,
                    int      nCmdShow)
{
        MessageBox(NULL, "Hi", "I'm alerting you!", 0);

        return 0;
}

---

No, he wants to be using a console app, open a prog from within that, and then hide the console app window, right?

You can use FreeConsole() & Alloc Console() to detach your apps from the console (It doent really work it you run it from a command prmopt though - only from double clicking the program).......

Code:

---

#include <windows.h>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
        cout << "Woohoo...I am on the console!!" << endl;
        Sleep(2000);
        FreeConsole();
        MessageBox(HWND_DESKTOP,
                "Woohoo...I have killed the console!!","Sigh :(",
                MB_OK | MB_ICONEXCLAMATION);
        AllocConsole();
        cout << "Woohoo...The console lives again!!" << endl;
        Sleep(2000);
        FreeConsole();
        MessageBox(HWND_DESKTOP,
                "Er....that's it!!","Bah!! :(",
                MB_OK | MB_ICONEXCLAMATION);

        return 0;
}

---

Once more though...if you are really concerned about your programs on-screen actions, then you should look to building a GUI application....a console isnt built to look nice on screen

Thanks, I was reading about FreeConsole() on msdn.microsoft.com but wasn't sure how to implement it.

I originally tried to make a Win32 app but kept getting all sorts of compile errors about unresolved external references in one of the include files... so I abandoned the idea.

But... for some reason, I was able to create both the Console version and the Win32 version today... guess sleep is useful after all.

Xeno