I'm a complete novice when it comes to "windows" programming - that is, programs that generate a window on the screen. So maybe I'm even using the terminology wrong. I'm not programming windows... I am just programming and wanting to display windows.
What I want to do is display a status - such as perhaps a fuel gauge (percentage work completed), or error messages. I am crunching huge multi-gigabyte files. That's pretty much it for now. I'll worry about having a nice interface for the user to enter in things later.
I have chosen simple console (.exe) model. (maybe that's the problem). And I would prefer to continue coding using straight "C". Not C++.
If I copy (cut-and-paste) examples given online, I just know they won't compile right away. Just by looking at them. Sure I can include the header "windows.h" and any others they might suggest. But still I humor them... and I've spent hours and hours... but of course, inevitably, the compiler gives me a whole lot of undefined this and unresolved that. But of course. I knew it.
So what's the secret? Do I have to create a different sort of "Project" in the first place? Is there some hidden check-box I have to turn on? Needless to say I'm super frustrated.
I'm certain I can grasp the concepts once I get something simple working for me. But as long as the compiler refuses, and rightly so given the illegal syntaxes and undefined functions the examples always tell me to use, I am going nowhere fast.
I'm using Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 / C++