This short tutorial is intended to lead the reader through the basics of writing, compiling, linking and running simple console C++ programs using Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0.
Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 needs a project folder in order to store most of the data related to the compilation and linking (object files, executables, resources, ...). Therefore, the first thing you will want to do is create a project, even if your source code is extremely simple. Here is how you will create your project:
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After
having started Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0, Open the "File" menu, and select
"New..." (You can also press the key combination Control + N instead) to bring
up the "New" setup window, which is used by Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 to launch
all the Wizards dedicated to the creation of new files and
resources.
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Select the
tab labeled "Projects" to start the creation of your new project. Since we are
experimenting on console C++ programs, select "Win32 Console Application" from
the list.
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Give a
meaningful name to your project, then browse to the hard disk location you want
it to be stored to. Please take note that Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 will take
care of creating the project directory if it does not already exist.
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Click "OK"
to validate your input, and start the project creation
Wizard.
-
Although
you might find interesting to try out sample applications offered by the Wizard,
we will in our present case be completely satisfied by an empty project. We will
add files to it later.
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After
having clicked the "Finish" button, you will get a summary of the project Setup.
In this case, the summary is extremely short, as you would expect from an empty
project. Click "OK" to proceed with the creation of the
project.
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Default
installations of Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 should display a toolbar on the left
hand side of the screen, offering you a class view (listing classes and global
members of the project) as well as a file view (recapitulating the list of
source files used by the project). If applicable, you might also get a Resource
view tab on this toolbar, but this is not the case in our current project. If
you don't see this toolbar, you can make it appear by selecting it from the
"View" menu.
The project having been created, we will now start adding files to it. Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 gives the possibility to add existing files to a project (Via the "Project" menu), but we will in our tutorial restrict ourselves to the creation of a new empty source code file. Here are the steps required to achieve this:
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Bring up
the "New" setup window by selecting the "New..." option from the "File" menu (Or
by pressing Control + N key combination).
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From the
"Files" tab (Usually selected by default), select the list item labeled C++
Source file, then give it a meaningful name. If you have several active projects
open, you can choose to which project the file should belong, by checking "Add
to project" option and selecting the corresponding project. A new file can not
be added to several projects at once. If you want to include a file to an
additional project, you will have to use the file importation from the other
project's "Project" menu.
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Once you
have submitted your input by clicking the "OK" button, Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0
fires the source code editor, and updates the File view.
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Finally,
type the content you wish into the file, using the editor.
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Select
"Save all" from the "File" menu to save all the data related to the project.
Please note that this step is done automatically before compiling the project
(see next section for compiling instructions) if the project had not been saved
already.
The
following instructions work for most of Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 projects,
except rare exceptions. The "Build" menu is the place where you will find
everything related to Compiling, Building and Running the program generated by
your source code. Here are the steps to go through to achieve
this:
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Open
"Build" menu, then select Compile (Or use the key combination Control + F7).
Please note that this will save all the modifications to project files before
proceeding. This step is done automatically before building the project (see
next step for building instructions) if the project had not been compiled
already.
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If there
have been not compilation errors, you can proceed to building step. Open "Build"
menu, and select Build (Or press F7). Please note that this will compile the
project if required, before proceeding to the building phase. This step is done
automatically before running the resulting executable (see next step for running
the executable), if it had not been built already.
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If
Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 did not report any building error, that means the
program has been built successfully, and you can now start it from within
Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0. To do so, open "Build" menu, and select Execute (or
use the key combination Control + F5). Please note that this will build the
program before proceeding, if it had not been built already. From this point on,
Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 will launch a command-line shell, and start running the
program into it. You can set additional parameters (Command line parameters for
example) for the program, using Project settings ("Project" menu, or Alt +
F7).
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After
having ran the program, Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 will pause the execution until
you press a key, so that you get the possibility to view eventual results before
the execution window closes itself.
As a short
summary for this section, simply note that it is usually enough to press Control
+ F5 to have Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 sequentially save the project, try to
compile it (it will alert on errors so that you can correct them before
proceeding), try to build it (it will alert on errors), and finally run
it.
Note: The
resulting executable can be found in a "debug\" sub folder within project
directory.
Finally,
you can close project files using the "File" menu, and selecting the option
"Close Workspace".
You might
have to confirm your choice in a Dialog Box. However, this step is not mandatory
since Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 allows you to create new projects or to close the
application while you have a project open in it.