Windows Applications that Have Access To Console Features

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Overview

I always wanted to use cout, cin, cerr, printf, etc. in windows application
if  I started it from command line. There was an article ( https://www.codeguru.com/console/dualmode.html,
contributed Richard Eperjesi) about how
the MSDEV can work in console mode (MSDEV /?) and in windows mode (MSDEV).
That’s a very great idea, and here is another tricky way.

Usage

Crete your MFC windows project and add the ConsoleWindowsApp.cpp or this source
code to your project, and 

• Do Define _CONSOLEWIN in your project settings, if you want your project
  to work like a console and windows application. The standard output, and
  input will be redirected to the parent console. You can use cout, cerr, cin,
  printf, etc.
• Do not define _CONSOLEWIN in your project settings, and you will get a
  windows application. (Default)

Source code

#ifdef _CONSOLEWIN

//Set subsystem to console, just overwrites the default windows subsystem
#pragma comment ( linker, "/subsystem:console" )

BOOL WINAPI ConsoleWinHandlerRoutine( DWORD dwCtrlType )
{
    // Signal type
    switch( dwCtrlType )
    {
    case CTRL_C_EVENT:
    case CTRL_BREAK_EVENT:
    case CTRL_CLOSE_EVENT:
    case CTRL_LOGOFF_EVENT:
    case CTRL_SHUTDOWN_EVENT:
    // You can stop here gracefully:
    //
    // AfxGetMainWnd()->SendMessage( WM_CLOSE, 0, 0 );
    // WaitForSingleObject( AfxGetThread(), INFINITE );
    //
    ExitProcess(0);
    break;
}

return TRUE;
}

// Console main function, this code is from WinMainCRTStartup()
int _tmain( DWORD, TCHAR**, TCHAR** )
{
#define SPACECHAR _T(' ')
#define DQUOTECHAR _T('\"')

    // Set the new handler
    SetConsoleCtrlHandler( ConsoleWinHandlerRoutine, TRUE );


    // Get command line
    LPTSTR lpszCommandLine = ::GetCommandLine();

    if(lpszCommandLine == NULL)
        return -1;

    // Skip past program name (first token in command line).
    // Check for and handle quoted program name.
    if(*lpszCommandLine == DQUOTECHAR)
    {
        // Scan, and skip over, subsequent characters until
        // another double-quote or a null is encountered.
        do
        {
            lpszCommandLine = ::CharNext(lpszCommandLine);
        } while((*lpszCommandLine != DQUOTECHAR) && (*lpszCommandLine != _T('\0')));

        // If we stopped on a double-quote (usual case), skip over it.
        if(*lpszCommandLine == DQUOTECHAR)
            lpszCommandLine = ::CharNext(lpszCommandLine);
    }
    else
    {
        while(*lpszCommandLine > SPACECHAR)
            lpszCommandLine = ::CharNext(lpszCommandLine);
    }

    // Skip past any white space preceeding the second token.
    while(*lpszCommandLine && (*lpszCommandLine <= SPACECHAR))
        lpszCommandLine = ::CharNext(lpszCommandLine);

    STARTUPINFO StartupInfo;
    StartupInfo.dwFlags = 0;

    ::GetStartupInfo(&StartupInfo);

    // Your original windows application will be started
    return _tWinMain(::GetModuleHandle(NULL), NULL, lpszCommandLine,
                (StartupInfo.dwFlags & STARTF_USESHOWWINDOW) ?
          StartupInfo.wShowWindow : SW_SHOWDEFAULT);
}

Downloads

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