1

MICROSOFT VISUAL STUDIO 2005/2008

TUTORIAL
INTRODUCTION
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005/2008 allows you to create many different types of applications. This guide
addresses creating and using Console Applications. A console application is a program that runs inside a DOS
window. This guide is divided into the following sections:
Starting Visual Studio 2005/2008
Creating and Executing a Single-File Console Application
STARTING VISUAL Studio 2005
To start the Microsoft Visual C++ compiler, click the Start button on the task bar to open the start menu.
Open the Programs menu (All Programs in Windows XP) and Select the Microsoft Visual Studio 2005
folder, then the program Microsoft Visual Studio 2005. If the Microsoft Visual Studio window is not
maximized, click the maximize button in the upper right corner of the title bar.
Figure 1-1 Microsoft Visual Studio
Figure 1-1 shows the initial application configuration setting for the first time.
Choose your default environment setting by selecting Visual C++ Development Setting, then click Start
Visual Studio Button. The configuration will be done only one time if you are using that computer for the
first time.
2
Figure 1-2 shows the initial application window.
CREATING AND EXECUTING A SINGLE-FILE CONSOLE APPLICATION
One of the most common programs encountered in an introductory C++ programming class is a single
source code file that contains the main function. To construct this type of application, you need to:
Create a Win32 Console Application Project
Add a source code file
Write the program
Execute the program
Debug the program
Create a Win32 Console Application Project
Start Microsoft Visual Studio 2005. On the File menu select New, and then Project.
)
Figure 1-3 Create a new project
3
Figure 1-4 Create a new project settings
When the New Project dialog box opens, click on Visual C++ Projects in the Projects Types pane Select
win32, and then make sure Win32 Console Application is selected in the Templates pane. Enter the
following information (see Figure 1-4):
Enter the project name in the Name textbox
Select the location for the project in the Location textbox
The application provides a default location for saving projects or you can select your own location by
pressing the button to the right of the location textbox to open the Choose Directory dialog box.
Press the OK button after entering the required information into the dialog box.
When the Win32 Application Wizard appears, click next button, click on Application Settings, select
Console application from the Application types, uncheck Precompiled header and check Empty project
(see Figure 1-5) and then press the Finish button.
4
Figure 1-5 Win32 Console Application Wizards
The Solution Explorer now contains the information about your project (see Figure 1-6.)
Figure 1-6 Empty Win32 Console Application
Creating and Executing a Single-File Console Application
Figure 1-5 Win32 Console Application Wizard
Figure 1-4 New project settings
Select project type
Select location for the project file
Select project
Enter project name
Add a Source File
Add a blank source code file to your project. On the Solution Explorer select Source files folder, Right
click, from the pop up menu, click Add, and select New Item. (See Figure 1-7.)
5
Figure 1-7 Create new file
Creating and Executing a Single-File Console Application
When the New File dialog box appears, select Visual C++ in the Categories pane, click Code to select it and
make sure C++ File (.cpp) in the Templates pane is selected. Type the file name. The file name can be the
same name as the project, then type in a name (the .cpp extension will be added automatically.) Click Add.
Figure 1-8 Create new file settings
Blank project file is added
6
Figure 1-9 Naming project files
To save the file with a specific name, on the File menu select Save Source1 As.When the Save File As
dialog box appears (see Figure 1-10), select the folder to hold the file (it generally should be the same as the
project name) from the Save in dropdown window, then type in a name (the .cpp extension will be added
automatically.) Press the Save button to complete the action.
Write the Program
Type the source code for your program into the blank editing pane located in the right side of the window.
Figure 1-10 contains the source code for a simple C++ console programthat displays the phrase, Hello
Computer Science I. \n My names are Student Names \n. Note that the C++ editor automatically selects
different colors for C++ reserved words and provides automatic indentation for blocks of code.
Figure 1-10 HelloCS source code file
Compile and Build the Program
Before you can execute the program you have written, you must save it and compile it. To save the file, either
click in the edit window to make it the active object or click on the hellocs.cpp filename in the Solution
7
Explorer, the select Save hellocs.cpp from the File menu. Once the program is saved, you compile it by
selecting the Build Solution option from the Build menu. (See Figure 1-11.)
This will cause Visual Studio to both compile and link your program. Once the program compiles and links,
the results will be shown in the Output window at the bottom. (See Figure 1-12.) In this example, the
program compiled with no errors and no warnings.
Figure 1-11 Compiling a program
Figure 1-12 Executing the program
Creating and Executing a Single-File Console Application 11
After the build process has successfully completed, you can now execute the program by selecting Start
Without Debugging from the Debug menu. (See Figure 1-12) The program results will appear in a new
DOS window. Notice that the phrase Press any key to continue has been added to the program output.
This additional code was added to keep the DOS window open until you have had a chance to view the
output and press a key on the keyboard. (See Figure 1-13.) Once a key on the keyboard is pressed, the
8
program stops execution and the DOS window closes. This output phrase is actually included in your
program, as you would see if you opened a DOS window and executed the program directly.
Figure 1-13 Results of Executing the program
Debug the Program
Often, the program will have errors when you attempt to compile, build, and execute it. The program that
was successfully executed in the previous example has been modified to include an errorthe semi-colon at
the end of the return 0 statement has been removed. When the modified program is compiled, an error is
displayed in the output window. (See Figure 1-14.) You can determine where the compiler found the error by
scrolling up in the Output window until the specific error message is visible, then by double-clicking on the
error message in the Output window. This will cause a pointer to appear in the left margin of the source file
where the error was encountered. (See Figure 1-15.) Notice in this case that the pointer is on the line after the
line containing the actual error. This occurs when the error induces a compiler recognized fault on a
subsequent line. While not always exact, the error pointer, in conjunction with the error description, can help
locate errors in the source code. Once the error is identified and corrected, the program must be saved,
rebuilt, and executed again.
9
Figure 1-14 Compile error
Error pointer
Double click on this
Figure 1-15 Locating error
SUMMARY
Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 allows you to create many different types of applications. This guide addressed
creating and using single source file Console Applications, but the basic operations are the same for more
complex programs.
Always start by creating a project file of the appropriate type
Create blank files for writing your own programs
Compile
Build
Execute
Debug, if necessary