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Output in Console Program

Hello,

I'm using VC++ 6.0 and trying to find out how the following are done in a console application :

- Retrieve and set the cursor location on the screen.
- Set the text color and the background text color.
- Read characters back from the screen.
- Clear the screen.

It's really strange, I used to do C programing (a while ago) and these weren't really issues, but I cannot seem to locate functions that will do the above listed tasks in VC++. If somebody has had experience with such issues I'd appreciate any help you can provide.

Sincerely,
Razvan L.

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

laeuchli

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ASKER

Nice comment :-)

ASKER

Hi,

There wasn't any comment. The only function I found useful was the SetconsoleCursorPosition, but the one for color modification as well as a method to clear the screen where also in the database at msdn.microsoft.com and I've located them. Now, all I have left is finding out what the hell is the handle for the console so I can pass it to the functions. But it is good to know the tools are there...

Sincerely,
Razvan L.

laeuchli

I think that you should read a book about it, some of the conecpts are hard to grasp if you don't read a book.

razvanl

ASKER

Hi,

It isn't exactly the concepts that bother me, it's the implementation. In any case, I am certain I'll figure it out one way or another. And yes, I do have books for C++, but they either cover MFC or just C++ as the language itself... neither is useful in this case.

Sincerely,
Razvan L.

nietod

You might find some of the following functions useful.

enum Color
{
Red,
Green,
Blue,
Yellow,
Purple,
Cyan,
White,
Black
};

void GotoXY(int X,int Y)
{
HANDLE StdOut = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);
COORD Coord = {X,Y};
SetConsoleCursorPosition(StdOut,Coord);
}
void OutputStr(const char *S)
{
HANDLE StdOut = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);
int StrLen = strlen(S);
DWORD LenWrt;
WriteConsole(StdOut,S,StrLen,&LenWrt,NULL);
}
void OutputStr(int X,int Y,const char *S)
{
GotoXY(X,Y);
OutputStr(S);
}

void ClearScreen()
{
HANDLE StdOut = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);
CONSOLE_SCREEN_BUFFER_INFO BufInf;
COORD Origin = {0,0};
DWORD LenWrt;

GetConsoleScreenBufferInfo(StdOut,&BufInf); // Get screen rows and columns.

int ChrCnt = BufInf.dwSize.X * BufInf.dwSize.Y; // Number of chars on screen.

FillConsoleOutputAttribute(StdOut,0,ChrCnt,Origin,&LenWrt);
FillConsoleOutputCharacter(StdOut,' ',ChrCnt,Origin,&LenWrt);
}
void SetColor(Color TxtCol,Color BckCol)
{
HANDLE StdOut = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);
WORD Col = 0;

switch (TxtCol)
{
case Red: Col |= FOREGROUND_RED; break;
case Green: Col |= FOREGROUND_GREEN; break;
case Blue: Col |= FOREGROUND_BLUE; break;
case Yellow: Col |= FOREGROUND_RED | FOREGROUND_GREEN; break;
case Purple: Col |= FOREGROUND_RED | FOREGROUND_BLUE; break;
case Cyan: Col |= FOREGROUND_GREEN | FOREGROUND_BLUE; break;
case White: Col |= FOREGROUND_RED | FOREGROUND_GREEN | FOREGROUND_BLUE; break;
}
switch (BckCol)
{
case Red: Col |= BACKGROUND_RED; break;
case Green: Col |= BACKGROUND_GREEN; break;
case Blue: Col |= BACKGROUND_BLUE; break;
case Yellow: Col |= BACKGROUND_RED | BACKGROUND_GREEN; break;
case Purple: Col |= BACKGROUND_RED | BACKGROUND_BLUE; break;
case Cyan: Col |= BACKGROUND_GREEN | BACKGROUND_BLUE; break;
case White: Col |= BACKGROUND_RED | BACKGROUND_GREEN | BACKGROUND_BLUE; break;
}
SetConsoleTextAttribute(StdOut,Col);
}