Software Design Using C++

Using Microsoft Visual C++ .NET

Starting the Software

When you start up Visual Studio you will probably be given a Start Page from which you can open previous projects if you wish to do so. If not, just close this Start Page by clicking on the x in the upper right corner.

Creating a New Solution (Workspace)

Select File, New, Blank Solution. Click on the Blank Solution template. Fill in a name for the new solution, such as CS111. For the location use whatever is reasonable in your setting. At Saint Vincent College we recommend the use of your private M drive, specified as M:\. Do not use a diskette, as you will quickly run out of room (perhaps before even completing one program). Click on OK.

Creating a New Project

Select File, New, Project. Click on the Visual C++ Projects folder. Several templates are shown. Click on the one that says Win32 Project. (We will use this template nearly everywhere in these web pages. Only in the AppWizard section will we use another template, the one labeled MFC Application.) Be very careful to select the correct template as otherwise the examples in these web pages will not work. Fill in a project name, which can be the same name as the main source file (without the .cpp). For example, hw4 would be a reasonable project name for your 4th homework project. Make sure that the Add to Solution button is selected. (If not, your project won't be grouped under your solution workspace.) The location shown should be correct, but check that it is set to be a subdirectory of your solution's directory. Finally, click OK. In the next window, click on Application Settings. Be certain to set the Application type to Console Application and the Additional options to Empty Project. We will use these settings for all of our projects except for a few where you will be told otherwise. Click on Finish. You now have a new, empty project.

Creating a New C++ Source File

Once you are sure that you have the correct project active, right click on the project name in the Solution Explorer. Select Add, Add New Item. Be sure that the Visual C++ folder is selected. Click on the C++ File Template, fill in a name for your file (such as hw4.cpp), and click on Open. (The location should be fine as is.) You should then have an editor on screen, editing a blank .cpp document with the correct name. Type in your desired code. Select File, Save to save your file. You can also copy in code from another file by selecting Edit, Insert File as Text. It is also possible to add code to a new file by using Cut, Copy, and Paste (found under Edit) to bring in code from another file.

Sometimes you will want to use more than one C++ source file. It is typical to place the main function in one source file, other stand-alone functions in another source file, and functions belonging to a user-defined class in their own source file. All of these files that belong to the same program must be added to the same project.

Hint: Make sure that all of your project's .cpp and .h files (and any data files as well) are all located under your project directory. You can use My Computer to check on the locations of these files. Many students run into problems with their projects because they have several versions of their files in various directories and don't know which ones are being used by their project. Another method is to click on each file name in the Solution Explorer and look in the Properties window to see that the full path field contains something reasonable. Again, all of your .cpp and .h files for a particular project should be in the exact same directory.

Creating a New C++ Header File

Compiling and Running a Program

For a project with multiple source files, the Build option is smart enough to only recompile files that must be recompiled due to changes made since the last time you compiled. Thus, Build (project name) is usually faster than Rebuild (project name) since the latter blindly recompiles everything in the currently active project.

To run your program, select Debug, Start Without Debugging. The program will run in a DOS window that shows all input and output.

Saving Your Work

You might wish to copy your files to another drive in case the originals are somehow damaged. You can use My Computer to copy the desired files. (For example, use edit, copy and then edit, paste.)

On a homework assignment it is important not to leave your .cpp and .h files behind on a public drive where others can see your work. Files saved on your M drive are pretty safe from the view of others.

Returning to Your Solution, Project, and Files

To select an existing project to work one, click on the project name within the Solution Explorer. Then select Set as Startup Project. You can, of course, create a new project if you wish to do that instead. (You start with File, New, Project. Remember?)

If the file that you want to work on in the editor is not already visible, you can use File, Open, File to bring it into the editor. However, it is easier to use the Solution Explorer. If this window is not visible, try View, Solution Explorer. The Solution Explorer shows all of your projects by name. Look for your current project. It should be listed in bold to show that it is the current active project. If there is a little box with a + in front of the line for your project, click on it to expand what is inside of this project. Inside you will probably find three folders, labeled Source Files, Header Files, and Resource Files. Your .cpp files will be in the Source Files folder. Your .h files will be in the Header Files folder. In most of these web pages we will not use the Resources Files folder. Expand the desired folder and then double click on the file that you want in order to bring it into the editor.

To close a file that you no longer want on the screen, click x button at the top right of the editor window. You may have several files in the editor and want to close them all before opening another one.

Debugging a Program

The Debug toolbar should now be visible. If for some reason the Debug toolbar cannot be seen, use Tools, Customize, Toolbars and see that the Debug toolbar is checked. Some of the most useful buttons on the Debug toolbar are a rightward blue arrow (to continue the program to the end), a blue square (to stop debugging), a backward arrow (to restart debugging from the beginning of the program), a Step Into button, a Step Over button, and a Step Out button. You can put the mouse over the top of a button to see the text description of the button.

The Step Over button is used to execute one instruction and move the yellow location arrow to the next instruction. It is very useful for executing one instruction at a time. The Step Into button is similar, but will move you inside the code for any function call, where you could repeatedly use Step Over until you eventually get out of that function or you could use the Step Out button to get out of that function. The Continue button will run the program until the end or until a breakpoint is reached. You will read how to set breakpoints in an upcoming paragraph.

When the debugger is running, one or more windows will typically be open for displaying values. Usually you use a window called Autos which automatically displays the values of variables currently in use. You may also use windows called Locals and Watch. With a Watch window you can click on a blank entry under the Name column and type in the name of a variable whose value you would like to watch. You can remove a variable from a Watch window by right clicking on it and selecting Delete Watch. These windows are very useful in seeing the current values of your variables as you move through your program using the Step Over (or similar) buttons. If the desired Autos, Locals, or Watch windows are not visible when you have the debugger running, you can turn them on by selecting Debug, Windows, and then the desired window.

If you want to look at the values in an array, you can put something like DataArray[k] into a field of a Watch window. This shows you the number in the array at the index given by the current value of k. If you want to look at the fields on an object, the Autos window will probably show the object. Click on the + in front of the object name so as to display its fields if they are not already visible. If one of the fields is a pointer to another object, you should be able to click on the + in front of the field in order to see the object it points at. This is useful in looking at the data in a linked list, for example.

Note that to add or remove breakpoints (either before or after starting the debugger) you can right click at the desired location in the code and then click on Insert Breakpoint or Remove Breakpoint, as desired. If you want to run your program to a specific point and then look at the values of the variables, set a breakpoint at this location and then use the Continue button to run to the breakpoint. (An alternate method is to right click on the desired location in the code and select Run to Cursor.) The debugger has many more features which you can learn if you like. For example, you can set breakpoints that stop execution if some condition is true. You can view a simple representation of the stack used for function calls. And there is a lot more. See the Debugger Lab for a beginning practice exercise on using the debugger.

Seeing Your Workspace Files and Classes

Another useful thing that you can do in Class View is to right click on a class name and then select Add. You are then given a choice of adding a function (method) or variable (field) to this class. You can also right click on your project name in Class View, select Add, and use this to add a new class to your project. We will not go into the details of these two items here, but you might want to try them on your own.

Customizing a Project

By default, Visual C++ uses a Debug configuration when compiling your project. Once you have your project working well, you may wish to switch to a Release configuration. This will typically produce a faster and smaller executable. It does this in part by leaving out information needed to use the debugger. Thus a Release configuration is only used when you are done with debugging. To change the configuration between Debug and Release use Build, Configuration Manager and then click on the little triangle pull down for the box labeled Active Solution Configuration. This will let you select the Debug or Release configuration. (There is also a grid of information for all of your projects. Here you can change the desired configuration for any of these projects.)

Printing

Finding Some Text

If you want to look within all files in your project, use Edit, Find and Replace, Find in Files. It will show all of the matches it found in a Find Results window. You can click on any line of the results to go to that line of code in the editor.

Adding Files to a Project

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