Adding a console window c++ (Winapi)?

[rom87]

Im making a game using opengl and would like to create a small console window along with the game window to output some stuff whilst debugging.Where do i start in the win api what functions ? Just want the ability to position it/size it anywhere on the screen and write to it a few strings.


Thanks

[Null]

http://www.halcyon.com/~ast/dload/guicon.htm
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms682073(v=vs.85).aspx

These two links will give you more information but you only need this function:

#include <windows.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <io.h>
#include <iostream>
#include <fstream>

using namespace std;

// maximum mumber of lines the output console should have
static const WORD MAX_CONSOLE_LINES = 500;


void RedirectIOToConsole()
{
    int hConHandle;
    long lStdHandle;
    CONSOLE_SCREEN_BUFFER_INFO coninfo;
    FILE *fp;

// allocate a console for this app
    AllocConsole();

// set the screen buffer to be big enough to let us scroll text
    GetConsoleScreenBufferInfo(GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE),&coninfo);
    coninfo.dwSize.Y = MAX_CONSOLE_LINES;
    SetConsoleScreenBufferSize(GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE),coninfo.dwSize);

// redirect unbuffered STDOUT to the console
    lStdHandle = (long)GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);
    hConHandle = _open_osfhandle(lStdHandle, _O_TEXT);

    fp = _fdopen( hConHandle, "w" );

    *stdout = *fp;

    setvbuf( stdout, NULL, _IONBF, 0 );

// redirect unbuffered STDIN to the console

    lStdHandle = (long)GetStdHandle(STD_INPUT_HANDLE);
    hConHandle = _open_osfhandle(lStdHandle, _O_TEXT);

    fp = _fdopen( hConHandle, "r" );
    *stdin = *fp;
    setvbuf( stdin, NULL, _IONBF, 0 );

// redirect unbuffered STDERR to the console
    lStdHandle = (long)GetStdHandle(STD_ERROR_HANDLE);
    hConHandle = _open_osfhandle(lStdHandle, _O_TEXT);

    fp = _fdopen( hConHandle, "w" );

    *stderr = *fp;

    setvbuf( stderr, NULL, _IONBF, 0 );

// make cout, wcout, cin, wcin, wcerr, cerr, wclog and clog
// point to console as well
    ios::sync_with_stdio();
}

Call RedirectIOToConsole() only once in your code.