Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 Compilation Instructions

Modified from Cay Horstmann's Web Page
Last revised 9/3/02

Creating a project with Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0

1. Select the File | New ... menu option from the main menu of the Developer Studio
2. Now you need to make your first decision. Are you building a console application? A console application reads keystrokes and displays text in a console window (or "DOS window), typically with a black background. For example, the "Hello, World" program is a console application. For a console application, select Win32 Console Application from the dialog.
3. In the same dialog, in the Project Name field, enter a name for your project (such as MyProject).
4. Still in the same dialog, in the Location field, select the working directory for your files (such as c:\MyHomework). You can click on the ... icon to pick a directory, or you can type in the full path name.
   Warning: If you pick the directory by clicking on the ... dialog, the compiler doesn't place the files into the directory that you picked. Instead, it places them in a subdirectory with the same name as the project (for example, c:\MyHomework\MyProject).
5. Still in the same dialog, click Ok.
6. In the resulting dialog box, Select An empty project and click Finish
7. In the resulting "Project Information" dialog, click Ok
8. Now you need to make another decision. Do you want to start with a new file, or do you want to compile an existing file (say, one of the examples).
   • To start with a new file:
     1. Select the Project | Add to project | New ... menu option from the main menu of the Developer Studio
     2. In the resulting dialog box, select C++ Source file.
     3. In the same dialog, in the File name field, enter a name for your source file (such as MyProject.cpp).
     4. Double-check that the path in the Location field is correct.
     5. Click Ok.
     6. You get a new file into which you can type your program.
   • To compile an existing file:
     1. Select the Project | Add to project | Files ... menu option from the main menu of the Developer Studio
     2. In the resulting file chooser dialog, pick the source file you want.
     3. Click Ok.
     4. To actually see the contents of the file, click on the tab labeled File view on the left hand side of the screen.
     5. Then expand the files in your project by clicking on the + icon in the tree in the file view panel.
     6. Click on the + next to Source files
     7. You should now see the file that you added. Double-click on the file name.
9. When you are ready to build your program, select the Build | Build menu option from the main menu of the Developer Studio.
10. If there are error messages in the bottom window, double-click on each message to go to the location of the error in your file. Fix the errors and build your program again.
11. When your program has been built successfully, select the Build | Execute menu option from the main menu of the Developer Studio.
12. After executing your program, you may want to recover some disk space used by intermediate files created during the compilation and linking process. To do this select Build | Clean.
13. If you need to debug your program, select the Build | Start Debug | Step Into menu option from the main menu of the Developer Studio.
14. If you want to start a new project, select the File | Close workspace menu option from the main menu of the Developer Studio.