Visual Studio .NET 2003 C++ Tutorial

Welcome to CSCI 195.  This tutorial guides you through the process of creating a simple C++ console application using Visual Studio .NET 2003.  A version of this tutorial is also available for Visual C++ 6.0

Step 1: Creating a New Project

Using Windows Explorer create a folder to hold all of your projects for this class.  In this example I have named mine C:\PROJ.  You can name your folder anything you like.  Once you have created your folder close Windows Explorer.

Start Microsoft Visual Studio .NET 2003 using the Start button from Windows.  This is how it looks on my system:

Once you have started Visual Studio you should see a screen similar to the the following image:

Click the menu item File | New | Project... or press CTRL+SHIFT+N or click the New Project button.

A dialog box is displayed.  

• In the left pane expand the selection named Visual C++ Projects and then select Win32. 
• In the right pane, select Win32 Console Project.  
• In the Name: text box type hello.
• In the Location: text box, click on the button to browse to the folder you created in the previous step.

The screen should look like this:

Click the OK button to continue.  You should see the following window:

Click Application Settings on the left side of the window and then place a check in the box marked Empty project.  The screen should look like this:

Click the Finish button to create the empty project that looks like this:

Step 2: Typing your Program Code

Click the menu item Project | Add New Item... or press CTRL + SHIFT + A or click the Add New Item button.

Select  C++ File (.cpp) from the list on the right and type the name hello in the text box labeled Name:

Click the Open button to enter the edit mode.  You should see the following screen:

Enter the following program:

Once you have typed the program in the edit window, your screen should look like this:

Save your program by clicking on the icon that looks like a floppy disk (4^th icon from the left).

Step 3: Executing Your Program

To execute your program click the menu item Debug | Start Without Debugging or press CTRL + F5.

The following message box will appear:

Click the Yes button to compile your program. If you receive any error messages recheck you program code and make sure it appears exactly as shown above.  If your code has no errors it will compile and execute.  You should eventually see the following screen:

Type your name when prompted and then press Enter.  You should see the following screen.

Once you recover from the awe of creating your first C++ program you can press any key to make the console window disappear.

That's it!  You've created your first C++ project.