How to write to the Output window in Visual Studio?

Question

Which function should I use to output text to the \"Output\" window in Visual Studio?

I tried printf() but it doesn\'t show up.

Answer 1

Useful tip - if you use __FILE__ and __LINE__ then format your debug as:

"file(line): Your output here"

then when you click on that line in the output window Visual Studio will jump directly to that line of code. An example:

#include 
#include 
#include 

void DBOut(const char *file, const int line, const WCHAR *s)
{
    std::wostringstream os_;
    os_ << file << "(" << line << "): ";
    os_ << s;
    OutputDebugStringW(os_.str().c_str());
}

#define DBOUT(s)       DBOut(__FILE__, __LINE__, s)

I wrote a blog post about this so I always knew where I could look it up: https://windowscecleaner.blogspot.co.nz/2013/04/debug-output-tricks-for-visual-studio.html