How to view printf output in a Win32 application on Visual Studio 2010?

Question

How can you view printf output in a Win32 application (entering with a WinMain) in Visual Studio 2010?

Answer 1

Strictly answering your question, you may use printf-like functions in a Win32 application in Visual Studio 2010 using the winbase.h OutputDebugString function.

I wrote a simple program that shows how to do it.

#include 
#include 

int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance, HINSTANCE hPrevInstance, LPSTR lpCmdShow, int nCmdShow)
{
    int number = 10;
    char str[256];
    sprintf_s(str, "It works! - number: %d \n", number);

    OutputDebugString(str);

    return 0;
}

The OutputDebugString function takes an LPCSTR as a parameter. I used the sprintf_s to format the string before printing.

This would print the result to the Visual Studio 2010 output window.

I hope it helps!