Multiple console windows from one Win32 console app

Question

I've written a program based on an empty Win32 console app in VS2008 running on Win7 64bit. The program is entirely menu based spawning from a main.cpp which only calls external functions that lead to other interfaces based on the users needs (e.g. cashier, inventory, report, etc...). What I would love to do is provide a new console window for each interface.

Ideally it would close the main menu upon invoking any other interfaces and so on as the user progresses through its functions, including reopening the main menu when necessary.

The basis for doing it this way is that I'm starting a new semester next week diving deeper in OOP with C++ and I wanted to go over my text and complete the capstone project which progresses with the topics to ensure that I have all the basics down pat. As much as I would love to do this the smartest-easiest way, it's best if I stick to the limited knowledge presented in the book which only hints at STL and speaks nothing of additional libraries like boost.

I, of course, have searched on SO and elsewhere looking for the solution. I have found answers, most of them falling outside of my tight requirements, some dealing with building a console window from scratch. While from-scratch seems the most promising, it seemed to be dealing with those not using a robust IDE like VS and I don't know if it will cause more conflict than it's worth, or if it can even be used in multiplicity. The majority, however, left me with the impression it isn't possible. The one exception to this was linking a console to a process. This is what I hope is in my future!

What brought me to this was the need to present a clean look at each turn of events. At first I was fooling around with trying to clear the screen with a basic function like void clearScreen(int lines); but this will always clear from the bottom. So, if I clear the screen before the next interface it's still at the bottom. If I clear it then accept input, the prompt is still at the bottom.

In case it hasn't been clear up to this point. My question is:
Is it possible, within reason, to produce multiple console windows which are tied to processes, or is there an easy way which I do not know to manipulate the scrolling of the main console window?
Even though I "need" to stay within the confines of the baby-step process of traditional learning, I would love to hear any input aside from switching the app type.

This is more of an OCD issue than a requirement of the task, so if the effort isn't worth the benefit that's okay too.
I would be glad to post any code, I just didn't see how it would benefit the question!
Muchos gracias!

Answer 1

There is no portable way of moving the cursor around the console window - in Unix/Linux, you can send terminal codes for that, in Windows I have no idea.

What would work cross-platform, but be terribly slow and not too nice, would be:

• read your input character-by-character
• remember where on the screen the next character should appear
• redraw the whole screen after each key press

If you want to do better, you must turn to platform-specific solutions, or find a library which would do it for you (like ncurses in the Unix world), but I don't know if any of these fit in your requirements.

Answer 2

You can set the cursor-position on Windows using SetConsoleCursorPosition.

Answer 3

Since you were saying something about VS, I assume restricting yourself to Windows isn't a problem. If so, you can use the Windows API for this.

Other than that, ncurses seems to be at least partially ported to most common platforms.

If you were looking for a way to do this in standard C++ - it doesn't exist. C++ doesn't require the platform it's running on to even have a console, so there are no console manipulation functions.

Both aren't that hard to use, but if this is really just some student thingy where you expect to learn something useful you probably shouldn't bother. Console manipulation isn't something you'll have or want to do very often.

Answer 4

Although it may not have been clear in my original question, I was looking for a solution to be used in a console window. Ideally the solution would have been operable on at least Linux and Windows because any programs I write for school must be compiled on each. This wasn't an assignment but it's obviously advantageous to learn things that are usable there as well.

Here's what I found

...Solution thanks to Tim Wei

void clearScreen()
{
    #ifdef _WIN32
        system("cls");
    #else
        system("clear");
    #endif
}

This, as simple as it is, was exactly what I was looking for. The function clears the screen and puts the cursor at the top of the console window providing a way to provide static headers or titles with changing data tables. It also allows for simple text based animations - if you like that sort of thing. It made a significant difference in the look, feel and consistency in my console applications this semester!