Converting console application to windows application – C++/CLI

Have you ever needed to convert a console application to windows application?

Recently, I worked on an application which was created to run on console, but later decided to move to windows application. To make it a windows forms application, you only have to add new windows form to the project. VS will add all necessary references automatically.

Modify your main method like,

int main(array<System::String ^> ^args)
{
        // Enabling Windows XP visual effects before any controls are created
        Application::EnableVisualStyles();
        Application::SetCompatibleTextRenderingDefault(false);
        // Create the main window and run it
        Application::Run(gcnew MainForm());
}

Run the application and you can see windows form coming up with a console window. Yes, the console window is not disappeared. To disable the console window, you need to change the /SUBSYSTEM linker option. Here is what MSDN says about /SUBSYSTEM.

The /SUBSYSTEM option tells the operating system how to run the .exe file. The choice of subsystem affects the entry point symbol (or entry point function) that the linker will choose.

Take the project properties, Configuration properties, Linker, System and set SubSystem as Windows (/SUBSYSTEM:WINDOWS). Run the application and you can see it starts without a console window.

Happy programming

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