Creating and Managing Visual C++ Projects

Visual Studio 2008

You can create Visual C++ projects in several ways:

You can use project templates, such as the CLR Console Application Template (C++), to help you quickly create simple projects.
You can also use application wizards to help you create a solution. A solution can contain many projects and can be coded in any language that is included with Visual Studio. The Visual Studio development environment can handle dependencies among projects, individual project configurations, project deployment, and source code control. This method works well for larger scale applications.
You can create a simple text file and then save it with a .cpp extension. Using the Win32 Application Wizard, create an empty project. Add your .cpp file into the Visual Studio environment. This method would work well for a very simple, console-style application.

Once you have created your project, you can manage it using code wizards and property pages to manage the specifics of your project.

In This Section

Using Projects to Create Applications: Describes how to create projects with Visual C++ application wizards, which allow you to create projects that employ the various libraries.
Visual C++ Projects: Lists all the different types of project templates or application wizards that you can use to build applications with Visual C++.
Modifying Project Settings: Describes how to use Property Pages and Property Sheets to specify your project settings.
Adding Functionality with Code Wizards: Describes how to add classes, methods, variables, and other elements to your project to add functionality.
Designing a Wizard: Describes concepts on how to create your own wizard that generates code and a user interface for other users.

Project Templates in Visual C++ Editions: Provides an overview of which project templates are available in Visual C++ editions.
Managing Solutions, Projects, and Files: Provides links to topics describing common tasks that you can perform when working with solutions and projects.
Building a C/C++ Program: Provides links to topics describing building your program from the command line or from the integrated development environment of Visual Studio.
User Interface: Provides links to topics describing adding a user interface to your program.
Common Programming Methodologies: Provides links to topics describing conceptual information about the Visual C++ libraries and topics discussing various coding technologies and techniques.
Creating and Porting Visual C++ Device Projects: Explains how to create a new Visual C++ device project and how to port existing Visual C++ desktop projects and eMbedded Visual C++ 4.0 projects into a Visual C++ device project.
Developing Visual C++ Device Projects: Describes how to use the features of Visual Studio 2005 to develop a device application using Visual C++.
Visual C++ Reference: Provides links to topics describing the C and C++ language references, the libraries provided with Visual C++, the Visual C++ Extensibility Object Model, and the Microsoft Macro Assembler (MASM).
Visual C++ Samples: Provides links to sample code showing the capabilities of Visual C++ and the libraries and technologies it supports.