Compiles fine with g++ but fails with Visual Studio 2015 - visual-c++

Question

I have a perplexing problem with Visual Studio 2015, C++, macros. I do have a bigger project at the background, but the following toy example illustrates the problem.
I have the following C++ code (oma8.rc, oma8.h, oma8.cpp) to create a toy dialog. It compiles with gcc compiler nicely:
windres -O coff -i oma8.rc -o oma8.res
g++ oma8.cpp oma8.res -o oma8
// oma8.cpp
#include <windows.h>
#include <iostream>
#include <iomanip>
#include <string>
#include <stdio.h>
#include "stdlib.h"
#include "oma8.h"
using namespace std;
string param2;
int b1, b3;
string GetInputText( HWND dlg, int resid ) {
HWND hc = GetDlgItem( dlg, resid );
int n = GetWindowTextLength( hc ) + 1;
string s( n, 0 );
GetWindowText( hc, &s[0], n );
return s;
}
int GetCheck( HWND dlg, int resid) {
HWND hc = GetDlgItem(dlg,resid);
int n = IsDlgButtonChecked( dlg, resid);
return n;
}
BOOL CALLBACK DialogProc( HWND hwnd, UINT message,
WPARAM wp, LPARAM ) {
switch ( message ) {
case WM_COMMAND: {
int ctrl = LOWORD( wp );
int event = HIWORD( wp );
if ( ctrl == IDCANCEL && event == BN_CLICKED ) {
DestroyWindow (hwnd);
return TRUE;
}
else if ( ctrl == IDOK && event == BN_CLICKED ) {
param2 = GetInputText( hwnd, IDC_EDIT1 );
b1 = GetCheck( hwnd, RB1 );
b3 = GetCheck( hwnd, RB3 ); // ignore the other buttons for now
DestroyWindow (hwnd);
return TRUE;
}
return FALSE;
}
case WM_DESTROY:
PostQuitMessage(0);
return TRUE;
case WM_CLOSE:
DestroyWindow (hwnd);
return TRUE;
}
return FALSE;
}
int main() {
HWND dlg = CreateDialog( GetModuleHandle(0),
MAKEINTRESOURCE( IDD_DIALOG1 ),
0, DialogProc );
MSG msg;
while ( GetMessage( & msg, 0, 0, 0 ) ) {
if ( ! IsDialogMessage( dlg, & msg ) ) {
TranslateMessage( & msg );
DispatchMessage( & msg );
}
}
cout << "corner text: " << param2 << " as a number: " << atof(&param2[0]) << endl;
cout << "radio1: " << b1 << " radio3: " << b3 << endl;
}
// oma8.rc (stripped 3 comment lines from start)
#include <windows.h>
#include "oma8.h"
//#include "winresrc.h" // apparently not needed
LANGUAGE LANG_NEUTRAL, SUBLANG_NEUTRAL
IDD_DIALOG1 DIALOG 20, 20, TABNR(8), THISLINEHEIGHT(15)
STYLE DS_3DLOOK | DS_SETFONT | WS_CAPTION | WS_SYSMENU | WS_VISIBLE | WS_SIZEBOX
//STYLE DS_CENTER | DS_SHELLFONT | DS_FIXEDSYS | DS_MODALFRAME | WS_VSCROLL | WS_POPUP
CAPTION "Caption here"
FONT 10, "Arial"
{
LTEXT "Corner text",IDC_STATIC,LMARG,UPMARG,60,RHEIGHT
EDITTEXT IDC_EDIT1, 60, UPMARG, 60,FIELDH, ES_AUTOHSCROLL
DEFPUSHBUTTON "OK",IDOK,TABNR(5),UPMARG,TABW,FIELDH
PUSHBUTTON "Cancel",IDCANCEL,TABNR(6),UPMARG,TABW,FIELDH
LTEXT "Block1, line 1",IDC_STATIC,TABNR(RBCOLUMN),THISLINEHEIGHT(PARAMLINE),TEXTW,RHEIGHT
AUTORADIOBUTTON "B1, line 2",RB1,TABNR(RBCOLUMN),THISLINEHEIGHT(PARAMLINE+1),TEXTW,RHEIGHT,WS_GROUP
AUTORADIOBUTTON "B1, line 3",RB2,TABNR(RBCOLUMN),THISLINEHEIGHT(PARAMLINE+2),TEXTW,RHEIGHT
LTEXT "Block2 col 1",IDC_STATIC,TABNR(SNGLCOLUMN),THISLINEHEIGHT(CHOICELINE),TABW,RHEIGHT
AUTORADIOBUTTON "B2 col 2",RB3,TABNR(SNGLCOLUMN+1),THISLINEHEIGHT(CHOICELINE),TABW,RHEIGHT, WS_GROUP
AUTORADIOBUTTON "B2 col 3",RB4,TABNR(SNGLCOLUMN+2),THISLINEHEIGHT(CHOICELINE),TABW,RHEIGHT
LTEXT "Block3, line 1",IDC_STATIC,TABNR(RANGECOLUMN),THISLINEHEIGHT(TXLINE),TEXTW,RHEIGHT
AUTORADIOBUTTON "B3, line 2",RB5,TABNR(RANGECOLUMN),THISLINEHEIGHT(RXLINE),TEXTW,RHEIGHT,WS_GROUP
AUTORADIOBUTTON "B3, line 3",RB6,TABNR(RANGECOLUMN),THISLINEHEIGHT(SCLINE),TEXTW,RHEIGHT
}
// oma8.h (stripped 2 comment lines from start)
#define IDD_DIALOG1 100
// basic buttons
#ifndef IDC_STATIC
#define IDC_STATIC (-1)
#endif
#ifndef IDOK
#define IDOK 40000
#endif
#ifndef IDCANCEL
#define IDCANCEL 40001
#endif
// measures
#define LMARG 6
#define UPMARG 5
#define TEXTW 120 // rb text width
#define TABW 50 // tab width
#define FIELDW 30 // fill-in field w
#define FIELDH 13 // fill-in field h
#define RHEIGHT 14 // row height
// line numbers
#define PARAMLINE 2
#define NOFPARAMS 2
#define OFFSET2 2
#define OFFSET3 5
#define CHOICELINE (PARAMLINE+NOFPARAMS+OFFSET2)
#define TXLINE (CHOICELINE+1)
#define RXLINE (CHOICELINE+2)
#define SCLINE (CHOICELINE+3)
#define RANGETITLELINE 2
#define RANGEFIELDLINE (RANGETITLELINE+1)
#define DETECTORLINE (CHOICELINE+OFFSET3)
#define THISLINEHEIGHT(x) (UPMARG+(x)*RHEIGHT)
// column numbers
#define TABNR(x) (LMARG+TABW*(x))
#define RBCOLUMN 1
#define RANGECOLUMN 5
#define SNGLCOLUMN 2
#define DTCTCOLUMN 7
// parameter buttons
#define IDC_EDIT1 1002
#define RB1 1010
#define RB2 1011
#define RB3 1012
#define RB4 1013
#define RB5 1014
#define RB6 1015
and oma8.exe (all commands given in a console) opens a dialog that looks exactly as I want it to, hooray. But, I have reasons that I must compile this also with VS2015. (It will be later inserted into a certain boilerplate code, but that's not relevant here.)
When trying to compile the same code with VS2015, I get a bunch of error messages related to the .rc file, especially on its macro functions. The first 4 are
Error RC2112 BEGIN expected in dialog oma8.rc 11
Error RC2135 file not found: 0x00040000L oma8.rc 12
Error RC2135 file not found: here oma8.rc 14
Error RC2135 file not found: 10 oma8.rc 15
Furthermore, if I change the lines
#define THISLINEHEIGHT(x) (UPMARG+(x)*RHEIGHT)
#define TABNR(x) (LMARG+TABW*(x))
into
#define THISLINEHEIGHT(x) (UPMARG + (x) * RHEIGHT)
#define TABNR(x) (LMARG + TABW * (x))
I get just one error message:
Error RC2104 undefined keyword or key name: * oma8.rc 11
I must have something funny with my linker/compiler options? When creating this as a Project From Existing Code, I chose Console App and left all other choices as defaults. (Can't remember what those were, sorry, just lots of acronyms.)
I've spent over a week googling and trying different modifications, but haven't been able to fix this. I don't know what else to try. Where should I look into? Any ideas and further questions would be welcome.
My system is Win7, 64-bit. g++ version says g++ (tdm-1) 5.1.0 (C) 2015 Free Software Foundation Inc.