short enums on VC++ 6.0 (or VC++ 2008)? - visual-c++

It would be very convenient to have "short enum" or "char enum" in VC++, as I have seen mentioned elsewhere for GCC etc. Is there some option in VC++ to allow this?

You can use something like
enum name : char
{
values
}
but this is a VC-specific extension. Not sure if there's standardised support for this in VC.

Related

wchar_t is not treated as built-in type even when the option is enabled

So here is the preprocessed output of a struct:
typedef struct RPT_Item
{
wchar_t *fullPath;
RPT_ItemFlags_t itemFlags;
int isComposite;
const void *reserved;
} RPT_Item_t;
Visual Studio complains because wchar_t is not defined, its own cryptic way:
error C2016: C requires that a struct or union has at least one member
I looked at the project files and also at the particular C file where the error appears and I can confirm that "Treat wchar_t as built-in type is set to YES".
If I define the type using a typedef it compiles fine.
I used the preprocessor output so I can exclude that some nasty preprocessor #define trick play the main role.
This project contains many low-level hacks, for example the CRT is not linked (/NODEFAULTLIB).
Most of the code is not written by me, and I'm tasked to remove reference to wchar.h from a public header that uses wchar_t, because VS treats it as a built in type default. (This particular module is built only on Windows.)
I totally ran out of ideas. Is there a compiler option or a pragma that can interfere? Or could it be even a compiler bug?
Microsoft didn't explicitly document this until VS 2013, but the docs for /Zc:wchar_t says
The wchar_t type is not supported when you compile C code.
It seems that including nearly any header from the runtime or from the SDK will typedef wchar_t tounsigned short using the following sequence:
#ifndef _WCHAR_T_DEFINED
typedef unsigned short wchar_t;
#define _WCHAR_T_DEFINED
#endif
you might want to do something similar in your file that uses wchar_t.
Note that when compiling a C++ file, if /Zc:wchar_t is in effect then the compiler pre-defines _WCHAR_T_DEFINED. If /Zc:wchar_t- is in effect it doesn't - so the above snippet should work nicely with C++ as well (for MSVC anyway - I don't know how other compilers might deal with this if you're looking for something portable).
The _WCHAR_T_DEFINED macro is documented:
MSVC Predefined Macros

"unknown type name 'String'" when creating custom Arduino Libraries

I have a few logging functions that I commonly use for different Arduino programs. Since I use them so much, I decided to try to make a custom library for them. Unfortunately, the compiler crashes at the header file with the error:
unknown type name 'String'
I'm a bit confused as to why this is happening because I am including the standard Arduino libraries (which I believe should contain the String class) at the top of my header. Here's the whole thing:
#ifndef logging_h
#define logging_h
#include "Arduino.h"
void logEvent(String msg);
void debugOut(String msg);
void errOut(String err);
void document(String parameter, float value);
#endif
I reinstalled the Arduino IDE (1.0.5) so I think I should have the most recent standard library. If anyone has some suggestions I would really appreciate it.
(This answer is based on our discussion in comments.)
The problem was that the source file for your library was named *.c. That caused the compiler to treat it as C code instead of C++, which means it couldn't handle classes/objects (such as String).
Naming the file *.cpp instead lets the compiler treat it correctly as C++ code.
I had same issue yesterday. The code you included in your question should be your .h file, isn't? My question is: is your library written in C or in C++?
I assume you use C code.
You can't import code from in a user C library with the Arduino IDE. The reason is that use C++ code, and it can't be called from your C library.
Solution: rewrite your library in C+, it's not too difficult.
You can find a lot of help on google on how to write library in C++. You can also check my example at https://github.com/romain-viollette/AverageFilter/
best regards,

Using 'auto' in for each causes C3539 - Why?

I am writing a managed DLL in VC2010 (i.e. /CLR is enabled for a VC++ DLL project). Following code wouldn't compile:
System::Collections::Generic::List<int>^ my_list;
for each(auto elem in my_list)
{
}
It raises error C3539: 'auto': a template-argument cannot be a type that contains 'auto'.
I don't understand the reason. I tried compiling the same in VS2012, and it raises same error (which is not appropriate error).
Why compiler fails to deduce the type for a colleciton? The same type of code would work in C# with var keyword.
First, the most importand point from the comments:
presented code does compile in VS2013 c++/cli dll .net 4.5 (Zee, 2014-05-03)
When you compile C++/CLI, which is the .NET binding for C++, you are using a different feature set of the Microsoft compiler. Whether something works either
when /clr is in effect
or, additionally, when you're using a "managed" construct (as in your code)
has nothing to to with if the "normal", native, MSVC compiler accepts it.
So as for "why": It would simply appear that auto type deduction did not work for the managed handle types in VS2010 and VS2012, but, according to Zee's comment, has then been implemented in VS2013. (A quick Search Engine check didn't find any official statement wrt. this, so I may be wrong.)

C++/CLI : Why can't I pass Strings by reference?

Why doesn't Microsoft's C++/CLI allow me to pass strings by reference? I received the following error:
C3699: '&': cannot use this indirection on type 'System::String'
First of all, there are really two Microsoft-specific C++ dialects for .NET: the older "Managed C++" (Visual Studio 2002 and 2003) and C++/CLI (Visual Studio 2005 and later).
In C++/CLI, System::String^ is a .NET reference to a string; some authors call this a "tracking pointer" to compare and contrast it with a normal C++ pointer. As in C++, you can pass .NET references "by reference", but instead of using &, you use %, as in:
void makeStr(System::String^ %result) {
result = gcnew System::String("abc");
}
Sounds like you are using Managed C++, which is a bastardised C++ used with the .NET Framework.
in Managed C++, I believe the syntax you are looking for is System::String^. The reason for this is that since managed types are garbage collected by .NET Framework, you aren't allowed to create 'regular' references since the GC needs to track all the references to a specific variable to know when it is safe to free it.
It looks like you are using Managed C++. You should use System::String^ instead.

TitleCase In Visual C++

I'm currently trying to find an easy way to convert a Visual (Managed) C++ string to title case.
In VB.NET, you can use either:
StrConv(sampleString, vbProperCase)
or
sampleString = System.Globalization.CultureInfo.CurrentUICulture.TextInfo.ToTitleCase(sampleString)
In C# you use:
sampleString = System.Globalization.CultureInfo.CurrentUICulture.TextInfo.ToTitleCase(sampleString)
How do I do it in Visual C++? Is it something similar that I just can't seem to find?
Check the documentation on TextInfo.ToTitleCase it has examples for Managed C++
If you're talking about managed C++, you can use the same functions as in C#/VB.Net.
If you mean native C++, then:
Pretty certain there's nothing of the sort in the language itself.
AFAIK not in the Win32 API as well.
Your best hope then is to find such a function in some library (I personally can't think of one).

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