constructing console type app

[ugly]

I want to construct a console type application that: takes a large array of hard coded strings ie call them str1, str2 , str3 etc. When the program starts I want the strings ouput to a console window sequentially with a variable step period greater of 5 seconds or more between the display of each string.
Other considerations are that as each string appears the previous disappears,such that only one string is displayed at a particular time, I dont want the command prompt to appear or any task or menu bars visible, it just has to be the string in a totally empty console window that occupies the whole of the screen. I will also need a way of exiting the app. I would be most grateful if anyone could help me to construct this. This prog will form the basis for a art project that I am involved in ---ta

 

[PerFnurt]

Hmmm. You are using Visual Studio, yes? Yse the app wizard to create a console app for you.

/Per

_{if (typos) cout << &quot;My fingers are faster than my brain. Sorry for the typos.&quot;;}

 

[obislavu]

There are many solution for that.
One solution is to create two threads:
-one thread will watch if the user press a specific key to exit the application. When this happens the whole console application terminates
-one thread is clearing the output screen and will display the next string with a given delay. This thread will finish when all strings where displayed or a request to exit occured (set by the watching thread).

I put here an ordinary example of the above explanation (two threads) that will display 5 different strings on the console , with a delay between of 5 seconds while all strings are displayed or the user press the q key in order to exit the application.
The both threads and the main program exchange a common structure to pass data at run time.
You should compile and link with one of the multithreaded C run-time libraries.

//#include &quot;stdafx.h&quot;

#include <stdio.h>
#include <conio.h>

#include <process.h>
#include <afxmt.h>
#include <AFXPRIV.H>

long DELAY = 5000L;
struct Param
{
Param(int size)
{
m_bStop = false;
m_Size = size;
};
BOOL m_bStop;
int m_Size;
};


void ThreadRoute1( void* arg )
{
CString sTemp;
int Count =0;
while (Count < ((Param*)arg)->m_Size)
{

system(&quot;cls&quot;
sTemp.Format(&quot;%d: String %d&quot;, GetTickCount(), Count);
Count++;
printf(&quot;%s\n&quot;, sTemp);
Sleep(DELAY);
if (((Param*)arg)->m_bStop )
break;
}
((Param*)arg)->m_bStop = true;
_endthread();

};
void ThreadRoute2(void * arg)
{

int ch;
while (true)
{
ch = _getch();
ch = toupper( ch );
if (ch =='Q')
{
((Param *)arg)->m_bStop = true;
break;
}
}
_endthread();
}
int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
Param *pStruct = new Param(5); // 5 strings
_beginthread( ThreadRoute2, 0, (void*)pStruct );
_beginthread( ThreadRoute1, 0, (void*)pStruct );
while (true)
{
if (pStruct->m_bStop)
break;
Sleep(100L);

}
return 0;
}

Improvments for this example:
Put the code to access the hard and huges strings to be displayed.
Set automatically the m_Size depending on the number of strings.
Get the delay parameter as parameter from the command line

Another solution:

Create two processes that share the same console: one will display the strings and another one will trap the exit action from the user.
Use GenerateConsoleCtrlEvent() to send a specified signal (CTRL+c, CTRL+break) to the both processes


-obislavu-