Re: [Mingw-users] Creating a Hidden Console ?

[Brian D. <br...@de...>]

Erdemaal wrote:

> How can I create a hidden console ?
> 
> ??? ShowWindow (ConsoleHandle, SW_Hide)
>    - would it work ?
>    - dont know how to get console handle  (if it has one ???)

You could try:

ShowWindow (GetConsoleWindow (), SW_HIDE);

But note that if you do this on program startup you will get a
brief-but-annoying flash of the console.  I don't know exactly what your
end goal is but if it's to have a GUI program that can also interact
with the console that it was invoked from, then you can compile your app
as GUI (i.e. no console allocated on startup) and then use

AttachConsole (ATTACH_PARENT_PROCESS);

...to attach it to that of the calling process, and if it fails, use
AllocConsole() to create one, in the case of being launched from e.g.
the start menu.  This lets it have console interaction with the flashing
of creating-then-hiding a console.  But unfortunately this API only
exists on Windows XP and later, and you must "#define WINVER WindowsXP"
to use it, and it won't work when run on earlier versions.

See also:
http://windowssdk.msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms686971.aspx
http://windowssdk.msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms682073.aspx

Brian