Troubleshooting a C++ Program: Result Window Not Staying Up Long Enough

[Heisenberg.]

I have been creating simple programs from the hello world one to simple math and loops - all of a sudden when I went to practice more today my programs would be completed but the window showing the result would pop up and almost instantaneously close itself - in the end I can't see the result, here is a simple example where code seems fine no errors are shown but the result window is not staying up long enough:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main ()
{
int a, b;
int result;

a=5;
b=3;
result=a+b;

cout << result;

return 0;
}

I am new to c++, so I have no idea where to even look to fix this problem - it seems like the result window is not staying up long enough - any ideas? and please inform me if I am not being clear enough

 

[Niles]

Add #include <conio.h> and use 'getch();' right before 'return 0;'. getch() waits for a character to be entered (and returns the value of it).

 

[Heisenberg.]

hm conio.h ? but I did apply the getch and the same issue occured

 

[Niles]

I added the two lines. Now it should work.

#include <iostream>
#include <conio.h> // I added this

using namespace std;

int main ()
{
int a, b;
int result;

a=5;
b=3;
result=a+b;

cout << result;getch(); // I also added this

return 0;
}

 

[Heisenberg.]

awesome, it worked, Thank You! my question is why is neither the website I am using nor the book I have include that bit?

 

[Niles]

I don't know, but I think it is because it is not "proper" C++ to do it this way. getch(); is a command which returns the value of the next character to be typed, which is why it exits when a new character is typed in. It just happens to give us what we want, i.e. time to see the result of our code.

Good luck.

 

[Borek]

OS? IDE?

Under Visual Studio what happens depends on whether you run your program using F5 or Ctrl-F5. I never remember which one is which - but one stops displaying the window after the execution ended and waits for anykey. And it has nothing to do with C or C++.

 

[Mark44]

If you run your original program in a command prompt, it should work as expected. OTOH, if you run your program in an IDE such as Visual Studio, the IDE will open a separate command window, display the result, and then close.

 

[Niles]

OS? IDE?

Under Visual Studio what happens depends on whether you run your program using F5 or Ctrl-F5. I never remember which one is which - but one stops displaying the window after the execution ended and waits for anykey. And it has nothing to do with C or C++.

It is Ctrl-F5, which pauses.

And I did not say it has anything to do with C or C++, but that the reason why my suggestion is not mentioned in a book is because it is bad practice.