Console output in a Qt GUI app? - c++

I have a Qt GUI application running on Windows that allows command-line options to be passed and under some circumstances I want to output a message to the console and then quit, for example:
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
QApplication a(argc, argv);
if (someCommandLineParam)
{
std::cout << "Hello, world!";
return 0;
}
MainWindow w;
w.show();
return a.exec();
}
However, the console messages do not appear when I run the app from a command-prompt. Does anyone know how I can get this to work?

Windows does not really support dual mode applications.
To see console output you need to create a console application
CONFIG += console
However, if you double click on the program to start the GUI mode version then you will get a console window appearing, which is probably not what you want. To prevent the console window appearing you have to create a GUI mode application in which case you get no output in the console.
One idea may be to create a second small application which is a console application and provides the output. This can call the second one to do the work.
Or you could put all the functionality in a DLL then create two versions of the .exe file which have very simple main functions which call into the DLL. One is for the GUI and one is for the console.

Add:
#ifdef _WIN32
if (AttachConsole(ATTACH_PARENT_PROCESS)) {
freopen("CONOUT$", "w", stdout);
freopen("CONOUT$", "w", stderr);
}
#endif
at the top of main(). This will enable output to the console only if the program is started in a console, and won't pop up a console window in other situations. If you want to create a console window to display messages when you run the app outside a console you can change the condition to:
if (AttachConsole(ATTACH_PARENT_PROCESS) || AllocConsole())

void Console()
{
AllocConsole();
FILE *pFileCon = NULL;
pFileCon = freopen("CONOUT$", "w", stdout);
COORD coordInfo;
coordInfo.X = 130;
coordInfo.Y = 9000;
SetConsoleScreenBufferSize(GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE), coordInfo);
SetConsoleMode(GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE),ENABLE_QUICK_EDIT_MODE| ENABLE_EXTENDED_FLAGS);
}
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
Console();
std::cout<<"start##";
qDebug()<<"start!";
You can't use std::cout as others have said,my way is perfect even for some code can't include "qdebug" !

So many answers to this topic. 0.0
So I tried it with Qt5.x from Win7 to Win10. It took me some hours to have a good working solution which doesn't produce any problems somewhere in the chain:
#include "mainwindow.h"
#include <QApplication>
#include <windows.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <iostream>
//
// Add to project file:
// CONFIG += console
//
int main( int argc, char *argv[] )
{
if( argc < 2 )
{
#if defined( Q_OS_WIN )
::ShowWindow( ::GetConsoleWindow(), SW_HIDE ); //hide console window
#endif
QApplication a( argc, argv );
MainWindow *w = new MainWindow;
w->show();
int e = a.exec();
delete w; //needed to execute deconstructor
exit( e ); //needed to exit the hidden console
return e;
}
else
{
QCoreApplication a( argc, argv );
std::string g;
std::cout << "Enter name: ";
std::cin >> g;
std::cout << "Name is: " << g << std::endl;
exit( 0 );
return a.exec();
}
}
I tried it also without the "CONFIG += console", but then you need to redirect the streams and create the console on your own:
#ifdef _WIN32
if (AttachConsole(ATTACH_PARENT_PROCESS) || AllocConsole()){
freopen("CONOUT$", "w", stdout);
freopen("CONOUT$", "w", stderr);
freopen("CONIN$", "r", stdin);
}
#endif
BUT this only works if you start it through a debugger, otherwise all inputs are directed towards the system too. Means, if you type a name via std::cin the system tries to execute the name as a command. (very strange)
Two other warnings to this attempt would be, that you can't use ::FreeConsole() it won't close it and if you start it through a console the app won't close.
Last there is a Qt help section in QApplication to this topic. I tried the example there with an application and it doesn't work for the GUI, it stucked somewhere in an endless loop and the GUI won't be rendered or it simply crashes:
QCoreApplication* createApplication(int &argc, char *argv[])
{
for (int i = 1; i < argc; ++i)
if (!qstrcmp(argv[i], "-no-gui"))
return new QCoreApplication(argc, argv);
return new QApplication(argc, argv);
}
int main(int argc, char* argv[])
{
QScopedPointer<QCoreApplication> app(createApplication(argc, argv));
if (qobject_cast<QApplication *>(app.data())) {
// start GUI version...
} else {
// start non-GUI version...
}
return app->exec();
}
So if you are using Windows and Qt simply use the console option, hide the console if you need the GUI and close it via exit.

No way to output a message to console when using QT += gui.
fprintf(stderr, ...) also can't print output.
Use QMessageBox instead to show the message.

Oh you can Output a message when using QT += gui and CONFIG += console.
You need printf("foo bar") but cout << "foo bar" doesn't works

Something you may want to investigate, at least for windows, is the AllocConsole() function in the windows api. It calls GetStdHandle a few times to redirect stdout, stderr, etc. (A quick test shows this doesn't entirely do what we want it to do. You do get a console window opened alongside your other Qt stuff, but you can't output to it. Presumably, because the console window is open, there is some way to access it, get a handle to it, or access and manipulate it somehow. Here's the MSDN documentation for those interested in figuring this out:
AllocConsole():
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms681944%28v=vs.85%29.aspx
GetStdHandle(...):
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/ms683231%28v=vs.85%29.aspx
(I'd add this as a comment, but the rules prevent me from doing so...)

I used this header below for my projects. Hope it helps.
#ifndef __DEBUG__H
#define __DEBUG__H
#include <QtGui>
static void myMessageOutput(bool debug, QtMsgType type, const QString & msg) {
if (!debug) return;
QDateTime dateTime = QDateTime::currentDateTime();
QString dateString = dateTime.toString("yyyy.MM.dd hh:mm:ss:zzz");
switch (type) {
case QtDebugMsg:
fprintf(stderr, "Debug: %s\n", msg.toAscii().data());
break;
case QtWarningMsg:
fprintf(stderr, "Warning: %s\n", msg.toAscii().data());
break;
case QtCriticalMsg:
fprintf(stderr, "Critical: %s\n", msg.toAscii().data());
break;
case QtFatalMsg:
fprintf(stderr, "Fatal: %s\n", msg.toAscii().data());
abort();
}
}
#endif
PS: you could add dateString to output if you want in future.

First of all, why would you need to output to console in a release mode build? Nobody will think to look there when there's a gui...
Second, qDebug is fancy :)
Third, you can try adding console to your .pro's CONFIG, it might work.

In your .pro add
CONFIG += console

It may have been an oversight of other answers, or perhaps it is a requirement of the user to indeed need console output, but the obvious answer to me is to create a secondary window that can be shown or hidden (with a checkbox or button) that shows all messages by appending lines of text to a text box widget and use that as a console?
The benefits of such a solution are:
A simple solution (providing all it displays is a simple log).
The ability to dock the 'console' widget onto the main application window. (In Qt, anyhow).
The ability to create many consoles (if more than 1 thread, etc).
A pretty easy change from local console output to sending log over network to a client.
Hope this gives you food for thought, although I am not in any way yet qualified to postulate on how you should do this, I can imagine it is something very achievable by any one of us with a little searching / reading!

Make sure Qt5Core.dll is in the same directory with your application executable.
I had a similar issue in Qt5 with a console application:
if I start the application from Qt Creator, the output text is visible,
if I open cmd.exe and start the same application there, no output is visible.
Very strange!
I solved it by copying Qt5Core.dll to the directory with the application executable.
Here is my tiny console application:
#include <QCoreApplication>
#include <QDebug>
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
int x=343;
QString str("Hello World");
qDebug()<< str << x<<"lalalaa";
QTextStream out(stdout);
out << "aldfjals alsdfajs...";
}

I also played with this, discovering that redirecting output worked, but I never saw output to the console window, which is present for every windows application. This is my solution so far, until I find a Qt replacement for ShowWindow and GetConsoleWindow.
Run this from a command prompt without parameters - get the window. Run from command prompt with parameters (eg. cmd aaa bbb ccc) - you get the text output on the command prompt window - just as you would expect for any Windows console app.
Please excuse the lame example - it represents about 30 minutes of tinkering.
#include "mainwindow.h"
#include <QTextStream>
#include <QCoreApplication>
#include <QApplication>
#include <QWidget>
#include <windows.h>
QT_USE_NAMESPACE
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
if (argc > 1) {
// User has specified command-line arguments
QCoreApplication a(argc, argv);
QTextStream out(stdout);
int i;
ShowWindow (GetConsoleWindow(),SW_NORMAL);
for (i=1; i<argc; i++)
out << i << ':' << argv [i] << endl;
out << endl << "Hello, World" << endl;
out << "Application Directory Path:" << a.applicationDirPath() << endl;
out << "Application File Path:" << a.applicationFilePath() << endl;
MessageBox (0,(LPCWSTR)"Continue?",(LPCWSTR)"Silly Question",MB_YESNO);
return 0;
} else {
QApplication a(argc, argv);
MainWindow w;
w.setWindowTitle("Simple example");
w.show();
return a.exec();
}
}

After a rather long struggle with exactly the same problem I found that simply
CONFIG += console
really does the trick. It won't work until you explicitly tell QtCreator to execute qmake on the project (right click on project) AND change something inside the source file, then rebuild. Otherwise compilation is skipped and you still won't see the output on the command line.
Now my program works in both GUI and cmd line mode.

One solution is to run powershell and redirect the output to whatever stream you want.
Below is an example of running powershell from cmd.exe and redirecting my_exec.exe output to both the console and an output.txt file:
powershell ".\my_exec.exe | tee output.txt"
An example (from cmd.exe) which holds open stdout/stderr and doesn't require tee or a temporary file:
my_exec.exe > NUL 2>&1

Easy
Step1: Create new project. Go File->New File or Project --> Other Project -->Empty Project
Step2: Use the below code.
In .pro file
QT +=widgets
CONFIG += console
TARGET = minimal
SOURCES += \ main.cpp
Step3: Create main.cpp and copy the below code.
#include <QApplication>
#include <QtCore>
using namespace std;
QTextStream in(stdin);
QTextStream out(stdout);
int main(int argc, char *argv[]){
QApplication app(argc,argv);
qDebug() << "Please enter some text over here: " << endl;
out.flush();
QString input;
input = in.readLine();
out << "The input is " << input << endl;
return app.exec();
}
I created necessary objects in the code for your understanding.
Just Run It
If you want your program to get multiple inputs with some conditions. Then past the below code in Main.cpp
#include <QApplication>
#include <QtCore>
using namespace std;
QTextStream in(stdin);
QTextStream out(stdout);
int main(int argc, char *argv[]){
QApplication app(argc,argv);
qDebug() << "Please enter some text over here: " << endl;
out.flush();
QString input;
do{
input = in.readLine();
if(input.size()==6){
out << "The input is " << input << endl;
}
else
{
qDebug("Not the exact input man");
}
}while(!input.size()==0);
qDebug(" WE ARE AT THE END");
// endif
return app.exec();
} // end main
Hope it educates you.
Good day,

First of all you can try flushing the buffer
std::cout << "Hello, world!"<<std::endl;
For more Qt based logging you can try using qDebug.

Related

qt memory issues with camerainfo and combobox.currentText()

I am trying to grab the names of webcams plugged into my computer and shove them into a combobox, then access the name later. Here is my code:
#include <QApplication>
#include <QComboBox>
#include <QCameraInfo>
#include <iostream>
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
QApplication app{ argc, argv };
QComboBox combo;
QList<QCameraInfo> info = QCameraInfo::availableCameras();
foreach(QCameraInfo i, info)
combo.addItem(i.description());
combo.show();
std::cout << combo.currentText().toStdString() << std::endl;
return app.exec();
}
The code creates and shows a combo box that has the name of a webcam that I have plugged in to the computer. It will then toss me an access violation exception in trying to print the combo box string to the console.
If I comment the cout line out, all is well, but on exit I get a Debug Assertion Failed! message:
Expression: _BLOCK_TYPE_IS_VALID(pHead->nBlockUse)
which I take to mean I am deleting an object that has been deleted (the QString in the combobox???).
If I change the code to fill the combo box with dummies:
#include <QApplication>
#include <QComboBox>
#include <QCameraInfo>
#include <iostream>
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
QApplication app{ argc, argv };
for(int i=0; i<2; i++)
combo.addItem(QString("la la la");
combo.show();
std::cout << combo.currentText().toStdString() << std::endl;
return app.exec();
}
I get the same error on the cout, but if I comment that line out, the application exits correctly. I am using Visual Studio 2013, Windows 7, and Qt5.
Now it works. I kept the same source code, but completely scrapped the existing project and started a new one from scratch.
I've discovered that if I set the Runtime Library flag to Multi-Threaded DLL Debug, I will get access violation errors. If I set it to Multi-Threaded DLL, it is fine.
There may have been some other project settings that contributed, but this seems to be the main culprit.

c++ gui button output

i have a few questions regarding the gui of cplusplus using Qt creator
well i output an array using a forloop when user's choice is for example "1"
so in qt i created a button for that and i linked it with another window
so when i press on the button it opens another window
now i want to add the output of the forloop into this window
should i include iostream in the new window's .cpp file?
or what should i enter exactly?
in the mainwindow.cpp file here is the code i used to open a new window
void MainWindow::on_pushButton_clicked()
{
movies movies;
movies.setModal(true);
movies.exec();
}
thanks.
You should add a QTextEdit to your window (can be done via Qdesigner). And give this object a name e.g. Textout. Then in the code you should get a pointer to this object through your ui object. And you can use one of many methods to set the text of this object. setText is one option
ui->Textout->setText(Your_output_as_qstring)
Your can use QTextStream to format your text if necessary. Formating can be done with QString as well.
example:
#include <sstream>
#include <QLabel>
#include <QApplication>
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
std::stringstream ss;
for (auto s: {"first line", "second line"})
ss << s << std::endl;
QApplication a(argc, argv);
QLabel l;
l.setText(ss.str().c_str());
l.show();
return a.exec();
}

How to print unicode characters using Qt?

I'm trying to do something very simple, I just want to print my native language, pt-br in Windows Console.
IDE Creator
I created a new project->other->Qt Console Application the I put it in my main.cpp file:
#include <QCoreApplication>
#include <QDebug>
#include <QTextCodec>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
QCoreApplication a(argc, argv);
qDebug() << "aeiou áéíóú";
std::cout << "aeiou áéíóú" << endl;
return 0;
}
here is what I got:
C:\Users\maiko.costa\testeQtConsole\debug>testeQtConsole.exe
aeiou ßÚݾ·
aeiou ßÚݾ·
C:\Users\maiko.costa\testeQtConsole\debug>
I've tried it too, but with the same previous output:
#include <QCoreApplication>
#include <QDebug>
#include <QTextCodec>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
QCoreApplication a(argc, argv);
QTextCodec *codec = QTextCodec::codecForName("CP1252");
QTextCodec::setCodecForCStrings(codec);
qDebug() << "aeiou áéíóú";
std::cout << "aeiou áéíóú" << endl;
return 0;
}
The System encode for Windows 7 is it right ?
what am I missing ?
I am not that familiar with QT but I think this can help you just as well. The Windows console uses the OEM char set. Therefore, in order to properly print characters on std::cout they need to be encoded using OEM. This can be accomplished using the Windows API CharToOem.
Small example, just so you get the idea (here input is assumed to be UTF16):
void oemPrint(const wchar_t* str) {
char* chars = (char*)alloca(strlen(str)+1);
CharToOemW(str, chars);
fputs(chars, stdout);
}
// Usage:
oemPrint(L"aeiou áéíóú");
EDIT: A QT solution might be to use QTextCodec::codecForName("IBM 850") - this is the OEM codec.
I find the solution in this thread. Output unicode strings in Windows console app
If I ran chcp 65001 in windows console before I ran my app the characters are printed correctly.
I don't know how to workaround it in my source code, then I call this program manually with the start cpp function.
Here is the return line of function I wrote that displays passwords as ● ● ● ● ●
return QString::fromUtf8( "\u25CF \u25CF \u25CF \u25CF \u25CF" );
QString::fromUnicode should work the same.
Maybe something like:
QString x = QString::fromUtf8( "\u25CF \u25CF \u25CF \u25CF \u25CF" );
std::cout << qPrintable(x) << std::endl;
Of course change it to QString::fromUnicode... hope this helps
QString a="aeiou áéíóú";
std::cout<< a.toStdString().data();

cout does no print in QtCreator

I saw this question already on this forum but I do not know why the proposed answer does not work in my case. So I try to ask for other slution.
I just got my Qt creator running under Linux.
I do not understand why my:
cout << "This does not appear";
Does not print in console while qdebug does
qDebug() << "This appears";
This is what is contained in my .pro file:
QT += core gui
TARGET = aaa
TEMPLATE = app
SOURCES += main.cpp\
mainwindow.cpp \
IeplcModule.cpp
HEADERS += mainwindow.h \
IeplcModule.h
FORMS += mainwindow.ui
#enable console
CONFIG += console
Any idea?
Try with:
cout << "asdf" << endl;
Possibly Qt sets up iostream in order to flush only at new line.
When debugging with CDB (Windows debugger) and running application not in the dedicated terminal window, but within QtCreator output panel, there is an issue with std::cout/std::cerr.
qDebug works because it has a trick for this case.
So, the only solution in this case is enable the "run in terminal" option.
For more infor please follow the link above to the Qt bug tracker.
Is it possible that STDOUT is redirecting? qDebug prints to STDERR by default.
Did you #include <iostream>? I did not see any includes in the code.
I assume that qdebug and cout are very similar.
Make sure you have console config enabled in your .pro file. I.e. :
CONFIG += console
You can run this program from CMD and it will print some messages to the console:
/* Create a .pro file with this content:
QT += core gui widgets
SOURCES += main.cpp
TARGET = app
-------------------------------
Build and run commands for CMD:
> qmake -makefile
> mingw32-make
> "release/app"
*/
#ifdef _WIN32
#include <windows.h>
#endif
#include <QtCore/QFile>
#include <QtCore/QString>
#include <QtCore/QIODevice>
#include <QtWidgets/QApplication>
#include <QtWidgets/QWidget>
#include <iostream>
class Widget : public QWidget
{
public:
Widget()
{
setWindowTitle("My Title");
QString path("assets/text.txt");
std::cout << std::endl;
std::cout << "hello1" << std::endl;
std::cout << path.toStdString() << std::endl;
std::cout << "hello2" << std::endl;
}
};
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
#ifdef _WIN32
if (AttachConsole(ATTACH_PARENT_PROCESS))
{
freopen("CONOUT$", "w", stdout);
freopen("CONOUT$", "w", stderr);
}
#endif
QApplication app(argc, argv);
Widget w;
w.show();
return app.exec();
}

Newbie problem with QT C++ - Qimage dont work?

I am trying to do console application to read pixels from image:
#include <QtCore/QCoreApplication>
#include <QtGui/QImage>
#include <iostream>
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
QCoreApplication a(argc, argv);
QImage *img = new QImage("adadad.jpg");
//std::cout << "Type filename:" << std::endl;
img->isNull();
return a.exec();
}
That doesn't work I got: (IT doesn't compile, but anyway file isn't exist yet...)
File not found: tmp/obj/debug_shared/main.o:: In function `main':
What is going on? Is it impossible to use Qimage with console app?!
EDIT:
screen
It is possible to use QImage in a console application, you must make sure that QtGui is configured though. If you chose a console app, your .pro file might contain something like
CONFIG += console
QT -= gui
If that's the case, remove the QT -= gui line.
QImage("adadad.jpg");
Will probably look for a file called adadad.jpg on the current working directory for your application. Check if that file is present. Otherwise, use a fully qualified path.
img->isNull() doesn't do anything on it's own, try this instead:
if(img->isNull())
std::cout << "Image isNull!\n";
else
std::cout << "Image loaded\n";
My guess is that the local directory of the executable is not the same as the location of that image, so Qt can't find the file. Try specifying the complete path.
EDIT: Ahh... didn't realize it was a compilation problem. That looks suspiciously like a moc issue. What build system are you using? and can you confirm that the moc step is executing?
This modification of your code will compile and run as expected if there is a valid image file in the current working directory when you run the app. It will display Image loaded
#include <QtGui/QImage>
#include <iostream>
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
QImage *img = new QImage("adadad.jpg");
if(img->isNull())
std::cout << "Image is null";
else
std::cout << "Image loaded";
return 0;
}
You do not need to create an instance of QCoreApplication unless you have subclassed it and put your program code in that subclass.
Update:
Your program does not exit so you are probably getting that compile error because it can't replace the executable because it is still running (and locked). The file locking is more likely to be an issue under Windows.
An important note when you are loading a file using directly "adadad.jpg" in your code. Even if you put the file inside the debug/release folder, QImage will always be null if loaded this way.
I run into this problem yesterday and I fixed it by using the Qt library to get the full path: QCoreApplication::applicationDirPath().
There is two way to achieve that, first one is when you create the img object.
QImage img( QCoreApplication::applicationDirPath() + "adadad.jpg");
if( img.isNull())
{
qDebug() << "Loading Error - file: adadad.jpg.";
return false;
}
or using the load function
QImage img;
if( !img.load(QCoreApplication::applicationDirPath() + "adadad.jpg"))
{
qDebug() << "Loading Error - file: adadad.jpg.";
return false;
}