Display message in windows dialogue box using "cout" - C++

Question

Can a windows message box be display using the cout syntax?

I also need the command prompt window to be suppressed / hidden.

There are ways to call the messagebox function and display text through its usage, but the main constraint here is that cout syntax must be used.

cout <<  "message";

I was thinking of invoking the VB msgbox command in the cout output, but couldn't find anything that worked.

Any ideas?

Answer 1

First thing you should take into account is that MessageBox stops the thread until you close the window. If that is the behavior you desire, go ahead.

You can create a custom streambuf and set it to std::cout:

#include <windows.h>
#include <sstream>
#include <iostream>

namespace {
    class mb_streambuf : public std::stringbuf {
        virtual ~mb_streambuf() { if (str().size() > 0) sync(); }
        virtual int sync() {
            MessageBoxA(0, str().c_str(), "", MB_OK);
            str("");
            return 0;
        }
    } mb_buf;

    struct static_initializer {
        static_initializer() { 
            std::cout.rdbuf(&mb_buf); 
        }
    } cout_buffer_switch;
}

int main()
{
    std::cout << "Hello \nworld!"; // Will show a popup
}

A popup will be shown whenever std::cout stream is flushed.