Visual Studio not creating .exe for C++ Program.

Question

Visual Studio not creating .exe for C++ Program. As a student, I have Visual Studio 2022 Preview. I installed it just yesterday and have the workloads,

1. ASP.NET and Web Development
2. Node.js development
3. .NET Desktop Development
4. Desktop Development with C++
5. Universal Windows Platform Development

I am writing the programs strictly following the rules gives in my book. It worked in Turbo C++ but it is not working here. Please help me if there are any settings I need to do (I have not changed any settings) or I require more workloads and maybe some workloads need to be left out. Please help as soon as possible as I require it immediately.

Answer 1

Some observations:

(1) As already mentioned by others, your source file must be
part of the project being built. If you haven't done that then
a Build/Rebuild may show success from the build as it will have
built an empty project (minus your source code.)

(2) If there are any missing parts of a build - such as occurs
when there are compile or link errors or no code provided - then
no exe will get created. So naturally you will get an error
when you try to Run it - there isn't any exe to run.

(3) Avoid using Run or Run without debugging when learning
how to use VS - it just creates confusion as most starters
often only look at the end result - the last error message
received - and fail to check the earlier messages from the
build which show where the problems began. Always do a Build
or Rebuild first, and only use Run/Run without debugging when
all build errors (and preferably all warnings as well) have
been corrected.

(4) You mention Turbo C++ and the code you posted would
be common for very old versions of Turbo C++. But the C++
language has changed significantly since your examples
(and book) were created. The code you posted will not
compile without error in VC++ or any other compilers
from the past decade or two.

Specifics;

#include <iostream.h>

is no longer correct as all C++ headers have had the
.h extension removed. The correct form now is:

#include <iostream>

Also:

cout << "Hello...";

The streams are now in the std namespace, so that must be
specified for cout, cin, etc.

std::cout << "Hello...";

There are alternative ways to specify the namespace such as:

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;

int main()
{
    cout << "Hello...";
}

OR

#include <iostream>

using std::cout;

int main()
{
    cout << "Hello...";
}

Note that main should always return an int, as prescribed by
the C++ Standard. Some compilers will still accept void main()
but it should be avoided.

If you are using a book published 20+ years ago then you
really need to use a much more current text.

• Wayne

Answer 2

I don't have VS 2022, but with 2019, you can just follow MSDN tutorials, like :
Walkthrough: Creating a Standard C++ Program (C++)