This browser is no longer supported.
Upgrade to Microsoft Edge to take advantage of the latest features, security updates, and technical support.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(121.6, 48%, 21%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EHF%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
I want my project to use UNICODE char. set. I have 4 project in one solution with projects properties "Character Set" set to "User Unicode Character Set". When I execute the code, an exception is raised in one of MFC file (viewprnt.cpp) one line "ENSURE(pInfo->m_strPageDesc.LoadString(AFX_IDS_PREVIEWPAGEDESC));".
When I go to "LoadString(...)" definition, it's a macro chosing between :
(libloaderapi.h)
LoadStringW should be used as all of my projects are in unicode but it is actually LoadStringA because it seems like UNICODE is not defined. I'm pretty sure this is why the exception is raised.
How can I force MFC to use UNICODE or where should I define UNICODE to be taken into account by MFC. I tried putting it in "StdAfx.h" without success.
![](data:image/svg+xml, %3Csvg xmlns='http://www.w3.org/2000/svg' height='64' class='font-weight-bold' style='font: 600 30.11764705882353px "SegoeUI", Arial' width='64'%3E%3Ccircle fill='hsl(92.8, 12%, 18%)' cx='32' cy='32' r='32' /%3E%3Ctext x='50%25' y='55%25' dominant-baseline='middle' text-anchor='middle' fill='%23FFF' %3EDL%3C/text%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Beware that each individual source file in your project may have its own settings that could override the project specific ones. Select each source file individually and in the Property Pages check the Preprocessor definition settings and check that both _UNICODE and UNICODE are defined for them.
Hello David,
Firstly thanks for a fast answer. I will verify it and let you know what happend.
Cordially
Hello,
So now every .cpp file from main project and its dependencies have the _UNICODE;UNICODE; instruction. But the problem is still there. UNICODE seems to be defined for projects themselves but not in dependencies from MSVC (See attachment). When I visualize libloaderapi.h in solution explorer, UNICODE is defined. When I go to defintion of the fonction LoadString when it is called (viewprnt.cpp -> BOOL CView::DoPreparePrinting(CPrintInfo* pInfo)), I see it as undefined. It actually visually switch from defined to undifined when I go to definition as I already loaded the file from the solution explorer...
Do you have any idea how to force the use of UNICODE is MSVC files ? Thanks
In a debug build the MFC ENSURE macro will assert and then throw an exception if the condition evaluates to false. In a release build ENSURE thows an exception.
Are you linking with MFC statically?
Have you debugged into the MFC source code to determine why the condition evaluated by ENSURE returns false?
What's the code actually calling though if you step into it when debugging it? I wouldn't put much weight behind what the IDE shows you there.
What was the text of the MFC exception that was raised?
A typical resource file (.rc) created by the MFC new application template will include the following -
The inclusion of afxprint.rc provides the resources needed for print preview into your statically linked MFC application. If this is not present, the application will build but will fail at the indicated point because the resources needed for print/print preview are missing.
Perfect ! Everything is in order ! Thanks a million !
You're welcome. Happy to help.
Hello, I misspoke as it is an assertion failure raised by the "ENSURE" call. I'm still trying to find the reason why it returns false by step by steping in MSVC code. As it is a lot of message being dispateched in MESSAGE_MAP, it is pretty tedious. I am indeed using MFC as a static lib. Thanks again for your help.
It actually throws an exception after it 
Exception is apparently displayed by the AfxCallWndProc(...) method