Exit Code (0x2) from Dialog Based Apps

Justin Cooke

Greetings, I have been using dialog based MFC apps for a while and just noticed that, at least in my applications, the exit codes aren't always 0 (even when things seem to be working correctly otherwise.) If I run any of my dialog apps from the debugger in VS 6.0, and I then close the app with either System->Close, Alt-F4, or the 'X', I see the following messages: The thread 0xBF4 has exited with code 2 (0x2). The program 'C:\Documents and Settings\justin.cooke\My Documents\MyProjects\randomNumGen\Debug\randomNumGen.exe' has exited with code 2 (0x2). If I instead close it with the OK or Cancel buttons, the exit codes are 0, as expected. What's going on? Does the 2 code just indicate how the app was closed? I was always under the impression that a code other than 0 indicated an error. I tried to find a list of what these codes mean in MSDN and online, but had no luck. Thanks, Justin

David Crow

Justin Cooke wrote: I was always under the impression that a code other than 0 indicated an error. That's a hold-over from the DOS days. Read the docs for CDialog::EndDialog().

"The pointy end goes in the other man." - Antonio Banderas (Zorro, 1998)

Justin Cooke

OK. I've already taken a look at that info. I understand any int can be returned. How do I know what 2 means? In this case, I'm guessing it just means OnClose was called, but how do I know for sure? Is there a list of return codes somewhere? When I'm running with the debugger and I see nonzero codes, how can I tell if they indicate errors? Thanks for your help, Justin

David Crow

Look in winuser.h, about 3/4 of the way down.

"The pointy end goes in the other man." - Antonio Banderas (Zorro, 1998)

Michael Dunn

Thread and process exit codes have no inherent meaning, the code is just a DWORD that can be used for any purpose. As the other poster said, not every app will exit with 0; and if you see a nonzero exit code it doesn't imply an error happened. --Mike-- Personal stuff:: Ericahist | Homepage Shareware stuff:: 1ClickPicGrabber | RightClick-Encrypt CP stuff:: CP SearchBar v2.0.2 | C++ Forum FAQ ---- You cannot truly appreciate Dilbert unless you've read it in the original Klingon.

Justin Cooke

OK. Thanks for the info guys. I'll just stop wondering what a nonzero return means, unless I have another reason to suspect a problem. Thanks Again, Justin