Visual Studio, C++ Opengl

Question

Visual Studio, C++ Opengl

Sid Kraft 46

Using C++ in Visual Studio, want to use the OpenGL software modules to get graphics output. Not sure how to include the library routines in order to do. Sid Kraft

0 comments

2 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

vaibhav jaiswal 0

Use vcpkg.

Sid Kraft 46 Reputation points

2026-06-28T13:14:04.4166667+00:00

Did not answer, new to Visual Studio, many suggestions in this response including "open developer Power Shell"? how, run vcpkg, where? install glfw3 glew where? Please be more concise so I know where to look. Do I do these things in my current project or separately? Sid Kraft

Answer 2

To get OpenGL graphics output in Visual Studio, you need to link three things: the built-in Windows OpenGL driver, a window manager (GLFW), and an extension loader (GLEW).

The quickest way to do this is using Microsoft's package manager, vcpkg.

Step 1: Install & Link Libraries

Open your Developer PowerShell in Visual Studio and run:

vcpkg install glfw3 glew

vcpkg integrate instal

Step 2: Use this Boilerplate Code

Make sure to include <GL/glew.h> before <GLFW/glfw3.h> to avoid compiler errors:

#define GLEW_STATIC

#include <GL/glew.h> // 1. Loader must be first

#include <GLFW/glfw3.h> // 2. Windowing next

int main() {

if (!glfwInit()) return -1;

// Create a window and its OpenGL context

GLFWwindow* window = glfwCreateWindow(640, 480, "OpenGL Window", NULL, NULL);

if (!window) { glfwTerminate(); return -1; }

glfwMakeContextCurrent(window);

// Initialize GLEW (must be done after context creation)

if (glewInit() != GLEW_OK) return -1;

// Main Render Loop

while (!glfwWindowShouldClose(window)) {

    glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT);

    // -- Draw your graphics here --

    glfwSwapBuffers(window);

    glfwPollEvents();

}

glfwTer

minate();

return 0;

}