How to remove scrollbars in console windows C++

Question

I have been checking out some Rogue like games (Larn, Rogue, etc) that are written in C and C++, and I have noticed that they do not have the scrollbars to the right of the console window.

How can I accomplish this same feature?

Answer 1

To remove the scrollbar, simply set the screen buffer height to be the same size as the height of the window:

#include <windows.h>
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main()
{                
    // get handle to the console window
    HANDLE hOut = GetStdHandle(STD_OUTPUT_HANDLE);

    // retrieve screen buffer info
    CONSOLE_SCREEN_BUFFER_INFO scrBufferInfo;
    GetConsoleScreenBufferInfo(hOut, &scrBufferInfo);

    // current window size
    short winWidth = scrBufferInfo.srWindow.Right - scrBufferInfo.srWindow.Left + 1;
    short winHeight = scrBufferInfo.srWindow.Bottom - scrBufferInfo.srWindow.Top + 1;

    // current screen buffer size
    short scrBufferWidth = scrBufferInfo.dwSize.X;
    short scrBufferHeight = scrBufferInfo.dwSize.Y;        

    // to remove the scrollbar, make sure the window height matches the screen buffer height
    COORD newSize;
    newSize.X = scrBufferWidth;
    newSize.Y = winHeight;

    // set the new screen buffer dimensions
    int Status = SetConsoleScreenBufferSize(hOut, newSize);
    if (Status == 0)
    {
        cout << "SetConsoleScreenBufferSize() failed! Reason : " << GetLastError() << endl;
        exit(Status);
    }

    // print the current screen buffer dimensions
    GetConsoleScreenBufferInfo(hOut, &scrBufferInfo);
    cout << "Screen Buffer Size : " << scrBufferInfo.dwSize.X << " x " << scrBufferInfo.dwSize.Y << endl;

    return 0;
}

Answer 2

You need to make the console screen buffer the same size as the console window. Get the window size with GetConsoleScreenBufferInfo, srWindow member. Set the buffer size with SetConsoleScreenBufferSize().

Answer 3

Using #include <winuser.h>, you can simply do

ShowScrollBar(GetConsoleWindow(), SB_VERT, 0);

You can specify which scroll bar to hide using different parameters.