VS2010 Many errors when including standard libraries

Question

When I include the standard library in my VS2010 project, I get TON of such errors (these errors were related to adding to shellapi.h ). I get similar errors when adding something like Windows.h or Wininet.h or something like that.

1>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\include\ShellAPI.h(56): error C2065: 'HDROP' : undeclared identifier 1>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\include\ShellAPI.h(56): error C4430: missing type specifier - int assumed. Note: C++ does not support default-int 1>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\include\ShellAPI.h(59): error C2144: syntax error : 'int' should be preceded by ';' 1>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\include\ShellAPI.h(59): error C4430: missing type specifier - int assumed. Note: C++ does not support default-int 1>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\include\ShellAPI.h(59): error C2146: syntax error : missing ';' before identifier 'STDAPICALLTYPE' 1>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\include\ShellAPI.h(59): error C4430: missing type specifier - int assumed. Note: C++ does not support default-int 1>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\include\ShellAPI.h(59): error C2146: syntax error : missing ';' before identifier 'DragQueryFileA' 1>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\include\ShellAPI.h(59): error C4430: missing type specifier - int assumed. Note: C++ does not support default-int 1>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\include\ShellAPI.h(59): error C2065: 'HDROP' : undeclared identifier 1>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\include\ShellAPI.h(59): error C2146: syntax error : missing ')' before identifier 'hDrop' 1>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\include\ShellAPI.h(59): error C4430: missing type specifier - int assumed. Note: C++ does not support default-int 1>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\include\ShellAPI.h(59): error C2059: syntax error : ')' 1>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\include\ShellAPI.h(61): error C2144: syntax error : 'int' should be preceded by ';' 1>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\include\ShellAPI.h(61): error C4430: missing type specifier - int assumed. Note: C++ does not support default-int 1>C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Windows\v7.0A\include\ShellAPI.h(61): error C2086: 'int EXTERN_C' : redefinition 

I am sure that this is just what is involved in setting up the project, but I have no idea which setting I need to change. Where to begin?

UPDATE

The solution was to download the windows.h download first. I did not know that it depended on this. For future reference, where should I have looked at this addiction?

Answer 1

This happens when one of your inclusions is broken, then you include the standard header, because your syntax error continues directly. For example, if you forgot the gender, then include a different heading, this heading will report syntax errors. For this reason, you should always include clean headers, such as system headers, and then your own headers.

Answer 2

I got these exact errors when adding

 #include <shellapi.h> 

to one of my files. I solved the problem by adding

 #include <windows.h> 

just before that.

(You need to love - or rather, hate - Windows headers that don't have #include headers that they themselves require. If I did this in my own code, I would scream my superiors!)