Includes stdafx.h winsock2 redefinition errors

Question

When I include winsock2.h, I get about 60 redefinition errors. I hunted around a bit a found some advice to include winsock2.h b4 including windows.h. I did that and that cleared up the errors. My problem and question concerns exactly how I should go about doing this. I did not explicitly include windows.h, it was done for me in stdafx.h or stdafx.cpp.

I added the include winsock2.h immediately b4 the include Windows.h in stdafx.h. Is this the right way to go about this or is there a better way?

Judging by a comment in program_name.rc I gather the windows.h include in stdafx.h may have been placed there as a result of some option or configuration parameter but I was unable to find this reference. Is there some way to specify what files are included in stdafx.h?

BTW, WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN was defined b4 calling windows.h in stdafx.h.

I am using Visual c++ 6.0 and 'Windows Server 2003 PSDK' The program is straight c++, no mfc, no net, just plain vanilla.

Answer 1

That should work okay. If you look in winsock2.h, you can see that it includes windows.h if it hasn't already been included.

Answer 2

You can put pretty much whatever you want into stdafx.h. It's certainly fine to add your #include for winsock2.h before the windows.h. I'd move the WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN header so that it's defined before you include any other headers:

#define WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN
#include <winsock2.h>
#include <windows.h>

stdafx.h is a horrendous name for the precompiled header. I have no idea why Visual Studio still uses this for all the autogenerated projects. It gives the precompiled header an undeserved air of mystery. In my projects I usually set up the precompiled header to use 'precompiled.h' and 'precompiled.cpp'.

Noel Llopis has a great article on precompiled headers - 'The Care and Feeding of Precompiled Headers' if you want a bit more background info on what's going on here.