Available Preprocessor Directives

#define: Used to define the compilation identifier, such as the INTEGRATE_

TESTS identifier used in this chapter’s example. You would define this

at the top of a source code file to activate conditional preprocessor

statements used throughout the source code file. Using a #define

directive does not span multiple source code files.

#undef: Used to undefine an identifier. You would use #undef if you wanted

to change a global setting. Let’s say that an identifier is set globally,

but for a particular source code file, you want the behavior as if the

identifier were not set. In that case, you use #undef. Another way to

achieve this behavior is to use the ! character in front of the identifier.

#if and #endif: Used to conditionally include or not include a piece of source code.You would use a conditional directive whenever you wanted to define

source code configurations, such as for debug or production builds.

#elif: Instead of a single #if block, you could have multiple tests for code

inclusion. You would use #elif when you have more than a single

preprocessor directive, such as for debug, production, and performance

builds.

#else: A default code block that is included if the other #if statements did

not trigger.

#region and #endregion: These have absolutely nothing to do with the compilation of the source code. They are used by Visual Studio to create regions of source code that can be “folded.” Folding means to collapse a block of code

out of sight temporarily. Source code files can become long, and constantly

paging up and down becomes tedious. By folding the code,

you are reducing the amount of times that you need to page up and

down, even though the code still exists.