How to use a console screen from a console application in Visual C++

/* Compile options needed:  None
*/ 

#include <windows.h>
#include <stdio.h>

int main( void )
{
  HANDLE  hConsole;
  WORD    ForeColor = 0;
  WORD    BackColor;
  WORD    wAttributesOld;
  CONSOLE_SCREEN_BUFFER_INFO csbi;

  // **  Open the current console input buffer.
  if( ( hConsole = CreateFile(
                     "CONOUT$", GENERIC_WRITE | GENERIC_READ,
                     FILE_SHARE_READ | FILE_SHARE_WRITE,
                     0L, OPEN_EXISTING, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL, 0L) )
                 == (HANDLE) -1 ) {
      printf("\nError: Unable to open console.\n");
      return( -1 );
  }
  printf("\n");

  // **  Get and Save information on the console screen buffer.
  GetConsoleScreenBufferInfo( hConsole, &csbi );
  wAttributesOld = csbi.wAttributes;

  // **  Display different backgrounds.
  for( BackColor = 0; BackColor < 8 ; BackColor++ ) {
      SetConsoleTextAttribute( hConsole, (WORD) ( (BackColor << 4) |
                               ForeColor) );
      printf(" XxXxXx ");
  }

  // **  Restore the foreground and background color attribute.
  SetConsoleTextAttribute( hConsole, wAttributesOld );
  return 1;
}