Re: Use MFC or SDK - C / C++ / MFC Discussion Boards

Jon Sagara14-Feb-02 15:18

14-Feb-02 15:18

SDK first to understand how Windows works "under the hood." Once you have a grasp of that, then learn MFC, which is a C++ OO wrapper of the Win32 API.

Sorry about the brevity of this response - gotta go see my Valentine! Smile | :)

Jon Sagara

What about ?

Sonork ID: 100.9999 jonsagara

Re: Use MFC or SDK

14-Feb-02 16:26

Ok, that answers one question. But the other is, where do I learn these SDK functions? What is the search term to use? I've crawled the web for about an hour now and I can't find anything. What is a good tutorial that defines all the functions and does a good job explaining everything. Thanks.

Re: Use MFC or SDK

Derek Waters14-Feb-02 17:00

Derek Waters

14-Feb-02 17:00

Try msdn.microsoft.com

------------------------
Derek Waters
derek@lj-oz.com

Re: Use MFC or SDK

Atul Dharne14-Feb-02 17:04

Atul Dharne

14-Feb-02 17:04

Anonymous wrote:
But the other is, where do I learn these SDK functions?

The Win32 programming bible "Programming Windows" by Charles Petzold covers Win32 SDK.
There is a good tutorial at Relisoft
Happy Windows Programming!!

Atul

Sonork 100.13714 netdiva

Re: Use MFC or SDK

Jon Sagara14-Feb-02 17:13

Jon Sagara

14-Feb-02 17:13

Here is a tutorial:

http://www.winprog.org/tutorial

Jon Sagara

What about ?

Sonork ID: 100.9999 jonsagara

Re: Use MFC or SDK

Nish Nishant14-Feb-02 16:27

Nish Nishant

14-Feb-02 16:27

If your program is GUI intensive go for MFC which makes things a lot easier. But if you are doing some winsock stuff use plain SDK. The MFC socket classes have their own problems.

Nish

Nish was here, now Nish has gone;
He left his soul, to turn you on;
Those who knew Nish, knew him well;
Those who didn't, can go to hell.

I like to Jig | [Dance]

on the Code Project

Sonork ID 100.9786 voidmain
www.busterboy.org

Re: Use MFC or SDK

Michael Dunn14-Feb-02 17:36

Michael Dunn

14-Feb-02 17:36

You should absolutely start at the API level. Don't even think about getting into MFC until you are comfortable using the straight APIs. (Yes, I know, others will disagree with me; my opinion is based on my own experience and that of other programmers I know.)

--Mike--
"There are only a limited number of jobs where they will ask to see the sausage. Most of them are in movies."
-- Christian Graus, 2/11/2002
My really out-of-date homepage
Sonork - 100.10414 AcidHelm
Big fan of Alyson Hannigan.

Re: Use MFC or SDK

Rick York14-Feb-02 18:15

Rick York

14-Feb-02 18:15

FWIW Mike, I agree completely. Smile | :)

Re: Use MFC or SDK

alex.barylski14-Feb-02 19:05

alex.barylski

14-Feb-02 19:05

Couldn't agree with you more.

"An expert is someone who has made all the mistakes in his or her field" - Niels Bohr

Mike is right

Ravi Bhavnani14-Feb-02 19:14

Ravi Bhavnani

14-Feb-02 19:14

Bingo.

/ravi

"There is always one more bug..."
http://www.ravib.com
ravib@ravib.com

Re: Use MFC or SDK

alex.barylski14-Feb-02 19:24

alex.barylski

14-Feb-02 19:24

I know you have plenty of replies, but in a question like this it's best to have many answers to one problem so you can better make the decision yourself.

Like all have said already...Start with SDK...it doesn't hide anything from you.

SDK code is longer in source, but actually complies smaller...lots in some cases. MFC is basically a wrapper for the SDK...you'll hear that lots. It performs steps which you would normally have to do yerself, but maybe not always nessecary. These steps make developement quicker in MFC, but only once you understand the ins/outs of SDK.

Start with SDK...definetly...then move to MFC definetly.

Try designing MDI applications in SDK and you'll soon discover MFC is awesome. Plus Visual C++ tools cater to MFC more so than SDK. AppWizard generates a hello world for SDK and entire app (just fill in the blanks) in MFC.
MFC has helper classes which are awesome...CString to mention a few...will assist you big time. ClassWizard another great feature...message maps, my god i could go forever.

Why do i sound pro-mfc...I spent alot of time in SDK not wanting to change, cuz...well it's human nature to go with what you feel comfortable with. Once i did, I never want to go back...it's almost as easy as Visual Basic..it's incredible.

SDK is the hard part MFC is a snap...go with the SDK->MFC route. Only use pure SDK if you want less dependables and optimal speed and size.

Just my opnion...later! Cool | :cool:

"An expert is someone who has made all the mistakes in his or her field" - Niels Bohr

Re: Use MFC or SDK

Navier15-Feb-02 14:10

Navier

15-Feb-02 14:10

I'd agree with pretty well everyone. Do at least some SDK stuff first as a 'training' exercise. If you need heavy GUI support though go striaght to MFC. The effort it saves is worth the fact that you won't have much of a clue about what is going on under the hood. One caveat I'd add though is that MFC is a bit flaky in places (someone rightly mentioned WinSock which is absolute pants under MFC) and it's not nice wading through the src to find out whether it's you or Bill's little Elves that have cocked up. Especially if you don't really know what you're doing.

i1.2sqrt(u).bcos(ur)sec(c)
but
b4.isqrt(u).ru/16

MDI Question

RobJones14-Feb-02 14:55

RobJones

14-Feb-02 14:55

Is it possible to create a MDI Application that when executed (by default) opens 3 empty documents. The 1st document being CListView and the next 2 documents to be of CHtmlView?

If this is possible can anyone give me some pointers or some sample code.

Thanks!!

Rob Jones

Re: MDI Question

Derek Waters14-Feb-02 17:08

Derek Waters

14-Feb-02 17:08

Yep, it certainly should be. Assuming you've got your three document types registered (for example CMyListDoc, CMyFirstHtmlDoc, CMySecondHtmlDoc), you need to create them just before you show the main frame in your app's InitInstance function. For example, if you have the three Doc classes mentioned, and they have DocStrings defined in the string table as "MyList", "MyFirstHtml" and "MySecondHtml":

m_nCmdShow = SW_MAXIMIZE;
pMainFrame->OpenNewDocument(_T("MyList"));
pMainFrame->OpenNewDocument(_T("MyFirstHtml"));
pMainFrame->OpenNewDocument(_T("MySecondHtml"));
pMainFrame->ShowWindow(m_nCmdShow);

where your main frame class has the OpenNewDocument function defined as:

CMainFrame::OpenNewDocument(LPCTSTR apszCompareTitle)
{
	CDocument		*vptResult = NULL;
	CWinApp			*vptrTheApp = AfxGetApp();
	POSITION		vtPos;
	CDocTemplate	*vptTemplate;
	CString			vcstrTitle;

	vtPos = vptrTheApp->GetFirstDocTemplatePosition();
	while (vtPos != NULL && vptResult == NULL)
	{
		vptTemplate = vptrTheApp->GetNextDocTemplate(vtPos);
		if (vptTemplate->GetDocString(vcstrTitle, CDocTemplate::fileNewName))
		{
			if (vcstrTitle.CompareNoCase(apszCompareTitle) == 0)
			{
				vptResult = vptTemplate->OpenDocumentFile(NULL);
			}
		}
	}
        return vptResult;
}

Hope this helps.

------------------------
Derek Waters
derek@lj-oz.com

Re: MDI Question

RobJones15-Feb-02 5:38

RobJones

15-Feb-02 5:38

Thanks a million!

Rob

Getting started -- a most basic question

14-Feb-02 14:34

I am a beginning C++ programmer. My long-term goal is to write Windows-based business applications with relatively sophisticated GUI. For now, though, I am looking for (a) sample source code that demonstrates how to create and manipulate simple Windows objects -- such as menus, windows, dialog boxes, buttons, etc. Alternately, I am looking for (b) an "application framework" with which I can experiment, to create some basic applications in a short time.

I'm currently using Bloodshed's "Dev-C++" compiler, but plan to start developing on the Borland "C++ Builder 5.0 Standard" platform soon. (c) Is this a mistake? Should I get started with Microsoft's "Visual C++," or some other platform altogether?

Any guidance is most appreciated. Thanks.

Re: Getting started -- a most basic question

Derek Waters14-Feb-02 17:12

Derek Waters

14-Feb-02 17:12

As this site is squarely aimed at MS-based products, and this forum is titled "Visual C++", it is unlikely that you're going to get a recommendation for Borland or Bloodshed over VC++.

Certainly MFC (part of Visual C++) is the "application framework" you need in answer to (b). To just create and manipulate simple Windows objects (a), though, you could just use Win32 API (which presumably is supported by Bloodshed and Borland). Examples can be found in the Platform SDK documentation at www.microsoft.com

Hope this helps.

------------------------
Derek Waters
derek@lj-oz.com

Re: Getting started -- a most basic question

moliate14-Feb-02 23:42

moliate

14-Feb-02 23:42

I started with Borland, but now I do VC++ only. I suggest you start with Visual Studio as your first environment. There is nothing wrong with Borland and OWL, but there are so much more samples in MFC around, making it easier to learn.

/moliate

Re: Getting started -- a most basic question

Navier15-Feb-02 14:23

Navier

15-Feb-02 14:23

I'd say use VC++ as well. You'll be more in demand commercially and there's more help/samples/info about for it. Get a copy of Petzold (Programming Windows) as well and if you do go MFC later get Prosise (Programming Windows with MFC)

i1.2sqrt(u).bcos(ur)sec(c)
but
b4.isqrt(u).ru/16

Navier

data validation

padgyx14-Feb-02 13:55

padgyx

14-Feb-02 13:55

I have a problem with a simple c++ console program.
I want user enter a string to enter their name, if user enters nothing like a enter key, the blank data should be caught and an error message should be print out on the console.
what I did was I declared a string name, then use name.lenght() function and compare it with 0, if(name.length()==0), but this cannot catch the enter key. Then I tried getch(), it catches enter key but it is not a string. What shall I do?
Thanks!

padgyx

Re: data validation

Rick York14-Feb-02 14:22

Rick York

14-Feb-02 14:22

You can use fgets. If the string has whitespace or a newline then nothing was enterred and you have an error.

Re: data validation

Atul Dharne14-Feb-02 14:48

Atul Dharne

14-Feb-02 14:48

If you are using getch() you can always catch the Enter key(0x0D) this way...

.
.
.
char key;
key = getch();
if(key == '\n') //or if(key == 0x0D)
{
.
.
//do whatever you want
cout<<"You pressed Enter"<<endl;
}
.
.

Atul

Sonork 100.13714 netdiva

Re: data validation

15-Feb-02 6:27

Hi, Atul:

I tried this getch(), it works, but char key can only input one char at a time, what I want is a string or at least a c_str as the input. However, if I use string or c_str, then catching the enter key (a blank) is a problem. It seems that only getch() can catch the enter key. If I use the first element of c_str to check the enter key, it does not work.
I will try the fgets().

thanks.

Re: data validation

Ravi Bhavnani15-Feb-02 6:54

Ravi Bhavnani

15-Feb-02 6:54

You could just use gets().

char szInput [INPUT_SIZE];
gets (szInput);
if (strlen (szInput == 0)) {
   ; // error
}

/ravi

"There is always one more bug..."
http://www.ravib.com
ravib@ravib.com

Re: data validation

15-Feb-02 9:42

Thanks Ravi:

I will give it a try.
It seems that my thread cannot roll back to the front of the forum even I reply or update the message at latest time. How can I come to my thread to view other people's comment more easily?
Another forum, Javaranch.com, can roll back your thread to the front if you reply the message at latest time.

Thanks.

pad

Use Ctrl+Left/Right to switch messages, Ctrl+Up/Down to switch threads, Ctrl+Shift+Left/Right to switch pages.