FortKnox's Journal: Visual C++/MFC People

Lets say... hypothetically... that there is a consultant (that is well versed in Java and OO and had C++ while at school, and is a bit rusty at it) that needed to learn Visual C++ and MFC within, say, a week.

What would he have to do to get in the know that fast?

He has a copy of VC++ 6 lying around somewhere, but hasn't ever done C++ on windows.

Buy a Qt license...

[Xerithane]

Skip MFC.. That's what they made me do, almost the exact same circumstances except I wasn't rusty with C++..

Go for GTK+ or Qt

[AnimeFreak]

MFC is a fucking pain the ass to code in.

Re:Go for GTK+ or Qt

[M.C. Hampster]

MFC is a fucking pain the ass to code in.

Sorry, I have to ask: What exactly is a "fucking" and how does it pain the ass? :-)

Re:Go for GTK+ or Qt

[John Harrison]

I agree. I have been in the same position of going from Java to MFC quickly and MFC is crap. It isn't intuitive, there are side effects that you have no chance of understanding, and you can't trace through how things happen or why you need a particular method. I used the book Programming Microsoft Visual C++ by Kruglinski, Wingo, and Shepherd. The book was OK, but MFC is seriously messed up. It is an ugly hack. What else can I say. You will hate it.

On the other hand I was able to be productive in Q

Look at lots of source code

[Jack William Bell]

... and fake it.

Good point

[M.C. Hampster]

And Code Project [codeproject.com] is a good place to get lots of free MFC code and tutorials.

Thanks

[MousePotato]

great link. Thanks for sharing :)

If you are looking for a book...

[M.C. Hampster]

... Programming Windows with MFC [amazon.com] by Jeff Prosise is considered to be the "Petzold" of MFC. Personally, if your C++ is a litty rusty and you haven't done C++ programming in Windows, trying to learn MFC in a week will be quite a challenge. It's a rather strange implementation of OO principles for Windows and has tons of strange nuances that I can't seem to grasp. If you can get away with skipping MFC, but they won't buy you a Qt license like X mentioned, then you could also look into Windows Template Libra

Focus on VC++

[Abm0raz]

VC++ is basically the same as C++, with premade Visual controls, such as windows, textboxes, drop-down lists, etc ...

The easiest way to learn is decide on what you want to do, then ask me :) or, if I'm too drunk to respo... err, unavailable, you can easily check for help online. There are TONS of VC++ help sites with code examples online, all free.

Just remember, VC++ is event driven, unlike C++. If you don't know how to get data to or from your object, type in the object name, followed by a period (ex:

MFC

[The Bungi]

If he has an option, he's better off learning WTL. MFC is a pain in the butt.

But, if he must muck with MFC, I'd recommend the book MC Hampster mentioned, as well as going through the Scribble tutorial that ships with VC++.

And yes, Codeproject.com is your friend.

MFC bad.

[Keith Russell]

To paraphrase Dijkstra: The use of MFC cripples the mind. It's teaching, therefore, should be regarded as a criminal offense. :-)

Is this for a specific assignment, or are you just brushing up on your m4d w1n32 skillz? Don't try to plumb the murky depths of MFC unless you absolutely need to. It's not worth the energy. If you're working with COM, check out ActiveX Template Library (ATL). In fact, check out templates in general. STL and Boost are very handy things to have in your toolkit.

Good luck.

[JMZero]

I know it's pointless for me to say, but I have to agree with most of the other people here - MFC is evil (and it's also a bit of a dead end now that .NET is around the corner).

Whether you can learn it quickly enough will depend on what your project is. Are you starting a new application? How fancy is the UI? Any silliness like MDI forms?

If possible, I'd aim it towards rudimentary UI in as few windows as possible. Use the Win32 application wizard to get your first window drawn, and only get caught up