Ivor Horton's Beginning Visual C++® 2005

Chapter 12. Windows Programming with the Microsoft Foundation Classes

In this chapter, you start down the road of serious Windows application development using the MFC. You'll get an appreciation of what code the Application wizard generates for a Microsoft Foundation Class (MFC) program and what options you have for the features to be included in your code.

In this chapter, you will learn about:

• The basic elements of an MFC-based program

• How Single Document Interface (SDI) applications and Multiple Document Interface (MDI) applications differ

• How to use the MFC Application wizard to generate SDI and MDI programs

• What files are generated by the MFC Application wizard and what their contents are

• How an MFC Application wizard-generated program is structured

• The key classes in an MFC Application Wizard-generated program, and how they are interconnected

• The general approach to customizing an MFC Application wizard-generated program

You'll be expanding the programs that you generate in this chapter by adding features and code incrementally in subsequent chapters. You will eventually end up with a sizable, working Windows program that incorporates almost all the basic user interface programming techniques you will have learned along the way.

The Document/View Concept in MFC

When you write applications using MFC, it implies acceptance of a specific structure for your program, with application data being stored and processed in a particular way. This may sound restrictive, but it really isn't for ...