Improving MFC for Windows Vista
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Before its release, many wondered if Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 (or Version 9.0), the latest version of one of the most popular IDE and compilers, would include enough updates to motivate corporations and developers to make the transition. This article will take a look at the differences between it and the previous version, with special attention paid to the Microsoft Foundation Class library.
A successful program is worth the attention of developers when it improves its features and what you can do with it. In theory you should get real substance, but in practice, sometimes all you get is marketing: an increase in version count, an attempt to resolve a few bugs, give it an interface lift, and voila! It is sold as a new, improved program. We've all seen this happen more than once.
In this way marketers lure anyone who has already bought earlier versions to spend even more money on an upgrade despite the fact that they won’t really benefit from it. So here we have the new version of probably any developer’s most important tool: a compiler and source code editor all in one application (IDE meaning Integrated Development Environment).
With this launch Microsoft also decided to go back to taking two years to develop a new version, with the associated advantages and disadvantages of this approach. While it’s obvious that in this way you will get many new technologies that are launched daily in our hectic IT departments more quickly, this also results in less time for the development teams to properly improve their product.
As result many additions are launched later on as a pack that you can install separately after downloading it from the Microsoft site. But you also shouldn’t forget that you’ll have to pay for the upgrade more often.
Microsoft Foundation Class Library (or MFC, as it is widely known) is one of those items that seems to get relatively short shrift from Microsoft, as lately they seem more interested in promoting their .Net platform via the C# language, to say nothing of their flagship operating system.
MFC is basically a library that facilitates easy control of programming applications for the ubiquitous Microsoft OS: Windows. As the last OS was released back in 2001 (the ominous Windows XP), all of the controls it had have been integrated into the compiler released after that. Happily enough, a new OS took its place in the meantime in 2007, and it came with a major face lift, so plenty of improvements can be made.
Also the there was a rumor spread in the world of the ID that native development wouldn't be an option for the future. This in and of itself makes any MFC improvements redundant, although many companies still look at it as a strong option, offering an easy control of the UI. And all of this coming from C++ instead of C#. It is a known fact that C++ offers a more accurate, in-depth control/connection with the operating system than traditional C# methods.
Happily the new interface is created by the GPU; it’s more stylish and also takes up more system resources, but has given birth to new controls. This means that native development is cranking right along. As to whether this is good or bad, thousands of words have been written on that topic here on the Dev Shed network so feel free to look into it.
Microsoft eventually made clear that they hadn’t forgotten about MFC users and came up with a totally rewritten, improved version of the MFC. This has been made by one of the most influential companies in this segment and includes tons of new improvements, the appearance of new controls and so on (which, of course, didn’t made it into the initial release, so the download pack/install is needed).
But for now we aren’t interested in this. We only want to see what we can obtain with just a recompile of our source code (as we may have written the application for the previous OS under, let’s say, Visual Studio 2005 - version 8) or very little modification. The new controls will be presented in a future article, so for now let’s get started.
Next: First Impressions >>
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