we have once application build using MFC/C++. We want make the bit rich UI like VS 2010 or outlook etc... at last we want give new look to our app like Microsoft does on every release of their products.
Please suggest me to topic that i need to look into or suggest me the option for the same.
If you're using Visual Studio 2010 or higher, the MFC application wizard itself will generate UI like VS 2010 with tabs and docking windows. In fact you can create an application that looks like VS 2010 without writing a single line of code. There is also support for the ribbon control which has replaced the menus in the new office applications.
As I am assuming you are going to use C++/native code, MFC is still the way to go or you can choose the WTL also. If you are ready yo go to a totally different direction then QT is one of the most advanced and modern cross platform library. MFC feels old compared to QT. AFAIK you can not use ribbon control in QT without microsoft license.
Another option is to go to managed way, you can use WPF with C#.
As already mentioned, you can use the new classes in the MFC feature pack, which came with Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1.
MSDN provided a tutorial how to migrate an old MFC application to the new MFC feature pack classes here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb983935%28v=vs.90%29.aspx
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So I decided to learn some Win32 programming in C++ and thought i will try adding the controls from the toolbox and tada!! no tools there. Even if i try to choose the Com controls manually it still doesn't get shown. If i do Show All , i can see all the tools are disabled even the ones i selected.
I have seen and tried almost all of the solutions seen on the internet (reset toolbox, remove the tbd files, remove reg keys, fresh installation etc) to no avail.
I was using VS2012 Express initially but I have also tried a fresh installation of VC++ 2010 Express with the same result.
So I have two questions:
1) Are the tools not supposed to be there in an Express installation?
2) If they are supposed to be there could someone help me with fixing this issue?
This is by design. The Express editions don't support building GUI applications in C++. All of the controls in the toolbox require .NET. You'll need to create a new project of the appropriate type using C# or Visual Basic to use any of the controls.
C# is my primary language, I want to learn C++ but with windows form or any GUI, just not console. I read that they took windows form out of visual studio 2013 for C++. Are there any alternatives or workarounds? How are people making UI based C++ programs in vs 2013 now? I found this but it feels like a jerry rigged approach http://www.bogotobogo.com/cplusplus/application_visual_studio_2013.php. I would like to use VS 2013 and UI forms somehow.
There answer is there is no native solution. You'll need to use an open source framework like Qt, wxWidgets, etc. I would recommend Qt, as it does have an LGPL license option and their form builder integrates within Visual Studio.
You can use Code to gui which is easy to setup and use with Visual Studio and c++. Although it doesn't gives too many gui features like qt as of now but seems like a great option for learning c++ with basic form builder gui.
PS: It internally uses wxwidgets so you can also re-program it's internally generated files to make complex guis.
I did a User interface in Windows 7. It contains buttons, labels, tabs and almost all features available in VS2008 tool box.
The UI coding is done in Visual C++.
Now I want to port the same UI in WinCE7. I started the work by upgrading VS2008 Sp1 and Platform builder for WinCE7.
Now I took a new project->Visual c#->Smart Device->Device Application and started the UI.
So I need to make a good amount of changes, also some functions are not available.
So am not able to complete the UI, no tabs selection is found and many others.
So can I get any ideas to port the same UI (created in visual c++) in WinCE7?
How can I create a new UI for WinCE7 in Visual c++ in Visual Studio 2008 ?
It is sooooo not that easy. Windows CE is a small subset of Win32. You have to pull in your code, hit build and then start fixing the errors.
If you used good separation of UI from business logic then it's probably easiest to just start an entirely new UI app for CE and reuse the business bits. If your code it tightly coupled, well you've got a long road ahead. There is no magic bullet for this one.
You are mixing stuff here.
To develop applications for Windows CE 7 you don't need Platform Builder. You need it to build a configure an OS Image or to change a board-support-package (BSP) and debug it, including drivers.
For application development you need just Visual Studio 2008 professional and an SDK, provided by the device manufacturer.
Windows CE APIs are different from Win32 ones and may be seen as a subset of those.
You can create a new Windows CE application (with dialogs etc) using the new project dialog of visual studio 2008, just select the "Smart Device" category to see the templates you can use.
Porting existing code may require modification of C/C++ code (API changes) but also of the .rc file (resources) because Windows CE does not support all the features provided by Win32 resources.
I would like to create a windows forms application in C++, but I don't want to use .NET framework.
I also don't want to code everything from scratch. I'd like to have a toolbox such as the one in Visual Studio. Could you recommend some editor/compiler for this task?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
You might want to look up MFC or the Qt framework. both have a nice GUI editor and integrate with visual studio (MFC actually comes with visual studio)
Winforms is a strictly .NET thing so whatever you do, it won't be Winforms.
in the C++ world many frameworks to develop GUI layer exist,and if your application must be cross platform the popular choice could be wxWidgets or Qt,and I suggest you Qt.
If you are Pro Microsoft you have WTL and MFC and I suggest you WTL.
I'm learning C++, and know a little bit of Visual Basic and an Delphi.
But I want to know, is there some program like Delphi, but for C++. Something where you can drag a button to a form, double click it, the like in Delphi and VB: opens a code editor and you edit the code of the button, but with a similar code of C++?
I'm using Windows Vista.
Yes, if you use MFC within Visual Studio.
MFC is Visual Studio's C++ class library for writing Windows programs, and for an MFC form Visual Studio behaves exactly as you describe.
As of Visual Studio 2008 with an upgrade pack you can create Office 2007 style applications, and Visual Studio style applications, using MFC.
There used to be "C++ Builder", a C++ version of Delphi, I don't know if this product is still being developed or not.
UPDATE: to summarize information from the comments, C++ Builder is actively developed and the product page is http://www.embarcadero.com/products/cbuilder/
You can have the following IDEs with GUI designers for free;
Visual Studio 2008 express from Microsoft
Qt Creator from Nokia
Eclipse with Qt plugin from community :)
C++ Builder from Embarcadero
(previously CodeGear, previously
Borland)
Have fun with C++!
There are other packages besides MFC that do GUI stuff, but I don't think they plug-in to Visual Studio. I must confess, I have never been a fan of MFC. I find it ugly and painful, so I can't really recommend it.
Qt has a designer, as does GTK. I haven't used the Qt designer, but the GTK one works well. It can be found here: http://glade.gnome.org/ You can get glade for Windows here: http://gladewin32.sourceforge.net/
It can be hassle to set these up, though.
Honestly, while I like C++ a lot, writing GUIs for Windows is not where it excels. I would recommend that you look at C# instead. You can still interface with C++ if you need to, but it makes writing Windows GUIs so much nicer.