Seminar on Windows Programming with Microsoft Foundation Classes - MFC

The object of the course is GUI programming with MFC.

Projects that still use MFC today usually deal with Legacy Software. The code of such projects frequently dates back to the 1990s and is only maintained and slightly modified. Nevertheless, this code must be understood. Young developers generally don’t have any experience with this framework anymore. If they are tasked with maintaining such a software, they mostly need some kind of general introduction to the principles of MFC.

The use of MFC is compared to programming with the Windows SDK. All basic sorts of application interfaces are developed in the course using hands-on examples. All GUI elements that Windows offers to the programmer for the creation of his application are discussed. The message processing and the use of Message Maps is a further subject matter of the course.

As a conclusion, subject matters from system-related application development are dealt with. Typical communication mechanisms on Windows and the system storage management. In addition, DLLs are created and their use is being shown.

The following subject matters are covered:

  • Windows Programming with Win32 API
  • Windows Messages
  • Object-oriented GUI programming
  • The Application Classes
  • Window Classes
  • Dialogs
  • Window Styles
  • The Message Map
  • The GDI
  • Characters on a Device Context
  • Point, Lines, Surfaces
  • Writing
  • Bitmaps
  • Dialog Elements
  • The AppWizard (of Visual C++)
  • Data Exchange with Dialog Boxes
  • Menus
  • The Model-View-Controller Concept
  • The CFrameWnd Class
  • The CView Class
  • The CDocument Class
  • Non-Modal Dialogues
  • The CDialog Class
  • Memory Allocation
  • Communication between Processes - IPC
  • DLL Programming

The course is carried out using hands-on exercises. The MS Visual C++ development environment is preferably used. It is however possible to use other purpose-fitting IDEs and compilers.

Last modified 10.07.2021