VC++ tutorial

VC++ is developed by Microsoft Corporation. New features are added to visual c++ to make it as competent product in today’s market. The product has the features like interacting with user and distributing applications on the internet.

As vc++ supports adding of browser right into the application and adding of distributed database support, it is the choice of most programmers to develop applications. VC++ to build 32bit windows applications. including database applications, internet applications and applications which tap the power of ActiveX technology VC++ available with various editions.

Learning (Standard Edition) [ATL(ActiveX Template Library),AppWizard,MFC data binding]
Professional Edition [OLE(object linking and embedding)-DB,MTS,SMS (n/a)]
Enterprise Edition [ all support]

ActiveX technology: ActiveX is a Microsoft-created technology that enables different software applications to share information and functionality. ActiveX only works with Microsoft applications like Word, Excel, Internet Explorer and PowerPoint, and will only work on a computer running the Windows operating system.

You still can develop C-language Windows programs using only the Win32 API using Visual C++. You can use many Visual C++ tools, including the resource editors, to make low-level Win32 programming easier.
Visual C++ also includes the ActiveX Template Library (ATL), which you can use to develop ActiveX controls for the Internet. ATL programming is neither Win32 C-language programming nor MFC programming.

ActiveX Template Library (ATL): Active Template Library (ATL), formerly called ActiveX Template Library) is a Microsoft program library (set of prepackaged program routines) for use when creating Active Server Page ( ASP ) code and other ActiveX program component s with C++ (including Visual C++).

Use of the MFC library programming interface doesn't cut you off from the Win32 functions. In fact, you'll almost always need some direct Win32 calls in your MFC library programs.

MFC library programming:

architecture of vc++

code compilation: Microsoft Visual C++ development environment is convenient to use. You just enter your code in one window, click on the compile button or menu to compile your code, and click on another button or menu to build your executable. It is useful to understand. When user creating a program it builds three types of Header files

Windows header files: Windows.h is a Windows-specific header file for the C/C++ programming language which contains declarations for all of the functions in the Windows API, all the common macros used by Windows programmers, and all the data types used by the various functions and subsystems.
Runtime header files:
Resource file: A resource file is a text file with the extension .rc. The file can use single-byte, double-byte, or Unicode characters. The syntax and semantics for the RC preprocessor are similar to those of the Microsoft C/C++ compiler.

MFC header file: MFC library made of data types, variables, constants, functions, and classes (mostly structures) that can be used to create applications for the Microsoft Windows family of operating systems. A typical application is made of at least two objects: a control and a host object on which the control is positioned.

compiler: When you compile your program, the compiler translates the C++ source code into object code. Object code consists of machine instructions and information on how to load the program into memory prior to execution.

OBJ files: Object code is stored in a separate file with the extension .obj. The object file contains only the translation of the code you wrote, which is not enough information to actually run your program.

All the libraries (i.e. iostream) that are necessary to execute your program must be connected to the object code. (A library is a collection of code that has been programmed and translated by someone else, ready for you to use in your program.)

linker: A special program called the linker takes your object file and the necessary parts from the included libraries and builds an executable file.

Executable files: The executable file is a separate file with the extension .exe. It contains all the machine code necessary to run your program. You can run your program independently of Visual C++ by clicking on the file icon (located in the Debug directory) for your .exe in Windows.

Resource compilation: The Microsoft Windows Resource Compiler (RC) is a tool used in building Windows-based applications.describes how to create a resource-definition (script) file.

Resource file script: A resource script (.RC) file contains statements that define all of the items that will be included in the compiled binary resource file. For resources that exist in a separate file, such as icons and cursors, the resource script file simply names the resource and the file that contains it.

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