Thread: Ok so MFC isn't dead.

wxWidgets. Cross-platform. Lots of samples downloaded with the library (to create anything you could ever possibly want). OpenGL support. Better than win32, MFC, C#, sliced bread, etc.

I also like wxWidgets, though I have yet to make any full blown programs in it, I have tooled around with it and like it a lot more than most other toolkits.

Slightly off-topic, but has anybody tried the form designer in VC++ 2008? The code it generates in '05 is aweful. Hoping they've fixed it a little in the newest release.

With C#? Or C/C++? I'm guessing C#?

Probably C++, since it is "VC++ 2008".

Well, I don't see how it generates "awful" code? That's why I'm guessing C# because the C# code generated IS awful; it didn't even align tabs correctly.

Typical VC++ 05 generated code:

Code:

	private: System::Windows::Forms::MenuStrip^  menuStrip1;
	protected: 
	private: System::Windows::Forms::ToolStripMenuItem^  fileToolStripMenuItem;
	private: System::Windows::Forms::ToolStripMenuItem^  newToolStripMenuItem;
	private: System::Windows::Forms::ToolStripMenuItem^  openToolStripMenuItem;
	private: System::Windows::Forms::ToolStripMenuItem^  saveToolStripMenuItem;

	private: System::Windows::Forms::ToolStripMenuItem^  exitToolStripMenuItem;
	private: System::Windows::Forms::ToolStripMenuItem^  editToolStripMenuItem;
	private: System::Windows::Forms::ToolStripMenuItem^  viewToolStripMenuItem;
	private: System::Windows::Forms::ToolStripMenuItem^  toolsToolStripMenuItem;

And after a few days of moving and deleting various form elements:

Code:

private: System::IO::FileSystemWatcher^  fileSystemWatcher1;









private: 


public: 

public: 

public: 

public: 

public: 


public: 



public: 
private: 


public: 

private: 



private: System::ComponentModel::IContainer^  components;

There were some other issues too, but that was one of the most irritating things. The generated C# code seemed much better to me, although probably because WinForms is probably "meant" to be primarily used with C#.

EDIT: all of that generated code ends up in a massive header file too, which isn't really a problem, except it does it for event function bodies as well.

Originally Posted by indigo0086

From what I understand in C# the code the forms designer generates aside from the events is just a shell and just has the header, the arguments and an empty body. Any missed tab alignments may be due to the settings in your preferences, mine align quite well. The other stuff in the other partial class isn't to be touched as the designer will just replace it when it updates.

No, it really misaligns it even with mostly default settings. It's like the function is placed with some tabs + a space or two, so you get like 3 spaces width when you do a tab for the indentation.
Not to mention is really indents poorly ( protected: on the same row as the rest of the code, for example; typically Visual Studio default to removing all tabs and spaces when you type something + : ).
So the designer is really poor at generating code. I don't think it has changed in 2008...

Ah, Microsoft released a beta of the new MFC including things scheduled for implementation in the C++0x standard! NICE!
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...playlang=en&tm
For those who have Visual Studio 2008, it's a must have.

Originally Posted by brewbuck

Who said that? I was just asking if anybody else wrote Windows apps in C. The GUI is such a minor part of our product in terms of absolute effort...

Right here! Spent a while creating a program (below) entirely in vanilla WinAPI/C and I must say the experiencing was educating, and above all, long (over 6550 LoC for GUI alone!). Does this mean I'd use MFC over it... not a chance. If I want basic API I'll use C, if I want RAD, I'll use wxWidgets (or some other x-plat widget library), if I want a bloated convoluted death, I'll use MFC.