Learn the MFC C++ Classes

It is not necessary to learn the Windows API in order to begin using the Microsoft Foundation Class (MFC) Library of C++ classes; you do not even have to know more than a few basic C++ concepts in order to begin. I have been teaching extension classes through the University of California, Berkeley, since 1993. My students have ranged from expert to beginning Windows programmers. As an MFC teacher, I had to design a system that addressed the “common denominator” in the class, since so many of my students were put onto MFC projects and expected to “ramp up” in a matter of weeks, despite whatever their previous experience may have been. With the help of input from my students, I developed my simple one-idea-at-a-time approach to the MFC Library. I start with the most fundamental concept that a student needs to know and show the student how to master that one concept only. Then, I add the next concept. When exposed to a steady progression of clear ideas and exercises, my students have been able to truly master the fundamental concepts of MFC. This approach has worked for them, and I am sure that it will work for you.

This book works well for the beginning or expert programmer who wishes to start programming a Windows application using MFC. A working knowledge of C is required. Because it is helpful to know some C++, Appendix C illustrates all the C++ concepts that you need to know for the examples in this book. I recommend that you review this appendix before delving into this book.

If you are a beginner, you will start at the beginning with a simple program that creates a window. With each additional chapter, you learn how to add new features. Small example programs are used for the first half of the book. For these small example programs, you generate all of the code yourself; you do not need to use compiler tools, such as AppWizard, to generate starter code. In later chapters, you migrate to using a compiler tool that generates starter code and learn how to add your application’s code to the starter code.

If you already have some familiarity with MFC, this book will help you to fill in “gaps,” such as learning how to code without using a compiler tool to generate starter code. If you have been coding with the tools, this book will help you to understand the “bones” of the code, without the extraneous lines of tool-generated code that can often obscure the logic of a program. Once you know the bones, you can enjoy a greater understanding and confidence in what you can add and delete in order to make the application your own.