Windows MFC Basics

MFC

The Microsoft Foundation Classes is a C++ class library that encapsulates many of the standard Windows objects. In particular, two of these are of interest: the window (HWND) and device context (HDC). The MFC classes CWnd and CDC encapsulate HWND and HDC respectively. The MFC application class CWinApp is also important.

Applications

An application is just another name for a module (executable program or DLL). In MFC, an application is usually encapsulated by a class derived from the CWinApp class. There can be only one CWinApp-derived class in a module.

Documents

A document in MFC is a file containing user information. With respect to SilverScreen, a drawing (.DRW) is the primary document type. An MFC document is usually represented by a class derived from CDocument.

Views

A view in MFC is a window in which a document is displayed. An MFC view is usually represented by a class derived from CView. CView is a class where handlers for many common Windows messages, including WM_PAINT and WM_SIZE typically reside.

Frame Windows

A frame window in MFC is a window that contains an application’s views, plus other UI elements, such as toolbars and menus. In MFC, a frame window is usually derived from CFrameWnd. MFC supports several different types of applications:

SDI (Single Document Interface), where there is only one view embedded in the frame window, and hence only one document active at a time

MDI (Multiple Document Interface), where several views may be contained by a frame window, and multiple documents open all at once.

Frame windows are often the focal point of UI messages, and SilverEngine uses the frame window, if supplied, as a parent to its own set of UI elements, such as prompting dialogs and popup menus.