3

I'm desperately trying to program a small chat program. But I'm not failing at the sockets / background logic as one might expect, but at the form containing the input and output text field!

Visual Studio offers a forms designer, however if I want to use it I have to use the CLR, .NET and precompiled headers apparently. It forces me to use it. I don't want that.

  • How can I in the most simple way, without .NET, add a form to my C++ project?
  • Are there any good tutorials you can recommend for me?

Even if I don't sound like it, I'm a relatively experienced programmer - I just can't stand precompiled headers, .NET and most other Microsoft stuff. It makes me nervous.

Improve this question
7
  • 2
    Maybe you ought to try Qt and something other than Visual Studio. Commented Feb 12, 2011 at 15:56
  • I just want to get two text fields that I can read out and modify as fast as possible.. learning Qt now would be a bit much for me. I want to be finished as soon as possible with the project Commented Feb 12, 2011 at 15:58
  • 1
    thats what VS10 is for..remember RAD.. Commented Feb 12, 2011 at 16:06
  • 1
    If you want to do it quickly, then just use CLR instead of trying to figure out how to work against, rather than with, Visual Studio. Commented Feb 12, 2011 at 16:06
  • @siride: Didn't Nokia just announce end-of-life for Qt? Commented Feb 12, 2011 at 16:16

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
1

You can use MFC or good ol' Win32 API (not really good, just ol'), both of these completely bypass .NET Framework and CLR

Improve this answer
Sign up to request clarification or add additional context in comments.

5 Comments

Win32 design has stood the test of time, much more elegant than Java, .NET, or MFC APIs.
@Ben Voigt: disagree strongly. It has stood the test of time, but not due to elegance in any way, shape or form.
@siride: Come back and say that after you've written async I/O code in both Win32 and Linux, or Win32 and any of the "modern" options mentioned above. MsgWaitForMultipleObjectsEx is an elegant API and nothing else compares.
@Ben Voigt: That function is pretty similar to select()/poll() on Unix systems. But one good function does not make for an elegant API.
Except that select can only be used with the first 64 or so file descriptors, poll can't be used to wait for processes or threads or mutexes or ... MsgWaitForMultipleObjectsEx may be just a single function, but it's representative of the way integration of all kernel objects with user interface events makes it really easy to develop a single-threaded non-blocking event-driven application, which is optimal for a very large class of applications. And when you do move to multiple threads, you can feed cross-thread messages through the same mechanism and guarantee consistency of data.
0

If you have only the Express Edition, then you have a problem. Best approach if you don't have money for tools would be to download another IDE with a designer for e.g. wxWindows and configure it to run the MS compiler.

With VS2010 Professional or higher, there's a native designer, called the dialog editor, which provides drag-and-drop layout much like the WinForms designer does.

Improve this answer

Comments

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy.

Start asking to get answers

Find the answer to your question by asking.

Ask question

Explore related questions

See similar questions with these tags.