In a previous article I showed how to get Visual C++ sample projects either by using Visual Studio IDE or by downloading from MSDN – Developer Code Samples site. Recently, I found that we can also download an archive containing a very large number of sample projects from GitHub. Pretty cool!
Here is the magic link: Microsoft – Windows Classic Samples.
Let’s say we have installed Visual Studio 2015 and have started an MFC application in DEBUG mode. Now, attempting to step into an MFC Framework function, e.g. CWinApp::InitInstance, the debugger simply steps over.
Step into MFC Framework failed
Having a look into Output window, we may discover a message like this: “…’C:\Windows\System32\mfc140ud.dll’. Cannot find or open the PDB file”. That’s clear, the necessary PDB file is missing. What can we do? We can buy one from Microsoft or get a free copy from Torrents site. 🙂 Well, don’t need to do that, I was just joking. We can easily get it from Microsoft Symbol Servers, using Visual Studio. Here are the steps:
Default debugging symbols options
Debug performance message
Symbols to load automatically
Debugging symbols options
The Update 1 for Visual Studio 2015 comes with /DEBUG:FASTLINK liker option. That’s pretty cool for improving link times but unfortunately, if it’s set, it makes not possible stepping into the MFC Framework code, although the necessary symbols has been loaded. So let’s change it, following these steps:
Optimize for debugging
Beginning with Visual Studio 2010 which supports lambda expressions introduced by C++11 standard, you can handily sort an MFC array like in the following example:
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// Example #1 // ... CStringArray arr; arr.Add(_T("John")); arr.Add(_T("Zorro")); arr.Add(_T("Sandy")); arr.Add(_T("Jimmy")); // ... bool bAscending = true; // ... std::sort( arr.GetData(), // position of first element arr.GetData() + arr.GetSize(), // position one past the final element [bAscending] // lambda introducer (const CString& left, const CString& right) // lambda formal parameters list { return bAscending ? (left < right) : (left > right); } // lambda body ); // ... |
Of course, you can write similar code for other types of MFC arrays like CArray, CUIntArray, and so on.
But also you can easily write a kind of “generic lambda” in order to sort any type of MFC arrays.
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// Example #2 // ... std::sort( arr.GetData(), arr.GetData() + arr.GetSize(), [bAscending] (decltype(*arr.GetData()) left, decltype(*arr.GetData()) right) { return bAscending ? (left < right) : (left > right); } ); // ... |
That’s pretty cool… However would be nice to be possible to get rid of “wordy” constructions like “decltype(*arr.GetData())” in the lambda’s formal parameters list. Good news! There is a proposal for next C++ standards: using auto type-specifier in order to make generic lambda expressions (which accept any type of arguments). And that is already supported in Visual Studio 2015.
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// Example #3 std::sort( arr.GetData(), arr.GetData() + arr.GetSize(), [bAscending] (auto left, auto right) { return bAscending ? (left < right) : (left > right); } ); |
Latest versions of Visual Studio come with few or no source code project samples. However, there are hundreds available on Microsoft sites. Here is how to get them.
For getting samples from Visual Studio IDE, follow next steps:
Get Visual C++ samples – step 1
If you have Visual Studio 2012 or Visual Studio 2013, the New Project dialog is open.
Get Visual C++ samples – step 2
Get Visual C++ samples – step 3
Now, the sample project is added to the installed samples list, which are available each time you want to have a look inside.
Installed samples
Additionally, each time when open an installed sample project, Visual Studio shows a page containing the sample description, a link to download page, plus links to useful resources and tutorials. That’s pretty cool but notice that Visual Studio gets only the samples written for its own version. To get access to all samples, see the next method.
Here is the magic link: http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/
Click it here or type in a browser and get the main Developer Code Samples page. You can filter the articles according to your interests (programming language: C++, platform: Desktop and so on). Moreover, you can type a keyword to refine the filter (e.g. Direct2D) like in the below picture.
Developer Code Samples page
All to do next is to click on desired link and download.
Visual Studio 2010 Samples
Among other new controls supported in Windows Vista and newer Windows versions, we can find Command Link controls, that contain:
In fact, it is a common Windows button control (of class “Button“) that has BS_COMMANDLINK or BS_DEFCOMMANDLINK type style set.
We’ll further show how to deal with such type of controls in our own aplications.
If working with Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 or newer, then we can find “Command Button Control” in the resource editor toolbox.
So first, we just have to drag it from toolbox in the resource dialog template.
The label text can be set at design time by changing the Caption property; it can be also changed at run-time by calling CWnd::SetWindowText.
The additional explanatory text has to be set at run-time by calling CButton::SetNote.
The default arrow icon can be changed at run-time using CButton::SetIcon.
Here is an example:
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BOOL CDemoDlg::OnInitDialog() { CDialog::OnInitDialog(); CButton* pButton = (CButton*)GetDlgItem(IDC_COMMAND_LOGO); ASSERT_VALID(pButton); // Asure it's a Command Link Button ASSERT((pButton->GetStyle() & BS_TYPEMASK) == BS_COMMANDLINK); // Set label text pButton->SetWindowTextW(L"Visit CODEXPERT.RO"); // Set additional explanatory text pButton->SetNote(L"A Romanian Visual C++ on-line community"); // Change the default icon VERIFY(m_hLogoIcon = AfxGetApp()->LoadIcon(IDI_LOGO)); pButton->SetIcon(m_hLogoIcon); // ... return TRUE; // return TRUE unless you set the focus to a control } |
Further, we can work like with any other classic push button, as for example handling BN_CLICKED notification.
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HWND hWndButton = ::GetDlgItem(hWndDlg, IDC_COMMAND_LOGO); // Assure it's a Command Link Button ASSERT((::GetWindowLongPtr(hWndButton, GWL_STYLE) & BS_TYPEMASK) == BS_COMMANDLINK); // Set label text ::SetWindowTextW(hWndButton, L"Visit CODEXPERT.RO"); // Set additional explanatory text (send BCM_SETNOTE message or call Button_SetNote macro). ::SendMessage(hWndButton, BCM_SETNOTE, 0, (LPARAM)L"A Romanian Visual C++ on-line community"); // Button_SetNote(hWndButton, L"A Romanian Visual C++ on-line community"); // Change the default icon HINSTANCE hInstance = ::GetModuleHandleW(NULL); HICON hIcon = ::LoadIconW(hInstance, MAKEINTRESOURCEW(IDI_LOGO)); ::SendMessageW(hWndButton, BM_SETIMAGE, (WPARAM)IMAGE_ICON, (LPARAM)hIcon); |
Nice to have a look: old programmers to remember, the young ones to see how Microsoft Visual C++ was born.
Visualize Your Masterpiece: Microsoft Visual C++ 1.0 Launch