Extending MFC Applications with the .NET Framework

Text shows MFC developers how to boost productivity by incorporating .NET functionality into existing MFC applications. CD-ROM includes the complete downloadable source code, working examples, and text code from the book. DLC: Application software--Development.

User review
The best source for working VC++ programmers
I make a living writing C++ code. Like many other MFC developers, I have been reluctant to move into the .NET world. This book is the bridge I needed to make the change.

Most programming books are written by writers who live in some strange world where applications only contain code already well documented on MSDN. Tom Archer is one of those rare writers who actually knows what he is talking about and covers the code we need in the real world.

Aside from the obvious examples and topics in this book, I also got a lot from the little extras included by the author. This book is full of little time saving things I did not expect to find. One example is the Visual Studio App Wizard on the CD. This tool makes it very simple to start an MFC application with all the support you need for .NET already built in. That's a real-world savings for any professional programmer working in MFC & .NET.

Best Features
Step-by-step instructions for creating the example programs. These make great references when you have to write something similar.

Well thought-out examples. Close enough to real-world work to be helpful but small enough to be understandable.

Extras! The CD contains several tools including a cool custom App Wizard to create a .NET friendly MFC application.

Excellent coverage on XML and database operations. These are two important topics for a professional developer. This book doesn't include the typical (useless) school samples.

The chapter on regular expressions is great!


Could be Better
The index could be twice as large and still be too small.

Chapter 11 - Managing Your Managed Objects is not written in the same clear style as the rest of the book. Despite its name, this chapter is mostly about .NET collections. It reads more like MSDN documentation than Archer's usual writing.

Overall, this book is a clear winner for anyone who works in MFC and wants to use the .NET classes. It's a little pricey, but it will easily save you more than the cost in research time.

User review
Brilliant stuff!!
When I read the various quotes from this book I was a bit skeptical - especially the quotes from the program manager of Visual C++. I'm not saying I didn't believe the quotes, but I figured that lots of these guys know each other and help each other out with quotes. However, I did buy the book and am definitely happy with it! Here are my specific Pros and Cons:

PROS
* Incredible coverage of XML, RegEx and Cryptography
* I almost didn't read the File I/O chapter thinking it couldn't be of any more help than CStdioFile and CFile. Boy was I wrong!? Great chapter
* The *best* ADO.NET chapters currently in print. Archer is the only author to show why and how to incorporate disconnected data using ADO.NET into an MFC application. Actually, these chapters alone are worth the price of the book.
* Great Visual Studio AppWizard to automate creating MFC/.NET apps!

CONS
* Remoting and Performance - These chapters (at the end of the book) seem a bit rushed and could have used more detail.

SUMMARY
I'm using this book quite frequently to write MFC/.NET appliations where I create the UI using MFC and then the lower level classes from the .NET BCL. Great combination to produce quality results quickly!

User review
Use XML and cryptography under .NET
There is a vast group of Visual C++ coders out there, you perhaps amongst them. Successfully writing and maintaining what is perhaps now large source code bodies. In doing so, you've become quite experienced and you know the ins and outs of Visual C++. But about 2 years ago, Microsoft starting pushing a wonderful new .NET platform. Impressive claims about how one could develop code in several languages sitting atop this. Technically nice. But for you, much of this was moot. You and others in your group have no inclination to start coding in Pascal, anyway. You cannot abandon Visual C++.

So the authors wrote this book, targeted towards you. It is not a comprehensive introduction to .NET. But they chose to focus on a few topics that you might value. XML for example. This is now a widely adopted standard for data interchange, and if your code isn't already familiar with it, then it might be a good thing to add. It motivates you to start dipping into .NET. Plus, in order to parse XML, they show how to use the standard Document Object Model (DOM) parser that is available under .NET. All useful stuff.

They also use cryptography as another hook into .NET. It is just a guess, but some of your applications might need this. So here is how to use some of the latest advanced implementations of hashing and public key infrastructure. And if these are done in .NET, well, gosh, what a coincidence. :)