Introduction

This self-paced CD-ROM–based course teaches experienced programmers how to create sophisticated Microsoft Foundation Class (MFC) Library–based applications designed to solve business problems. You will learn how to use, modify, and extend MFC to create reliable desktop and enterprise solutions.

The course also covers how to create and integrate OLE controls into applications, and create database applications using Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) and Data Access Objects (DAO).top

At Course Completion

At the end of the course, students will be able to:
Create user interface constructs.
Display text and simple graphics device interface (GDI) elements.
Implement persistence.
Integrate user-defined classes into the document-view architecture.
Build dynamic-link libraries (DLLs) that link to MFC.
Implement database support using ODBC and DAO.
Create and use OLE controls.
Add Help to applications.
Extend printing and print preview capabilities of applications.

Microsoft Certified Professional Exams
This course helps you prepare for the following Microsoft Certified Professional exam:
Exam 70-024, Developing Applications with C++ Using the Microsoft Foundation Class Library top

Prerequisites
Programming experience in C++
Familiarity with the Windows operating system event-driven programming model

The course materials are in English. To benefit fully from our instruction, students need an understanding of the English language and completion of the prerequisites.

Course Materials and Software

All course materials are included on the Mastering Visual C++ CD-ROM. top

System Requirements
Personal computer with a 486DX or higher processor running the Microsoft Windows 95 operating system or Microsoft Windows NT™ Workstation operating system version 3.51 or later
8 MB of memory (16 MB recommended) for Windows 95; 12 MB of memory (20 MB recommended) for Windows NT Workstation
10 MB of available hard-disk space
MPC2-compatible CD-ROM drive
Super VGA or higher-resolution video adapter capable of displaying 256 colors or greater
Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device
MPC2-compatible audio board required for audio and video instruction
Installation of Microsoft Visual C++ is required to run lab exercises. top

Course Outline

Chapter 1: Windows Fundamentals and Architecture
Topics:

Win32®-based architecture

Anatomy of a Windows-based application

Displaying and using windows

Event-driven programming top

Skills:

Students will be able to:

Describe the overall architecture of Windows-based applications.

Define the terms process and thread, and describe their characteristics in the Win32-based environment.

List the various graphical user interface (GUI) parts of a Windows-based application.

Explain the function of messages, diagram their flow, and explain the event-driven paradigm. top

Describe important Windows-based programming issues such as activation and focus, and window invalidation and repainting.

Explain the general structure and features of memory management in the Microsoft Windows 95 and Windows NT™ operating systems. top

Chapter 2: MFC Architecture
Topics:

Classifications of MFC

Classes in a minimal MFC application

Document/view architecture

Non-document/view architecture top
Skills:

Students will be able to:

List the benefits provided to the majority of Microsoft Foundation Classes by deriving from CObject.

List the classifications of classes as defined by MFC.

Define the base classes in a typical MFC application.

Describe the purpose of and the justification for document/view architecture.

Describe the benefits and costs of document/view, non-document/view, and dialog-based application architectures. top

Chapter 3: Creating a Visual C++ Project
Topics:

Developer Studio

AppWizard, ClassWizard

Component Gallery

Resource editors

Browser

Debugging top
Labs:

Building an AppWizard application

Hand-coding a minimal MFC application

Creating a dialog-based application
Skills:

Students will be able to:

Use the tools in Microsoft Visual C++® development system version 4 (Microsoft Developer Studio). top

Use AppWizard to build a Single Document Interface (SDI) application.

Use ClassWizard to add a handler.

Use several of the resource editors.

Explain the purpose of the Project Workspace window.

Describe the structure and function of the Component Gallery. top

Access online information, including Visual C++ Help and Books Online.

Build and run a simple application from within Visual C++.

Use Browser to display information about symbols, class, and function relationships in the project.

Describe debugging capabilities in Microsoft Developer Studio. top

Chapter 4: Handling Messages
Topics:

Windows messages

Message map

Using ClassWizard to manage message handlers

Using WizardBar to handle messages

Advanced message handling top
Lab:

Simple message handling
Skills:

Students will be able to:

Define the term message as it applies to the Microsoft Windows operating system.

List the types of MFC messages. top

Describe how messages are handled by application framework.

Describe the purpose of a message map and explain how one is declared and implemented.

Use ClassWizard and WizardBar to add or delete an event's message handler.

Implement a handler member function (for instance, implement OnRButtonDown to respond to a right mouse-button click). top

Explain the purpose of user-defined messages and how they are added to an application.

Define a system-registered message, and explain the difference between asynchronous messaging and synchronous messaging. top

Chapter 5: Graphics
Topics:

Writing output to a device

CDC class

Displaying text to the view

GDI objects

Graphic output functions

Transformations

Special visual effects top
Lab:

Creating a simple graph
Skills:

Students will be able to:

Explain the general purpose of a device context and the associated Microsoft Foundation Classes.

Describe painting issues.

Display text to the view window. top

List and describe standard GDI objects.

Use stock objects effectively in a program.

Draw simple graphics objects.

Describe and use mapping modes to perform transformations between logical and physical drawing space. top

Describe Raster Operation (ROP) codes and give examples of their use.

Chapter 6: Menus, Toolbars, and Status Bars
Topics:

Building menus

Adding an accelerator key to a menu

Updating the appearance of menus

Creating shortcut menus

Adding toolbars

Implementing status bars

Advanced techniques top
Labs:

Static drop-down menus

Changing menu text

Enabling menu items

Adding a progress control to the status bar

Creating a shortcut menu

Adding a graphic to a status bar top
Skills:

Students will be able to:

Add menus, accelerators, status bar menu prompts, and toolbar buttons to an application.

Explain the differences between a window message and a command message.

Explain the routing of a command message.

Dynamically change the state of a menu item. top

Describe Ownerdraw menus.

Incorporate a context or shortcut menu into an application.

Add additional panes and graphics to a status bar. top

Chapter 7: Creating and Using Dialog Boxes
Topics:

Designing and creating dialog boxes

Initializing list and combo boxes

Working with modeless dialog boxes

Advanced dialog box handling top
Labs:

Adding and invoking modal dialog boxes

Adding and invoking modeless dialog boxes

Adding property pages and sheets
Skills:

Students will be able to:

Define the various types of dialog boxes.

Use the dialog box editor to create dialog box templates. top

Use ClassWizard to create dialog box classes.

Write code to manage dialog data exchange (DDX) and dialog data validation (DDV).

Use advanced techniques for placing data in controls of dialog boxes.

Invoke and display modal and modeless dialog boxes. top

Customize common dialog boxes.

Create tabbed dialog boxes and property sheets.

Chapter 8: Views
Topics:

Working with views

Creating an application with interrelated views
Labs:

Splitter windows

Adding a rich edit view to an application
Skills: top

Students will be able to:

Describe the purpose of documents, views, templates, and frames within the document/view architecture, and explain how they interact.

Describe the various types of view classes in MFC.

Implement applications that use CScrollView, CListView, CSplitterWnd, CTreeView, CEditView, and CRichEditView.

Use two interrelated views in an application. top

Chapter 9: Persistence
Topics:

Registry

Serialization

Universal naming convention (UNC) and long filename support top
Lab:

Adding serialization with version handling to an application
Skills:

Students will be able to:

Explain the purpose of the registry.

View and modify the registry.

Programmatically update the registry.

Define serialization and describe support provided for it in MFC. top

Describe how MFC supports persistent storage.

Create serializable objects.

Handle version issues related to serializable objects.

Describe guidelines for UNC and long filenames. top

Chapter 10: User-Defined Classes and the Document/View Architecture
Topics:

Data in document/view architecture

Data support in MFC

C++ class templates

MFC collection classes

Serializing a collection top
Skills:

Students will be able to:

Integrate application-specific (solution domain) classes into document/view architecture.

Describe the advantages of deriving a class from CObject.

Describe and use templated and nontemplated collection classes (lists, maps, and arrays).

Create type-safe collections of objects.

Serialize collections of type CArray, CList, or CMap. top

Chapter 11: Dynamic-Link Libraries
Topics:

Dynamic-Link Libraries (DLLs) that use MFC

DLLs using the static version of MFC

DLLs using the shared version of MFC

Extension DLLs

Run-time linking of regular DLLs
Lab:

Creating a DLL from existing classes
Skills: top

Students will be able to:

Describe DLLs and list the advantages of their use.

List the three types of C++ DLLs that link with MFC, and describe their characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages.

Build and use each of the three types of DLLs that link with MFC: top

A regular DLL that statically links to MFC.

A regular DLL that links to the shared version of MFC.

An extension DLL.

Define run-time linking and describe the advantages of its use.

Build an application that uses run-time linking with a regular DLL. top

Chapter 12: Implementing Database Support Using ODBC and DAO
Topics:

The recordset

Introduction to database access with MFC

Open Database Connectivity (ODBC)

Data Access Objects (DAO) top

Implementing data access with MFC

Customizing a query

Using QueryDefs

Parameterizing a query

Finding records within a recordset

Advanced data access with MFC
Labs: top

Building a database viewer with DAO

Building a database editor with DAO

Building a two-tier database browser with DAO
Skills:

Students will be able to:

Explain the differences between ODBC and DAO. top

Describe the role of ODBC in applications that interact with databases.

Identify and describe the most important issues that a simple ODBC-compliant application must address.

Use the ODBC Database Manager and understand its use of the registry.

Develop a forms-based database browser. top

Use the basic features of the MFC database classes.

Implement an ODBC connection to a local database.

Describe and use the basic features of the DAO database classes.

Use DAO to interact with a Microsoft Access–based database. top

Chapter 13: Adding Context-Sensitive Help
Topics:

Help file architecture

WinHelp function

Using AppWizard to add Help

f1 Help

Context-sensitive Help mode

Adding context-sensitive Help to an existing MFC application top
Skills:

Students will be able to:

Describe the functionality available through WinHelp.

Explain the MFC messaging associated with f1 and shift+f1.

Explain the structure of a Windows-based Help file. top

Use MFC tools to create an application that implements context-sensitive Help.

Chapter 14: Printing and Print Preview
Topics:

Adding printer support to an MFC application

Printing process

Retrieving and setting printing information

Managing the printing process

Document versus printer pages top
Lab:

Adding Print and Print Preview to Textview
Skills:

Students will be able to:

Describe default printing capabilities provided by MFC in an AppWizard-generated application.

Describe document-oriented versus page-oriented output, and customize screen-directed and printer-directed output. top

Explain how to get printer-specific information at run time and incorporate it into an application.

Chapter 15: Implementing and Using OLE Controls
Topics:

Creating an OLE control with ControlWizard

Implementing an OLE control container

OLE control properties

OLE control methods top

OLE control events

Communicating errors in OLE controls

Implementing OLE control property pages

Implementing per-property browsing

Data binding in an OLE control top
Lab:

Building an OLE control from an existing class
Skills:

Students will be able to:

Describe the advantages of OLE control technology.

Explain the elements of an OLE control.

Explain the purpose of the ODL file. top

Explain the features of ControlWizard in creating an OLE control.

Describe the primary tasks of an OLE control container.

Explain the interaction between an OLE control container and an OLE control.

Use AppWizard to create an OLE control container and use the Component Gallery to incorporate an OLE control into the application. top

Use ControlWizard to create skeletal code for your OLE control.

Use ClassWizard to add both stock and custom properties, and methods to an OLE control.

Use ClassWizard to define stock and custom events that the OLE control will use to communicate with its container.

Particulars: top
Cost: £1650 ( € 2640) excluding VAT
Platform: Windows NT
Numbers: Maximum of 6 people on each course at F1’s training facilities in London, Bath and Manchester