C++ Windows Programming

Stefan Bjornander

• Publisher: Packt Publishing
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781786464224
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Operating Systems
• Index: Computer Science

Develop real-world applications in Windows

About This Book

• Create diverse applications featuring the versatility of Small Windows C++ library
• Learn about object-oriented programming in Windows and how to develop a large object-oriented class library in C++
• Understand how to tackle application-specific problems along with acquiring a deep understanding of the workings of Windows architecture

Who This Book Is For

This book is for application developers who want a head-first approach into Windows programming. It will teach you how to develop an object-oriented class library in C++ and enhanced applications in Windows. Basic knowledge of C++ and the object-oriented framework is assumed to get the most out of this book.

What You Will Learn

• Develop advanced real-world applications in Windows
• Design and implement a graphical object-oriented class library in C++
• Get to grips with the workings of the integral aspects of the Win32 API, such as mouse input, drawing, cut-and-paste, file handling, and drop files
• Identify general problems when developing graphical applications as well as specific problems regarding drawing, spreadsheet, and word processing applications
• Implement classes, functions, and macros of the object-oriented class library developed in the book and how we implement its functionality by calling functions and macros in the Win32 API

In Detail

It is critical that modern developers have the right tools to build practical, user-friendly, and efficient applications in order to compete in today's market. Through hands-on guidance, this book illustrates and demonstrates C++ best practices and the Small Windows object-oriented class library to ease your development of interactive Windows applications.

Begin with a focus on high level application development using Small Windows. Learn how to build four real-world applications which focus on the general problems faced when developing graphical applications. Get essential troubleshooting guidance on drawing, spreadsheet, and word processing applications. Finally finish up with a deep dive into the workings of the Small Windows class library, which will give you all the insights you need to build your own object-oriented class library in C++.

Style and approach

This book takes a tutorial-style approach that will demonstrate the features of a C++ object-oriented library by developing interactive Windows applications.

C++ Windows Programming

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C++ Windows Programming

Copyright © 2016 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: September 2016

Production reference: 1020916

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

Livery Place

35 Livery Street

Birmingham

B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78646-422-4

www.packtpub.com

Credits

Author Stefan Björnander	Copy Editor Pranjali Chury
Reviewer Lou Mauget	Project Coordinator Suzanne Coutinho
Commissioning Editor Kunal Parikh	Proofreader Safis Editing
Acquisition Editor Chaitanya Nair	Indexer Rekha Nair
Content Development Editor Zeeyan Pinheiro	Graphics Jason Monteiro Disha Haria
Technical Editor Pratish Shetty	Production Coordinator Melwyn Dsa

About the Author

Stefan Björnander holds a master's degree in computer science, and has worked with software development for many years. He has lectured on programming for the industry and universities. He has also authored Microsoft Visual C++ Windows Applications by Example for Packt Publishing, which gained great acclaim.

About the Reviewer

Lou Mauget learned to program long ago at Michigan State University as a physics major, learning to use software to design a cyclotron. He worked at IBM for 34 years, and after that, he went on to work for several consulting firms, including a long-term engagement with the railroad industry. He is currently consulting for Keyhole Software of Leawood, Kansas. Recently, he designed and coded MockOla, a drag-drop wire-frame prototyping tool for Keyhole Software. Lou has coded in C++, Java, JavaScript, Python, and newer languages, as each was conceived. His current interests include reactive functional programming, containers, Node JS, NoSQL, geospatial systems, mobile, and any new language or framework. Occasionally, Lou blogs about software technology for Keyhole Software. He has coauthored three computer books and authored two IBM DeveloperWorks XML tutorials and a WebSphere Journal LDAP tutorial. Lou coauthored several J2EE certification tests for IBM. He has reviewed books for Packt Publishing, as well as other publications.

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Dedication

I dedicate this book to my parents Ralf and Gunilla, my sister Catharina, her husband Magnus, and their sons Emil and Rasmus.

Preface

Application development has gained massive popularity because of the immense impact it has on various sectors. In this booming market, it has become critical to have the right set of tools to enable developers to build practical, user-friendly, and efficient applications. This book is focused on the use and implementation of Small Windows, which is a C++ object-oriented class library that eases the development of interactive Windows applications.

What this book covers

Chapter 1, Introduction, gives an introduction to Small Windows, which is a class library that encapsulates a part of the Win32 API.

Chapter 2, Hello, Small World!, starts by building a (very) small application—the Small Windows version of the famous Hello World program. Then, we will continue with a (still rather small) application that handles circles in a window. The user can add and move circles, change their colors, and save and load circles.

Chapter 3, Building a Tetris Application, explores a version of the classic Tetris game. Seven different kinds of figure are falling down the screen and the user’s task is to move or rotate them so that as many rows as possible can be completely filled and removed.

Chapter 4, Working with Shapes and Figures, teaches you how to build a drawing program, which can be regarded as a more advanced version of the circle application. It is possible to create and remove figures as well as mark and drag figures.

Chapter 5, The Figure Hierarchy, continues to build the drawing program. We can define a class hierarchy with lines, arrows, rectangles, and ellipses.

Chapter 6, Building a Word Processor, describes a word processor capable of formatting individual characters.

Chapter 7, Keyboard Input and Character Calculation, discusses how the word processor handles many keyboard input combinations and calculates the size and position of each individual character.

Chapter 8, Building a Spreadsheet Application, talks about the final application, which is a spreadsheet program capable of calculating formulas with the four rules of arithmetic. It is also possible to cut and paste blocks of cells.

Chapter 9, Formula Interpretation, explains that when the user inputs a formula, we need to interpret it. The process is divided into scanning and parsing, which we will look into in this chapter.

Chapter 10, The Framework, describes the most central part of Small Windows. This chapter begins the description of Small Windows. The Application class handles the message loop of the application and the registration of Windows classes. The Window class handles basic window functionality.

Chapter 11, The Document, talks about the document-based Window subclasses, that is, the Document class that provides basic document functionality, such as menus and accelerators, and the Standard Document framework, which provides a document-based framework.

Chapter 12, The Auxiliary Classes, explores a set of small auxiliary classes handling points and sizes, rectangles, colors and fonts, dynamic lists, and tree structures.

Chapter 13, The Registry, Clipboard, Standard Dialogs, and Print Preview, explains the implementation of the registry and clipboard, the standard dialogs to save and load files, choosing color or font, or printing a document. The chapter also explains the implementation a class for print previewing.

Chapter 14, Dialogs, Controls, and Print Setup, describes the possibility to design custom dialogs with controls such as push buttons, check boxes, radio buttons, list boxes, combo boxes, and text field. The input of a text field can be converted to any type. Finally, the Print Setup dialog is a custom dialog annotated with suitable controls.

What you need for this book

First of all, you need to download Visual Studio on your computer. I suggest you download and install Express for Desktop, which is free, and is available at https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/products/visual-studio-express-vs.aspx.

Then, there are two ways to ins...