Mac Forum / Programming / CodeWarrior / July 2004

You're going to make 2 discoveries very quickly:

It's a pain to do GUI apps without a resource editor, and
MFC is *nasty* without the MS wizards that dump in all the boilerplate code
(mostly macros) for you.

I don't have a recommendation for a book, but make sure you get one that
covers the macros (I used to have a book that forced you to do some limited
MFC work by hand, which was very painful but also very educational.) Stay
away from books that teach you to use the wizards only.

If you're serious about this, it's probably worth your while to get Visual
Studio: you can pick up VS6 or VC++ on ebay pretty cheap, and MS is
supposedly releasing $49 versions of individual VS7 languages (make sure
MFC's are supported: it may be a trojan horse to get .NET into your hands.)
VC++ is slow and has a lousy interface (in pretty much every respect)
compared to CW, but you get great documentation (miles beyond anything Apple
has ever had, and you're going to need it, believe me), lots of automation,
and a real Windows resource editor.

BTW, MFC is pretty much as bad as it gets for anything beyond NotePad
replacements anyway. Is there a reason you need to use it? If you're
starting out fresh, you should also look into other frameworks that build
for Windows. You can pick up a copy of C++ Builder on ebay or try it for
free: it's hugely more productive than Visual Studio. (It also has the
absolute worst editor/IDE I've ever encountered: I generally kept a copy of
CW for Windows open for editing.)

If you insist on fooling w/ MFC's, join codeproject.com.

I went through this myself recently, and this is what I have to say: OUCH!

1) MFC is no longer cool, what with MS pushing .NET down everyone's throat.
The book publishers slavishly follow fads, so many MFC books are out of
print, with used copies of some of the full references commanding ridiculous
premiums.

2) I could not figure out how to set up a text-based resource file for
anything other than the basic controls. Buttons, combo boxes, list boxes,
static and editable text were all OK. But not calendar/time controls and so
on. I think there is a way to do this, but the documentation on msdn is
incomplete.

3) The other poster's comments about VC were pretty much correct. I just
want to point out that you can use Borland C++ Builder with MFC, and you can
download a free version to play with.

That said, it's time to answer your question. I found and used 2 books which
cover somewhat using MFC without the VC wizards. They'll both get you
started, but neither will take you through advanced uses. They overlap a
lot, but each has useful content that the other doesn't:

<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0130132497/qid=1091206732>

<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0130166294/qid=1091206810>