The Microsoft Foundation Class Library is a library that wraps portions of the Windows
API in C++ classes, including functionality that enables them to use a default application
framework. Classes are defined for many of the handle-managed Windows objects and also
for predefined windows and common controls.
History MFC was introduced in 1992 with Microsoft's
C/C++ 7.0 compiler for use with 16-bit versions of Windows as an extremely thin object-oriented
C++ wrapper for the Windows API. C++ was just beginning to replace C for development of
commercial application software at the time. In an MFC program, direct Windows API calls
are rarely needed. Instead, programs create objects from Microsoft Foundation Class classes
and call member functions belonging to those objects. Many of those functions share their
names with corresponding API functions. One interesting quirk of MFC is the use of
"Afx" as the prefix for many functions, macros and the standard precompiled header name "stdafx.h".
During early development what became MFC was called "Application Framework Extensions"
and abbreviated "Afx". The name Microsoft Foundation Classes was adopted too late in
the release cycle to change these references. MFC 8.0 was released with Visual Studio 2005.
MFC 9.0 was released with Visual Studio 2008. MFC is not included in the free edition of
Visual C++ Express but is included in the commercial versions of Visual C++ 2010 and
later. The Object Windows Library, designed for use
with Borland's Turbo C++ compiler, was a competing product introduced by Borland around the same
time. Eventually, Borland discontinued OWL development and licensed the distribution
of the MFC headers, libraries and DLLs from Microsoft for a short time, though it never
offered fully integrated support for MFC. Borland later released VCL to replace the
OWL framework. Microsoft's emphasis on MFC has been reduced
in favor of its .NET Framework. MFC 7, 8 and 9 bridge elements of MFC with the .NET Framework
to aid developers in migrating to the new framework. The MSVC++ compiler backend can
emit managed and native object file(s). The linker can then build them together, generating
mixed applications, allowing existing native applications to use managed extensions in
a seamless manner. Though Microsoft has de-emphasized MFC, it remains a widely used framework.
A lightweight alternative to MFC is the Windows Template Library. C++ Express version compiles
WTL applications, but does not include the IDE support of the Standard, Professional
and Team editions. Features
At the time of its introduction, MFC provided C++ macros for Windows message-handling, exceptions,
run-time type identification, serialization and dynamic class instantiation.
The macros for message-handling aimed to reduce memory consumption by avoiding gratuitous
virtual table use and also to provide a more concrete structure for various Visual C++-supplied
tools to edit and manipulate code without parsing the full language. The message-handling
macros replaced the virtual function mechanism provided by C++.
The macros for serialization, exceptions, and RTTI predated availability of these features
in Microsoft C++ by a number of years. 32-bit versions of MFC, for Windows NT 3.1 and later
Windows operating systems, used compilers that implemented the language features and
updated the macros to simply wrap the language features instead of providing customized implementations,
realizing upward compatibility. Visual C++ 2008 Feature Pack
On 7 April 2008, Microsoft released an update to the MFC classes as an out-of-band update
to Visual Studio 2008 and MFC 9. The update features new user interface constructs, including
the ribbons and associated UI widgets, fully customizable toolbars, docking panes which
can either be freely floated or docked to any side and document tabs. The MFC ribbon
resource editor allows the developer to design the ribbon graphically instead of having to
use the XML-based declarative markup like the RibbonX API in Microsoft Office 2007.
Optionally, ribbon components may be programmed directly by calling a new set of ribbon class
methods. The developer may mix graphical and programmatic ribbon development as is convenient.
The MFC application wizard has also been upgraded to support the new features – including
a check-box to select whether the application will use the ribbon or the Visual Studio 2005
user interface elements. The new functionality is provided in new classes so that old applications
still continue to run. This update is building on top of BCGSoft’s BCGControlBar Library
Professional Edition. MFC can be used by linking a Static Library
or by adding the MFC DLL. Microsoft has also imposed additional licensing
requirements on users of the ribbons. These include a requirement to adhere to Microsoft
UI Design Guidelines, and a prohibition against using such a UI in applications which compete
with Microsoft Office applications. Versions
See also Active Template Library
Qt Standard Template Library
Windows Template Library References
Further reading Prosise, Jeff. Programming Windows with MFC.
Microsoft Press. ISBN 9781572316959. Shepherd, George. MFC Internals. Addison-Wesley.
ISBN 9780201407211. Kruglinski, David. Inside Visual C++. Microsoft
Press. ISBN 9781572315655. Microsoft. Microsoft Visual C++: Programming
with MFC. Microsoft Press. ISBN 9781556159213. External links
MSDN MFC Reference MSDN MFC newsgroup
MFC: Visual Studio 2005 and Beyond An Inside Look At The Next Generation Of Visual
C++