This is something I never anticipated would happen. I have my first Windows GUI app project whilst I've been at my current job, and I cant decide whether I should write it in WinForms or MFC. It's a no brainer right? Ordinarily...
You see, I am rather fond of MFC. Sure, it's a hodgepodge framework, complex and irritating at times, but great things can be done with it, and the performance is rather better than any managed code system can (so far) provide. It also doesn't require that the client machines have the .NET Framework installed, which is a huge plus sometimes, especially when you have to deploy the app to 10 odd Novell engineers laptops. I'd never hear the end of it.
My main concern is the speed of development. WinForms could have me screaming ahead. My app would be consuming web services and the .NET frameworks webservice savi APIs are a dream compared to the SOAP Toolkit. It's a tough one.
I could perhaps write it in MFC, in Managed C++, making use of the .NET BCL where I see fit, but there are problems with this approach. Managed C++ requires the /clr compiler switch, and this can play merry hell with MFC and other apis. There are ways and means around this problem, namely wrapper DLLs, but all this takes time when I could just be writing pure managed code and not have to worry.
I'll sleep on it. Maybe it's time to hang up my MFC cape.
You see, I am rather fond of MFC. Sure, it's a hodgepodge framework, complex and irritating at times, but great things can be done with it, and the performance is rather better than any managed code system can (so far) provide. It also doesn't require that the client machines have the .NET Framework installed, which is a huge plus sometimes, especially when you have to deploy the app to 10 odd Novell engineers laptops. I'd never hear the end of it.
My main concern is the speed of development. WinForms could have me screaming ahead. My app would be consuming web services and the .NET frameworks webservice savi APIs are a dream compared to the SOAP Toolkit. It's a tough one.
I could perhaps write it in MFC, in Managed C++, making use of the .NET BCL where I see fit, but there are problems with this approach. Managed C++ requires the /clr compiler switch, and this can play merry hell with MFC and other apis. There are ways and means around this problem, namely wrapper DLLs, but all this takes time when I could just be writing pure managed code and not have to worry.
I'll sleep on it. Maybe it's time to hang up my MFC cape.
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