When you're writing programs, you must use many types of data and operations again and again. Sometimes, you have to do something as simple as creating a portable integer data type. Other times, you need to do something a little more complex, such as extracting a word from a long word value or storing the position of the mouse pointer. As you might know, when you compile your program with Visual C++, many constants and variables are already defined. You can use these in your programs to save time writing code and to make your programs more portable and more readable for other programmers. In the following tables, you'll have a look at the most important of these globally available constants, macros, and variables.
Because there are so many constants, macros, and global variables, it is helpful to divide them into the following ten categories. The next sections describe each of these categories and the symbols they define:
Because a typical Visual C++ application contains only one application object but many other objects created from other MFC classes, you frequently need to obtain information about the application in different places in a program. Visual C++ defines a set of global functions that return this information to any class in a program. These functions, listed in Table E.1, can be called from anywhere within an MFC program. For example, you frequently need to get a pointer to an application's main window. The following function call accomplishes that task:
CWnd* pWnd = AfxGetMainWnd();
| Function | Description |
| AfxBeginThread() | Creates a new thread (see Chapter 27, "Multitasking with Windows Threads") |
| AfxEndThread() | Terminates a thread |
| AfxGetApp() | Gets the application's CWinApp pointer |
| AfxGetAppName() | Gets the application's name |
| AfxGetInstanceHandle() | Gets the application's instance handle |
| AfxGetMainWnd() | Gets a pointer to the application's main window |
| AfxGetResourceHandle() | Gets the application's resource handle |
| AfxGetThread() | Gets a pointer to a CWinThread object |
| AfxRegisterClass() | Registers a window class in an MFC DLL |
| AfxRegisterWndClass() | Registers a Windows window class in an MFC application |
| AfxSetResourceHandle() | Sets the instance handle that determines where to load the application's default resources |
| AfxSocketInit() | Initializes Windows Sockets (see Chapter 18, "Sockets, MAPI, and the Internet") |
Visual C++ defines a number of delimiters that ClassWizard uses to keep track of what it's doing, as well as to locate specific areas of source code. Although you'll rarely, if ever, use these macros yourself, you will see them embedded in your AppWizard applications, so you might like to know exactly what they do. Table E.2 fills you in.
| Delimiter | Description |
| AFX_DATA | Starts and ends member variable declarations in header files that are associated with dialog data exchange |
| AFX_DATA_INIT | Starts and ends dialog data exchange variable initialization in a dialog class's constructor |
| AFX_DATA_MAP | Starts and ends dialog data exchange function calls in a dialog class's DoDataExchange() function |
| AFX_DISP | Starts and ends Automation declarations in header files |
| AFX_DISP_MAP | Starts and ends Automation mapping in implementation files |
| AFX_EVENT | Starts and ends ActiveX event declarations in header files |
| AFX_EVENT_MAP | Starts and ends ActiveX events in implementation files |
| AFX_FIELD | Starts and ends member variable declarations in header files that are associated with database record field exchange |
| AFX_FIELD_INIT | Starts and ends record field exchange member variable initialization in a record set class's constructor |
| AFX_FIELD_MAP | Starts and ends record field exchange function calls in a record set class's DoFieldExchange() function |
| AFX_MSG | Starts and ends ClassWizard entries in header files for classes that use message maps |
| AFX_MSG_MAP | Starts and ends message map entries |
| AFX_VIRTUAL | Starts and ends virtual function overrides in header files |
Because certain types of data structures are so commonly used in programming, MFC defines collection classes that enable you to get these common data structures initialized quickly and manipulated easily. MFC includes collection classes for arrays, linked lists, and mapping tables. (See Appendix F, "Useful Classes," for more on these constructs.) Each of these types of collections contains elements that represent the individual pieces of data that compose the collection. To make it easier to access these elements, MFC defines a set of functions created from templates (see Chapter 26, "Exceptions and Templates," for more on templates.) Table E.3 shows the functions, and you provide the implementation for each particular data type.
For example, if you want to keep a sorted list, the functions that insert new items into the list must be able to compare two Truck objects or two Employee objects to decide where to put a new Truck or Employee. You implement CompareElements() for the Truck class or Employee class, and then the collection class code can use this function to decide where to put new additions to the collection.
| Function | Description |
| CompareElements() | Checks elements for equality |
| ConstructElements() | Constructs new elements (works similar to a class constructor) |
| DestructElements() | Destroys elements (works similar to a class destructor) |
| DumpElements() | Provides diagnostic output in text form |
| HashKey() | Calculates hashing keys |
| SerializeElements() | Saves or loads elements to or from an archive |
If you've done much Visual C++ programming, you know that MFC features a special string class, called CString, that makes string handling under C++ less cumbersome. CString objects are used extensively throughout MFC programs and are discussed in Appendix F. There are times when CString is not the right class, though, such as when dealing with strings in a resource's string table. These global functions, which replace format characters in string tables, provide the CString Format() capability for resource strings. There's also a global function for displaying a message box.
| Function | Description |
| AfxFormatString1() | Replaces the format characters (such as %1) in a string resource with a given string |
| AfxFormatString2() | Replaces the format characters %1 and %2 in a string resource with the given strings |
| AfxMessageBox() | Displays a message box |
The most commonly used constants are those that define a portable set of data types. You've seen tons of these constants (named in all uppercase letters) used in Windows programs. You'll recognize many of these from the Windows SDK. Others are included only as part of Visual C++. You use these constants exactly as you would any other data type. For example, to declare an unsigned integer variable, you'd write something like this:
UINT flag;
Table E.5 lists the most commonly used data types defined by Visual C++ for Windows 95/98 and NT. Searching in the help index on any one of these types will lead you to a page in the online help that lists all the data types used in MFC and the Windows SDK.
| Data Type | Description |
| BOOL | Boolean value |
| BSTR | 32-bit pointer to character data |
| BYTE | 8-bit unsigned integer |
| COLORREF | 32-bit color value |
| DWORD | 32-bit unsigned integer |
| LONG | 32-bit signed integer |
| LPARAM | 32-bit window-procedure parameter |
| LPCRECT | 32-bit constant RECT structure pointer |
| LPCSTR | 32-bit string-constant pointer |
| LPSTR | 32-bit string pointer |
| LPVOID | 32-bit void pointer |
| LRESULT | 32-bit window-procedure return value |
| POSITION | The position of an element in a collection |
| UINT | 32-bit unsigned integer |
| WNDPROC | 32-bit window-procedure pointer |
| WORD | 16-bit unsigned integer |
| WPARAM | 32-bit window-procedure parameter |
When you have written your program, you're far from finished. Then comes the grueling task of testing, which means rolling up your sleeves, cranking up your debugger, and weeding out all the gotchas hiding in your code. Luckily, Visual C++ provides many macros, functions, and global variables for incorporating diagnostic abilities into your projects. By using these tools, you can print output to a debugging window, check the integrity of memory blocks, and much more. Table E.6 lists these valuable diagnostic macros, functions, and global variables. Many are discussed in Chapter 24, "Improving Your Application's Performance," and Appendix D, "Debugging."
| Symbol | Description |
| AfxCheckMemory() | Verifies the integrity of allocated memory. |
| AfxDoForAllClasses() | Calls a given iteration function for all classes that are derived from CObject and that incorporate runtime type checking. |
| AfxDoForAllObjects() | Calls a given iteration function for all objects derived from CObject and allocated with the new operator. |
| afxDump | A global CDumpContext object that enables a program to send information to the debugger window. |
| AfxDump() | Dumps an object's state during a debugging session. |
| AfxEnableMemoryTracking() | Toggles memory tracking. |
| AfxIsMemoryBlock() | Checks that memory allocation was successful. |
| AfxIsValidAddress() | Checks that a memory address range is valid for the program. |
| AfxIsValidString() | Checks string pointer validity. |
| afxMemDF | A global variable that controls memory-allocation diagnostics. It can be set to allocMemDF, DelayFreeMemDF, or checkAlwaysMemDF. |
| AfxSetAllocHook() | Sets a user-defined hook function that is called whenever memory allocation is performed. |
| afxTraceEnabled | A global variable that enables or disables TRACE output. |
| afxTraceFlags | A global variable that enables the MFC reporting features. |
| ASSERT | Prints a message and exits the program if the ASSERT expression is FALSE (see Chapter 24). |
| ASSERT_VALID | Validates an object by calling the object's AssertValid() function. |
| DEBUG_NEW | Used in place of the new operator to trace memory-leak problems (see Chapter 23). |
| TRACE | Creates formatted strings for debugging output (see Chapter 23). |
| TRACE0 | Same as TRACE but requires no arguments in the format string. |
| TRACE1 | Same as TRACE but requires one argument in the format string. |
| TRACE2 | Same as TRACE but requires two arguments in the format string. |
| TRACE3 | Same as TRACE but requires three arguments in the format string. |
| VERIFY | Like ASSERT, but VERIFY evaluates the ASSERT expression in both the debug and release versions of MFC. If the assertion fails, a message is printed and the program is halted only in the debug version. |
Exceptions give a program greater control over how errors are handled (see Chapter 26). Before exceptions were part of the language, MFC developers used macros to achieve the same results. Now that exceptions are firmly established in Visual C++, a number of functions make it easier to throw exceptions of various types. These macros and functions are listed in Table E.7.
| Symbol | Description |
| AfxAbort() | Terminates an application upon a fatal error |
| AfxThrowArchiveException() | Throws an archive exception |
| AfxThrowDAOException() | Throws a CDAOException |
| AfxThrowDBException() | Throws a CDBException |
| AfxThrowFileException() | Throws a file exception |
| AfxThrowMemoryException() | Throws a memory exception |
| AfxThrowNotSupportedException() | Throws a not-supported exception |
| AfxThrowOleDispatchException() | Throws an OLE automation exception |
| AfxThrowOleException() | Throws an OLE exception |
| AfxThrowResourceException() | Throws a resource-not-found exception |
| AfxThrowUserException() | Throws an end user exception |
| AND_CATCH | Begins code that will catch specified exceptions not caught in the preceding TRY block |
| AND_CATCH_ALL | Begins code that will catch all exceptions not caught in the preceding TRY block |
| CATCH | Begins code for catching an exception |
| CATCH_ALL | Begins code for catching all exceptions |
| END_CATCH | Ends CATCH or AND_CATCH code blocks |
| END_CATCH_ALL | Ends CATCH_ALL code blocks |
| THROW | Throws a given exception |
| THROW_LAST | Throws the most recent exception to the next handler |
| TRY | Starts code that will accommodate exception handling |
Windows is an event-driven operating system, which means that every Windows application must handle a flood of messages that flow between an application and the system. MFC does away with the clunky switch statements that early Windows programmers had to construct to handle messages and replaces those statements with a message map. A message map is nothing more than a table that matches a message with its message handler (see Chapter 3, "Messages and Commands"). To simplify the declaration and definition of these tables, Visual C++ defines a set of message-map macros. Many of these macros, which are listed in Table E.8, will already be familiar to experienced MFC programmers.
| Macro | Description |
| BEGIN_MESSAGE_MAP | Begins a message-map definition |
| DECLARE_MESSAGE_MAP | Starts a message-map declaration |
| END_MESSAGE_MAP | Ends a message-map definition |
| ON_COMMAND | Begins a command-message message-map entry |
| ON_COMMAND_RANGE | Begins a command-message message-map entry that maps multiple messages to a single handler |
| ON_CONTROL | Begins a control-notification message-map entry |
| ON_CONTROL_RANGE | Begins a control-notification message-map entry that maps multiple control IDs to a single handler |
| ON_MESSAGE | Begins a user-message message-map entry |
| ON_REGISTERED_MESSAGE | Begins a registered user-message message-map entry |
| ON_UPDATE_COMMAND_UI | Begins a command-update message-map entry |
| ON_UPDATE_COMMAND_UI_RANGE | Begins a command-update message-map entry that maps multiple command-update messages to a single handler |
Frequently in your programs, you need access to information about classes at runtime. MFC supplies a macro for obtaining this type of information in a CRuntimeClass structure. In addition, the MFC application framework relies on a set of macros to declare and define runtime abilities (such as object serialization and dynamic object creation). If you've used AppWizard at all, you've seen these macros in the generated source-code files. If you're an advanced MFC programmer, you might have even used these macros yourself. Table E.9 lists the runtime macros and their descriptions.
| Macro | File | Description |
| DECLARE_DYNAMIC | Class declaration(.h) | Enables runtime class information access |
| DECLARE_DYNCREATE | Class declaration(.h) | Enables the class (derived from CObject) to be created dynamically and also enables runtime class information access |
| DECLARE_OLECREATE | Class declaration (.h) | Enables object creation with OLE automation |
| DECLARE_SERIAL | Class declaration (.h) | Enables object serialization, as well as runtime class information access |
| IMPLEMENT_DYNAMIC | Class implementation (.cpp) | Enables runtime class information access |
| IMPLEMENT_DYNCREATE | Class implementation (.cpp) | Enables dynamic creation of the object and runtime information access |
| IMPLEMENT_OLECREATE | Class implementation (.cpp) | Enables object creation with OLE |
| IMPLEMENT_SERIAL | Class implementation (.cpp) | Enables object serialization and runtime class information access |
| RUNTIME_CLASS | Returns a CRuntimeClass structure for the given class |
A Windows application user can generate myriad standard messages. For example, whenever the user selects a menu command from a standard menu like File or Edit, the program sends a message. Each standard command is represented by an ID. To relieve the programmer of having to define the dozens of IDs often used in a Windows application, Visual C++ defines these symbols in a file called AFXRES.H. Some of these IDs have obvious purposes (for example, ID_FILE_OPEN), but many others are used internally by MFC for everything from mapping standard Windows messages to their handlers, to defining string-table IDs, to assigning IDs to toolbar and status bar styles.
There are far too many of these identifiers to list here. However, if you're interested in seeing them, just open the AFXRES.H file from your Visual C++ installation folder.
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