Application Types with Visual C++ .NET

You can create several new application types with Visual C++ .NET. Most of them are the same as the previous version of Visual C++; however, there are a few new ones that support creating applications with the .NET Framework Software Development Kit (SDK). The following list shows the application types you can create with Visual C++ .NET:

• ATL project. Create a new Active Template Library (ATL) project. Based on the Component Object Model (COM), ATL allows you to create COM objects that can be used by any COM-enabled programming language such as Visual Basic, Delphi, and Visual Basic Script (VBScript).

• Custom Wizard. Create a new application wizard for Visual Studio .NET. A project of this type can be a real timesaver if you tend to create several projects that rely on the same boilerplate code.

• Extended stored procedure. Create an extended stored procedure for SQL Server. This is a procedure written in C that is callable from SQL Server.

• MFC application. Create a new Windows application using the MFC library. The MFC library is a collection of C++ classes that make using the WIN32 application programming interface (API) much easier. It supports various features such as window management, Internet programming, file I/O, and extended data types, to name just a few.

• MFC DLL project. Create a new dynamic link library (DLL) that uses the MFC library.

• MFC ActiveX Control project. Create a new ActiveX control using the MFC library.

• MFC ISAPI Extension project. Create a new Internet Server extension DLL using MFC. This allows you to add functionality to your Web server using the Internet Services API (ISAPI) and MFC.

• Win32 project. Create an application using the Win32 API. You can create a console application, a Windows application, a DLL, or a static library with this type of project. Creating a project of this type, however, tends to be more difficult because most tasks will have to be done without the use of the built-in wizards.

• ATL Server project (new). Create a new Internet Information Services (IIS) Web server extension using ATL. Among the many features ATL Server provides (such as access to cryptography, mail, and message queuing on the server), ATL Server lets you create and define your own markup tags on Web pages. When these markup tags are encountered by the Web server, they are replaced by output from your ATL Server object.

• ATL Server Web Service project (new). Create a new Web service using ATL. Web services are designed to exchange data between two systems on different networks using Extensible Markup Language (XML).

• Managed C++ application (new). Create a managed Windows application using C++ and the .NET Framework SDK. A managed application simply means that the application runs within the environment of the .NET runtime engine.

• Managed C++ class library (new). Create a managed class library using C++ and the .NET Framework.

• Managed C++ Web service (new). Create a managed Web service with C++ and the .NET Framework.

Throughout the lessons in this book, you will typically use the new project types that support the .NET Framework because most lessons are focused on the new .NET features rather than the project types availablein previous versions of Visual C++.