Need recommendations for a good C++ GUI book

[Rocket254]

Need recommendations for a good C++ GUI book...

... or an on-line tutorial. Thanks.

 

[rootX]

Microsoft
Visual C++ .NET Step BY Step

Julian Templeman
Andy Olsen

is perfect for you!

 

[mgb_phys]

There's no such thing as a C++ gui.
It depends on what platform you are using and what choice of gui toolkit you want to use.
The most common on windows is probably still MFC, but it is rather old and most of the good books are out of print. Alternatively you can use a cross platform toolkit ( also runs on Mac/Unix) the best are QT or wxWidgets.
You can use winforms (the ms .Net gui) from Managed C++ or C++/CLI but this involves jumping through a few hoops and using some non-standard C++ extentions.

 

[Rocket254]

I have Visual C++ Studio Express edition, which does not contain MFC. Is there any place to get the libraries or are they reserved just for the full version of Visual studio?

 

[mgb_phys]

You can download the MFC libs as part of the platform SDK but I don't think the Express edition includes a resource editor.
MFC is a pain,if you are doing GUI work with C++ I would look at wxWidgets or QT.

 

[symbolipoint]

This is a great discussion which unfortunately I cannot follow very well; and one day, I would like to try learning C++ or C. What would I need to be careful about if I were to want to learn C++ or C from a college course? I only had a course on BASIC (only one introductory course) more than 25 years ago, when Windows were still light-vents and air vents constructed into buildings. How would I know where I'm qualified to start, assuming that counselors do not know how to help me find course placement?

 

[Tacomablack]

C++ GUI Programming with Qt 4
by Jasmin Blanchette and Mark Summerfield

 

[shoehorn]

C++ GUI Programming with Qt 4
by Jasmin Blanchette and Mark Summerfield

This is rather a good book actually. If you're looking for something aimed more squarely at the newcomer, The Book of Qt4 by Molkentin is also worth a look.

I would like to try learning C++ or C... How would I know where I'm qualified to start?

If you can turn on a computer, you're qualified to learn how to program. That said, you may find it better to learn something like Python before you turn to C++. Python is insanely powerful and it is significantly easier to become immediately productive with it than it is with C++.

 

[mgb_phys]

There is also "design patterns in qt" (also available online for free)
This tries to mix teaching C++/design patterns and QT in one book.

I would echo shoehorn, there are better languages to start with than C++, python is my favorite.

 

[KTC]

"C++ GUI Programming with Qt 4" if you're going with Qt4 as been mentioned.

"Cross-Platform GUI Programming with WxWidgets" if wxWidgets.

"Programming Windows with MFC 2nd edition" for MFC (if you can find a copy), then read MSDN.

"Programming Windows 5th edition" using Windows API directly, then read MSDN.

I'm not sure about what good books (if any) there are on C++/CLI WinForms.

You can download the MFC libs as part of the platform SDK but I don't think the Express edition includes a resource editor.

And neither does the full version of VS. MS has moved it to the SDK for everyone. Of course, the VS disk comes with the SDK unlike the Express edition.

 

[mgb_phys]

The only book is C++/CLI in Action (Manning) - I flicked through it, not bad but the language is a bit of a kludge. There is an Apress book out end of the year. The other gui books all assume a reasoanable knowledge of C++.

The resource editor is at least intergrated into the IDE for VS standard/pro, I didn't think you could get the editor standalone. You can download the resource compiler as part of the SDK (IIRC) - but you would have to be failry desparate to use MFC with the .rc files written by hand.

 

[computerex]

Take a look at this: http://winprog.org/tutorial/
Excellent tutorial for Win32 programming.