How do I create a GUI for a windows application us

Question

I am deciding on how to develop a GUI for a small c++/win32 api project (working Visual Studio C++ 2008). The project will only need a few components to start off the main process so it will be very light weight (just 1 button and a text box pretty much...). My question is this:

I don't have experience developing GUIs on windows but I can learn easily. So, what should I use? A Visual editor (drag and drop code generationg: my preference for desktop GUI designing by far (java/swing)). Or should I use a speicific library? Either way, WHICH library or visual editor should I use? I heard someone mention writing the GUI in C#, then calling the C++ code... the thing is, that this is such a simple GUI I would find it easier to just keep it all in C++, but I'm open to whatever the best suggestion is.

Answer 1

A simple "window" with some text and a button is just a MessageBox. You can create them with a single function call; you don't need any library whatsoever.

Answer 2

I strongly prefer simply using Microsoft Visual Studio and writing a native Win32 app.

For a GUI as simple as the one that you describe, you could simply create a Dialog Box and use it as your main application window. The default application created by the Win32 Project wizard in Visual Studio actually pops a window, so you can replace that window with your Dialog Box and replace the WndProc with a similar (but simpler) DialogProc.

The question, then, is one of tools and cost. The Express Edition of Visual C++ does everything you want except actually create the Dialog Template resource. For this, you could either code it in the RC file by hand or in memory by hand. Related SO question: Windows API Dialogs without using resource files.

Or you could try one of the free resource editors that others have recommended.

Finally, the Visual Studio 2008 Standard Edition is a costlier option but gives you an integrated resource editor.

Answer 3

Qt from Nokia is definitely the way to go. Another option is gtk, but Qt is better supported and documented. Either way, they are both free. And both of them are widely used and well known so it is easy to find answers to your questions.

Answer 4

For such a simple application even MFC would be overkill. If don't want to introduce another dependency just do it in plain vanilla Win32. It will be easier for you if you have never used MFC.

Check out the classic "Programming Windows" by Charles Petzold or some online tutorial (e.g. http://www.winprog.org/tutorial/) and you are ready to go.

Answer 5

Just create a new MFC C++ app. It's built in, pretty easy, and thousands of examples exist in the world...

Plus, you can design your dialog box right in Visual Studio, give them variable names, and 90% of the code is generated for you.