Sri wrote: > Hi, > I have an application which has been developed using Borland C++ builder > (BCB) IDE and uses the Visual Component library(VCL) for windows API and > graphics. > For some reasons(client driven) I have to migrate the complete stuff from > BCB to Microsoft Visual studio, for which I'm currently looking that whether > its feasible or not. > to give a background of the application -The application is actually a > data/spectrum analysis tool and processes the data doing some mathematical > computations and finally draws some charts, graphs, constellations, curves > on a GUI. > > I want suggestion from the forum if somebody has done such exercise > previously that whether its possible to migrate completely, what are the > main problem areas anybody has faced. whether MFC and MSVC++ is enough or I > need any other plugins or library. > Does the MS-Visual studio provide all the functionality of VCL..?
The VCL is very different from MFC. VCL is more about dragging components onto the RAD designer interface and then making connections whereas the UI designer in VS, while tightly integrated with MFC, is really quite basic and only offers basic Windows controls on a dialog. If you want to do anything particularly custom with a basic Windows control, you get to spend quite a bit of effort - and it is usually buggy in some fashion (user interaction buggy, not crash buggy). Once you use MFC, you end up having to use most of it - including CString and the various other "friendly" baseline classes, which ties you into VS/MFC/Windows. Plus deployment of MFC itself is a pain (the redistributables are large, have an annoying EULA, etc.). Not really trying to deter you from using MFC, but the number of users is dwindling in favor of alternate frameworks. WTL is much lighter weight, but is based on ATL (another redistributable pain) and you still get tied to VS/Windows. There are also cross-platform toolkits such as wxWidgets, QT, FLTK, GTK+, etc. Moving from VCL is going to be a rough experience as you will need to rewrite most of the application. Borland is dead, though. Drawing charts/graphs is going to be the hardest part of the application. wxWidgets appears to have a number of libraries for plotting data on a chart. At first glance, wxMathPlot is the most visually appealing of the lot (but still leaves a lot to be desired for - opinion based solely on sample screenshots). -- Thomas Hruska CubicleSoft President Ph: 517-803-4197 *NEW* MyTaskFocus 1.1 Get on task. Stay on task. http://www.CubicleSoft.com/MyTaskFocus/
