mfc vs non mfc?

Hi everyone,

Just wondering - in vc++, I want to create a dll that'll run on win98 and later.

If I chose an MFC dll project will that be able to run correctly?

Or should I use a win32 dll project?

Or if I chose MFC can I just use "standard windows libraries" at compilation time but still be able to use MFC?

Or will MFC projects never work unless the target computer has the .NET framework installed?

Thanks for your advice, I am perplexed.

Dunno for sure, but I suspect that if you choose to statically link your libraries you can do pretty much as you like. MFC is a set of classes to simplify your Windows programming (that is arguable, but I think it is the intention). The main reason to statically link your executable (I think the same works for a DLL object) is to be able to run on machines that lack the needed DLLs. Otherwise you have to create a distribution that is smart enough to only install the needed DLLs. You can sometimes get away with having all the needed DLLs in the same directory as the executable. Generally, though, statically linking your exe/dll will also wind up with much smaller distribution because the compiler is ususally smart enough to only copy actually used DLL functionality into your program.

MFC projects require an MFC dll. MFC42.dll comes installed with most your Windows Installs, so you don't have to distribute it necessarily. The thing to be careful about is if you release a debug build instead of a release build. A debug build uses MFC42d.dll, which is installed only if you install VC++. A release build links to MFC42.dll which is installed by default on computers >= Windows NT 4.0, Win 98. The problem is that there are actually a few versions of this DLL floating around and it depends on a few other DLLs such as MSVCRT.dll, KERNEL32.dll and USER32.dll, all of which have newer versions too. If you don't use newer MFC functions, then you can count on your code working elsewhere too. However, if you use a newer MFC function, you might get an "Ordinal could not be located in MFC42.dll" message, if the DLL on the target machine is older that the one on which you compiled the EXE on and doesn't have the newer MFC function in it.

Hmmm, I've dealt with this before. At one point I could have sworn checking the "Release" box in Batch Build options, yet it suck my executable in the Debug folder.