MDI Applications
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I've been reading (again) Jeff Prosise's Programming Windows 95 with MFC. In it he says that MDI is not recommended for Win95. The book is really dated, as we've had many new Win versions since then, but I'm curious. Is that still valid advice for the WIndows platform in general? Of all the things I've lost in life, I miss my mind the most
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I've been reading (again) Jeff Prosise's Programming Windows 95 with MFC. In it he says that MDI is not recommended for Win95. The book is really dated, as we've had many new Win versions since then, but I'm curious. Is that still valid advice for the WIndows platform in general? Of all the things I've lost in life, I miss my mind the most
MDI is not recommended *by Microsoft*. Witness Excel/Word, they start another instance when you open a new document. MDI is perfectly valid, and I think it's often a *good* idea. Christian I have come to clean zee pooollll. - Michael Martin Dec 30, 2001
Sonork ID 100.10002:MeanManOz
I live in Bob's HungOut now
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I've been reading (again) Jeff Prosise's Programming Windows 95 with MFC. In it he says that MDI is not recommended for Win95. The book is really dated, as we've had many new Win versions since then, but I'm curious. Is that still valid advice for the WIndows platform in general? Of all the things I've lost in life, I miss my mind the most
MS is moving away from MDI, as Christian noted. Word/Excel 2K and later use multiple top-level windows by default, instead of one MDI app. This is for usability reasons - novice users have a hard time with window management, and get confused really easily by how MDI windows behave. --Mike-- My really out-of-date homepage He who laughs last, didn't get the punchline and is just laughing so he won't look silly. Sonork - 100.10414 AcidHelm Big fan of Alyson Hannigan.
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MS is moving away from MDI, as Christian noted. Word/Excel 2K and later use multiple top-level windows by default, instead of one MDI app. This is for usability reasons - novice users have a hard time with window management, and get confused really easily by how MDI windows behave. --Mike-- My really out-of-date homepage He who laughs last, didn't get the punchline and is just laughing so he won't look silly. Sonork - 100.10414 AcidHelm Big fan of Alyson Hannigan.
Darn! I'd like to stick to the current paradigm, but I've been playing with this idea for a long time. I've been trying to build a simple (at least, it should be simple) terminal program to emulate dumb text terminals using Wyse50 control sequences. It seemed to me that using two documents might offer a solution - one document would contain the settings info (port selection, modem settings - if applicable, font preferences and such), the other would contain the actual screen output, and handle the user responses. But if the trend is toward an SDI architecture, I don't want to get started on a new path. I'm finding this language, and MFC, to be far more difficult than it should be... I miss assembly language - that made sense! :confused: Thanks for the benefit of your thoughts... I'm still struggling, but at least I have some wisdom to call upon...
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MDI is not recommended *by Microsoft*. Witness Excel/Word, they start another instance when you open a new document. MDI is perfectly valid, and I think it's often a *good* idea. Christian I have come to clean zee pooollll. - Michael Martin Dec 30, 2001
Sonork ID 100.10002:MeanManOz
I live in Bob's HungOut now
A good point - why do they tell their developers not to use this capability, then release products that depend upon it? We may never know...
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Darn! I'd like to stick to the current paradigm, but I've been playing with this idea for a long time. I've been trying to build a simple (at least, it should be simple) terminal program to emulate dumb text terminals using Wyse50 control sequences. It seemed to me that using two documents might offer a solution - one document would contain the settings info (port selection, modem settings - if applicable, font preferences and such), the other would contain the actual screen output, and handle the user responses. But if the trend is toward an SDI architecture, I don't want to get started on a new path. I'm finding this language, and MFC, to be far more difficult than it should be... I miss assembly language - that made sense! :confused: Thanks for the benefit of your thoughts... I'm still struggling, but at least I have some wisdom to call upon...
Well, you don't have to take MS's word as law. :) On the other hand, while I vehemently disagree with MS's usability results in some areas, their goal of making window management simpler is one I agree with. Think about the old Program Manager (an MDI app), and imagine trying to explain to a newbie why some of the windows move around with the PM window, and why you can't move "Startup" anywhere you want on the screen. X| --Mike-- My really out-of-date homepage He who laughs last, didn't get the punchline and is just laughing so he won't look silly. Sonork - 100.10414 AcidHelm Big fan of Alyson Hannigan.