Title: Windows Programming Power with Custom Controls
Authors: Paul Cilwa & Jeff Duntemann
Publisher: The Coriolis Group Books
ISBN: 1-883577-00-4
Info: 496 pages (with 3.5" disk)
Price: $39.93
Windows Custom Controls come nowadays in (at least) two flavors: standard
custom controls and VBX style custom controls. Windows Programming Power
with Custom Controls is a new book intended for both users and designers/
programmers of both kinds of custom controls. You don't have to be an
experienced Windows programmer to learn what custom controls are or how to
use them, as the book explains in depth the history of standard custom
controls and VBX-style controls. By reading this book you learn what the
differences are between these two. Unfortunately, no mention of OLE custom
controls (OCX-style controls, an extention of VBXs) is found.
The book shows how to use C/C++ to creats you own custom controls, both standard and VBX-style, to emphasize on the difference between these two control styles in design as well as in use. This is no doubt the best way to master them! To implement VBX contols you need the VB SDK, but don't worry, even without this SDK the book contains a lot of useful information about usage of VBX controls.
The first two chapters describe the historic details of custom controls and Windows, written in the exiting Duntemann-style. After these two chapters, the reader will learn to see custom controls as ideal software components and not only 'gadgets'. Also, VBX controls will be presented as having use beyond Visual Basic (today, we can use VBX level 1.0 controls at least with Visual C++ and Borland C++, and Delphi should support VBXs too).
The third chapter starts the real work, when a framework or "skeleton" custom control is built. In fact, it does nothing, but it serves at the platform - with already half the work done - to build future example custom controls in subsequent chapters. Much detail is given in this chapter, as it is the foundation for the rest of the book.
Chapter four describes guidelines and some different ways custom controls can be used in an application. This is a really short chapter, in preparation for chapter five through eleven, where a total of seven custom contols are implemented in both general and VBX-style. Source and executables are both on the accompanying disk, and worth the price of the book alone!
The appendix gives a detailed view of using these custom controls. At $39.93
the custom controls on disk with this usage description alone are worth every
cent of it. These VBX controls are usable with Borland C++, Microsoft Visual
C++ and Visual Basic. The generic version of these custom controls can be used
by any windows development environment.
The disk also contains full C/C++ source code of the book, including project
files for Turbo C++ and Borland C++ and makefiles for Visual C++. The on-line
documentation includes a windows helpfile for every example custom control.
The code quality is good, clear code using enough comments. I'm a little
disapointed that there are almost no specific C++ sources (like a C++ class
wrapper around the skeleton custom control, for example), but the generic C
source code itself can easily be extended by the readers of course.
This book will teach you the inner working of windows custom controls. The C/C++ skeleton custom control can be used to built you own custom controls, while enough examples are given in great detail to really master building and using windows custom controls. No serious windows programmer should be without a copy!
(Bob Swart)