Click here to Skip to main content
15,881,812 members
Articles / Programming Languages / C++

Virtual Desktop: A Simple Desktop Management Tool

Rate me:
Please Sign up or sign in to vote.
4.83/5 (46 votes)
25 Jul 2008CPOL5 min read 230K   11.9K   143  
This article gives you an overview of Windows Station, Windows Desktop and how to work with them. It also has a sample application (Virtual Desktop) demonstrating multiple desktop management.
================================================================================
    MICROSOFT FOUNDATION CLASS LIBRARY : Virtual Desktop Project Overview
===============================================================================

The application wizard has created this Virtual Desktop application for 
you.  This application not only demonstrates the basics of using the Microsoft 
Foundation Classes but is also a starting point for writing your application.

This file contains a summary of what you will find in each of the files that
make up your Virtual Desktop application.

Virtual Desktop.vcproj
    This is the main project file for VC++ projects generated using an application wizard. 
    It contains information about the version of Visual C++ that generated the file, and 
    information about the platforms, configurations, and project features selected with the
    application wizard.

Virtual Desktop.h
    This is the main header file for the application.  It includes other
    project specific headers (including Resource.h) and declares the
    CVirtualDesktopApp application class.

Virtual Desktop.cpp
    This is the main application source file that contains the application
    class CVirtualDesktopApp.

Virtual Desktop.rc
    This is a listing of all of the Microsoft Windows resources that the
    program uses.  It includes the icons, bitmaps, and cursors that are stored
    in the RES subdirectory.  This file can be directly edited in Microsoft
    Visual C++. Your project resources are in 1033.

res\Virtual Desktop.ico
    This is an icon file, which is used as the application's icon.  This
    icon is included by the main resource file Virtual Desktop.rc.

res\VirtualDesktop.rc2
    This file contains resources that are not edited by Microsoft 
    Visual C++. You should place all resources not editable by
    the resource editor in this file.


/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The application wizard creates one dialog class:

Virtual DesktopDlg.h, Virtual DesktopDlg.cpp - the dialog
    These files contain your CVirtualDesktopDlg class.  This class defines
    the behavior of your application's main dialog.  The dialog's template is
    in Virtual Desktop.rc, which can be edited in Microsoft Visual C++.


/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Other Features:

ActiveX Controls
    The application includes support to use ActiveX controls.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Other standard files:

StdAfx.h, StdAfx.cpp
    These files are used to build a precompiled header (PCH) file
    named Virtual Desktop.pch and a precompiled types file named StdAfx.obj.

Resource.h
    This is the standard header file, which defines new resource IDs.
    Microsoft Visual C++ reads and updates this file.

Virtual Desktop.manifest
	Application manifest files are used by Windows XP to describe an applications 
	dependency on specific versions of Side-by-Side assemblies. The loader uses this 
	information to load the appropriate assembly from the assembly cache or private 
	from the application. The Application manifest  maybe included for redistribution 
	as an external .manifest file that is installed in the same folder as the application 
	executable or it may be included in the executable in the form of a resource. 
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Other notes:

The application wizard uses "TODO:" to indicate parts of the source code you
should add to or customize.

If your application uses MFC in a shared DLL, you will need 
to redistribute the MFC DLLs. If your application is in a language 
other than the operating system's locale, you will also have to 
redistribute the corresponding localized resources MFC80XXX.DLL. 
For more information on both of these topics, please see the section on 
redistributing Visual C++ applications in MSDN documentation. 

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

By viewing downloads associated with this article you agree to the Terms of Service and the article's licence.

If a file you wish to view isn't highlighted, and is a text file (not binary), please let us know and we'll add colourisation support for it.

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


Written By
Software Developer
India India
Hello All !
This is Mallinath S. Karkanti, from India. I'm working as a Software Developer in one of the Middle Scale Company... !

Comments and Discussions