Updating a native MFC application GUI that has been ported to Visual Studio 2013

3
votes

I'm working on a c++ MFC project that makes use of the Multiple Document Interface and was originally created about 10 years ago. I've managed to port it to Visual Studio 2013, but I'm getting stuck on updating the GUI to something more modern like the ribbon design without having to copy the code to a newly created project.

I've researched a few links, like the scribble example from Microsoft and this link but they all seem very vague and hard to follow. Should I bite the bullet and create a new project with the ribbon design GUI or is there a smarter way to get a modern MFC based GUI?

2
c++user-interfacemfcvisual-studio-2013mdi
Since you're dealing with legacy code, I would "bite the bullet" and create a new project. Consider it an opportunity to clean up the code also. – rrirower

2 Answers

3
votes

I recently ported a VS6 MFC project to have a ribbon an I'm struggling for months now to get it stable. If I had known, I would have created a new project and re-think program and interface logic from the scratch, i.e. using dialog panes or caption boxes instead of using modal dialogs. There are many alternatives. See the MFC samples (first to mention RibbonGadgets) for ideas how to redesign the UI. This is also a chance to better separate UI and business logic than in the average legacy MFC code.

1
votes

You should probably take the hit and create a new project. If the code is structured properly it should only be the UI layer that needs to change, everything else can mostly stay the same.