Beyond WinFX: Transactions, Aero Wizards, And Task Dialogs In Windows Vista

The July 2006 issue of MSDN Magazine features my latest article where I talk about some of the new native APIs introduced with Windows Vista.

Beyond WinFX: Transactions, Aero Wizards, And Task Dialogs In Windows Vista

What comes to mind when you think about programming for Windows Vista? Odds are you’ll think of WinFX. WinFX encompasses a number of technologies that have been getting a lot of attention, including the Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0, Windows Presentation Foundation, Windows Communication Foundation, and Windows Workflow Foundation. But WinFX is only one part of the new OS. Windows Vista is a dramatic upgrade to the Windows operating system, providing a wealth of new and improved libraries and services that reach beyond WinFX, allowing you to build more powerful applications with less code.

This article introduces a number of new features that you can expect from Windows Vista. These features don’t normally get the attention they deserve because they’re either aimed at native C++ developers or just don’t fall into the category of WinFX programming. Nonetheless, they’re worth getting to know.

© 2006 Kenny Kerr

3 Comments

  • Hi Kenny,

    I've been trying to learn from your Task Dialog Designer project which looks great (thank you btw) and covers in detail an area I'm trying to be productive in, however I seem to be having a dificulty getting the dll to compile. I imagine I'm missing some basic step in the process. Any ideas?

    Kurt

  • Most likely you either don’t have the Windows Vista SDK installed or you haven’t added the SDK paths to your build environment. Once installed, open the Visual Studio Options window (Tools menu > Options), navigate to the “Projects and Solutions > VC++ Directories” branch and add the paths to the SDK include and lib directories to the top of the directory lists for the “Include files” and “Library files” lists respectively.

  • It was the SDK paths, added them, compiled and works perfectly.

    Thank You.

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