Teach Yourself Borland C++ in 14 Days - portal

The C++Builder IDE Explored: Projects and Forms
Compiling and Building Other C++
Programs
C++Builder’s strength is in its visual programming environment. That environment is tied
directly to VCL and cannot be separated from it. To get the most out of C++Builder, you
will most likely be writing applications based on VCL. There are times, however, when
you want to write other types of applications. C++Builder is a standard C++ compiler, so you
can compile any type of 32-bit C++ program with C++Builder.
Probably the most obvious type of “other” program you may want to build is a dynamic link
library (DLL). DLLs might seem a bit like black magic, but they are really not very
complicated; they are simply bits of compiled code that you can call from your application.
Once you have the DLL created and your main program’s source file has the needed header,
calling a function contained in a DLL is no different than calling a function contained in your
main program.
Another type of application you might write with C++Builder is the console application.
Earlier we built several Win32 console applications when you were learning about the C++
language. Console applications are useful in teaching situations and for quick test programs.
They can also be very useful for small utility programs, servers such as Web servers or mail
servers, and a whole host of other possibilities. Basically, any application that does not require
a graphical interface is a good candidate for a console application. Earlier in the chapter I
talked about the C++Builder C++ compiler, the resource compiler, and the C++Builder
linker. All these programs are Win32 console applications that are executed from within
C++Builder.
You can also compile programs written in either MFC or OWL. This allows you to use a
single compiler for all of your development regardless of what framework you are using.
Although you probably won’t develop full-scale MFC or OWL applications with C++Builder,
there is certainly no reason you could not do so if you chose to. Of course, you would have
to have the OWL or MFC library files and headers in order to build an OWL or MFC
application. Listing 6.1 contains an OWL version of the Hello World program. First, set up
C++Builder to build an OWL application (see the C++Builder documentation on how to
configure C++Builder to build an OWL application). Then enter the program from the
keyboard. Compile and run, and you’ve got an OWL program built with C++Builder.
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