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Visual C++ Upgrade Goes To The Net

Microsoft adds Internet ability to object language
By Rich Levin
Issue date: March 25, 1996

Microsoft continues to add capability to its object-oriented programming language, Visual C++, especially for the Internet. Visual C++ is the first programming language to support Microsoft's new ActiveX object-Internet technologies.

Visual C++ 4.1 adds support for both using and creating ActiveX controls; ActiveX is Microsoft's just-introduced object-Internet architectur e (IW, Mar. 18, p.14) . Visual C++ 4.1 also extends the Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC) library with five new classes for creating World Wide Web-based applications. "It's going to be a critical part of application development in the next year," says Gerald Rice, a senior engineer with Northern Telecom in Richardson, Texas. "It's not just feature creep; it's valuable technology."

Mark Douglas, president of CenterView software in San Francisco, a prerelease user of Visual C++ 4.1 and ActiveX technology, adds, "They have some-thing called URL data binding. [Con- trol] properties formerly had to be saved with the control. Now, with ActiveX controls, those properties can be saved in other locations, using standard network URLs."

In the short term, Microsoft's Visual C++ is the only development tool capable of creating and hosting ActiveX controls. That situation will change, though, as developers of other language products adopt A ctiveX technologies, analysts say.

The subscription-only upgrade bundles 12 ActiveX controls from third-party vendors. These include a Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML) control for developing real-time, interactive 3-D applications that can be deployed locally and on the Web. The VRML control, and a Custom App Wizard for creating 3-D viewers, were licensed from Template Graphics Inc. in San Diego.

Microsoft says the MFC classes reduce the time and effort normally required to create interactive Web applications that use Microsoft's Internet Server API. "It makes it a lot easier for people to write virtual types of HTML software without having to use some of the more traditional technology, such as CGI [Common Gateway Interface]," says John Browne, Microsoft's Visual C++ technical product manager.

Visual C++ also delivers a custom AppWizard that jump-starts Internet application development. Microsoft's Visual C++ 4.1 is sent automatically, free of charge, to regist ered users of Microsoft Visual C++ Subscription Edition. The initial cost of a subscription is $499, with upgrades priced at $299.

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