MFC and ATL

The Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC) provide a C++ object-oriented wrapper over Win32. The Active Template Library (ATL) is a wrapper library that simplifies COM development and is used extensively for creating ActiveX controls.

You can create MFC or ATL programs with Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2012 or higher. The Express editions do not support MFC or ATL.

Title

Description

MFC Desktop Applications

Microsoft Foundation Classes provide a thin object-oriented wrapper over Win32 to enable rapid development of GUI applications in C++.

ATL COM Desktop Components

ATL provides class templates and other use constructs to simplify creation of COM objects in C++.

ATL/MFC Shared Classes

References for CStringT Class and other classes that are shared by MFC and ATL.

Visual C++

Parent topic for all C++ content in the MSDN library.