DLLs - State of Play.

[jturner1990]

Hello,

I want to develop a modular application (i.e., have a 'core engine' and
effectively plug-in / bol-on extra code modules dynamically. I am a
little out of touch with Win32 / MFC development and need some advice.

So, my question is this:


Are standard DLLs (in a Windows development environment) still the
'de-facto' standard for writing plug-in style code or have they been
superseded by something else that I should be aware of?


Thanks for any feedback,
Jason

 

[roberts.noah]

Are standard DLLs (in a Windows development environment) still the
'de-facto' standard for writing plug-in style code or have they been
superseded by something else that I should be aware of?

They never where.

 

[Ajay Kalra]

Old style DLLs work fine in current world as well. If you are using
MFC, it will be helpful to look at types of DLLs offered by MFC as
well(extension/regular ).

 

[Vipin [MVP]]

Applications like Acrobat uses plugins with extension .api which are
nothing but
win32 dlls. That speaks for itself , you may want to take some clue from
adobe sdk
also to get a sense.

 

[jturner1990]

Ajay,

Thanks for the reply.

MFC is on it's way out though, isn't it? I thought WinFX is to replace
Win32 / MFC very soon. So, will DLLs as we know them now be backwards
compatible or are theyphasing thse out to make way for a new approach?


Thanks,
J

 

[Ajay Kalra]

MFC is on it's way out though, isn't it? I thought WinFX is to replace Win32 / MFC very soon.

I dont think thats going to happen. There are way too many application
written using MFC. MFC may not however see any significant
enhancements.

will DLLs as we know them now be backwards compatible

Yes. There is no way MSFT will kill previous deployed code.

 

[jturner1990]

Thanks for your views.
J