How can an MFC application terminate itself?

Question

What is the proper way for an MFC application to cleanly close itself?

Answer 1

AfxGetMainWnd()->PostMessage(WM_CLOSE);

Answer 2

In support of @Mike's answer, the reason to use this method is to trigger the correct shutdown sequence. Especially important for MDI/SDI applications because it gives a chance for documents to prompt for save before exit or to cancel the exit.

@Matt Noguchi, your method will circumvent this sequence (which may be the desired effect, I suppose, but you've probably got problems if you're short-circuiting the normal teardown.

Answer 3

PostQuitMessage([exit code]);

MSN

Answer 4

If it is a dialog based application you can do it by calling EndDialog() function.

If it is an SDI/MDI based application you can call DestroyWindow. But before which you will need to do the cleanup yourself (closing documents, deallocating memory and resources, destroying any additional windows created etc).