C# controls in a MFC Application

Question

I am responsible for the User Interface of an application written completely in Visual C++ using MFC and some third-part controls. I would like to use C# (WinForms or even better WPF) to improve the application look&feel.

I would like some advices about how to do it. Links, articles, examples...

Right now the user interface is isolated in a single project and I don't want to compile the whole module with CLR. So how do I have to manage that from the architectural point of view?

I have already looked at the Internet for the subject and read MSDN information. I would like more detailed information...is it convinient? pros/cons? have you used this approach successfully in a "big" application? I don't want to compile the whole ui project with CLR...can I just have all the .NET code in a isolated project and call it from the ui project? what's the best way to do it?

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

A good starting point is the Win32 and WPF interop page on MSDN.

Answer 2

I found this codeproject article gave a good introduction to the subject of mixing mfc / winforms code.

Answer 3

When faced with the same problem, I made an ActiveX control in C# and used it in my MFC app. The folks at MS took out support for building ActiveX controls with .NET, but it's still possible to do so with a plain Jane COM class which has a custom [ComRegisterFunction()] and [ComUnregisterFunction].

Although MS would like to tell us that the /clr flag will solve our problems, it measurably slowed down my large MFC app.

Answer 4

Hi, I'm facing exactly the same task: large MFC app, which I don't want to compile with /clr, and old interface, which I'm trying to replace by .Net (C#). What approach did you select in the end? I would greatly appreciate any pointers. Cheers, -Pavel