Quick Q about Pointers and a prog to try?

1stly:

PHP Code:

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                CEdit* pEdit1 = (CEdit*)GetDlgItem(IDC_EDIT_FIRST);
    pEdit1->LimitText(20); 


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why do I have to declare the edit box as a pointer before I can manipulate it?

why can't i just do:

GetDlgItem(IDC_EDIT_FIRST)->LimitText(20);

also

I am very new to Visual C++ and was wondering if anyone could give me some easy program ideas to try??

Thanks

What do you use then?

I use the API :) I made the mistake of half-learning C, then trying to use MFC. I got part-way, then found it incredibly hard to work out all the gibberish with MESSAGE_MAP and all that, before I decided to scrap it, learn C++ properly. After that, I made some good stuff, but I didn't understand half the code it produced, so I looked at MSDN to see if there was any other way of making Windows programs...to find the Platform SDK waiting for me :)

And the rest, as they say, is history ;)

parksie, i dont understand you when you say that MFC is evil...i think its better to use "precreated" classes with wide support than write classes self - i think if you want to write large projz, you will have to write "some" classes...

The thing with MFC is, it's an "all-or-nothing" affair a lot of the time. If you bring one part in, it grabs most of the rest as well. Also, a lot of MFC has equivalents in the STL, which is smaller, faster, and *standard*.

Yes, I agree it's often better to have something that's widely accepted, but in most cases...why? You can write a small set of classes in an evening to simplify making a window, and it hardly adds any extra code. Also, MFC hides most of the underlying execution from you, which I don't like.

When I say MFC is evil, that's my opinion (which I'm entitled to ;)).