Windows Forms Application Template
The Windows Forms Application template in Visual C++ lays the groundwork for a standard Windows application. For more information on creating a Windows application, see Creating a Windows Application Project.
The template automatically adds the essential project references and files to use as a starting point for your application:
References to these .NET Framework namespaces:
System.XML - Contains classes that provide standards-based support for processing XML.
System.Windows.Forms - Contains classes for creating Windows-based applications that take full advantage of the rich user interface features available in the Microsoft Windows operating system.
System.Drawing - Contains classes that provide access to GDI+ basic graphics functionality.
System.Data - Contains classes that constitute the ADO.NET architecture, which is the primary data access method for managed applications.
System - Contains fundamental classes and base classes that define commonly used values and reference data types, events and event handlers, interfaces, attributes, and processing exceptions.
mscorlib - The assembly DLL that provides .NET Framework support.
Source files:
Form (.cpp file) - The main source file and entry point into the application that Visual Studio created for you. Identifies the project .dll file and the project namespace. Provide your own code in this file.
AssemblyInfo.cpp - The file that contains information (that is, attributes, files, resources, types, versioning information, signing information, and so on) for modifying the project's assembly metadata. For more information, see Assembly Concepts in the Windows Software Development Kit (SDK).
Stdafx.cpp - Used to build a precompiled header file named Win32.pch and a precompiled types file named StdAfx.obj.
Header files:
Form (.h file) - The main include file for the project, which contains all declarations, global symbols, and #include directives for other header files.
Form (.resx file) - An XML resource file whose BuildAction property is set to Embedded Resource.
Stdafx.h - Used to build a precompiled header file named Win32.pch and a precompiled types file named StdAfx.obj.
resource.h - A generated include file for app.rc.
Resource files:
app.rc - The resource script file of a program.
app.ico -The icon file of a program.
ReadMe.txt - A file describing each file in your project using the actual filenames created by the template.
See Also
Tasks
How to: Create Windows Forms Applications
How to: Create a Windows Application Project
Reference
Files Created for CLR Projects