Windows Template Library (WTL) is a

free software Free software or libre software is computer software distributed under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, and distribute it and any adapted versions. Free software is a matter of liberty, ...

object-oriented Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of " objects", which can contain data and code. The data is in the form of fields (often known as attributes or ''properties''), and the code is in the form of ...

C++ template

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vi ...

for

Win32 The Windows API, informally WinAPI, is Microsoft's core set of application programming interfaces (APIs) available in the Microsoft Windows operating systems. The name Windows API collectively refers to several different platform implementations ...

development. WTL was created by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation, multinational technology company, technology corporation producing Software, computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at th ...

employee Nenad Stefanovic for internal use and later released as an unsupported add-on to

Visual Studio Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft. It is used to develop computer programs including websites, web apps, web services and mobile apps. Visual Studio uses Microsoft software development platforms such ...

and the Win32 Framework SDK. It was developed primarily as a light-weight alternative to the

Microsoft Foundation Classes Microsoft Foundation Class Library (MFC) is a C++ object-oriented library for developing desktop applications for Windows. MFC was introduced by Microsoft in 1992 and quickly gained widespread use. While Microsoft has introduced alternative ap ...

and builds upon Microsoft's

ATL ATL may refer to: Places * Atlanta, a city in the U.S. state of Georgia ** Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport (IATA airport code) ** Peachtree station (Amtrak station code) * Attleborough railway station, located in Norfolk, Engl ...

, another lightweight API widely used to create COM and

ActiveX ActiveX is a deprecated software framework created by Microsoft that adapts its earlier Component Object Model (COM) and Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) technologies for content downloaded from a network, particularly from the World Wide Web. ...

libraries.

Overview

WTL provides support for implementing various user interface elements, from frame and popup windows, to MDI, standard and common controls, common dialogs, property sheets and pages,

GDI GDI may refer to: Science and technology * Gasoline direct injection, a type of fuel injection * Graphics Device Interface, a component of Microsoft Windows * Guanosine nucleotide dissociation inhibitor, a protein Organisations * Gabriel Dumont ...

objects, and other common UI elements, such as scrollable windows, splitter windows, toolbars and command bars. WTL's main objective is to deliver small and efficient code, close in size and speed to "straight" SDK programs while providing a higher-level and more flexible object model to developers. Other classes such as a string wrapper that is syntax-compatible with MFC's CString and some templated collections are also included. Most of the WTL API is a mirror of the standard Win32 calls, so the interface tends to be familiar to most Windows programmers. Although no official documentation from Microsoft exists, the ''WTL Documentation Project'' is attempting to create a comprehensive reference for the library. The WTL is not supported by Microsoft Product Support Services.

Licensing

While WTL is a template library and therefore code-based, the original license was similar to the one used for the

Microsoft Foundation Class Library Microsoft Foundation Class Library (MFC) is a C++ object-oriented library for developing desktop applications for Windows. MFC was introduced by Microsoft in 1992 and quickly gained widespread use. While Microsoft has introduced alternative ap ...

(MFC) source code, although it contained no usage or distribution restrictions. In 2004 Microsoft made the complete

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available under the

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and released it through

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. Since version 9.1, the library is licensed under the

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.Download pages for WTL version 7.5, 8.0, 9.0, 9.1 and 10
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References

External links

*
Microsoft's download page
for WTL 7.5
Microsoft's download page
for WTL 8.0
WTL 8.1 (2011-11-21)

- An Effort to Create Documentation for the WTL Programming Library.
"Using the Windows Template Library Part 1"

"Using the Windows Template Library Part 2"

"WTL for MFC Programmers"
– A series of tutorials aimed at MFC programmers who want to start using WTL.
The WTL Wiki
- A wiki dedicated to the Windows Template Library (WTL) {{Use mdy dates, date=October 2018 C++ libraries Free computer libraries Free software projects Template Library Object-oriented programming Windows-only free software Software using the CPL license Software using the MS-PL license

Overview

Licensing

See also

References

External links