Windows Template Library (WTL) is a

free software Free software, libre software, libreware sometimes known as freedom-respecting software is computer software distributed open-source license, under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, distribut ...

object-oriented Object-oriented programming (OOP) is a programming paradigm based on the concept of '' objects''. Objects can contain data (called fields, attributes or properties) and have actions they can perform (called procedures or methods and impleme ...

C++ template

library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

for

Win32 The Windows API, informally WinAPI, is the foundational application programming interface (API) that allows a computer program to access the features of the Microsoft Windows operating system in which the program is running. Programs can acces ...

development. WTL was created by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

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) developed by Microsoft. It is used to develop computer programs including web site, websites, web apps, web services and mobile apps. Visual Studio uses Microsoft software development ...

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 programming, object-oriented Library (computer science), library for developing desktop applications for Windows. MFC was introduced by Microsoft in 1992 and quickly gained wides ...

and builds upon Microsoft's ATL, 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 W ...

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 I ...

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 a ...

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

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available under the Common Public License and released it through

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. Since version 9.1, the library is licensed under the

Microsoft Public License The Shared Source Initiative (SSI) is a source-available software licensing scheme launched by Microsoft in May 2001. The program includes a spectrum of technologies and licenses, and most of its source code offerings are available for download aft ...

.Download pages for WTL version 7.5, 8.0, 9.0, 9.1 and 10
/ref>

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 Common Public License Software using the MS-PL license

Overview

Licensing

See also

References

External links