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Have I Seen this Article before? No,
Reading the Original Question, I had not seen this article either! Sounds quite Drastic,BUT there is only one additional burden, and that is to register an exception handler as early as possible,(i.e Before any NULL Pointer can occur in User Code. InitApp() seems to be a good place.
At the other hand, very many of us spend most of our coding time to write 'if's' and 'but's to deal with faulting. This clutters up the general flow of the code we write. Exception handeling is in practice seldomly used as a mechanism, mainly because it is complex in nature, and not worth the bother.
This suttle change will hopefully be the impetus for people to learn about the syntax of exception handeling, and ultimately make code and program Syntax clearer.
LateNightsInNewry
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Mark Salsbery wrote: I didn't say it would be any more clear after reading this article
I gave both the local MSDN and the latest online one a go earlier today when the subject came up at work and I was thrown off guard when CObject no longer advertised that it could throw in the 2003 MSDN. I came across this article but it left a few questions still hanging.
Mark Salsbery wrote: I didn't say it would be any more clear after reading this article
ain't it the truth.
Thanks for taking the time out to assist.
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It looks like it's documented under "CMemoryException class" and here:
Exception Handling in MFC[^]
For MFC apps, CMemoryException is thrown, even on non-CObject objects.
For non-MFC apps, std::bad_alloc is thrown.
"Posting a VB.NET question in the C++ forum will end in tears." Chris Maunder
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I came across that stuff as well but I didn't walk away with that fuzzy feeling with how they kinda make us piece it all together when they used to just come right out and tell us that the class throws CXXXXException.
I figured I'd give it a brute force test and you are right, good ole CMemoryException is still thrown so I don't have to scurry about rewriting all my 6.0 code after all.
try {
while (TRUE) {
CxObject* pObject=new CxObject();
}
}
catch (CMemoryException* e) {
TRACE("CMemoryException\n"); // Get's thrown
}
catch (CException* e) {
TRACE("CException\n");
}
catch (...) {
TRACE("Other Exception\n");
}
My machine isn't too happy now (reboot). 
Thanks for the assistance!
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bob16972 wrote: I didn't walk away with that fuzzy feeling
No kidding! 
I had to test it too, AND I was just looking at it again (Thanks, LateNightsInNewry  ).
To start with, the test code in the first article I linked to (that demonstrates the new operator
throw) didn't work - well, not as I expected. That made me question all my assumptions in my
code.
Turns out, if you attempt to allocate a block too big for the platform, it breaks with a debug
message and returns NULL instead of an exception. Not a big deal, I guess - that should be caught
in the debug phase. But still, I was wondering if I had to check for NULL returns too.
Looking at the MFC source, MFC installs its own new handler and has a single static
CMemoryException object that it throws the address of.
I like your test code! Mine was more conservative (why I didn't use an infinite loop, I don't
know LOL)... borrowing from the article:
int * i_arr;
try {
for (int i = 0; i < 1000000; i++)
i_arr = new int[0x0fffffff];
}
catch(...) {
OutputDebugString("caught exception\n");
}
Cheers!
Mark
"Posting a VB.NET question in the C++ forum will end in tears." Chris Maunder
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My whole horror with the Class CException is, that at the Understandable levels, it throws an exception, with a DWORD (QWORD?)number. That's quite simple, a Switch statement will sort what's going on. I can understand that concept. I also understand, that Different people writing different programs, will arrive at the Same exception numbers for different exceptions. I understand that this will be a problem when DLL's Meet.
Somehow, Microsoft devised a scheme which involved development time for derriving a new class from CException, for anything that may go wrong. I understand also that the reason for this is to be able to generate a distinct exception for each case, independent of exception numbering. At the same time, The link between Exception DWORD Numbers for exceptions, and Existing or New derrived exception classes is not very clear in the documentation.
A Point in case is, you use catch(...)in your sample code!as you know, this catches ALL Exceptions. In a Real life situation, how do you only catch those you are interested in and pass the rest on to some other handler.
LateNightsInNewry
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It's actually Microsoft sample code. It worked well for my test because I could put a breakpoint
in the catch block and I could immediately see the exception class without knowing what I'd get.
In real-life, IMO, a catch(...) is pretty useless. How can you possibly know how to proceed
or if it's even safe to proceed after catching an unknown exception?
The CException class is an abstract base class that provides one interface to get an error
message. If there's a DWORD involved, it's in a derived class, and is generally added so one
has a better context to detect why the exception occurred. I'm not sure what the DWORD is you're
referring to The variables added by the MFC exception classes are well documented.
With new CException-derived classes, you're on your own to add what you want.
In real life, AFAIK, exceptions shouldn't be used for simple error handling. Returning an error
code is faster and simpler.
Constructors can't return error codes so throwing an exception is the only way to indicate
failure.
Using MFC, sometimes it's not a choice. The database classes are a good example. Those
exceptions must be handled, and generally it's safe to continue after handling them, and they
also provide detailed error information for logging and/or deciding how to proceed after they
occur.
Hmm, I'm rambling pointlessly 
Mark
"Posting a VB.NET question in the C++ forum will end in tears." Chris Maunder
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hi all i m using this line in my outlook addin project but it give error
"unresolved external symbol _IID_IMAPISession", so i search on net for that value,i foud one but when assign that value its as string when i assign that value to a CString object then it gives error cannot covert Cstring to struct _GUUId,
it tried this
#define IID_IMAPISession= "00020300-0000-0000-C000-000000000046"
this but stil same error
struct _GUID IID_IMAPISession= 00020300-0000-0000-C000-000000000046;
tell me what to do.
CComPtr<iunknown> punk;
spMailItem->get_MAPIOBJECT(&punk);
punk->QueryInterface(IID_IMAPISession, (void**)&m_pSession);
tell me what to so that it works i m stuck to that.
Regards.
Tasleem Arif
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You need to include MAPIguid.h I believe.
Then you can use IID_IMAPISession.
Mark
"Posting a VB.NET question in the C++ forum will end in tears." Chris Maunder
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still same problem.
Regards.
Tasleem Arif
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An unresolved external means you're missing a library.
I don't know what library you need to link to but I'll take a guess that you need to add
MAPI32.lib to your project.
Mark
"Posting a VB.NET question in the C++ forum will end in tears." Chris Maunder
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thanks, i managed to solve that erro, i was including MAPI32.lib,but i was using extended MAPI function such MapiLoginEx,Problem was that i was confused with MAPI and Extended MAPI Dll's. i searched a lot on internet some people were saying MAPI32.dll is extended MAPI some MAPIX.dll is extended MAPI, and some MAPI32x.dll is extended MAPI, i posted question on CP but found no reply.
i replaced that line with IID_IUnknown and it worked fine. Thanks for ur kind answers.
Regards.
Tasleem Arif
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Sorry for the newbie question.
I downloaded the platform sdk from Microsoft to get the GDI+ header files and now I need some documentation. Is there any in the 2 gigabytes of krap they dump onto your system? MSDN.com is awfully slow, and I don't want to go to the World Wide Web every time I want a parameter description. There is a 'precompiled help file' in the platform sdk, 'gdicpp.hxs', and it contains GDI+ terms. However, I don't know how to open it . Drag it onto VC++ express, and it doesn't know how to open it either.
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In the SDK docs...
Contents (tab)/Graphics and Multimedia/GDI+
Mark
"Posting a VB.NET question in the C++ forum will end in tears." Chris Maunder
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I don't know where that is - what application do I need to open? I've downloaded VC++ express and the PlatformSDK for windows server R2 2003. Im running Windows 2000.
What application opens the SDK docs?
In VC++ express, if you search for GDI+, it goes to the internet and comes back and says it didn't find anything.
I normally use Dev-C++. To me VC++ is such a joke. You open it, and immediately it starts searching the internet for "News" or what-not, even though you didn't ask for it.
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Force Code wrote: What application opens the SDK docs?
When I installed the PSDK, a program folder was created called "Microsoft Platform SDK for
Windows Server 2003 R2". In that folder is a "Platform SDK Documentation" shortcut.
Force Code wrote: In VC++ express, if you search for GDI+, it goes to the internet and comes back and says it didn't find anything.
That's because the express edition is free. You get what you pay for 
Force Code wrote: To me VC++ is such a joke. You open it, and immediately it starts searching the internet for "News" or what-not, even though you didn't ask for it.
You can turn that off - go to Tools menu, Options.../Environment/Startup and select the
appropriate item in the "At startup" combobox.
Mark
"Posting a VB.NET question in the C++ forum will end in tears." Chris Maunder
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Mark Salsbery wrote: When I installed the PSDK, a program folder was created called "Microsoft Platform SDK for Windows Server 2003 R2". In that folder is a "Platform SDK Documentation" shortcut.
I have "Microsoft Platform SDK for Windows Server 2003 R2", but not "Platform SDK Documentation" shortcut. Did you have to do anything to "install" the Platform SDK after downloading it? There's a setup directory, but no setup.exe. AS I said, it downloaded gigabytes so I don't know what I'm missing.
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Are these two (handling keyboard/mouse input and handling the graphics display) typically done in separate threads or in a single thread? I've been considering doing them in separate threads so the input is always responsive, however, that may not be the best idea, given how often I will have to synchronize between the two.
Advantages of using only a single thread:
-input polling is combined with the graphics loop, so there is less overhead as the loop takes longer to execute (advantage for single core processors but a disadvantage for multi-core processors)
-no synchronization required
Disadvantages of using only a single thread:
-input may be required for a variety of components, such as handling combat and other character states and reliance on a combined (input + graphics) cycle can slow down the processing of these other components
-will not scale as well with multiple cores
Any suggestions? This is my first time venturing into game engine development (from scratch, because it's more fun and you learn more that way).
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This is purely off the top of my head, but it seems you can rely on window messaging for most things. Windows generates messages for mouse movement etc, which you set up handlers for. You can set up a timer to cause windows to send timer messages at certain intervals as well, which is useful for updating the game state. Each character could have a thread, but that's not strictly necessary. They could just be in a list and every 1/100 of a second you update the next one (when you receive a WM_TIMER msg from windows). Threads are mandatory for background computation that would otherwise freeze the system.
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I was thinking of using a key array (of bools) and catching WM_KEYDOWN / WM_KEYUP to change the states of the keys from the input thread, then sending the states to the graphics thread. The input thread would have the WndProc function, whereas the graphics thread would simply check the local key array (in a while loop) to determine what happens.
Basically, it would look sort of like this:
WndProc (which runs in the input thread) catches WM_KEYDOWN where the key is VK_ESCAPE. The input thread sets key[VK_ESCAPE] = true. The graphics thread has a while loop that checks for VK_ESCAPE, and if true, it will return the thread (quit), if it sees another command such as the movement keys, then it will draw the next frame.
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Having a while loop in the graphics thread seems pointless. You can imagine walking out to your mailbox opening it, closing it, walking back inside, and doing the same thing over and over again continuously until the mailman arrives. You accomplish nothing by putting this in a seperate thread. When you get the WM_KEYDOWN message just call the appropriate code to update the games state - it doesn't have to be in a seperate thread. If you can't update the games state fast enough to avoid slowing down user input, it means you can't update the game state fast enough to begin with (if that's clear). If its a single processor, seperate threads don't magically give you more speed. If its a seperate grapics processor, that's another matter I guess.
A seperate thread would be for a situation where a computation literally took several seconds to complete or something. Presumably you can animate your game fast enough to keep up with user input.
---------------------
Let me be clearer:
IF you hit some key, presmuably all you will do is change the value of some variable in a character object for example, which will be processed the next time a WM_TIMER message is received. Its better for the graphics to do nothing until it receives a timer message. Really, the timer is to slow things down. You'll set it at a certain level and everyone will be running around too fast.
-- modified at 14:59 Monday 18th June, 2007
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If you can't update the games state fast enough to avoid slowing down user input,
it means you can't update the game state fast enough to begin with
Hmm... you do have a point.
Thanks.
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Let me just add something:
Depending on your situation, its possible you could have a seperate thread for graphics. But you definitely wouldn't just sit there in a while loop. You would have shared access (via critical sections, mutexes or whatever) to data, which the input process would update and the graphics thread would check at set intervals. If the graphics thread has so much to do that is must run continuously without interruption, then it should have its own thread, it will check for updated data periodically, but shouldn't just be in a loop doing *nothing* but checking for data updates.
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Then my question is, how do you explain the current crop of games today? They don't update the frame buffer synchronously. They won't be trying to send you 60 frames per second all the time. On heavier scenes, the frames may drop down to the 20s, and on lighter scenes, they may jump up to 150. What else, besides a while loop displaying graphics would do this?
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