Newsgroups: comp.windows.ms.programmer Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!mims-iris.waterloo.edu!tom From: tom@mims-iris.waterloo.edu (Tom Haapanen) Subject: Frequently Asked Questions, comp.windows.ms.programmer edition Message-ID: <1991Feb3.180549.20843@watserv1.waterloo.edu> Summary: version 1.06 [last change: th/91-01-29 --- Debugger update] Sender: daemon@watserv1.waterloo.edu Reply-To: tom@mims-iris.waterloo.edu (Tom Haapanen) Organization: WATMIMS Research Group, University of Waterloo Date: Sun, 3 Feb 91 18:05:49 GMT Lines: 251 TABLE OF CONTENTS (* changed items) 0. Index >> 1. Windows newsgroups 2. Windows development tools 3. Windows linkers * 4. Windows debuggers * 5. Windows RTF word processors * 6. Windows extended memory handling 7. Windows screen prints 8. Device driver development * 9. Hiding dialog box controls 10. Adding controls to a non-dialog box window 11. Using floating-point in Windows 12. Changing button colors * 13. Programming using large model * *** A companion posting can be found in comp.windows.ms *** ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Why are there two newsgroups for windows? >> comp.windows.ms.programmer is for discussion about developing Windows software. It is not intended for discussions about Windows software or for questions about the Foobar SVGA drivers. comp.windows.ms is for any Windows discussions that do not concern development of Windows software. -------------------- 2. What tools can I use to develop software for Windows? >> There are a number of options, which are summarized below: 1. Use the Microsoft Windows SDK (Software Development Kit). This is a necessity for heavy-duty application development. The SDK is designed for Microsoft C 5.1/6.0 and Microsoft Macro Assembler 5.1, but it is possible to use it with other compilers, such as Zortech C++ (but not including most Borland compilers). If you plan to use a non-Microsoft compiler, call Microsoft Technical Support to obtain the free Supplemental Compiler Utilities disk. The following compilers are currently known to work: - Glockenspiel C++ ?.? - Microsoft C 5.1+ - Microsoft MASM 5.0+ - Microsoft Pascal 5.0 - Microsoft QuickC 2.0 - Stonybrook Modula-2 2.0+ - Topspeed Modula-2 2.01+ - Turbo C 2.0 [Turbo C++ announced] - Watcom C 8.0 - Watcom C/386:Windows 8.0 - Zortech C++ ?.? 2. Use Actor. Actor is an object-oriented programming environment, with syntax resembling C. It allows quick development of programs and/or prototypes, and compiles into an "image" file. This must be distributed along with actor.exe; however, it is possible to combine these into a single .exe if you have the Whitewater Resource Toolkit. 3. Use Smalltalk/V, available for Windows in January/91. 4. Use ToolBook. This is a HyperCard-like development environment for Windows -- the DayBook demo included with Windows 3.0 is a ToolBook application. Development work is rapid, but at least the current versions run very sluggishly, even on 386/25s. There is a conversion utility available to convert HyperCard stacks into ToolBook programs. 5. Use W:CASE or WindowsMAKER, both of which generate C code for Windows. This will still require the use of the SDK. There is also available a shareware code generator UCB/WordPlan (available on cica.cica.indiana.edu), but it's considerably more limited in functionality than the commercial products. 6. Use EASEL/Windows. This is an MIS-oriented package intended for development of client-server or cooperative processing applications. 3270 connectivity, SQL, DDE, and Windows --- all for mere $7500. 4. What linkers can be used for Windows programs? >> You can use link4, included on the Microsoft C 5.1/6.0 compiler disks, and available separately with the Supplemental Compiler Utilities diskette (free) from Microsoft. Other linkers that work for Windows development are Optilink/Windows and Watcom's WLink. 3. What debuggers can I use for Windows development? >> First of all, if you use Actor, Smalltalk or ToolBook, you're limited to the debugging tools built into those packages. If you are using C, C++ or another conventional language with Windows SDK, you have several choices. 1. In real mode, you are limited to SYMDEB, which is pretty basic. It also requires the use of a second monitor (monochrome for most machines, 8514/A for MCA machines) or a serial terminal. SYMDEB is included with the Windows SDK. 2. In standard mode, you can also use Codeview for Windows (CVW), which is included with Windows SDK, or Logitech's MultiScope (list: $500). CVW, which is similar to the DOS version of Codeview, requires a secondary monitor; a serial terminal can not be used. CVW is included with the Windows SDK; MultiScope is a separate product. There is also a product called CV/1 (list: $149), which allows you to use CVW without a second monitor. 3. If you have a 386, you have an additional option of using WDEB386, which provides some further debugging features over CVW, at the expense of an antiquated user interface. WDEB386, which is included with the SDK, will work wither with a secondary monitor or a serial terminal. 5. What word processor can I use to create RTF files for the Windows SDK Help Compiler? >> The following will create RTF files: Microsoft Word Microsoft Word for Windows Microsoft Word for Windows, Working Model (limited file size) Lotus Ami Professional You can also create them manually, as the RTF format is plain ASCII, but this will quickly get very awkward and tedious. 6. What does Windows do with my extended memory? After I run Windows, Norton SI reports that I don't have any extended memory. Is this a bug? >> No, it's not a bug. Windows requires applications to access extended memory using a mechanism known as "XMS". This mechanism is implemented in himem.sys. If you have device=himem.sys in your config.sys, the first XMS call (by Windows or SmartDrive, for example) will transfer control of the extended memory to himem.sys, and thus make it in- accessible to non-XMS applications. 7. How can I take a snapshot of my Windows screen? >> Simple -- just pres PrtScr, and Windows will copy the image to the clipboard, from where you can paste it into your favourite application. Using Alt-PrtScr will take a snapshot of only your current window. -------------------- 8. What do I need to develop device drivers for Windows? >> You need to purchase the Windows Device Driver Kit (DDK). It's available direct from Microsoft, and costs $500. -------------------- 9. How can I hide dialog box controls? >> EnableWindow(GetDlgItem(hDlg, IDD_CONTROLTOHIDE), FALSE); ShowWindow(GetDlgItem(hDlg, IDD_CONTROLTOHIDE), SW_HIDE); UpdateWindow(GetDlgItem(hDlg, IDD_CONTROLTOHIDE)); 10. How can I add pushbuttons and edit controls to a "normal" window which is not a dialog box? >> You can do this by simply calling CreateWindow() with one of the pre- defined child window control class names (see table 4.2 in the SDK reference manual). 11. Why does compiling a Windows application with emulator floating-point cause corrupted code segments when running on a non-87 machine? >> The emulated floating point tries to used the coprocessor. When it does not find one on startup, it patches the code to use the software floating point. Patching does however not adapt the code-segment checksum, thus the windows debugging version chokes when it horridly founds that some- thing terrible must have happened to the code. Get rid of it by setting 'EnableSegmentChecksum=0' in the [debug] section of WIN.INI; the problem only affects debugging versions of Windows. -------------------- 12. How do I change the button colors? >> In Windows 3.0, the button face is defined by two colors. The grey (white if ega) face and a dark grey (grey if ega) shadow. The colors also change when the button goes from a normal to pushed in state. The WM_CTLCOLOR message only allows you to change one color at a time so to which of the button face colors should this apply? (Windows 2 button faces had only one color so it made sense.) Maybe something tricky could have been done by using the background color for the shadow and foreground color for the face and perhaps doing something strange to get the text color in another way... And how do you return 2 brushes (you now need a foreground and a background brush)? Or maybe even better, make colors a property of the window and some windows could have multiple color properties... Anyway, Windows doesn't look at the WM_CTLCOLOR message for buttons and thus doesn't allow you to change the button colors. Try it with a listbox instead... The only way to change button colors is to specify ButtonColor=, ButtonShadow= and ButtonText= in the [Colors] section of your win.ini file. 13. Why should I not use large model in my Windows application? Can I do it anyway? >> Yes, you can do it. There are several problems with using large model, though: i. Your program's data memory will be fixed in real mode. Effectively, your application will cripple any real-mode Windows system. ii. You will only be able to have one instance of your application active at any one time. iii.Your application will run more slowly. You should consider very carefully before you decide that large model is the only way to go; the preferred method is to use medium model, and to allocate far data as required. Another alternative is to use Watcom C/386 for development; this will let you use a single 4GB segment, and 32-bit registers, increasing your applications performace substantially (but limiting it to running in 386 enhanced mode). -------------------- [ \tom haapanen --- university of waterloo --- tom@mims-iris.waterloo.edu ] [ "i don't even know what street canada is on" -- al capone ]