Xref: utzoo comp.lang.pascal:6629 comp.windows.ms.programmer:2318
Newsgroups: comp.lang.pascal,comp.windows.ms.programmer
Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!maytag!watstat.waterloo.edu!dmurdoch
From: dmurdoch@watstat.waterloo.edu (Duncan Murdoch)
Subject: Re: Wanted: WinGraph unit for TPW
Message-ID: <1991May8.171703.22354@maytag.waterloo.edu>
Sender: news@maytag.waterloo.edu (News Owner)
Organization: University of Waterloo
References: <1991May7.193859.5525@maytag.waterloo.edu> <91128.085447F0O@psuvm.psu.edu>
Date: Wed, 8 May 1991 17:17:03 GMT
Lines: 31

In article <91128.085447F0O@psuvm.psu.edu> F0O@psuvm.psu.edu writes:
>     I don't know much about TPW(just order mine this week), but since
>you're using Windows, why don't you use the function calls Windows provides?
>At least my guess is that using WinCrt for text mode pascal programs
>keeps you from having to do this.

There's a fair bit of overhead in creating a window, changing pen colours,
etc., using the Windows function calls.  It would require major changes
to a program to work that way if it was already written for the TP Graph
unit - I'm trying to avoid those changes, for now.  

I've decided to go ahead and program WinGraph myself.  It's not so bad,
using the ObjectWindows library from TPW.  My strategy is to duplicate
the Graph interface almost exactly (I started with GRAPH.INT to be sure),
and implement the calls in Windows.  So far it's been pretty easy to
come up with a one colour window with a black pen.  Some of the other parts
will be harder, because colours are handled very differently, fonts
are handled very differently, and I don't really understand Windows yet.


>     BTW, what do you think of TPW????

So far I really like it.  The documentation is a little light - I imagine
Swan's book on it (due out this August) will be very helpful.  There are
lots of little irritants (like the fact that run-time errors never seem
to be findable), and it's pretty unstable to run the debugger on top
of Windows on top of Desqview (big surprise!), but so far nothing 
(permanently) fatal.

Duncan Murdoch
dmurdoch@watstat.waterloo.edu