How can I use glib in Windows Phone 8 / 8.1 or Windows 10 Mobile C / C++ application? Is it possible?
Should I somehow try to use autotools or should I create Visual Studio project and add all the files needed?
Windows Store apps rely on Windows Runtime and run in sandboxed environment. GLib provides the core application building blocks for libraries and applications written in C. It provides the core object system used in GNOME, the main loop implementation, and a large set of utility functions for strings and common data structures. For Winows Store apps, there are some limitations or restrictionsin security, inter-app communication, low-level system functionality, usable APIs, etc.. If you wanna port your app based on Glib to Windows Store app, you'd better leverage the power of Windows Runtime and other high-quality third party libraries specific to Windows Store.
Related
I have a C# class library that references and wraps Win32 native methods. But I can't seem to port this code over to a newer "universal" C# class library. What do I need to do in order to properly marshal these native methods?
Windows 10 Universal Applications run under the Windows Runtime API, a new "native" API for Windows. Applications using this API run in a sandbox which limits their access to devices and operating system services. While Win32 APIs can be accessed like normal, for example using P/Invoke in the case of C# code, the sandbox only permits the use of certain API functions:
Windows Runtime apps can use a subset of the Win32 and COM APIs. This
subset of APIs was chosen to support key scenarios for Windows Runtime
apps that were not already covered by the Windows Runtime, HTML/CSS,
or other supported languages or standards. The Windows App
Certification Kit ensures that your app uses only this subset of the
Win32 and COM API. In a native app, you can call these APIs directly.
In a managed app, you can call them via a Windows Runtime Component,
or via P/Invoke.
...
The documentation for each programming element in the API indicates
whether it can be used in a Windows Runtime app. See the "Applies to"
line at the top of the page.
So for example FormatMessage works with Windows Runtime, but GetNamedPipeInfo doesn't.
If the Win32 API you want to use isn't one of the ones supported by Windows Runtime, I believe your only option is to have your class library target traditional desktop apps.
This article (from the Windows engineering team) says:
WOA [Windows On ARM] will not support any type of virtualization or emulation approach,
and will not enable existing x86/64 applications to be ported or run.
Does that mean I won't even be able to recompile an x86/64 application from source for ARM?
If yes, what exactly prevents me from doing that? My understanding is that the Win32 API is present on Windows 8 ARM.
If no, what do they mean by not being able to port x86/64 applications to ARM?
From the Windows article you link to, the second quoted paragraph is the killer. Porting existing apps is definitely NOT supported.
Developers wishing to target WOA do so by writing applications for the WinRT (Windows APIs for building Metro style apps) using the new Visual Studio 11 tools in a variety of languages, including C#/VB/XAML and Jscript/ HTML5. Native code targeting WinRT is also supported using C and C++, which can be targeted across architectures and distributed through the Windows Store. WOA does not support running, emulating, or porting existing x86/64 desktop apps. Code that uses only system or OS services from WinRT can be used within an app and distributed through the Windows Store for both WOA and x86/64. Consumers obtain all software, including device drivers, through the Windows Store and Microsoft Update or Windows Update.
If we enabled the broad porting of existing code we would fail to deliver on our commitment to longer battery life, predictable performance, and especially a reliable experience over time. The conventions used by today’s Windows apps do not necessarily provide this, whether it is background processes, polling loops, timers, system hooks, startup programs, registry changes, kernel mode code, admin rights, unsigned drivers, add-ins, or a host of other common techniques. By avoiding these constructs, WOA can deliver on a new level of customer satisfaction: your WOA PC will continue to perform well over time as apps are isolated from the system and each other, and you will remain in control of what additional software is running on your behalf, all while letting the capabilities of diverse hardware shine through.
Only a subset of Win32 is supported on Win8 for ARM:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/apps/br205757.aspx
If you try to build an application that uses a Win32 API that's not supported, it won't build because the API won't be in the library. If you try to create your own library to support the APIs, the application still won't be usable because the only way to deploy apps to customers will be through the MS app store, which will no doubt check for API conformance.
From The "Building Windows for the ARM processor architecture" article:
Consumers obtain all software, including device drivers, through the Windows Store and Microsoft Update or Windows Update.
It might be possible to do so on your development machine (but maybe not - I'm really not sure if such a 'hack' will be possible, supported or not), but you certainly won't be able to deploy it in any kind of widespread fashion.
In short, any existing Win32 application will likely need significant work to be ported to Win8 for ARM. It won't be a matter of recompile and fix any errors that pop out to get the application to run on ARM.
They do provide this caveat a little further in your cited article:
Additionally, developers with existing code, whether in C, C++, C#, Visual Basic, or JavaScript, are free to incorporate that code into their apps, so long as it targets the WinRT API set for Windows services.
They've got version of Office and IE available; I'm positive those weren't ground-up reimplementations.
I'm tasked with "porting" a few apps from a Windows environment to various mobile platforms and Mac as well.
I plan on writing MVC patterned apps in which I write as many controllers as I can in some sort of universal library, probably in C or C++. Then writing the views in various choice languages (Objective C, Java, .NET, whatever) for the target OSes.
I've never attempted anything like this before, so my questions are: Is it possible to write and compile one library that can be used on iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows and Mac? Is it even wise to try this?
I understand that certain native methods simply won't be available on each platform.
You can create a library whose source code is portable, assuming that you properly abstract away any platform-dependent calls. You can't, however, create such a library, compile it, then use it anywhere; you'll have to compile it for each platform.
Your should take a look at the Mono Project. http://www.mono-project.com
...more specifically at :
MonoTouch: To develop iPhone applications in .NET
MonoDroid (BETA): To develop Android applications in .NET
Mono plugin for MeeGo: To develop MeeGo applications in .NET
And you know that you can develop on Windows Mobile in .NET already.
I've haven't found anything related to BlackBerry yet.
There are services like Rhomobile and Appcelerator which will allow you to do this sort of cross compiling.
I've never used either however.
For developing programs for windows, we need windows SDK. I understand that this SDK is what helps to create windows and handle window events and all that. I suppose it also enables us to manipulate with files and registries.
(Does the same SDK is the reason for thread creation and handling?)
All that is fine!
I would like to know what are the files and libraries that come as a part of this SDK. Also does it come when I install the OS or when I install editors like Visual studio? Sometimes I see links to windows SDK separately as such. Is it same as the one that I get when installing Visual Studio or has something more than that.
Base Services:
Provide access to the fundamental resources available to a Windows system.
Included are things like
file systems,
devices,
processes & threads
and error handling.
These functions reside in kernel32.dll on 32-bit Windows.
Advanced Services:
Provide access to functionality that is an addition on the kernel.
Included are things like the
Windows registry
shutdown/restart the system (or abort)
start/stop/create a Windows service
manage user accounts
These functions reside in advapi32.dll on 32-bit Windows.
Graphics Device Interface:
Provides functionality for outputting graphical content to
monitors,
printers
and other output devices.
It resides in gdi32.dll on 32-bit Windows in user-mode. Kernel-mode GDI support is provided by win32k.sys which communicates directly with the graphics driver.
User Interface:
Provides the functionality to create and manage screen windows and most basic controls, such as
buttons and scrollbars,
receive mouse and keyboard input,
and other functionality associated with the GUI part of Windows.
This functional unit resides in user32.dll on 32-bit Windows. Since Windows XP versions, the basic controls reside in comctl32.dll, together with the common controls (Common Control Library).
Common Dialog Box Library:
Provides applications the standard dialog boxes for
opening and saving files,
choosing color and font, etc.
The library resides in comdlg32.dll on 32-bit Windows. It is grouped under the User Interface category of the API.
Common Control Library:
Gives applications access to some advanced controls provided by the operating system. These include things like
status bars,
progress bars,
toolbars
and tabs.
The library resides in comctl32.dll on 32-bit Windows. It is grouped under the User Interface category of the API.
Windows Shell:
Component of the Windows API allows applications to access the
functionality provided by the operating system shell,
as well as change and enhance it.
The component resides in shell32.dll on 32-bit Windows. The Shell Lightweight Utility Functions are in shlwapi.dll. It is grouped under the User Interface category of the API.
Network Services:
Give access to the various networking capabilities of the operating system.
Its sub-components include
NetBIOS,
Winsock,
NetDDE,
RPC and many others.
Internet Explorer web browser APIs:
An embeddable web browser control, contained in shdocvw.dll and mshtml.dll.
The URL monitor service, held in urlmon.dll, which provides COM objects to applications for resolving URLs.
A library for assisting with multi-language and international text support (mlang.dll).
XML support (the MSXML components, held in msxml*.dll).
I have listed only files for 32-bit windows (as that is what many window developers work on)
For more info, please check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_API
EDIT:
Above dlls and all are part of the operating system, not the SDK. The Windows SDK provides import libraries (.lib files) that allow code to dynamically link against these system-provided DLLs.
(This was rightly pointed by Marcelo Cantos. Many thanks to him)
SDK stands for Software Development Kit. It is a big fat collection of headers, libraries, tools and other bits and pieces that developers use to construct software. Microsoft provides many SDK's for their large range of products, and they are not generally deployed to the end-user's desktop. They are usually only installed on developer machines, either as part of a development environment like Visual Studio, or separately (but usually intended for use within VS anyway).
When you talk about the thing that handles windows, threads, etc., you are describing the Windows APIs. The purpose of an SDK is to allow developers to write software that accesses the APIs.
The Windows SDK gives you, as a developer, access to all the services of the Windows platform, including all the things you list.
The SDK is installed as part of the installation of Visual Studio, and usually you'll use the one that came with the compiler, and never have to worry about it. The standalone SDK downloads are there to support two scenarios:
If you use a compiler other that Visual Studio, it may not come with the SDK files, so you can download them separately.
Each new version of Windows includes more features in the API, so to call these new functions you need an updated SDK.
In our project, we have a lot of ActiveX controls written in VB6. On big (x86) computers it works very well. These controls are hosted on website. And mobile users also wants to use it.
So is there any possible solution to recompile/cross-compile an .ocx and make .cab file to works under ARM architecture?
Or maybe I can emulate x86 architecture on mobile phones/PDAs?
Mateusz
There is no way to take a control written in VB6 and run it on a device with an ARM processor (via cross-compiling, emulation or otherwise).
Your best route is to rewrite your application in something that targets both x86 and the ARM mobile platform of your choice (one of java/j2me, .net framework/compact framework, flash, C/C++, etc) or just make your application run at the server and expose it via the web