I'm making a library that will act as a graphics aid, and one of the things I wanted to add was it's own Window creation.
I've seen how people use the default windows code in a Windows application, but that would only work in that project not the library.
Is it possible to add in window creation code into a library and have it behave in such a way like :
windowClass instance = libraryCreateWindow(blah,blah);
instance.showWindow();
Yes, it's possible. There is effectively no difference in creating a window from a library than from the main executable.
Windows belong to a process and are associated with a thread, it doesn't matter where in the code or in what module the window is created. I'm not sure what you're basing the statement "that would only work in that project not the library" on.
You didn't specify whether you were talking about a dynamic or static library, a C++ class library, or even a C#/.NET library, and the implementation details obviously differ depending on language and framework, but the answer should still be yes for any of the above.
Related
Assuming you only have access to the final product (i.e. in form of the exe file), how would you go about finding out which libraries/components the developer used to create the application?
In my specific case the question is about an application developed in VC++ using a few third party components and I'm curious which those are.
But I think the question is generally valid, e.g. when it should be proven if a developer is in line with license requirements of a specific library.
So, what you're saying is that if I suspect that a binary is using a certain library, I could try to map the respective function calls and see if I get a result. But there is no shortcut to this and unless I am willing to try out hundreds of mappings or the dev left some information in some strings or other resources, I have little chance of finding this out. Yes?
There is small shortcut, here's what I'd do:
check executable for strings and constants, and try to find out what library is that.
IF used libraries are open-source, compile them on my own and create FLAIR signatures (IDA Pro).
Use generated flair signatures on target executable.
In some situations, that can really work like a charm and can let you distinguish actual code from used libraries.
The IDA Pro Book - Ch 12. Library Recognition Using FLIRT Signatures
I was just thinking. C# has Winforms/WPF, Java has Swing and other frameworks, C++ has QT and so on; is it possible to create an application without using a Framework?
Putting aside the practicality of it, I'm just curious. How would one create an application that Just Works(tm) without needing external frameworks?
Two options come to mind:
Classical Win32 applications written in C. I don't know if standard Windows SDK API also counts as an "external framework" in your book, but that's as low as it gets.
DirectX/OpenGL games written from scratch with your own homebrew framework (not external, right?) There you get to do all the drawing yourself - although again, you use a pretty big library of primitive drawing functions.
If you want even less "framework", you'll have to code your own OS and drivers. :P
C# needs .NET Framework, not WinForms (which is an optional library used by some application). The same with Java.
Unmanaged (native) applications usually use some runtime library - the library of common functions. You can write a native application without any library - the compiler lets you do this, but you will need to (re)write lots of common functions, eg. for string manipulation etc..
Firstly, what is a framework?
Really a framework is just a bunch of code that is provided to you. You could, at least in theory, write the same code yourself. In that case you wouldn't be using a framework.
Your application can only do what the operating system allows it to do. Your program cannot directly manipulate the graphics card for example. So you have to use the APIs of your operating system in order to do anything.
So you are going to be calling into other code. (unless you write your own operating system). You will also being using another framework or api to get stuff done.
Yes. How: in the way that the frameworks you mentioned are implemented.
From a Windows point of view, you would register your window with Windows, then listen to window messages and react as required. Everything would be up to you - from drawing the window to building controls.
How do I reference and communciate with an ActiveX library from within my gcc compiled application?
Well, I've never actually tried it, but there is no reason you wouldn't be able to do this. You basically just need to have the interface definitions for the classes you need (might be able to get this from VS) and then make the appropriate calls.
The function CoCreateInstance is in Ole32.dll, so you could probably load the library, get the entrypoint, and then you just have to find the CLSIDs for creating the COM object you want, etc. As long as you are careful about only casting with QueryInterface, you should be just fine; COM was designed specifically to provide binary compatibility so that this would be possible.
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms686615%28VS.85%29.aspx
the hardest part will be getting all the headers and such that you need.
I'm completely new to COBOL, but I'd like to take a look at the different options for GUI programming on Windows. I don't really like Tcl/Tk, though. Is there some resource for developing a Windows GUI in COBOL in the same manner that one would develop a GUI in C?
Thanks!
I used MicroFocus version 2.0 and it supported creating Windows GUI forms with an event driven model. They are now on version 5.1. Although the full version is quite expensive, there is a book with a stripped down learning version here:
http://www.murach.com/books/mcb2/microfocus.htm
check out http://www.netcobol.com/
in particular http://www.netcobol.com/products/windows/cobol.htm
For OpenCOBOL, there is an embedded Tcl/Tk layer by Rildo Pragana (author of TinyCOBOL, his TC Tcl/Tk sample compiled and linked for OpenCOBOL, first try), but if you don't like Tcl/Tk, his toolkit places almost all of the GUI on the Tk side, so:
There is also a GTK+ layer sample
Source code looking like:
*> Add a text entry field
CALL "CBL_OC_GTK_ENTRY_NEW"
returning gtk-textentry
END-CALL
*> Connect code to the text entry, passing the entry widget
SET callback TO ENTRY "CBL_OC_activate"
CALL "CBL_OC_G_SIGNAL_CONNECT"
using by value gtk-textentry
by reference "activate" & x"00"
by value callback
by value gtk-textentry
END-CALL
...
*> window is ready to show
CALL "CBL_OC_GTK_WIDGET_SHOW"
using by value gtk-window
END-CALL
*> Start up the event loop, control returned when GTK main exits
CALL "CBL_OC_GTK_MAIN" END-CALL
*> Something terminated the GTK main loop, sys-close or bye or
display "ending..." end-display
FLTK worked, but I haven't posted the trial source codes.
GtkHTML widgets worked too.
A Gambas COBOL GUI layer is hosted on Google Code
ROOT/CINT can interpret OpenCOBOL generated C, and then you can get interactive graphs from WORKING-STORAGE.
Qt tested fine, but C++ requires more, albeit thin, wrapper source, so GTK was targeted instead.
Pretty much anything that can be wrapped by C, can be called by OpenCOBOL. That includes the native Microsoft WinAPI.
While working on the FAQ I found that using Vala really opens up the field for extending COBOL. As both OpenCOBOL and Vala produce intermediate C, the mixing potential is nearly unlimited, and developers can benefit from efforts by either project. I recommend checking out Vala for use from COBOL.
See the OpenCOBOL FAQ, section 5 for working samples. Screen capture image from source code listed at http://opencobol.add1tocobol.com/#does-opencobol-support-the-gimp-toolkit-gtk
I need to write an app that reads a config file with info on the menu bars it needs to create.
Normally, I'd just use java, but I need the application to have the least run-time dependencies possible, this includes not forcing the user to download anything, even JRE, let alone something like NET Framework.
So I need something that can compile to an EXE (windows only for now), and that will allow me to CODE the GUI, so I can dynamically create it from my config.
BTW: something like C++ is a bit too low level, all I need is to create menus, and display HTMLs in a panel.
How about wxPython together with py2exe?
There is a nice tutorial on how to do it here.
If Java's too high-level and C++ too low-level, there ins't much in-between. Maybe Delphi?
I wouldn't totally write off using Java and/or Python for a few reasons.
1) py2exe can compile your Python code to an exe.
2) GCJ can compile your Java code to an exe.
Delphi is best chose for you. Because Delphi compile source code into native x86.
Unless you have serious reasons to avoid interpreted languages, I would suggest you better look into ways of packaging or compiling interpreted scripts because doing this will likely reduce your learning and development time.
I would write a simple GUI in Tcl/Tk, and then package it as a Starpack.
ActiveState provides a distribution (ActiveTCL) and a decent editor (Komodo Edit), and it is fairly easy to get simple GUIs going with Tk. Check out TkDocs for some hand holding.
Once you're done, you can package your code, a Tcl runtime, a database, and a virtual filesystem, all into a single executable that you can easily distribute.
Earwicker is right. You can use HTA:
http://www.interclasse.com/scripts/htanotepad.php
But if you know C++, then creating this type of an application is actually very easy with Visual C++. Use MFC, and statically link everything. You can draw the menu in the resource editor, and attach events to the menu items. I wouldn't use HTML if I were you. Just use regular Windows controls. But if you're really set on using HTML, you can embed a Browser control in the formview.
Have you considered D ? It has a syntax that is like a mixture of Java, C++ and Python with the ability to make native windows apps. The tutorials on dprogramming.com are great to get up and going with the language. For quick GUIs you'd be interested in The D Forms Library and the Entice Designer.
Here are some short video tutorials to get up and running with Entice.
Alternatively, have you tried Qt & Qt Creator? It takes a lot of the hair pulling out of C++ Programming and it's also cross-platform.
You say:
all I need is to create menus, and
display HTMLs in a panel.
A lot like a Web browser, then. If it's going to run on Windows, then the user has IE. Why not use IE to do all the work for you?
You can make something a lot like an .exe with IE, called an .hta:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms536496(VS.85).aspx