COMScope Released for Win32

COMScope Released for Win32

[David Botton]

The first tool in the AdaCOM tools set is now complete. AdaCOM is a set
of tools to create COM bindings to COM objects and to generate all the
supporting Ada code to create COM objects in Ada.

COMScope allows you to inspect the contents of COM objects and type
libraries on the Win32 platforms.

For more information go to the Ada Source Code Treasury AdaCOM
information page:

http://www.botton.com/ada/com

When complete these tools will not only allow you to use and create your
own custom COM objects, it will generate bindings to any of Microsoft's
COM based services such as MSMQ, Database Access Objects, DirectX, and
more. In addition Microsoft provides a type library for the Win32 API
allowing for a complete Ada binding to the Win32 API to be automatically
generated.

David Botton

Re: COMScope Released for Win32

[Robert Dewar]

In article <37269760.823D47F1@Botton.com>,
  David Botton <David@Botton.com> wrote:
> When complete these tools will not only allow you to use
> and create your own custom COM objects, it will generate
> bindings to any of Microsoft's COM based services such as
> MSMQ, Database Access Objects, DirectX, an more. In
> addition Microsoft provides a type library for the Win32
> API allowing for a complete Ada binding to the Win32 API
> to be automatically generated.
>
> David Botton
>


Note that if indeed a binding can be generated
automatically, that solves the copyright problem. The
current Win32 bindings are copyright Microsoft, and cannot
be freely copied. However, a program that generates
bindings can be freely distributed (if the author so
decides :-)


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Re: COMScope Released for Win32

[Tom Moran]

> that solves the copyright problem
Excellent!  How does one get the "type library for the Win32 API" and
what restrictions are there on its use?

Re: COMScope Released for Win32

[David Botton]

It came with my copy of Windows 98 it is in the dir \windows\system dir
and is called win.tlb

I imagine there possibly might be restrictions on the .tlb file itself,
but just like creating a .lib or lib*.a file from a DLL for a compiler,
there should be no restrictions on a file produced from a tlb.

Microsoft specifically states they created type libs to allow tools to
bind to COM objects in a non-language specific fashion.

David Botton


Tom Moran wrote:
> 
> > that solves the copyright problem
> Excellent!  How does one get the "type library for the Win32 API" and
> what restrictions are there on its use?

Re: COMScope Released for Win32

[Robert Dewar]

In article <3727366A.AF688F45@Botton.com>,
  David Botton <David@Botton.com> wrote:
> I imagine there possibly might be restrictions on the .tlb file
> itself, but just like creating a .lib or lib*.a file from a DLL for a
> compiler, there should be no restrictions on a file produced from a
> tlb.

I would not count on this legal interpretation! It is pretty clear
that the file produced from the tlb file is a derived work, just as
the Ada binding to Win32 is a derived work, and I am sure Microsoft
would claim copyright on it, just as they do on the Ada binding.

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Re: COMScope Released for Win32

[dbotton]

In article <7g6vmg$23$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>,
  Robert Dewar <robert_dewar@my-dejanews.com> wrote:

> Note that if indeed a binding can be generated
> automatically, that solves the copyright problem. The
> current Win32 bindings are copyright Microsoft, and cannot
> be freely copied. However, a program that generates
> bindings can be freely distributed (if the author so
> decides :-)
>

The author plans on it :-)

I am not a lawyer, but I don't see why the generated bindings would not be
freely distributed also.

The win32 type library contains bindings to almost all of win32, but there are
some pieces missing. They include the C run time bindings (MSCRT), OpenGL,
windows versions of printf and scanf, and the base Co* functions for COM
(although it does contain bindings for the other parts of COM and OLE).

Most of the other missing parts are COM/OLE related services from Microsoft
and bindings can be generated directly from their dlls, OCXs, tlbs, etc. (For
example to generate a binding to DAO, you would run the binding generator on
DAO3032.dll or for MSMQ mqoa.dll).

Since there is documentation embedded in the type libraries, the bindings will
also be well documented, another plus over the current bindings.

David Botton

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Re: COMScope Released for Win32

[dennison]

In article <7g76j7$5sb$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>,
  dbotton@hotmail.com wrote:
> In article <7g6vmg$23$1@nnrp1.dejanews.com>,
>   Robert Dewar <robert_dewar@my-dejanews.com> wrote:
>
> > automatically, that solves the copyright problem. The
> > current Win32 bindings are copyright Microsoft, and cannot
> > be freely copied. However, a program that generates
> > bindings can be freely distributed (if the author so
> > decides :-)
> >
> I am not a lawyer, but I don't see why the generated bindings would not be
> freely distributed also.

I suspect a very careful reading of the licensing agreement that came with
the DLL's (presumably, the licensing agreement for your version of Windows)
and with the type library (Windows, or Visual C++?) would tell you that.

--
T.E.D.

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