Probably no great leap forward?

Probably no great leap forward?

[Mike H]

I have a small utility that I use every day for checking my wife's 
Sudoku solutions. It is written in Ada and currently launched from the 
PC command line. The old XP machine is about to be replaced by Windows 
8. So perhaps this is the time to wrap it in something that will allow 
me to launch from the desk top.

Please, can someone point me in the right direction.
-- 
At the bottom of the application form where it says
"sign here", I usually put "Virgo"
Mike

Re: Probably no great leap forward?

[ake.ragnar.dahlgren]

Den lördagen den 8:e februari 2014 kl. 00:15:32 UTC+1 skrev Mike H:
> I have a small utility that I use every day for checking my wife's 
> 
> Sudoku solutions. It is written in Ada and currently launched from the 
> 
> PC command line. The old XP machine is about to be replaced by Windows 
> 
> 8. So perhaps this is the time to wrap it in something that will allow 
> 
> me to launch from the desk top.
> 
> 
> 
> Please, can someone point me in the right direction.
> 
> -- 
> 
> At the bottom of the application form where it says
> 
> "sign here", I usually put "Virgo"
> 
> Mike

Dear Mike,

I haven't used Windows 8 but what I can tell you is what I remember from Windows 7: In windows explorer it is possible to right click on an executable and then select "Create shortcut". This will create a "short cut"-file in the same directory as the executable. I would then place the "short cut"-file on the desktop, either by click-and-drag or copy-paste. It is then possible to double click on the "short cut"-file on the desktop and it will launch the application you wish.

Another thing I've found useful is that it is possible to right click on the "short cut"-file on the desktop and check the properties. Somewhere in the tabs there is a place where one can specify a key short cut, which means you can attach for example F11 to mean launching your application.

The above may not be applicable but that is what comes to my mind.

Best regards,
Åke Ragnar Dahlgren

Re: Probably no great leap forward?

[Stephen Leake]

Mike H <postmaster@ada-augusta.demon.co.uk> writes:

> I have a small utility that I use every day for checking my wife's
> Sudoku solutions. It is written in Ada and currently launched from the
> PC command line. The old XP machine is about to be replaced by Windows
> 8. So perhaps this is the time to wrap it in something that will allow
> me to launch from the desk top.

That's what Windows shortcuts do.

I have not used Windows 8, but I understand it has a "classic" mode that
has a Desktop similar to Windows 7. In there, right click on the
desktop, select New | Shortcut, follow the wizard.

If you need options on the command line: after the wizard completes,
right click on the shortcut, select Properties, and edit the "Target"
field to add the options.

There's probably a similar process to create a tile in the Metro
interface.

-- 
-- Stephe

Re: Probably no great leap forward?

[Mike H]

I wrote ...

It is ... currently launched from the PC command line.

Perhaps I should have explained that, it is currently launched from a 
DOS bat file and it is the bat file that is launched from the command 
line. Is a bat file an "executable"?

viz.
:begin
pause
CD C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\My Ada\Sudoku_2\
Sudoku_check.exe
goto begin

In other words the original program is little more than a quick and 
dirty fix that has the complete file paths of input file and output file 
set in concrete.

A cleaner version would have those paths de-coupled. They would have 
default values that, if necessary, could be changed by a Windows 
dialogue. If I understand things correctly, that would require an 
interface to Windows.

I seem to remember hearing about a simplified interface for student use 
(Brighton?).

-- 
Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit
Wisdom in knowing not to put it in the fruit salad.
Mike

Re: Probably no great leap forward?

[tmoran]

>default values that, if necessary, could be changed by a Windows
>dialogue. If I understand things correctly, that would require an
>interface to Windows.
  There are several libraries for using Windows in Ada (I use CLAW
myself), but any usage of Windows UI has a substantial learning curve.
If the program just reads an input and writes an output you might consider
making an HTML form UI that runs your program "Common Gateway Interface"
style.

Re: Probably no great leap forward?

[Simon Wright]

Mike H <postmaster@ada-augusta.demon.co.uk> writes:

> I seem to remember hearing about a simplified interface for student
> use (Brighton?).

I think that would be JEWL:
http://archive.adaic.com/tools/bindings/JEWL/jewl.html

Re: Probably no great leap forward?

[sbelmont700]

On Saturday, February 8, 2014 9:47:33 AM UTC-5, Mike H wrote:
>
> A cleaner version would have those paths de-coupled. They would have 
> 
> default values that, if necessary, could be changed by a Windows 
> 
> dialogue. If I understand things correctly, that would require an 
> 
> interface to Windows.
> 

If the only 'interface' would be a way to input different input and output file names, the cleanest approach would be to use standard in and out on the command line, i.e. "suduko.exe < infile.dat > outfile.dat".  Besides not requiring lots of work to interface to Windows, your program stays cross-platform.

-sb

Re: Probably no great leap forward?

[Brian Drummond]

On Sat, 08 Feb 2014 19:56:12 +0000, Simon Wright wrote:

> Mike H <postmaster@ada-augusta.demon.co.uk> writes:
> 
>> I seem to remember hearing about a simplified interface for student use
>> (Brighton?).
> 
> I think that would be JEWL:
> http://archive.adaic.com/tools/bindings/JEWL/jewl.html

There is also Win_IO, with "the same goals as JEWL" - a simple GUI system 
for Ada, but portable between Windows and Linux

http://www.ctr.unican.es/Win_IO/ 

 - Brian

Re: Probably no great leap forward?

[Mike H]

In message <0029b923-9a27-4322-90b6-cd3caa56d13a@googlegroups.com>, 
sbelmont700@gmail.com writes
>If the only 'interface' would be a way to input different input and 
>output file names, the cleanest approach would be to use standard in 
>and out on the command line, i.e. "suduko.exe < infile.dat > 
>outfile.dat".  Besides not requiring lots of work to interface to 
>Windows, your program stays cross-platform.
>
Sounds promising ;-)


-- 
Mike
As the used to say about aircraft design in the 1933 (the year I was born)
"Simplicate and add lightness"