Does A free Ada binding to the Win32 API exist?

Does A free Ada binding to the Win32 API exist?

[Matthew Gallant]

    As a student, I used Ada95 in a Solaris environment(GNAT), but all the
programs were in a console.  I have emacs for NT, and GNAT, and I'd like to
try some Win32 programming in Ada but I have no information as to whether
there are any libraries that mimic Win32 API functions.  Also DirectX would
be cool.
    And of course it has to be free. :)

Re: Does A free Ada binding to the Win32 API exist?

[Jerry van Dijk]

Matthew Gallant (mg@tmbg.org) wrote:

:     As a student, I used Ada95 in a Solaris environment(GNAT), but all the
: programs were in a console.  I have emacs for NT, and GNAT, and I'd like to
: try some Win32 programming in Ada but I have no information as to whether
: there are any libraries that mimic Win32 API functions.  Also DirectX would
: be cool.
:     And of course it has to be free. :)

You can use the Win32 API directly using the Win32Ada binding. For more
info, see my homepage.

As for directx, there is as far as I know no publically available binding.

Jerry.

-- 
-- Jerry van Dijk  | email: jdijk@acm.org
-- Leiden, Holland | member Team-Ada
-- Ada & Win32: http://stad.dsl.nl/~jvandyk

Re: Does A free Ada binding to the Win32 API exist?

[Jerry van Dijk]

Robert Dewar (dewar@merv.cs.nyu.edu) wrote:

: Jerry says

: <<You can use the Win32 API directly using the Win32Ada binding. For more
: info, see my homepage.
: >>

: Note however that this is not free in the sense of 0$. It is impermissible
: (i.e. a violation of Micrsoft's copyright) to use the Win32 API unless you
: hold a valid SDK license. There is no legitimate way that I know of to
: acquire this license without paying a fee.

Robert is right in that the binding is not free in the sense of 0$. You need
an valid licence to the Win32 SDK. However, this license comes with a lot of
windows development environments. I would guess that buying an old one (for 
example an old 32-bit MS or Borland C++ compiler) cheaply would be sufficient.

Jerry.


-- 
-- Jerry van Dijk  | email: jdijk@acm.org
-- Leiden, Holland | member Team-Ada
-- Ada & Win32: http://stad.dsl.nl/~jvandyk

Re: Does A free Ada binding to the Win32 API exist?

[Tom Moran]

>     And of course it has to be free. :)

>You can use the Win32 API directly using the Win32Ada binding
I'm confused here.  I'd been told one was legally required to buy a
Microsoft SDK to be allowed to use the win32ada binding.  Is that not
the case?  

Re: Does A free Ada binding to the Win32 API exist?

[Robert Dewar]

Tom says

<<I'm confused here.  I'd been told one was legally required to buy a
Microsoft SDK to be allowed to use the win32ada binding.  Is that not
the case?
>>

Yes, that is the case!

Re: Does A free Ada binding to the Win32 API exist?

[Robert Dewar]

Jerry says

<<You can use the Win32 API directly using the Win32Ada binding. For more
info, see my homepage.
>>

Note however that this is not free in the sense of 0$. It is impermissible
(i.e. a violation of Micrsoft's copyright) to use the Win32 API unless you
hold a valid SDK license. There is no legitimate way that I know of to
acquire this license without paying a fee.

Re: Does A free Ada binding to the Win32 API exist?

[Matthew Gallant]

I own VC 5++ Prof. Edition, this counts as a license, right?

Matt Gallant

P.S.  Dr. Dewar nice to "see" you again, I really enjoyed your talks at West
Point


Robert Dewar wrote in message ...
>Jerry says
>
><<You can use the Win32 API directly using the Win32Ada binding. For more
>info, see my homepage.
>>>
>
>Note however that this is not free in the sense of 0$. It is impermissible
>(i.e. a violation of Micrsoft's copyright) to use the Win32 API unless you
>hold a valid SDK license. There is no legitimate way that I know of to
>acquire this license without paying a fee.
>

Re: Does A free Ada binding to the Win32 API exist?

[Robert Dewar]

<<I own VC 5++ Prof. Edition, this counts as a license, right?
>>

Yes, that counts. Note that this purely a (very annoying, and indeed possibly
dubious) legal requirement. Not a tecnnical one, there is no need at all
for the SDK technically for using the Win32 binding. However, unless you
feel like taking on Microsoft, you need to be aware that this indeed is
a requirement. The install shield installation of GNAT requires you to
read the Microsoft license requirement and agree to it before you can
install the Win32 bindings.