From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-2.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,MAILING_LIST_MULTI autolearn=unavailable autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,62a0ce08269e2cbf X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-10-11 16:05:58 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!sn-xit-02!supernews.com!news.tele.dk!small.news.tele.dk!213.56.195.71!fr.usenet-edu.net!usenet-edu.net!enst!enst.fr!not-for-mail From: "David Botton" Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: windows bindings Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2001 19:04:38 -0400 Organization: ENST, France Sender: comp.lang.ada-admin@ada.eu.org Message-ID: References: Reply-To: comp.lang.ada@ada.eu.org NNTP-Posting-Host: marvin.enst.fr Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: avanie.enst.fr 1002841556 3985 137.194.161.2 (11 Oct 2001 23:05:56 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@enst.fr NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2001 23:05:56 +0000 (UTC) To: Return-Path: X-pair-Authenticated: 216.254.101.195 X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4807.1700 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4807.1700 Errors-To: comp.lang.ada-admin@ada.eu.org X-BeenThere: comp.lang.ada@ada.eu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.4 Precedence: bulk List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Id: comp.lang.ada mail<->news gateway List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: Errors-To: comp.lang.ada-admin@ada.eu.org X-BeenThere: comp.lang.ada@ada.eu.org Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:14344 Date: 2001-10-11T19:04:38-04:00 ----- Original Message ----- From: "chris.danx" > Are there any open source bindings to the Windows API? The bindings that > come with GNAT are out because of the terms underwhich they are distributed. Since the Microsoft SDK is available for free the lic. on the Windows API is not an issue. Once you get the C version from Microsoft you have the needed lic. > Gwindows looks like a good candidate, however there are some issues that > come to mind. > > The first is license compatibility, the project will use the 'MIT License'. What is the MIT Lic? GWindows comes under the GMGPL not sure why this creates a problem regardless of lic. Any changes to GWindows would of course come under that lic., but code with'ing GWindows should not be 'infected'. > The second is using OpenGL with GWindows (which admittedly I haven't looked > at) No biggy. GWindows gives you direct access to the Windows Handles, etc. so hooking in to any of the available OpenGL bindings should be a non issue. >and the third is it's relationship to GNAT. Since it's a prototype the > third issue can be forgotten about (out of curiosity, how much work would be > needed to get Gwindows to work with another Windows compiler say > ObjectAda?). In some early tests, I have succesfully compiled and used much of GWindows under ObjectAda with minimal change, less the ActiveX and Database parts as they require GNATCOM. It is ceratinly not a huge job to do the port. The biggest problem is the lack of some GNAT specific extensions like 'Unrestricted_Access which is used in many of the examples and tutorials. Even though my main focus is on promoting Ada, I certainly am a believer in the GPL (where it doesn't conflict with the main focus :-). Writing "free" software certainly seems more natural on a "free" compiler ;-) > If it is not possible to use gwindows is there an alternative, doubly free > (open source and no pennies) binding? If not how much work would be > involved in creating a binding (probably a thin one)? Can it be done > automatically? You can generate a partial binding from WinTLB (originaly designed for importing Windows APIs in to VB) using GNATCOM, but with GWindows around and the simple techniques I use in binding to Windows (as seen in the bodies of GWindows code), you are better off just using bindings for cutting and pasting when absolutely needed. David Botton