[comp.windows.ms.programmer] Books on Borland C++ and Windows

jdb@reef.cis.ufl.edu (Brian K. W. Hook) (03/10/91)

Well, I've been toying with the new Borland C++ 2.0 and Windows 3.0, and I
have been having one BITCH of a time.  I have found that the problem with
Windows programming has not been the actual code, it's the damned
compilation!  I would like to find some books with good, comprehensive
examples of programming for Windows underneath Borland C++.

I have Peter Norton's Power Guide to Windows Programming and the Microsoft
Press Guide to Programming Windows, and these have plenty of code examples,
however I need MUCH more information on using Borland C++ for setting up my
.DEF, .RC, .C, .PRJ, .MAK, etc. files, then compiling correctly, defining
the correct EXPORTS, etc.

I NEED SERIOUS HELP HERE.  The Borland manuals are highly disjointed here.
One manual covers the Whitewater Resource Toolkit, another manual has a 27
page introduction to Windows programming (big help there), one has a
reference, etc.  The WINPRIMR.DOC file is okay, but still not enough.

This is really driving me up a wall.  Oh, I just compiled FFIND.PRJ and
found that it dies under WIN /R....haven't tested otherwise though.  And
PRJ2MAK isn't working the way it should....it doesn't work at all!  

Gads, if only they had better documentation.....

Brian

johnm@spudge.UUCP (John Munsch) (03/15/91)

In article <27381@uflorida.cis.ufl.EDU> jdb@reef.cis.ufl.edu (Brian K. W. Hook) writes:
>Well, I've been toying with the new Borland C++ 2.0 and Windows 3.0, and I
>have been having one BITCH of a time.

Sorry to hear that.  I'll try to help.

>I have Peter Norton's Power Guide to Windows Programming and the Microsoft
>Press Guide to Programming Windows, and these have plenty of code examples,
>however I need MUCH more information on using Borland C++ for setting up my
>.DEF, .RC, .C, .PRJ, .MAK, etc. files, then compiling correctly, defining
>the correct EXPORTS, etc.

Okay... Let's tackle these in order.
	1) .DEF - Unless you are doing something unusual you don't need one
	with Borland C++.  You can set the heap size, etc from the options
	menu and you don't need a .DEF for exports so just skip it.
	2) .RC  - Again, skip it.  Most of what you are doing can be more
	easily done directly to a .RES file with the Whitewater Resource
	Toolkit.
	3) .PRJ & .MAK - This is pretty much an either/or situation.  If you
	are using the IDE then you will want .PRJ files, otherwise you will
	use a .MAK file.  Perhaps a more specific question would help here.
	4) EXPORTS - Don't bother.  Select the compiler option for "Smart
	Callbacks" and forget it.  You don't need entries in the .DEF file
	and you don't need to mark the functions as _export this way.

>This is really driving me up a wall.  Oh, I just compiled FFIND.PRJ and
>found that it dies under WIN /R....haven't tested otherwise though.

Borland C++ does not make apps compatible with real mode Windows.  I thought
that was quite clear in the documentation.

John Munsch

ebergman@isis.cs.du.edu (Eric Bergman-Terrell) (03/21/91)

Does Borland make it clear in the manuals that BC++ doesn't generate 
real-mode applications?  I couldn't find anything and I looked for a
while (do you have a manual/page#)?

On the subject:  Is there a recommended way to have a program figure
out that's being called in real mode & refuse to run and terminate
gracefully?

I ask because I've had BC++ progs. crash in real mode just putting up
a dialog box...


Terrell