[lazarus] [win32] Client area under win32

[Gerry Ferdinandus]

>From: Karl Brandt <pascalive at bol.com.br>
>Reply-To: lazarus at miraclec.com
>To: lazarus at miraclec.com
>Subject: Re: [lazarus] Client area under win32
>Date: Tue, 17 Sep 2002 00:37:08 -0300
>
>Gerry Ferdinandus wrote:
>
>>Hi Karl,
>>
>>Thank you for showing interest in win32 interface.
>>
>>I am studying the win32 interface code to see what is the best approach to 
>>finish the job.
>>The best approach is I thing to finish it at ‘message’ level one by one.
>>For example:
>>Finish LM_CREATE for all components + testing.
>>Finish LM_DESTROY for all components + testing.
>>Finish LM_SHOWHIDE for all components + testing.
>>Etc.
>>
>>And not ‘jumping‘ from one bug fix to another bug fix.
>>With this approach is too difficult to organize the ‘work’.
>>And there is the possibility of to much method/event that’s not 
>>implemented with the above ‘jumping‘ approach.
>
>Thanks for the reply.
>I agree with you, at least partially.
>To make such a beast as a GUI interface,there must be discipline, but at 
>some point of development will appear
>one or other bug that must be defeated before we can proceed.
>
>What I think it must be done is contact who is interested in develop the 
>win32 interface,
>make a list of priorities,
>and then define tasks for which one, so would not have duplicate work and 
>would be more or less organized.
>
Windows 32 interface is a long time project. So we need some ‘project 
management method’ implemented here.

a) To make this project success full we need some good documentation. Like 
what is implemented at message level and things still need to be done etc. 
So we need some agreement about the document structure and the contents.
People come and go. But documentation stays. If will also help other 
potential windows interface programmer.

b) Testing tools.
For testing our interface we need some testing programs. The Lazarus 
examples are not suitable for our purpose. So we need some new one. For 
example one program to test ALL the property and event of Tbutton. An other 
program to test TComboBox etc. The new examples will also benefit for the 
future ‘new’ interface project (native OS X interface?).
This is a ‘long term investment’ for the Lazarus project. But we need these 
testing tools.
You need to test these new examples first on Linux/GTK system. (Dual boot 
system is recommended working method). Because LCL+GTK is ‘stable’ for 
programming and testing purpose.

c) Win API knowledge.
I thing most Delphi programmers does not know much about win 32 API. Of show 
no interests in studying it. Because they are trained in programming with 
component. This can be a problem for our goal. But for point (b) you do not 
need to know the API. For point (a) Api knowledge is recommended. I have a 
book ‘Programming windows 95’ by Charles Petzold (1996) it’s about 
programming windows with visual C by using API and not MFC. This is where I 
get my info about API.

As you can see ‘hacking’ the Windows32 interface code now is not 
professional for the long-term investment. So we must decide first if we 
want to ‘hacking’ now or follow the above procedure.
First thing we must know our limitation in both time and knowledge of the 
subject. And do not get over excited about things.

I think the testing tools are the most important things for now. So I 
suggest that we write ALL the testing tools and THEN make the decision if we 
want start ‘hacking’ or start documenting (a).

>>
>>At this moment there are no win32 team group.
>>You can send E-Mail directly to me for offline ‘work’ discussions.
>>And team up with me?
>
>I think the best place to discuss is in the maillist.
>Are there some discussion about win32 in the developer maillist?

I do not know. I am not on the win32 developer mailing list.
(PS. For windows32 related post use [win32] in the subject)

>
>>
>>3 Potential Windows32 interface programmer:
>>Markus Lüdin E-Mail: markus at luedin.com
>>Karl Brandt E-mail: pascalive at bol.com.br
>>Gerry Ferdinandus E-mail: Gerry_ferdinandus at hotmail.com
>
>How about keith bowes?

I do not know if he is still interested in windows interface. Maybe he can 
answer it for him self.

>
>Karl Brandt
>
>_________________________________________________________________
>     To unsubscribe: mail lazarus-request at miraclec.com with
>                "unsubscribe" as the Subject
>   archives at http://www.lazarus.freepascal.org/mailarchives




_________________________________________________________________
MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos: 
http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx