Win32 API is a set of functions defined in theWindows OS, in other words it is theWindows API, this is the name given byMicrosoft to the core set ofapplication programming interfaces available in theMicrosoft Windowsoperating systems. It is designed for usage byC/C++ programs and is the most direct way to interact with aWindows system forsoftware applications. Lower level access to aWindows system, mostly required fordevice drivers, is provided by theWindows Driver Model in current versions ofWindows.

One can get more information about theAPI and support fromMicrosoft itself, using the MSDN Library (http://msdn.microsoft.com/ ) essentially a resource for developers using Microsoft tools, products, and technologies. It contains a bounty of technical programming information, including sample code, documentation, technical articles, and reference guides. You can also check out WikibooksWindows Programming book for some more detailed information that goes beyond the scope of this book.

Asoftware development kit (SDK) is available forWindows, which provides documentation and tools to enable developers to create software using theWindows API and associatedWindows technologies.(http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/ )

History

The Windows API has always exposed a large part of the underlying structure of the various Windows systems for which it has been built to the programmer. This has had the advantage of giving Windows programmers a great deal of flexibility and power over their applications. However, it also has given Windows applications a great deal of responsibility in handling various low-level, sometimes tedious, operations that are associated with aGraphical user interface.

Charles Petzold, writer of various well read Windows API books, has said:"The original hello-world program in the Windows 1.0 SDK was a bit of a scandal. HELLO.C was about 150 lines long, and the HELLO.RC resource script had another 20 or so more lines. (...) Veteran C programmers often curled up in horror or laughter when encountering the Windows hello-world program.". Ahello world program is a often used programming example, usually designed to show the easiest possible application on a system that can actually do something (i.e. print a line that says "Hello World").

Over the years, various changes and additions were made to the Windows Operating System, and the Windows API changed and grew to reflect this. The windows API forWindows 1.0 supported less than 450function calls, where in modern versions of the Windows API there are thousands. In general, the interface has remained fairly consistent however, and a old Windows 1.0 application will still look familiar to a programmer who is used to the modern Windows API.

A large emphasis has been put byMicrosoft on maintaining softwarebackwards compatibility. To achieve this, Microsoft sometimes went as far as supporting software that was using the API in a undocumented or even (programmatically) illegal way.Raymond Chen, a Microsoft developer who works on the Windows API, has said that he"could probably write for months solely about bad things apps do and what we had to do to get them to work again (often in spite of themselves). Which is why I get particularly furious when people accuse Microsoft of maliciously breaking applications during OS upgrades. If any application failed to run on Windows 95, I took it as a personal failure."

Win32 uses an extended set of data types, using C's typedef mechanism These include:

• BYTE -unsigned 8 bit integer.
• DWORD -32 bitunsigned integer.
• LONG - 32 bit signed integer.
• LPDWORD - 32 bit pointer to DWORD.
• LPCSTR - 32 bit pointer to constant character string.
• LPSTR -32 bit pointer to character string.
• UINT - 32 bitunsigned int.
• WORD - 16 bitunsigned int.
• HANDLE - opaque pointer to system data.

Of course standard data types are also available when programming withWin32 API.

In Windows, library code exists in a number of forms, and can be accessed in various ways.

Normally, the only thing that is needed is to include in the appropriate header file on the source code the information to the compiler, and linking to the .lib file will occur during the linking phase.

This .lib file either contains code which is to be statically linked into compiled object codeor contains code to allow access to a dynamically link to a binary library(.DLL) on the system.

It is also possible to generate a binary library .DLL within C++ by including appropriateinformation such as an import/export table when compiling and linking.

DLLs stand for Dynamic Link Libraries, the basic file of functions that are used in some programs. Many newer C++ IDEs such as Dev-CPP support such libraries.

Common libraries on Windows include those provided by the Platform Software Development Kit,Microsoft Foundation Class and a C++ interface to .Net Framework assemblies.

Although not strictly use as library code, the Platform SDK and other libraries provide a set of standardized interfaces to objects accessible via theComponent Object Model implemented as part of Windows.

To do: AddRegistry,IO (Input/Output),Security,Processes and Threads

Time measurement has to come from the OS in relation to the hardware it is run, unfortunately most computers don't have a standard high-accuracy, high-precision time clock that is also quick to access.

MSDN Time Functions (http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/sysinfo/base/time_functions.asp )

Timer Function Performance (http://developer.nvidia.com/object/timer_function_performance.html )

GetTickCount has a precision (dependent on your timer tick rate) of one millisecond, its accuracy typically within a 10-55ms expected error, the best thing is that it increments at a constant rate. (WaitForSingleObject uses the same timer).

GetSystemTimeAsFileTime has a precision of 100-nanoseconds, its accuracy is similar toGetTickCount.

QueryPerformanceCounter can be slower to obtain but has higher accuracy, uses the HAL (with some help from ACPI) a problem with it is that it can travel back in time on over-clocked PCs due to garbage on the LSBs, note that the functions fail unless the supplied LARGE_INTEGER is DWORD aligned.

Performance counter value may unexpectedly leap forward (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;EN-US;Q274323& )

timeGetTime (via winmm.dll) has a precision of ~5ms.

MakeSureDirectoryPathExists (via Image Help Library - IMAGHLP.DLL,#pragma comment( lib, "imagehlp.lib" ),#include <imagehlp.h> ) creates directories, only useful to create/force the existence of a given dir tree or multiple directories, or if the linking is already present, note that it is single threaded.

To do: AddBasics in building "windows",Window eventhandling,Resources

Network applications are often built in C++ on windows utilizing the WinSock API functions.

Resources files are perhaps one of the most useful elements included on the WIN32 API, they are how we program menu's, add icons, backgrounds, music and many more aesthetically pleasing elements to our programs. Sadly the use in compilation use of resource files is today to those using the MS Visual Studio IDE (resource editor, resource structure understanding).

The resources are defined in a .rc file (resource c) and are included at the linking phase of compile. Resource files work hand in hand with a header file (usually called resource.h) which carries the definitions of each ID.

For example a simple RC file might contain a menu:

//////////////IDR_MYMENU MENUBEGIN    POPUP "&File"    BEGIN         MENUITEM "&About", ID_FILE_ABOUT        MENUITEM "E&xit", ID_FILE_EXIT    END    POPUP "&Edit"    BEGIN    // Insert menu here :p    END        POPUP "&Links"    BEGIN        MENUITEM "&Visit Lukem_95's Website", ID_LINK_WEBSITE        MENUITEM "G&oogle.com", ID_LINK_GOOGLEENDEND//////////////

And the corresponding H file:

#define IDR_MYMENU 9000#define ID_FILE_EXIT 9001#define ID_LINK_WEBSITE 9002#define ID_LINK_GOOGLE 9003 #define ID_FILE_ABOUT 9004

• Book:C++ Programming

• Wikibooks pages with to-do lists