[fpc-devel] Dynamic GUI/Console apptype

[Henry Vermaak]

2009/12/27 Mimu Bunnylin <mimu at mooncore.eu>:
> Currently, programs for Windows have to be specified as either $APPTYPE
> Console or GUI.
>
> If the user runs a console-mode program from a console, the existing console
> is kept; run outside a console, a new console is created.
>
> If the user runs a GUI-mode program outside a console, no console is
> created, and if run inside a console, the console is immediately released.
>
> But suppose I want a program that will continue running in a console if run
> from a console, but will not automatically create a new one if run from
> outside a console. (Eg. without command-line arguments, launch the program's
> GUI, otherwise print a list of valid arguments in the console.)

This is basically how linux works.  The child process of a terminal
inherits the standard input/output/error pipes of the terminal.  If
the process is called from outside the terminal, the standard output
pipes are re-directed to ~/.xsession-errors by the desktop environment
(in my experience, at least).

> Would this be hard to implement? Presently I have to compile a console-mode
> application, and use the Windows API call FreeConsole to eliminate the
> console if it is not needed. This still makes a useless console pop up for a
> moment, which looks silly. This could be as simple as adding a check
> somewhere in the system unit for whether a console is associated with the
> process or not, and decide the appropriate $APPTYPE at runtime.

You can detect if a process is called from a console under windows.
I've got some code at work for that.  What you would have to do is to
detect this, then attach the parent process' console to your app.  I
haven't tried this, but it sounds achievable.

Henry