[fpc-pascal] Basic Windows tutorial

[Ryan Joseph]

> On Oct 22, 2015, at 6:07 PM, Graeme Geldenhuys <mailinglists at geldenhuys.co.uk> wrote:
> 
> On 2015-10-22 05:20, Ryan Joseph wrote:
>> Keeping in mind I know literally nothing about Windows programming,
>> where is a good place to start?
> 
> Start reading MSDN and study the Win32 API.

Looks pretty straight forward and simple compared to Cocoa on the Mac.

> 
>> I installed Lazarus which I think is the preferred IDE for FPC (if not are there others?)
> 
> Yes, MSEide is also very good. Even using a very good text editor like
> EditPad Pro is very nice. Geany IDE also works well with FPC.

Granny IDE looks nice (I’m not a fan of Lazarus’s layout) but how does it work with FPC? Do they have a plugin or something that supports the compiler or does it require some hacking?

> 
> 
>> Are there are any example projects for this and a place I could
>> reference the Windows headers in Pascal? I don’t even know what the
>> Windows GUI library is called
> 
> Wow, you are in for a world of pain. ;-) Plus even writing the most
> basic programs will to magnitudes longer. You should rethink your goal.
> What do you want to accomplish?

In the end I’m going to port a game so I just want the most basic event handling and windows (OpenGL also) but I’d just like to learn for the experience and to understand the platform a little better. Looking at the Win32 API it actually looks easy, like in the old days on the Mac before it got complicated. If it’s a nightmare in the end I’ll rethink things.

Is there a reference to the API for FPC or do I need to open up source files?


Thanks for helping.


Regards,
	Ryan Joseph