gdi32/user32/kernel32

  • Thread starter Thread starter Erik Frey
  • Start date Start date
E

Erik Frey

A lot of "Can I do this in .NET?" questions are answered with "Sure!
Just use P/invoke!"

So I'm curious, are there any good resources that list and discuss the
methods in these API libraries? I'm sure it's a broad topic, but I'd still
be interesting in browsing through it.

Erik
 
The Win32 API is the beast you want to research. This is the core exposed
(C-style) interface to program in Windows. Win32 has been around since the
first release of Windows NT and Win32s. Prior to that, it was the Win16 API,
on which the Win32 is heavily based.

There are tons of books on the subject, as well as all the documentation you
could want in MSDN:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...g/winprog/functions_in_alphabetical_order.asp

Now mind you, Win32 is a functional (procedural) interface -- there are no
classes or methods*. MFC is an attempt to wrap the functional interfaces into
classes.

Unfortunately, the .NET framework only wraps a part of the Win32
functionality. Presumably more will be wrapped in future versions, but I
suspect that it will always be incomplete until the underlying OS is converted
to .NET.

*There are some class-style interfaces that are exposed through COM in some of
the extensions (shell) and ActiveX controls.
 
Julie J. said:
The Win32 API is the beast you want to research. This is the core exposed
(C-style) interface to program in Windows. Win32 has been around since the
first release of Windows NT and Win32s. Prior to that, it was the Win16 API,
on which the Win32 is heavily based.

There are tons of books on the subject, as well as all the documentation you
could want in MSDN:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/d...g/winprog/functions_in_alphabetical_order.asp

Now mind you, Win32 is a functional (procedural) interface -- there are no
classes or methods*. MFC is an attempt to wrap the functional interfaces into
classes.

Unfortunately, the .NET framework only wraps a part of the Win32
functionality. Presumably more will be wrapped in future versions, but I
suspect that it will always be incomplete until the underlying OS is converted
to .NET.

*There are some class-style interfaces that are exposed through COM in some of
the extensions (shell) and ActiveX controls.
Click to expand...

That is -exactly- what I was looking for. Thanks for the info!

Erik
 
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