Winevent :: Technical Briefing

Technical Briefing

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The Problem
	Problem:	You need some simple functions to talk to the Comms port
	Problem:	You need some simple functions to handle the Windows Taskbar and System Tray
	Problem:	You need your App to shut down when Windows closes
	Problem:	You need to sub-class a window in order to receive special, or unusual, Windows messages
	Problem:	You need a cost-effective solution!

The Solution
	Winevent!
	Winevent opens up the power of Windows, but in the easy Clarion way. If you're doing background processing or communications, then Winevent is a cost effective solution to your problems. Winevent is designed to be easy to use. The functions take a minimum of parameters, and the documentation describes each function in detail. A template is provided to make prototyping and linking the functions in your applications trivial. This is the perfect tool for writing background applications. Things like receiving data from a serial barcode scanner, sending data to a Point of Sale cash register or interfacing with other serial hardware becomes trivial using the communications functions. The taskbar functions allow you to hid your background process away, like other background Window programs, in the System tray. You can play WAV files when certain events, or error conditions apply, or bring your window to the front to alert the user that something is wrong. In addition the message trapping allows your program to quite gracefully when Windows is shutdown. The Free Disk Space feature even allows you to monitor disk space, altering the user when it drops too low! RS 232 communications functions give you access to Serial Comm ports under Windows. The simple Winevent interface makes it easy for even novice programmers to interface to external hardware via the Serial port. Winevent supports up to 24 comm ports in a single program. Simple functions like ReadPort and WritePort are provided that assume no knowledge of serial communications. Taskbar functions let your 32-bit program interface to the Windows Taskbar. You can place icons in the System Tray, complete with pop-up tip, change an icon that's already there (great for hardware monitoring) and prevent your background application from appearing on the main part of the Taskbar. All versions of Windows ( 95 / 98 / ME / NT / 2K / XP / Vista ) are supported. Messaging functions allow you to trap messages being sent to your application from other programs, DLL's etc. They also allow you to trap messages being sent to your program by Windows, but not normally passed on by the Accept command. They allow your program to automatically shutdown when windows is closed by the user. Window behavior functions allow you to make a window float on top of all other windows, or bring the window to the front when triggered by some event.

Functions
	RS 232 Communications Functions Newport / OpenPort - opens a port for communication ReSetPort - resets the parameters for a port, like baud rate, parity etc. KillAllPorts / ClosePort - closes the communications port WritePort - writes out a string to a port ReadPort - reads in a string from a port ErrorPort - returns the error associated with a port, if an error occurs SetHandShake - sets the handshaking to be used with that port GetCommStatus - returns the status of all the modem hardware lines CtsHigh - returns the current status of the CTS modem line DsrHigh - returns the current status of the DSR modem line RingHigh - returns the current status of the ring indicator modem line CdHigh - returns the current status of the carrier detect modem line Task Bar Features WinTaskbarAddIcon - adds an icon to the System Tray on the Taskbar WinTaskbarRemoveIcon - removes an icon from the system tray WinTaskbarChangeIcon - Changes an icon in the system tray WinNotOnTaskbar - prevents a window from appearing on the main part of the Taskbar Messaging Functions WinAlert - alerts the accept loop to watch for a particular message WinEvent - returns the message which caused the alert to trigger WinParam1 - the first parameter passed with the message by Windows WinParam2 - the second parameter passed with the message by Windows WinControl - the control to whom the message was sent Window Functions WinBringToFront - bring the specified Window to the front for the users attention WinOnTop - make the current Window remain floating on top of all the other windows WinNotOnTop - make the Window behave as a normal window System Functions WindowsVersion - returns the major Windows version number WindowsRelease - returns the minor Windows version number DosVersion - returns the major DOS version number DosRelease - returns the minor DOS version number GetFreeDiskSpace - returns the amount of free space on the specified drive Sound - plays a WAV file through any Windows compatible sound car

Cost & Availability

WinEvent costs $149. This price includes versions for Clarion 5 or higher. To order On-Line visit www.clarionshop.com or www.clarionshop.co.za

For more information contact or fax +27 21 715 2535.A working demo version can be downloaded from our website - www.capesoft.com/ftp/public/windem.exe