Best way to define WinApi constants?

[Arnold]

Hi Charles,

What would be the best way to define WinApi constants in OxygenBasic: const, % or #define?

For experimenting with the BCX runtime library I use decimal values for the WinApi constants. My assumption was that it would be easier for me to find the values of the referring messages. But I am not sure any more. Would it be better to use hexadecimal values instead?

Roland

Code: OxygenBasic

1. #include "$/inc/console.inc"
2.  
3. const aText = "aText"  
4. % bText = "bText"    
5. #define cText "cText"
6.  
7. printl "aText: illegal" 'aText
8. printl "bText: " bText
9. printl "cText: " cText
10. printl ""
11.  
12. const aConst = -45
13. % bConst = -45
14. #define cConst -45
15.  
16. printl "aConst: " aConst
17. printl "bConst: " bConst
18. printl "cConst: " cConst
19. printl ""
20.  
21. const aConstant = (-45)
22. % bConstant = (-45)
23. #define cConstant (-45)
24.  
25. printl "aConstant: " aConstant
26. printl "bConstant: " bConstant
27. printl "cConstant: " cConstant
28.  printl ""
29.  
30. printl "Enter ..." : waitkey
31.  

Output:
aText: illegal
bText: bText
cText: cText

aConst: -45
bConst: 45
cConst: 45

aConstant: -45
bConstant: -45
cConstant: -45

Enter ...

[Charles Pegge]

Hi Roland,

I never use const, and I see it requires further attention.

% is most convenient for equates, but you can also use #define within c-style headers.

If the equates have bitwise flags, window styles for example, then it is preferable to express them in hexadecimal.

[Arnold]

Hi Charles,

thank you again. Until now I did not realize that bitwise flags could be embedded in the equates. I only wondered why some messages did not fire in some cases. I will rework my constants file. It was used in a very old project in another language and it needs a revision anyway.

Roland

[Charles Pegge]

const is more like dim:

const float a=4.5
const string s="text"


but the type defaults to sys, so this is also allowed:

const x=45