OWL Next and Microsoft Layer for Unicode

Under Windows NT/2000/XP there is native support for Unicode applications. For Windows 95/98/ME there is an emulation layer called Microsoft Layer for Unicode or UNICOWS for short.

The layer consists of one .dll file, and one .lib file, which is linked to the program. The library contains loader code which checks the operating system and loads UNICOWS only if needed.

Unfortunately the library is in COFF format and cannot directly be used in Borland C++ program. A partial solution is to create Borland-compatible import library from the .dll by using the IMPLIB utility. The drawback is that it will not contain the loader, so the UNICOWS layer will always be used, even when not needed.

To use OWLNext with UNICOWS, some modification need to be done to the source, and the OWLNext must be build with UNICODE and USE_UNICOWS settings. Two different versions of the applications must be created, one using UNICODE OWLNext, to be executed under Windows NT/2000/XP, and another with UNICODE and UNICOWS, to be executed under Windows 95/98/ME.

Modifications:

In owl.cpp, replace the lines


    creationWindow->DefaultProc = (WNDPROC)GetProcAddress(
        (HINSTANCE)GetModuleHandle(_T("USER32")), "DefWindowProcW");

with


#  if defined(USE_UNICOWS)
    creationWindow->DefaultProc = (WNDPROC)GetProcAddress(
        (HINSTANCE)GetModuleHandle(_T("UNICOWS")), "DefWindowProcW");
#  else
    creationWindow->DefaultProc = (WNDPROC)GetProcAddress(
        (HINSTANCE)GetModuleHandle(_T("USER32")), "DefWindowProcW");
# endif

In module.cpp, before the lines


#if defined(BI_PLAT_WIN32)
  static const _TCHAR userStr[] = _T("USER32");
# if defined(UNICODE)

add the lines


#if defined(BI_PLAT_WIN32) && defined(UNICODE) && defined(USE_UNICOWS)
static const _TCHAR MSLUStr[] = _T("UNICOWS");

TModule&
GetModuleMSLU()
{
  static TModule MSLUModule(MSLUStr, ::GetModuleHandle(MSLUStr),false);
  return MSLUModule;
}
#endif

In module.cpp, rewrite the function TUser::LoadIcon() as follows


HICON
TUser::LoadIcon(HINSTANCE p1, LPCTSTR p2)
{
  static TModuleProc2<HICON, HINSTANCE, LPCTSTR>
#if defined(BI_PLAT_WIN32) && defined(UNICODE) && defined(USE_UNICOWS)
         loadIcon(GetModuleMSLU(), LoadIconStr);
#else
         loadIcon(GetModule(), LoadIconStr);
#endif
  return loadIcon(p1, p2);
}

In module.cpp, rewrite the function TUser::GetClassInfo() as follows


BOOL
TUser::GetClassInfo(HINSTANCE p1, LPCTSTR p2, LPWNDCLASS p3)
{
  static TModuleProc3<BOOL, HINSTANCE, LPCTSTR, LPWNDCLASS>
#if defined(BI_PLAT_WIN32) && defined(UNICODE) && defined(USE_UNICOWS)
         getClassInfo(GetModuleMSLU(), GetClassInfoStr);
#else
         getClassInfo(GetModule(), GetClassInfoStr);
#endif
  return getClassInfo(p1, p2, p3);
}

In module.cpp, rewrite the function TUser::GetMenuString() as follows


int
TUser::GetMenuString(HMENU p1, UINT p2, LPTSTR p3, int p4, UINT p5)
{
  static TModuleProc5<int, HMENU, uint, LPTSTR, int, int>
#if defined(BI_PLAT_WIN32) && defined(UNICODE) && defined(USE_UNICOWS)
         getMenuString(GetModuleMSLU(), GetMenuStringStr);
#else
         getMenuString(GetModule(), GetMenuStringStr);
#endif
  return getMenuString(p1, p2, p3, p4, p5);
}

In module.cpp, rewrite the function TVersion::GetFileVersionInfo() as follows


BOOL
TVersion::GetFileVersionInfo(LPTSTR p1, DWORD p2, DWORD p3, LPVOID p4)
{
  static TModuleProc4<BOOL,LPTSTR,DWORD,DWORD,LPVOID>
#if defined(BI_PLAT_WIN32) && defined(UNICODE) && defined(USE_UNICOWS)
         getFileVersionInfo(GetModuleMSLU(), GetFileVersionInfoStr);
#else
         getFileVersionInfo(GetModule(), GetFileVersionInfoStr);
#endif
  return getFileVersionInfo(p1, p2, p3, p4);
}

In module.cpp, rewrite the function TVersion::GetFileVersionInfoSize() as follows


DWORD      
TVersion::GetFileVersionInfoSize(LPTSTR p1, LPDWORD p2)
{
  static TModuleProc2<DWORD,LPTSTR,LPDWORD>
#if defined(BI_PLAT_WIN32) && defined(UNICODE) && defined(USE_UNICOWS)
         getFileVersionInfoSize(GetModuleMSLU(), GetFileVersionInfoSizeStr);
#else
         getFileVersionInfoSize(GetModule(), GetFileVersionInfoSizeStr);
#endif
  return getFileVersionInfoSize(p1, p2);
}

In module.cpp, rewrite the function TVersion::VerQueryValue() as follows


BOOL      
TVersion::VerQueryValue(const LPVOID p1,LPTSTR p2,LPVOID p3, uint far* p4)
{
  static TModuleProc4<BOOL,const LPVOID,LPTSTR,LPVOID,uint far*>
#if defined(BI_PLAT_WIN32) && defined(UNICODE) && defined(USE_UNICOWS)
         verQueryValue(GetModuleMSLU(), VerQueryValueStr);
#else
         verQueryValue(GetModule(), VerQueryValueStr);
#endif
  return verQueryValue(p1, p2, p3, p4);
}

In module.cpp, rewrite the function TVersion::VerLanguageName() as follows


DWORD 
TVersion::VerLanguageName(DWORD p1, LPTSTR p2, DWORD p3)
{
  static TModuleProc3<DWORD,DWORD,LPTSTR,DWORD>
#if defined(BI_PLAT_WIN32) && defined(UNICODE) && defined(USE_UNICOWS)
         verLanguageName(GetModuleMSLU(), VerLanguageNameStr);
#else
         verLanguageName(GetModule(), VerLanguageNameStr);
#endif
  return verLanguageName(p1, p2, p3);
}

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