| The Windows programming environment. No other operating system in history has caused
so much controversy or confusion among the programming industry. Of course, no other
operating system in history has made so many millionaires either. Like it or not, Windows
is here to stay. It’s hard to ignore such a large user base, and there are few job opportunities
anymore that do not require the programmer to have knowledge of the Windows
environment.
In the beginning, a programmer’s only choice of tools for creating Windows applications
was C/C++. The age of this language has resulted in a wealth of Windows API documentation,
filled with abstract and incomplete information, and examples that are as esoteric
and arcane as the C language itself. Then along came Delphi. A new era in Windows programming
was born, with the ability to easily create complex and advanced Windows
applications with a turnaround time unheard of previously. Although Delphi tries its best
to insulate the programmer from the underlying Windows architecture, Delphi programmers
have found that some programming obstacles simply cannot be overcome without
using low-level Windows API functions. Although there have been a few books that
touched on the subject of using Windows API functions in Delphi, none have ever
discussed the issue in depth. There are numerous magazine articles that describe very specific
subsets of the API, but unless the Delphi programmer had a background in C, and the
time to convert a C example into Delphi, there was simply no recourse of action. Thus,
this book was born.
This book is a reference manual for using Windows 32-bit API functions in the Delphi
environment. As such, it is not a Windows or Delphi programming tutorial, nor is it a collection
of Delphi tricks that solve specific problems. To date, this book is the most
complete and accurate reference to the Windows API for the Delphi programmer. It is not
a complete reference, as the Windows API includes thousands upon thousands of functions
that would fill many volumes much larger than the one you are holding. However,
this book covers the most common and important cross section of the Windows API.
Additionally, every function in this book is available under both Windows 95/98/Me and
Windows NT/2000. Most of these functions will also work under Windows NT prior to
the new version. |
