[Vm-dev] UI VM vs. Consol VM on Windows

[Ben Coman]

On Fri, Mar 10, 2017 at 10:49 PM, Torsten Bergmann <astares at gmx.de> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> for the virtual machine on Windows we have a UI VM and a headless console version. For instance "Squeak.exe"/"Pharo.exe"/... (UI VM) and
> "SqueakConsole.exe"/"PharoConsole.exe"/... (Console version to access stdin, stdout and stderr)
>
> IMHO there is no need for a separate and special console version on Windows. Maybe it was the easiest/quickest way to implement this
> but usually one should be able to access/create and redirect the std handles even in a UI application. See
>
> http://dslweb.nwnexus.com/~ast/dload/guicon.htm

As I understand that article, to get stdio from a GUI app you'll be
popping up that awful black window on screen...
"its possible for your GUI application to
explicitly create a  **console window**
and then manually associate standard C I/O handles (FILE*) with the
appropriate Win32 handles"

The following dance might be more what you're looking for...
"How to make an application as both GUI and Console application?"
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/junfeng/2004/02/06/how-to-make-an-application-as-both-gui-and-console-application/


btw, I found these interesting...

"What’s the difference between the COM and EXE extensions?"
https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20080324-00/?p=23033

"Difference between .com program and .exe program in c programming language"
http://www.cquestions.com/2011/02/difference-between-com-program-and-exe.html

cheers -ben

>
> for a start. Maybe it is possible to get rid of a separate "XXXConsole.exe" version so the VM on Windows behaves like on other platforms.
> Maybe that als unifies/eases the build.
>
> Side note:
> Maybe there is also a difference when you start an executable with Explorer (double click) where you might need to create a new console vs.
> starting the executable from an already existing console command line (where it might be possible to catch an existing handle). But this
> could be evaluated with a simple C executable and (if working) transformed to the Open Smalltalk virtual machine.
>
> Bye
> T.