Subj : Re: Platform: DOS (Overlay) To : borland.public.cpp.borlandcpp From : Jeff Baker Date : Wed Jul 21 2004 01:23 pm > Never seen or heard of it. Do you mean DDJ? What directory is it in? Yes, that was a type-o, DDJ is the correct abbreviation for Doctor Dobb's Journal. Disk two is entirely devoted to DDJ articles. > If it's a legitimate 5.02 package, you should have numerous help files. These are the *.hlp files in the bc5\help directory on my 5.02 CD: All the software I own is legitimate. I don't know any real programmer that would knowingly purchase pirated/illegal software. We all know how much work goes into getting something that works, is good looking and marketable. While there are many help files installed and accessible to the programmer I just feel that the on-line documentation lacks depth. The options and IDE settings explained in the help files are vague and seem to have been written generically. For example here is the entire listing for help with the Target Model. Select the desired platform for the target node. Windows 3.x (16) - Targets 16-bit Windows platforms (Windows 3.x). Win32 - Targets 32-bit Windows platforms (Windows NT and Windows 95). DOS Standard - Targets DOS applications not designed to be safe for overlays. DOS Overlay - Targets DOS applications that are overlay-safe. This, in my opinion, is not a good enough explanation on what an Overlay is or even how it works. It also seems to me that choosing the correct Target Model is a pretty important step in the process of creating an application. It should have been covered in detail. > It may have a few more than yours, since it's the Development Suite edition. Still, you should have bcw.hlp and bctools.hlp, which give you options, IDE settings, etc. No, I have all those. I'd be interested in comparing the size of those files though because if what I have is what was supplied with the Development Suite edition then maybe Builder isn't the next upgrade I should make. > It's not, by the sound of it. You may have purchased a CD which was part of a SAMS book deal, or a magazine special, etc. What does the face of the CD say? Does it have a BOR number, copyright date(s), etc.? Who knows, maybe someone just burned a CD from a hard disk installation. It's a 2-disk set from Macmillan Software called "Borland C++ 5.0 Programming Starter Kit Deluxe Edition". So It's probably not a Borland distributed product but it is a product of Borland. > If the 5.02 windows help files weren't enough, you could purchase the printed manuals for an additional fee. I still see copies of the set occasionally at discount book shops. That was the nice thing about BC++ 4.xx - you could buy the printed manuals if you wanted to, but the CD also had the complete set in DynaText format. The DOS reference manual had/has a good write-up on creating overlaid programs. Thanks for the information. I also have Borland 4.5 that I purchased from a used software web site (no hard documentation included) but I have not played with it much. I'll load it up and take a look at the DOS reference manual if it's in electronic format. Do the hard copies of the 5.02 help files contain the same information or is it expanded? > There is a patch or two for 5.02 but they don't address the overlay issues. You mentioned TC++. Do you have a version, and if so which one is it? If it includes TLINK then you may be able to use it for linking overlaid apps. I know that for simple examples, I have successfully used tlink.exe from the TC++ 1.01 package which is (or was) freely available for download from Borland's "Museum" web site. I don't remember which version of TC++ I have. I know it's old though because it came on 5.25" floppy diskettes. I burned the disks to a CD for storage purposes but I can find it if I need to. I also have Borland C++ 3.1, Borland C++ 4.5, Borland Power Pack for DOS and Borland C++ 5.02. All of these are currently installed and running on there own machines. > Not directly. If it includes tlink.exe then you can use that linker. (I have it here as well, but don't have time or inclination to dig out the disks and check them.) I understand your reluctance to dig through old stuff. I am the same way. I'll check my disks because I don't remember if it came with the linker or not. It was a 3-disk set so it's definitely a possibility. > Go here http://www.vmlinux.org/~jakov/community.borland.com/ Thanks again Wayne, GREAT LINK! > While the PP was only officially supported for use with BC++ 4.xx, if you can use the PP with the 5.02 which you have, then you may not need to concern yourself with overlays. Just create a DPMI program instead. Yeah, I know I can get around the issue but I'm not one of those kinds of people. If a product I purchased was marketed with the ability to do something I think it should be able to do just that. > Do you plan on using a make file for building this program? It is only needed if you plan on building from the command line using make.exe or maker.exe. I believe the .ide files are created OK. No, I do everything from inside the IDE. I never saw (or read about) any advantages from command line compiling/linking. Of course we both know that I'm frustrated with the amount of documentation that I have. > I don't have access to the machine with 5.02 installed at the moment, so can't verify the details. From memory, the things to check for after creating a makefile from the IDE are the following: I'll generate one and take a look at what it contains. Thanks for your help. - Jeff .