Links:
WoLoSoft International
SuperEdi Home
SuperEdi Downloads
Requirements:
ActiveX Control Pad
VB6 Runtime Files
Download:
Auto C 2.8.9 -
940KB
Compilers:
Borland C/C++
Compiler
LCC-Win32 Compiler
Pelles C for Windows
Open Watcom C/C++
Additional:
Auto C Version
History
Copyright © 2008
by Wade Schuette
WadeSchu@gmail.com
Updated 5/7/08 |
|
Auto C is a way to create Windows
applications in C visually. Drawing controls on a form using a mouse is all
you need to do to create a working Windows program in C. Use a toolbox,
properties box and property pages to design and edit your program's user
interface. Use the same sort of WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) design
environment that the Visual Basic IDE provides.
Minimum Requirements:
Microsoft ActiveX Control Pad
WoLoSoft International's SuperEdi
VB6 Runtime Files
Auto C combines free programs from
different sources. All are free to use indefinitely, but there is no master
setup program that will install everything at once. You must have VB6 runtime
files installed in order to install and run Auto C, and you must have SuperEdi and
ActiveX Control Pad installed in order to run Auto C. You will also need to install one or more
supported compiler. If you don't have the MSDN Library
then you should download the recommended help files. See Auto C's help file
for more information.
Auto C has great built-in support for using bitmap and
icon resources. Also, using custom colors for many controls is supported.
These features help make your user interfaces colorful and attractive.
Although it has many of the same features
found with a typical C IDE, Auto C is a special-purpose C IDE, not a general
purpose IDE. It can be used to make Windows GUI mode Applications and Dynamic
Link Libraries only. Auto C projects are of one specific form. A project will
contain a C source code file and header file that are completely
auto-generated.
Alternatively, you can use Auto C as a project
file generator and then use the files it creates in the IDE of your choice.
You can even use the files in another IDE, reopen them in Auto C so that the
project's user interface can be re-edited, and then go back to your favorite
IDE.
About Microsoft ActiveX Control
Pad
ActiveX Control Pad is a free program from Microsoft that
uses the MS Forms 2.0 form layout designer. When ActiveX Control Pad is run
under Auto C everything except the MS Forms 2.0 form layout designer is disabled
or suppressed. The fact that ActiveX Control Pad uses an older form of html-vbscript
is irrelevant as far as Auto C is concerned. Auto C only uses ActiveX and
Automation to create C source code from the form being edited in ActiveX Control
Pad. It doesn't read
from those older style object tags. Auto C provides a replacement toolbox, which
means that ActiveX Control Pad will run
without error under all versions of Windows.
The MS Forms 2.0 form layout designer is not obsolete.
Microsoft includes it in products such as Microsoft Office XP 2002 and Microsoft
Office 2003, and other newer products. To see this, run Word or FrontPage and press Alt & F11 to start the
Visual Basic Editor, then use the Insert menu to insert a UserForm. This will
demonstrate that the same form layout designer that ActiveX Control Pad uses
(contained in Fm20.dll) is still used with modern Microsoft products.
Also, after Fm20.dll is registered on your system
the MS Forms 2.0 designer can be used under Visual Basic 5 or 6. To try this run
VB, right-click the Toolbox and select "Components...". The Components dialog
box will appear. Click the "Designers" tab and make sure that Microsoft Forms
2.0 is checked and click OK. Then, use the Project menu to add an MS Forms 2.0
form to the project.
Auto C could have been designed to use one of the
commercial Microsoft applications described above. However, users would have to
own Microsoft Office or Visual Basic in order to use Auto C. ActiveX Control Pad
is used so that all users can use Auto C.
An instance of the MS Forms 2.0 form layout
designer can't be created using just the Fm20.dll. Here is what Microsoft says
about using Fm20.dll:
"The Fm20.dll is not redistributable. You
must have an application such as Microsoft Office ... on the target system that
installs Fm20.dll as part of its setup.""As an alternative to having your end users
install Microsoft Office, you can have them freely download and install the
Microsoft ActiveX Control Pad, which also installs the Fm20.dll."
-from the MSDN Library - April 2003 edition:
Office Solutions Development\Microsoft Office\Knowledge Base\Office
Developer\INFO: Usage and Redistribution of FM20.DLL
ActiveX Control Pad is described by Microsoft as
being a Beta Release, For Developers. This is a very accurate description. It is
not the sort of program that a non-developer would use. It is recommended that you only use it with Auto C and that you manually remove the
Start Menu shortcuts it creates when it is installed.
If you have version 6 of the MSDN Library (the
version that comes with Microsoft Visual Studio 6) then you already have ActiveX
Control Pad. Refer to Auto C's help file for more information about installing
ActiveX Control Pad from the MSDN Library 6 CD, and for information about using
the MSDN Library for keyword help in SuperEdi.
Auto C Version History
Version 2.8.9 - May 7, 2008
- The Manifest files created by Auto C now
have a simpler form.
- For Windows VIsta users, message boxes
have been added to Auto C's setup program and to Auto c.exe that inform
users of the need to start by right-clicking Auto C's icon and selecting
"Run as administrator".
Version 2.8.8 - April 24, 2008
- If the name of the target EXE contained a
period (.) then it could not be run from within Auto C. This is now fixed.
- The way in which filenames are validated
has been updated. Now, any valid folder name may be used and any valid
filename may be used, except if the file title contains an ampersand (&)
or apostrophe (').
Version 2.8.7 - April 17, 2008
- If you tried to compile a DLL project file
individually when you had selected Borland C++ as the DLL compiler, the
file would be compiled in C, not C++. This is now fixed.
- Sometimes Auto C would incorrectly report
that a file hadn't been successfully compiled when it actually had been.
This should now be fixed.
- A minor change was made to the way a DLL
is linked with Watcom C.
Version 2.8.6 - March 18, 2008
- If you had no compilers installed and you
tried to search header files an error would occur. This is now fixed.
- A registry key created by Auto C was not
deleted when uninstalling.
Version 2.8.5 - February 18, 2008
- When browsing for a help file there was a
problem if you tried to select a Windows Help (*.hlp) file. This is now
fixed.
- The directive #define WIN32_LEAN_AND_MEAN
has been added to source files. This greatly reduces compile time,
especially when using Borland or Pelles C..
Version 2.8.4 - February 5, 2008
- If a DLL project contained a resource (RC) file, and you were using
Watcom C++, then compiling the RC file individually would not work because
Auto C used the wrong command. This is now fixed.
Version 2.8.3 - January 28, 2008
- Sometimes the toolbar control could be moved and
resized at design-time in ActiveX Control Pad when it should not have
been. Now the toolbar's position and size are always fixed.
- When closing Auto C sometimes SuperEdi would remain running
and it was unclear whether or not Auto C had ended. Both Auto C and SuperEdi
should now promptly close when you close Auto C.
- Some example files have been revised.
Version 2.8.2 - January 16, 2008
- Problems with the wrong bitmaps being assigned to
toolbar buttons and an error occurring are now fixed. (This should only
have been a problem with version 2.8.1)
- The toolbar property page showed the bitmaps associated
with a Windows XP theme even if you weren't running Windows XP. This is
now fixed.
- The symbol that represents the Apply Changes command has been changed.
Hopefully the new symbol will do a better job of illustrating what the
command does because the symbol is now a conventional icon that users are
more familiar with.
Version 2.8.1 - January 12, 2008
- If Watcom was the only supported compiler you had
installed, some of the commands under the Compile and Run drop-down menu
were disabled when they should not have been. This is now fixed.
- An extra line of code that had been left in an example file has now
been removed.
- The help file has been updated. An inaccuracy in the Description of
Auto-Generated Code was corrected. (A toolbar's tooltip text is now copied
to the szText member. Previously tip text was assigned to the lpszText
member.)
Version 2.8 - January 8, 2008
- The Toolbar design-time control is much improved. The
TBSTYLE_LIST style is now supported, as well as the BTNS_AUTOSIZE and
BTNS_WHOLEDROPDOWN styles. Also, toolbar buttons can now display icons.
- A scrollbar with a vertical orientation would have the wrong
orientation when opened in ActiveX Control Pad. This is now fixed.
- The name of the target dll could not be changed using the Dll Project
Options dialog box. This is now fixed.
- Under Windows Vista, controls with the default font of 8pt. MS Sans
Serif would have a different font at runtime than at design-time. This is
now fixed.
- Line endings are now uniform. Previously some blank lines ended with
just a line feed and no carriage return.
Version 2.7.5 - August 23, 2007
- A Toolbar button can now display any of the stock
Windows bitmaps.
- At design-time in ActiveX Control Pad, the width of a toolbar
drop-down arrow will now always be the default size for the Windows
version. (Changed with version 2.8) At runtime, the width will vary
depending on the actual menu size setting.
- The ability to select Windows Help (*.hlp) files under Windows Vista
has been reinstated. You must have the appropriate Microsoft supplied
viewer to use Windows Help files under Windows Vista. Search Microsoft's
website for the file Windows6.0-KB917607-x86.msu. It allows
you to use old style help files under Vista.
- Both versions of Win32.hlp (the Borland version and the LCC-Win32
version) are now available as pre-defined choices for help files.
- Verified that Auto C works OK with Open Watcom C/C++ 1.7.
Version 2.7.4 - August 11, 2007
- The width of the elements of the Toolbar design-time ActiveX control
were incorrect. The width of a toolbar at design-time did not accurately
reflect the toolbar's width at runtime. Now, the width of Toolbar buttons,
separators and drop-down arrows should be accurate under all Windows
versions. This applies only to toolbars with the Windows Classic
appearance. A toolbar's width may be different depending on the XP theme
or "skin".
- Auto C's appearance under Windows Vista is improved.
Version 2.7.3 - July 19, 2007
- Under Windows 2000, when linking a DLL using Watcom C, Auto C did not
read the exports from the DLL's library file correctly. Because of this,
exported functions were not made visible externally by their undecorated
names.
Version 2.7.2 - July 18, 2007
- Fixed problem with using the Add/Update Declarations command.
Previously, only the first Dll function found was processed. This command
was always intended to process all exported Dll functions. (This was fixed
with version 2.7.1)
- Under Windows NT4, under some circumstances Auto C would freeze at
startup.
- When using the toolbox, added the capability to right-click the
toolbox in order to add a control.
- In ActiveX Control Pad, the ScrollBar control and the UpDown control
always appeared in the Windows Classic form. Now, under Windows XP or
later those controls will be drawn at design-time using the selected
theme. The ListBox control also did not appear correctly at design-time.
- Borland cfg files were always overwritten at startup. This is no
longer the case; advanced users can modify the cfg files and the
modifications will be preserved the next time that project is opened.
- The commands used to make projects with Open Watcom have been revised.
- The Check Box you could check to create and use a Manifest file has
been moved to the Window Styles dialog box.
- Auto C's main window and toolbox are now tool windows without icons
instead of standard windows.
- There is no longer an "Open" command available from Auto C's File
menu.
Version 2.7.1 - June 29, 2007
- Added support for Open Watcom C/C++ compiler. Open Watcom version 1.6
from December of 2006 is the only version of Open Watcom that has been
tested with Auto C. Previous versions are untested with Auto C.
- At design-time sometimes a button would not display a bitmap or icon
correctly. (For example, a button would display the text "BEANY" instead
of displaying the bitmap resource named BEANY.) Hopefully this is now
fixed.
- Auto C no longer moves or re-sizes SuperEdi or ActiveX Control Pad.
This was something left over from Instant C and was determined to be not
useful.
- Although use of a module definition file with Pelles C was
discontinued, Auto C still created empty .DEF files that were never used.
The files are not created anymore.
- The position of Auto C's main window and Toolbox window are now stored
in the registry.
- Fixed problem with using the Add/Update Declarations command. Only the
first Dll function found was processed. This command was always intended
to process all exported Dll functions.
Version 2.7 - June 14, 2007
- Fixed error that would occur if Auto C was used to create two or more
files to be added to a project.
Version 2.6 - June 12, 2007
- In the Play Sound example project, the names of lib files had been
inadvertently removed from the linker response files. This was only a
problem with version 2.6.
Version 2.5 - June 12, 2007
- Added the capability to make a Dll in C++ using Borland.
- Auto C no longer uses a module definition file when creating a Dll
with Pelles C.
Version 2.4 - June 5, 2007
- Fixed problem with the Slider control. At design-time the slider was
not created and did not appear. This was only a problem with version 2.3.
Previous versions did not have this problem.
Version 2.3 - June 1, 2007
- Fixed "Invalid Property Value" error at startup. This problem did not
appear on the author's machine until recently.
- Fixed problem where if you altered certain portions of the
auto-generated code and then tried to add a menu, an error would occur.
- Problems with Auto C's height being too short are hopefully fixed.
Other window sizing problems are somewhat improved, but there could still
be remaining issues when running Auto C on some machines with non-standard
displays.
- Two of the example projects contained unique code that caused the code
for added buttons to be put in the wrong place within the function
Button_Click. This was only a problem with the examples and should not
have been a problem with any other files. Corrections were made to the way
code is added so that the potential for this problem no longer exists.
- The number of recent file slots has been increased from 4 to 8.
Version 2.2 - May 21, 2007
- Added code that draws controls using the colors specified by the
Desktop Appearance settings. Previously, Auto C always used black for text
and white for window backgrounds, etc.. Updated the ActiveX Controls as
well; previously some controls used the wrong color (COLOR_BTNTEXT was
used where COLOR_WINDOWTEXT should have been used and similar issues).
Still, not all controls will appear at design time exactly as they will at
runtime.
- Changed the way Auto C positions itself on the screen. The default
startup location is now in the upper-left corner. Previously Auto C's
default startup position was in the upper-right corner.
- When closing, Auto C will now try to restore SuperEdi's original
screen position and size. Auto C will also try and restore SuperEdi's
toolbar windows to their original show state.
Version 2.1 - May 21, 2007
- Added the ability to use a manifest file so that Windows XP style
visual themes can be applied to the executables created with Auto C.
- Added a DefaultButton property to the CommandButton control. If you
wish, one command button on the form can be the default button and will be
created with the BS_DEFPUSHBUTTON style. All the other command buttons
will be created with the BS_PUSHBUTTON style.
- Fixed problem with using the Remove DLL command to remove the
auto-generated code that loads a dll and functions. One character too many
was removed from the auto-generated header file when the prototype for the
function LoadDllFunctions was removed.
- Fixed problem where if files were added to a project that did not have
spaces in their names, and the project's main file did contain spaces, and
Borland C++ was used, linking didn't work because some filenames were not
enclosed in quotes when needed.
- Fixed problem with using filenames that contained commas but no
spaces. Previously this didn't work because Auto C didn't enclose them in
quotes.
- Fixed problems with using Auto C to create a new file to be added it
to the project.
- Fixed other miscellaneous issues pertaining to adding files to a
project. Disallowed the use of filenames that contain the Ampersand
character. Disallowed the use of filenames with trailing spaces.
- Fixed problems with using File Open and Save dialog boxes: Sometimes
selecting Cancel wasn't properly handled.
Version 2.0 - May 12, 2007
- Fixed problem with Toolbar control: Sometimes an invalid or unusable
button ID was generated when you added buttons to a toolbar.
- Fixed problem where entering an invalid URL or HTML filename to
display caused an error.
- Added a Progress Bar as a design-time only ActiveX Control.
- Added a new auto-generated function to return the Tool Tip window's
handle. Use GetToolTipsHwnd() to return the tooltip window's HWND.
- Auto C now detects if your Taskbar is not bottom aligned. Auto C won't
place any windows on top of the taskbar if it is not set to auto-hide.
- Auto C now remembers which compilers you have selected. When you
restart Auto C, the compiler you last used for an EXE project or DLL
project will again be the selected compiler for that type of project.
- Added code to allow for the use of quotation marks (") in tooltips and
toolbar button captions. Previously errors would occur if you tried to
place a quote in a TabStrip tab's tooltip or a Toolbar button's tooltip or
caption (by using \" ).
Version 1.9 - April 27, 2007
- Improved the way Auto C starts up and opens a project. This process is
now faster and smoother, and unnecessary message boxes aren't displayed.
- Added the option of having Auto C's start-up position be on the left
side of the screen instead of always being on the right side. If Auto C is
on the left side of the screen when you close it, the next time you start
Auto C it will be in the upper left corner.
- Simplified the way Auto C places SuperEdi's caret on a specific line
to further reduce the possibility of an error.
- Re-worked the Play Sound example project.
Version 1.8 - April 12, 2007
- Fixed problem where RC file contents could be lost or garbled when
updating menus.
Version 1.7 - April 12, 2007
- Fixed problem where files that had been added to a project were
omitted from the project when it was later re-opened.
- When a Label's font changed, the change wasn't shown immediately in
the Properties Box.
- A minor revision was made to the function MouseOverControl. A
statement assigning the HWND of the control the mouse is over to a static
variable was moved to a different location. Previously it had been near
the end of the function, now it is near the beginning of the function.
Version 1.6 - April 4, 2007
- There was a problem with one of the example files in the v1.5
distribution. It had been altered and hadn't been restored to it's
original state. This is corrected with the 1.6 distribution.
Version 1.5 - April 4, 2007
- Version 1.4 had a problem in that the reference to the ActiveX
controls wasn't set correctly when it was compiled. This is corrected in
version 1.5. Version 1.4 was only posted for a short time, but the version
numbers were incremented anyway.
- Fixed problem with opening the help file from the start menu. The
wrong filename was specified.
Version 1.4 - April 4, 2007
- Updated and tested with latest version of SuperEdi (4.0, 4.0.U)
- Fixed problem with right-clicking a file or using the drop-down menu
to compile an individual file. Sometimes this didn't work because the
file's extension was omitted.
- Enabled using the compile & run button even if no supported compilers
were found. Previously, if you had Borland installed but it wasn't in the
default location, and had no other compilers installed, it wasn't clear
how to specify the Borland compiler's location. Now the project options
dialog box can be more easily displayed, making it a little easier to
specify the Borland compiler's location.
Version 1.3 - April 2, 2007
- The help file is now an HTML Help file. The Property Pages no longer
have a button that you can click for help, you must press F1.
- At startup, if SuperEdi is already running, Auto C will close and
restart SuperEdi. This is to ensure that code page and unicode detection
are turned off. If they are enabled when not needed, the contents of a
file can become garbled unexpectedly.
- Disallowed use of LCC-Win32 under Windows 98/ME. The latest version of
LCC-Win32 requires Windows 5.0 (Windows 2000) or higher.
- Fixed problem that occurred when overwriting an old project. If you
selected a previously existing project name for a new project, intending
to overwrite the old project files, some files were not re-written.
Version 1.2 - March 24, 2007
- Fixed problem with deleting multiple controls and one of them, but not
all of them, was a control in the button class. The function Button_Click
was not updated correctly.
- Fixed error that would occur if you added a menu or menus, and then
later completely removed all menus.
- Fixed problem that occurred when linking DLLs with LCC-WIn32 if you
also had Pelles C installed. Auto C used the same environment block for
both compilers, and LCC's implib.exe wouldn't run correctly if it was run
in a process that used an environment block created for use with Pelles C.
Version 1.1 - March 22, 2007
- Environment variables are no longer used. Previously it was necessary
to add the name of a compiler's BIN folder to your PATH environment
variable, and using Pelles C required additional environment variables.
The need to use environment variables was eliminated in order to make
setting up Auto C easier. (June 29, 2007 - The Environment Variables that
Open Watcom creates when it is installed are required.)
- Changed the way Auto C places SuperEdi's caret at a specific line in a
file. The SuperEdi application doesn't blink or flash when Auto C does
this any more.
- Made corrections to help file, which in one location referred to an
example project by the wrong name and also used incorrect terminology.
Version 1.0 - March 20, 2007
- Updated for latest versions of SuperEdi, 3.9.2 and 3.9.2.U
Auto C is based on Instant C (by the same author). All know issues with
Instant C have been corrected in Auto C. The name was changed because Auto C
is fundamentally different from Instant C, and Instant C projects are not
compatible with Auto C. Many improvements have also been made. A
pre-configured replacement toolbox for use with ActiveX Control Pad is
provided. All the design-time ActiveX controls are now custom Auto C
controls, except for the Tabstrip. A toolbar design-time ActiveX control has
been added. Using ActiveX Control Pad is now improved, and it runs even
better now than it did under Instant C. Top of
Page
|
|
|