🚀 go-pugleaf

"Joanne" <jo.bullock@tiscali.co.uk> wrote:

>Still no joy.  I notice that the linker error references 
>GetEnvironmentVariableA  whereas my code calls 
>GetEnvironmentVariable  - I don't understand this?

That's Microsoft, I'm afraid. There is no Win32 API
GetEnvironmentVariable function. Instead, there is a pair of functions,
GetEnvironmentVariableA and GetEnvironmentVariableW, for the Ascii and
Wide character versions of the same function, and deep within the
Windows.h include file (or a file it includes) is a macro definition
that does '#define GetEnvironmentVariable GetEnvironmentVariableA' (or
...W) depending on whether you have UNICODE defined or not.

What it means is that any function or variable that is actually called
GetEnvironmentVariable in the source will be seen by the compiler as
GetEnvironmentVariableA (or ...W, depending).

Any normal programmer that did this sort of thing would be fired on the
spot. Sadly, because it's Microsoft doing it, they get away with it. Not
only that, but programmers see Microsoft doing it, and think it's
acceptable behaviour.

(And they wonder why Microsoft products were so flaky for so long ...)

You might be able to sort out the problem with a judicious "#undef
GetEnvironmentVariable" after the "#include <windows.h>".

>I can use the Win API version of the function, so it is no 
>hassle, but interesting why it doesn't work!

Because you're dealing with Microsoft :-(

Alan Bellingham
-- 
ACCU Conference 2006 - 19-22 April, Randolph Hotel, Oxford, UK