Thread: Need help please...

  1. #1
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Dec 2005
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    1

    Need help please...

    Hi,

    Sorry this is probably very basic stuff, but I don't really have any background in this area. I looked in the FAQ's and did a quick search but didn't see what I needed.

    I work in a lab that has a HP OpenVMS machine that we run remotely on a PC, using Exceed software from Hummingbird. The problem is if someone is using a program on the VMS machine it can not be run on the PC at the same time (color issues I am told). Hummingbird has a program called Exceed XDK, that it says you can port an existing program, recompile it and run it on the PC. I talked with someone from the hummingbird, and said this should solve my issue about running them at the same time.

    But I just don't know how to do that....It says that I need Visual C++, I downloaded the Express version, (I am assuming this will work). But that is about as far as I got.

    I have no idea how to get the program into VC++ and then compile it...I have tried figuring it out but will little success...

    Can anyone lend me a little help, or point me in the direction that has some basic instructions on how I would accomplish this?

    Thank you all in advance....sorry again if this is a topic that has been covered a lot.

  2. #2
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Posts
    244
    usually source packages have a makefile
    either a file that is simply called makefile or Makefile or (something).mak
    maybe there is a makefile.Windows or a README.txt (or somthing like that)
    that tells you HOW to compile the source.

    you can try:
    go into the directory of your source and say something like
    nmake

    im not using vc++, so i dont know if that nmake behaves as the gnu-make.

    if there is a makefile and nmake fails, i guess there is some "import makefile" option in vc++
    signature under construction

  3. #3
    Hardware Engineer
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Posts
    1,398

    Thumbs down Probably not so easy...

    First, you'll need the source code. (You cannot start with the .EXE file.) Is the application written in C or C++?

    Is the application open source? If it's open source you may be able to find a pre-compiled PC version, or information on how to compile the code (required 3rd-party libraries and recommended compiler.)

    If this is a custom program written in-house at your organization, the in-house (or contract) programmers should be able to help you.

    If this is a commercial program the source code is copyrighted and a trade secret... you cannot get it.

    The problem with porting is that most real-world C/C++ programs contain non-standard system-specific code. For example, there are no graphics, color, or sound in ANSI/ISO C++. This means that you have to find and re-write the sections of code that do not compile or run on the target compiler / system. Apparently, Exceed XDK is supposed to help you with this task.

    The program you want to port is not a Hummingbird program, right? In that case they are probably just recommending Visual C++ in general. They may not know what compiler and libraries that you really need for this specific program.

    Porting is not a task for beginning programmers unless the original code is ANSI/ISO compliant or the program is very simple. It porting was easy, you would find all commercial programs available for both the PC and Mac, and maybe a few other platforms.

    Darn! Sorry to be so freeking negative!

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