Two Return Types???

I've got what I think is a pretty basic question regarding Win32 programming. I've recently started learning it and noticed something I'd never seen before; what appeared to be two return types. On the tutorial I'm reading, the WinMain function is defined as

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int WINAPI WinMain(HINSTANCE hInstance,HINSTANCE hPrevInstance,LPTSTR lpCmdLine,int nCmdShow)

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Now I'm in no way an expert programmer, but that has me completely baffled as to how it works. I know it returns an int and is called WinMain, but what's the deal with the WINAPI? Another location I noticed this "double return" type function is in

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LRESULT CALLBACK WndProc(HWND hWnd,UINT message,WPARAM wParam,LPARAM lParam)

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Now I have a decent understanding of what each function can do, but again what is with these functions? Again, this is probably a n00b question, but any help is greatly appreciated ;)

WINAPI and CALLBACK are not return types. They describe the type of function. CALLBACKs are bascially what is called when a window needs something done to it.

Erm...Sorry I don't quite understand what you mean by the "type of function". I googled for "C++ Function Types" and found quite a few pages dealing with templates. Are these in fact templates? I'm really not familiar with templates, although I will readily read up on them if need be.

No, its nothing to do with C++ and everything to do with window's programming.

Its kinda like a modifier that lets the compiler know to do certain things.

Much in the same way using PASCAL can change the way the function handles parameters

I see thanks that clarified it a bit more ;)

I'll have to let someone with more win programming experience give some more details though :)

a more correct name for "function type" is calling convention.

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No, its nothing to do with C++ and everything to do with window's programming.

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That's not entirely true. Windows uses it a lot, but they use it because C++ allows it. The calling conventions that a function can take are part of c++. If I remember correctly, WINAPI is #defined as __stdcall.

For more information, look up calling conventions

Thanks for correcting the term. I've done win32 programming as C code so its not really based off of c++.

> The calling conventions that a function can take are part of c++.
Standard C++ has only one such thing, and that's extern "C" for calling C code.
Everything else is down to implementation specifics for your compiler.
So it would be an extension for win32 compilers at best.

So it isn't a standard thing...curse VC++ for having me think otherwise!!!

here's a question then: Is it not common for calling conventions to be implimented?

They're called calling conventions because the "compiler community" has agreed upon the definitions of those conventions (thus making them a convention).

The calling convention is just one component of a compiler's application binary interface, or ABI. The ABI defines memory layout of user-defined and built-in data types, v-table layout, function calling conventions, exception handling conventions, global naming, and several other object code conventions. The ABI defines all the practical components of running on real hardware that the standard does not define since the standard is meant to be machine agnostic.

All compilers implement some consistent method for calling and returning from functions. Most make use of pre-defined conventions like "cdecl" and "stdcall". Most C/C++ compilers also support, as a "language extension", the ability for the developer to specifiy which calling convention to use.

Even though the standard doesn't go into defining calling convetions, it's a "logistical reality" that most programmers have to deal with unless you're writting pure standard C/C++ code.

gg