Conference bulova::decw_jan-89_to_nov-90

1490.0. "VAX --> RISC & f77, help needed" by STKHLM::LHOLMSTROM (Lars Holmstr�m SWAS @SOO) Tue Sep 26 1989 12:10

	I am not an ULTRIX expert, nor an DECWindows expert, so I ask
	you all for help with this.

	A customer of mine has written an interface for one of their
	programs. This is for VAX/VMS. He have now started the porting
	to RISC/Fortran. The goal of the porting is 

	A: To have the application running on RISC

	B: To have the code looking similar on more than one machine.
	   This will incorporate VAX/VMS, RISC and other machines, like
	   HP or APOLLO if possible.

	Below there is some outstanding problems, with the relevant code
	( I hope ) from VMS.

			HELP !

	-----------------------------------------------------------------
	1) What is the new name for this structure

		RECORD /X$VISUAL/ VISUAL

	-----------------------------------------------------------------
	2) How would an appropriate argument look like ?
	   For VMS it is enough with no argument given.

		IDDISP=X$OPEN_DISPLAY()

	-----------------------------------------------------------------
	3) How would this line be implemented ?

		CALL X$DEFAULT_VISUAL_OF_SCREEN(IDSCR,VISUAL)

	-----------------------------------------------------------------
	4) How would this line be implemented 

		ICFLAG=X$M_DO_RED .OR. X$M_DO_GREEN .OR. X$M_DO_BLUE

	-----------------------------------------------------------------
	5) What is the new name for this routine, and 
	   Will the arguments differ in type and/or numbers ?

		STATUS=X$SYNC(IDDISP,0)
	
	-----------------------------------------------------------------
	6) What is the new name for this routine ?
	   
		CALL X$FLUSH(IDDISP)
	
	-----------------------------------------------------------------
	7) There has not yet been a successful linking of the modules.
	   The customer think that the proper command may look like this ?

		f77 add.f dxx.f mittlib.a /lib/libX11F77.a -lX11

	Correct ?

	-----------------------------------------------------------------
	8) Where can I find examples for DECWindows code for ULTRIX/Fortran ?
	-----------------------------------------------------------------
	9) Which documentation is available for ULTRIX/Fortran ?
	-----------------------------------------------------------------
	10) Is it possible to have exactly the same code for VAX, RISC
	    APOLLO and HP apart from devicenames and filenames ?
	
	    What will differ ?
	-----------------------------------------------------------------

		Thanks /Lars

    11) what makes you think FORTRAN code on a RISK system should be
    different from VMS FORTRAN code ?

    Re: .1
    
    Because it is.  On VMS, one can use the "VAX bindings" for the
    DECwindows routines, that are more easily callable from FORTRAN and
    other non-C languages.  These alternate interfaces have not been
    provided on our MIPS-based systems.
    
    				Steve

    Because the VAX bindings aren't available on MIPS, don't even think of
    using them if you ever think that you are going to run on a platform
    other than a VAX.  You'll simply have to do what we are doing, which is
    go through your code and replace all the VAX bindings with the C
    bindings.  Save yourself the hassle and use the C bindings first.
    
                                    August

    Does .-1 mean that there are no plans to ever provide the
    language-independent bindings on MIPS?

    What does language-independent mean?  We are calling the C bindings
    from BLISS so the C bindings can be called from other languages.  They
    aren't are convient as the the VMS bindings but that's not the fault of
    the bindings so much as the fact the we use descriptors everywhere else
    in our code.  
    
                                August G. Reinig

Let's just say that the C bindings make an awful lot of assumptions about
C that aren't valid for other languages, making the bindings MUCH harder
to use from non-C languages than they would have been if they had been
designed in a language-independent fashion.

It's hard to say if the VAX bindings would be useful on RISC Ultrix,
given that the call interface is so different from VAX.

			Steve

.3>    You'll simply have to do what we are doing, which is
.3>    go through your code and replace all the VAX bindings with the C
.3>    bindings.

	Ok, but I am not the right person to such things. Can you 
	give me a pointer to a document, a manual or what ever it
	may be, so we (Digital Equipment Corporation) can tell
	the customer where to find the information he want/need
	to complete his code ?

						/Lars