Interfaces?

i was thinking maybe subroutine interfaces (parameters, return values) but it seems everyone thinks they're the way a program looks. so which defanition is right?

Both definitions are correct.
Classes have interfaces, methods which allow the properties and functions of the class to be exposed.
Programs also have interfaces, which allow the user to interact with the program's properties and methods.

Good Luck
-cl

That's why they call it API "Application Programming Interface" or UI "User Interface"

in·ter·face (ntr-fs)
n.
A surface forming a common boundary between adjacent regions, bodies, substances, or phases.
A point at which independent systems or diverse groups interact: “the interface between crime and politics where much of our reality is to be found” (Jack Kroll).
Computer Science.
The point of interaction or communication between a computer and any other entity, such as a printer or human operator.
The layout of an application's graphic or textual controls in conjunction with the way the application responds to user activity: an interface whose icons were hard to remember.

Its the interaction thats the key. Its the same definition really. There's the Graphical User Interface, which is how your user will interact with your program. And theres the COM (in this case) Interface, which is how you will interact with objects and classes implementing that interface.

The Interface as it is dealt with in this forum is the Graphical User Interface, or GUI (gooey) i.e. what you see on the screen. The Hand is our resident GUI customisation nut and has many whacky and often nauseating ways to spice up a dull application!

;) :p

Indeed. Perhaps I should cook up some more nauseating solutions ;)

And on this note.... does anyone out there know how to intercept the menu animations!??! I've been pulling my eyes out trying to find some message that indicates when the menu's animation is done... of course the animations occur AFTER the "WM_WINDOWPOSCHANGED" message is processed... and there is nothing else other than WM_ENTERIDLE...

:( Oh well. For now you all will have to live without my menu bitmap module.

got these out of c++ header files:

UINT WINAPI GetMenuState(HMENU,UINT,UINT);

which lead to:

Public Declare Function GetMenuState Lib "user32" Alias "GetMenuState" (ByVal hMenu As Long, ByVal wID As Long, ByVal wFlags As Long) As Long

couldn't find the constants it returns, sorry


hope this helps

Unfortunately that particular API relates to the enabled/disabled/highlighted/grayed type state of the particular menu item.

I am more interested in the drawing state of the menu's window, which to my knowledge doesn't exist outside of subclassed/hooked windows messages.

I used Spy++ to watch all of the messages being sent thru that threadID, and didn't have ANY luck finding a message AFTER the menu is animated and displayed...

Even "WM_WINDOWPOSCHANGED", which I thought was supposed to happen after the menu is made visible and drawn, occurs before the "slide in" or "fade in" effect occurs.

I think my quest for transparent menus in 2000/XP is at an end... They work fine if the animations are turned off, but when enabled (especially the "fade" animation) they mess everything up... :(

C'est la vie. Es la vida.

well thanx for clearing that up. i would have probably made a forum for each, but hey, it ain't my forum. so this forum actually applies to both defanitions? k.

You didn't happen to notice there is a forum dedicated to API?:confused:

oh that... ok ok, i got it, it's all good.

Hand, I dont know much about hooking, so I could be waaay out here, but couldnt you just have a line in your callback sub which looks for all the messages you know of, then if another unknown message arrives, print it out to the debug window. So if you see an unknown message arrive after the animation is complete, write it down and see if it keeps coming up. I dunno, I probably am way off.

:(

Actually, the easier method of doing what you describe is firing up Spy++ and watching what comes across... much better than dumping stuff to the debug window.

And unfortunately that course of action yielded no results :(

Thanks anyways all!

Is it gooey or gooie?

I would try to put more substance into my post, but thats really all I want to say.

doesn't matter, they're pronounced the same. either way it's just a phenetik (sp?) spelling. it's actually GUI.

Good stuff :) As one of my applications is called Double V Gooie, and the thought of that being wrong and having to change every instance of it to Double V Gooey wasn't appealing.

*cough* Search and Replace *cough* ;)

I knew someone was going to say *something* like that.

Its not just the project files, its all the media about it on the websites, documentation etc.

You could still use a search and replace, just it would be tedious, and boring.

I think it has to do with the way an app looks. Hence the forum title "Interface Design". Design being the key word