Using Macros Verses Alias Regarding Dealing With 'A' And 'W' Unicode Issue

[Frederick J. Harris]

Hi Jose!

   I have a general question about includes.  While rooting around in your includes and the PowerBASIC includes for the
new compilers, I noted you used macros to redefine CreateWindowEx As either CreateWindowExW or CreateWindowExA, depending
of course, to the definition or lack thereof of %UNICODE....
 

Code Select Expand


DECLARE FUNCTION CreateWindowExA IMPORT "USER32.DLL" ALIAS "CreateWindowExA" ( _
   BYVAL dwExStyle AS DWORD _                           ' __in DWORD dwExStyle
, BYREF lpClassName AS ASCIIZ _                        ' __in_opt LPCSTR lpClassName
, BYREF lpWindowName AS ASCIIZ _                       ' __in_opt LPCSTR lpWindowName
, BYVAL dwStyle AS DWORD _                             ' __in DWORD dwStyle
, BYVAL X AS LONG _                                    ' __in int X
, BYVAL Y AS LONG _                                    ' __in int Y
, BYVAL nWidth AS LONG _                               ' __in int nWidth
, BYVAL nHeight AS LONG _                              ' __in int nHeight
, OPTIONAL BYVAL hwndParent AS DWORD _                 ' __in_opt HWND hwndParent
, OPTIONAL BYVAL hMenu AS DWORD _                      ' __in_opt HMENU hMenu
, OPTIONAL BYVAL hInstance AS DWORD _                  ' __in_opt HINSTANCE hInstance
, OPTIONAL BYREF lpParam AS ANY _                      ' __in_opt LPVOID lpParam
) AS DWORD                                             ' HWND

DECLARE FUNCTION CreateWindowExW IMPORT "USER32.DLL" ALIAS "CreateWindowExW" ( _
   BYVAL dwExStyle AS DWORD _                           ' __in DWORD dwExStyle
, BYREF lpClassName AS WSTRINGZ _                      ' __in_opt LPCWSTR lpClassName
, BYREF lpWindowName AS WSTRINGZ _                     ' __in_opt LPCWSTR lpWindowName
, BYVAL dwStyle AS DWORD _                             ' __in DWORD dwStyle
, BYVAL X AS LONG _                                    ' __in int X
, BYVAL Y AS LONG _                                    ' __in int Y
, BYVAL nWidth AS LONG _                               ' __in int nWidth
, BYVAL nHeight AS LONG _                              ' __in int nHeight
, OPTIONAL BYVAL hwndParent AS DWORD _                 ' __in_opt HWND hwndParent
, OPTIONAL BYVAL hMenu AS DWORD _                      ' __in_opt HMENU hMenu
, OPTIONAL BYVAL hInstance AS DWORD _                  ' __in_opt HINSTANCE hInstance
, OPTIONAL BYREF lpParam AS ANY _                      ' __in_opt LPVOID lpParam
) AS DWORD                                             ' HWND

#IF %DEF(%UNICODE)
   MACRO CreateWindowEx = CreateWindowExW
#ELSE
   MACRO CreateWindowEx = CreateWindowExA
#ENDIF



In the PowerBASIC declares (below) they used the alias keyword to accomplish what looks to me to be about the same thing,
although it is a somewhat longer and more verbose technique.  I was wondering what the pros and cons of these
two different techniques would be; is one technique better than the other?

Code Select Expand


DECLARE FUNCTION CreateWindowExA LIB "User32.dll" ALIAS "CreateWindowExA" _
( _
  BYVAL dwExStyle AS DWORD, _
  Byref lpClassName AS ASCIIZ, _
  Byref lpWindowName AS ASCIIZ, _
  BYVAL dwStyle AS DWORD, _
  BYVAL x AS LONG, _
  BYVAL y AS LONG, _
  BYVAL nWidth AS LONG, _
  BYVAL nHeight AS LONG, _
  BYVAL hWndParent AS DWORD, _
  BYVAL hMenu AS DWORD, _
  BYVAL hInstance AS DWORD, _
  Byref lpParam AS ANY _
) AS DWORD

DECLARE FUNCTION CreateWindowExW LIB "User32.dll" ALIAS "CreateWindowExW" _
( _
  BYVAL dwExStyle AS DWORD, _
  Byref lpClassName AS WSTRINGZ, _
  Byref lpWindowName AS WSTRINGZ, _
  BYVAL dwStyle AS DWORD, _
  BYVAL x AS LONG, _
  BYVAL y AS LONG, _
  BYVAL nWidth AS LONG, _
  BYVAL nHeight AS LONG, _
  BYVAL hWndParent AS DWORD, _
  BYVAL hMenu AS DWORD, _
  BYVAL hInstance AS DWORD, _
  lpParam AS ANY _
) AS DWORD

#IF %DEF(%UNICODE)
    DECLARE FUNCTION CreateWindowEx LIB "User32.dll" ALIAS "CreateWindowExW" _
    ( _
      BYVAL dwExStyle AS DWORD, _
      Byref lpClassName AS WSTRINGZ, _
      Byref lpWindowName AS WSTRINGZ, _
      BYVAL dwStyle AS DWORD, _
      BYVAL x AS LONG, _
      BYVAL y AS LONG, _
      BYVAL nWidth AS LONG, _
      BYVAL nHeight AS LONG, _
      BYVAL hWndParent AS DWORD, _
      BYVAL hMenu AS DWORD, _
      BYVAL hInstance AS DWORD, _
      lpParam AS ANY _
    ) AS DWORD
#ELSE
    DECLARE FUNCTION CreateWindowEx LIB "User32.dll" ALIAS "CreateWindowExA" _
    ( _
      BYVAL dwExStyle AS DWORD,
      Byref lpClassName AS ASCIIZ, _
      Byref lpWindowName AS ASCIIZ, _
      BYVAL dwStyle AS DWORD, _
      BYVAL x AS LONG, _
      BYVAL y AS LONG, _
      BYVAL nWidth AS LONG, _
      BYVAL nHeight AS LONG, _
      BYVAL hWndParent AS DWORD, _
      BYVAL hMenu AS DWORD, _
      BYVAL hInstance AS DWORD, _
      lpParam AS ANY _
    ) AS DWORD
#ENDIF ' NOT %UNICODE

                       

[José Roca]

 
The disadvantage of the macros is that they can conflict with, for example, a method in an interface with the same name.