The issue of the Windows console window has come up from time to time
and I've had another look at the code and made a few minor changes.
The first change is to provide an option to "./configure" to allow
Poly/ML to be built as a "console" application rather than a "windows"
application. Setting "--disable-windows-gui" passes -mconsole to the
linker rather than -mwindows. This sets the appropriate bits in the EXE
header. As well as affecting the linking of "poly" itself it also
affects executables built with "polyc". The default remains
"--enable-windows-gui" to build as a "windows" application.
The second change is that when Poly is built as a Windows application,
the default, it puts up a GUI window only if standard output has not
been provided. Previously it put up a GUI window unless both standard
input and standard output were provided. If it creates a GUI window for
output it also uses it for input unless there is an explicit standard
input provided.
It may be helpful to provide a bit of background. I have the impression
that there are two different classes of users when it comes to Poly/ML
on Windows. Users from a Windows background expect the application to
come with an installer, a Windows GUI and to support the standard
copy-and-paste, in particular with the standard control-C/control-V key
bindings. Users from a Unix background are much more used to running
applications in a console window and are more likely to build
applications from source. The problem is to satisfy both classes of user.
Executables in Windows can be either "windows" or "console" applications
depending on the "subsystem" setting in the EXE header. "console"
applications are always started with a cmd.exe-style console unless
they're already in a console. "windows" applications are expected to
create their own GUI. My impression is that "console" applications are
regarded as a legacy of DOS and not well supported. That's why I've
made "windows" mode the default. Nevertheless there may be cases where
someone would like to build "poly" as a console application which is the
reason for adding the option.
David
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