QuickWin is a set of libraries that helps you turn non-Windows DOS programs into simple Windows applications.
Using QuickWin, many programs written for DOS can be compiled with Microsoft C/C++ to run in a Windows text-only window. A QuickWin window behaves like the DOS character-mode display. You can write to the window and receive input through it with standard C input and output routines, such as printf and scanf, or standard C++ iostream facilities, such as cout and cin.
Note:
To work with QuickWin, DOS programs must meet certain qualifications. Generally, your DOS program can be linked with the QuickWin libraries as long as it does not use graphics, Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE), serial port I/O, or cursor positioning and as long as it does not spawn processes.
Summary: QuickWin makes it easy to add Windows functions to DOS programs.
QuickWin makes it easy for you to add a simple subset of Windows functions to your DOS programs without having a detailed knowledge of Windows programming. Note that QuickWin offers only a portion of Windows capability. You cannot write a complete Windows application using QuickWin because you cannot call Windows application programming interface (API) functions from your QuickWin program. You can, however, add a Windows flavor to your applications, especially if you use the enhanced QuickWin features explained later in this chapter.
QuickWin is also useful for experienced Windows programmers. When you have a simple non-Windows program that you'd like to see in a window without completely overhauling the application, use QuickWin.
Additionally, QuickWin applications have access to all of the Windows address space and can share data with other Windows applications.
This chapter explains the user interface and the programming features provided by QuickWin and how to use them to build your own QuickWin applications.