Appropriate Uses of WINMEM32

 Last reviewed: July 22, 1997
Article ID: Q73679
3.00 3.10 WINDOWS kbprg

The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) for Windows versions 3.1 and 3.0

SUMMARY

WINMEM32 is a dynamic-link library (DLL) that supports 32-bit flat memory under the Microsoft Windows graphical environment. WINMEM32 provides a flat model computing environment for applications ported from another operating system to Windows. New applications should not be designed using WINMEM32.

MORE INFORMATION

WINMEM32 is designed for an application structured as follows: 

      +------------------------+
      |       Front End        |
      | Performs all           |
      | interaction with I/O   |
      | devices, the user, and |
      | the operating system.  |
      +------------------------+
                 /\
                 ||
                 ||
                 \/
      +-----------------------+
      | Computation Engine    |
      +-----------------------+
The front end application that provides the user interface is a standard application for the 16-bit Windows environment. WINMEM32 supports the 32-bit "computation engine" that has no user interface and does not interact with any peripheral devices or the operating system.

Windows is not designed to support 32-bit applications; WINMEM32 is a temporary measure to support an independent software vendors (ISV) with a substantial investment in 32-bit code developed for another operating system. Even with WINMEM32, porting an application to Windows involves many complex issues that an ISV must carefully address for the application to work properly.

Future versions of Windows will address the 32-bit application issues better than WINMEM32 does. Future versions of Windows will support WINMEM32 applications even though WINMEM32 is not developed any further.

Additional reference words: 3.00 3.10
KBCategory: kbprg
KBSubcategory: KrMm
Keywords : kb16bitonly

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Last reviewed: July 22, 1997
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