khchen / winim

Windows API, COM, and CLR Module for Nim

Winim

Winim contains Windows API, struct, and constant definitions for Nim. The definitions are translated from MinGW's Windows headers and Windows 10 SDK headers.

The module also include some Windows string type utilities and Windows COM support. See winstr.nim and com.nim for details. Furthermore, winim provides ability to interact with Windows .NET Frameworks since version 3.6.0.

For historical reasons and compatibility, winim only use signed integer types. For example:

type
  UINT* = int32
  DWORD* = int32
  QWORD* = int64
  UINT_PTR* = int64

If you are looking for Windows GUI framework, try wNim.

Install

With git on windows:

nimble install winim

Without git:

1. Download and unzip this moudle (by click "Code" button).
2. Start a console, change current dir to the folder which include "winim.nimble" file.
   (for example: C:\winim-master\winim-master>)
3. Run "nimble install"

Usage

import winim # import all modules, except COM support.

or

import winim/lean # for core SDK only, this speed up compiling time.

or

import winim/mean # for core SDK + Shell + OLE API.

or

import winim/com # winim/mean + Windows COM support.

API modules can import one by one if needed, for example:

import winim/utils
import winim/winstr
import winim/inc/windef
import winim/inc/winbase
import winim/inc/winuser

or

import winim/[utils, winstr]
import winim/inc/[windef, winbase, winuser]

WinHTTP and WinINet module are incompatible with each other. So they are not imported by default. Add one of them if needed:

import winim/inc/winhttp

or

import winim/inc/wininet

MSHTML module is too big. So it is not imported by default. Add this module only if needed:

import winim/inc/mshtml

Compile

nim c source.nim
  add -d:winansi or -d:useWinAnsi for Ansi version (Unicode by default)
  add -d:noDiscardableApi if not like discardable windows API
  add -d:noRes to disable the visual styles (not to link winim32.res or winim64.res).
  add -d:lean same as import winim/lean
  add -d:mean or -d:win32_lean_and_mean same as import winim/mean
  add -d:notrace disable COM objects trace. See com.nim for details.

Examples

An hello world program:

import winim/lean
MessageBox(0, "Hello, world !", "Nim is Powerful", 0)

Write codes work under both unicode and ansi mode:

import winim/lean
# T macro generate unicode string or ansi string depend on conditional symbol: useWinAnsi.
MessageBox(0, T"Hello, world !", T"Nim is Powerful 中文測試", 0)

Example to use the IShellLink interface:

import os, winim/mean

var
  pIL: ptr IShellLink
  pPF: ptr IPersistFile

try:
  CoInitialize(nil)

  if CoCreateInstance(&CLSID_ShellLink, nil, CLSCTX_LOCAL_SERVER, &IID_IShellLink, cast[ptr PVOID](&pIL)).FAILED: raise
  defer: pIL.Release()

  if pIL.QueryInterface(&IID_IPersistFile, cast[ptr PVOID](&pPF)).FAILED: raise
  defer: pPF.Release()

  if pIL.SetPath(getAppFilename()).FAILED or pPF.Save("link.lnk", true).FAILED: raise

except:
  echo "something wrong !!"

Use COM objects like a script langauge:

import winim/com

comScript:
  var dict = CreateObject("Scripting.Dictionary")
  dict.add("a", "the")
  dict.add("b", item:="quick")
  dict.add(item:="fox", key:="c")
  dict.item(key:="c") = "dog"

  for key in dict:
    echo key, " => ", dict.item(key)

Interact with Windows .NET Frameworks.

import winim/clr

var mscor = load("mscorlib")
var rand = mscor.new("System.Random")
echo rand.Next()

More examples: https://github.com/khchen/winim/tree/master/examples.

Cross Compile

Windows programs using Winim module should be compiled successfully by gcc, tcc, vcc on Windows, and MinGW toolchain on Linux. The target file can be PE (32 bits) or PE+ (64 bits).

The suggested Nim compiler is amd64 version. You can download both mingw32 and mingw64 from the Nim's website and put them into nim\dist\mingw32 and nim\dist\mingw64. Modify the nim.cfg:

@if windows:
  @if i386:
    gcc.path = r"$nim\dist\mingw32\bin"
  @else:
    gcc.path = r"$nim\dist\mingw64\bin"
  @end
@end

Now, you can add --cpu:i386 for 32 bits target, and --cpu:amd64 for 64 bits target. To use tcc (Tiny C Compiler), here are some more information.

To cross compile from Linux or macOS. Here is the instruction.

Docs

• https://khchen.github.io/winim/winim.html
• https://khchen.github.io/winim/utils.html
• https://khchen.github.io/winim/winstr.html
• https://khchen.github.io/winim/com.html
• https://khchen.github.io/winim/clr.html

License

Read license.txt for more details.

Copyright (c) Chen Kai-Hung, Ward. All rights reserved.

Donate

If this project help you reduce time to develop, you can give me a cup of coffee :)