win32utils devel - Apr 2008 - A generalized struct implementation for windows-api

Hi,
 
After yet another win32-process bug, I''ve decided that we need some
form
of generalized struct handling for use with the windows-api library
instead of packing and unpacking data structures manually.
 
We currently do stuff like this:
 
proc_info = 0.chr * 16 # sizeof(PROCESS_INFORMATION)
Process.create(... proc_info ...)
CloseHandle(proc_info[0,4])
  
I would like a way to generalize the creation of these structures.
Something like this:
 
require ''win32/struct''
 
Win32::Struct.new(
   ''PROCESS_INFORMATION'',
   :hProcess    => HANDLE,
   :hThread     => HANDLE,
   :dwProcessId => DWORD,
   :dwThreadId  => DWORD
)

And, with that in place, we could then write:
 
proc_info = PROCESS_INFORMATION.new
Process.create(... proc_info ...)
CloseHandle(proc_info.hProcess)

The struct would automatically handle the packing/unpacking behind the
scenes based on the data type that was declared in the constructor.
 
It''s easier to read and easier to maintain, IMO. And, we could
predefine
a bunch of the most common structures in advance so that users wouldn''t
have to do this themselves. They would be immediately available.

This could probably be an addon to the windows-api library already out
there.

What do you think?

Thanks,

Dan


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