#undef GetFileType

[george68]

The statement '#undef GetFileType' there is in the App.h file

In what does it serve for?

[thehankinator]

I don't have standard edition so I could be wrong but in Windows API GetFileType(defined when windows.h is involved) is a macro for GetFileTypeA() or GetFileTypeW() which is a problem because the Leadwerks API unfortunately uses the same function name for FileSystem::GetFileType(). The C++ preprocessor would dump GetFileTypeA or GetFileTypeW anywhere you have the text GetFileType. So FileSystem::GetFileType() would become FileSystem::GetFileTypeA() (or FileSystem::GetFileTypeW()) and cause a compile time error. By saying #undef GetFileType you are telling the preprocessor not to do the awkward mess above.

[george68]

It sounds logical.

I am wondering why it is not included in the 'Leadwerks.h' file.

[thehankinator]

It sounds logical.

I am wondering why it is not included in the 'Leadwerks.h' file.

You could put it in Leadwerks.h but a header file that mucks with the defines and macros in Windows.h(and it's friends) without the programmer knowing will spread the undef to anything that includes Leadwerks.h which could lead to some undesired effects. It'd be frustrating to try to use GetFileType() exactly how MSDN says to then try to use it and the compiler says what the hell is GetFileType()? This kind of workaround should be isolated to the smallest area possible imo, perhaps even moved to a .cpp file.

 

At the end of the day this is a poor design choice by Microsoft and this is one of the weird things that occasionally come up in software on Windows. I think a better solution would have been to use a typedef rather than a define but it's far too late in the game for Microsoft to change it if it would even work with all the edge cases they have to meet.