I'm building a graphical application using GameVision (http://www.jarroddavis.com/). The application compiled in FPC opens a console window whenever the application is executed. The application compiled in Delphi does not open a console window. How do I not have the console window automatically opened when the application is compiled with FPC?

Sly

Add (delphi compatible) {$apptype gui}

Thanks. I've never had to use that in Delphi since it defaults to GUI if there is no $APPTYPE directive. Would it make sense for FPC to default to GUI if compiled in Delphi compatibility mode? I'm new to FPC so I don't know if that has been discussed before.

Incidentally, can there be a warning printed out when the $APPTYPE directive is in the wrong place and has no effect?

This works (compiles in GUI mode).

program test;
{$APPTYPE GUI}

uses
GameVision,
GVUConsole,
Globals,

  GVUInput;

{$R *.res}

This doesn't (compiles in CONSOLE mode).

program test;

uses
GameVision,
GVUConsole,
Globals,

  GVUInput;

{$R *.res}
{$APPTYPE GUI}

Sly

Thanks. I've never had to use that in Delphi since it defaults to GUI if there is no $APPTYPE directive. Would it make sense for FPC to default to GUI if compiled in Delphi compatibility mode? I'm new to FPC so I don't know if that has been discussed before.

That is a Win32 (maybe also MacOSX?) only issue. On other platforms the default is to have a console.

Incidentally, can there be a warning printed out when the $APPTYPE directive is in the wrong place and has no effect?

It already gives a warning:

p.pp(4,2) Warning: Misplaced global compiler switch

> Thanks. I've never had to use that in Delphi since it defaults to GUI

if

> there is no $APPTYPE directive. Would it make sense for FPC to default

to

Delphi compatibility would only really apply to Win32, wouldn't it?

Ahh. Having just got FPC 1.9.2 from SourceForge (there should be a link to that from the FPC site), it does indeed give a warning. FPC 1.0.10 does not give such a warning.

The executable also got 23KB larger just from being compiled with 1.9.2, ie. from 82KB to 105KB.

Sly

When using gcc under win32 I use -mwindows to create a GUI app. I'm not sure if -mwindows is a gcc switch or a ld (ldw.exe in fpc) switch. If it is ld's option then adding -mwindows to the link stage should eliminate the console.

cheers,
-Krish

For FPC delphi is a programming style not specific for win32. FPC is platform independent. That means you need to think of all platforms instead of being thightly bounded to a single platform. That is also the reason why porting delphi apps is mostly harder than it looks at first sight... they are too dependent on the WinAPI.

The executable also got 23KB larger just from being compiled with 1.9.2, ie. from 82KB to 105KB.

That is always the case... more functionality means a bigger size... for example threadvar for multithreading support takes more space. Also register calling takes more space, but it is faster.

The project I am currently working is being compiled in Delphi 7 (at home) and FPC 1.9.2 (at work). The Delphi-compiled executable is 56KB. The FPC-compiled executable is 108KB. Not a real big issue. I'm just curious as to what makes up the large part of this difference in executable size.

Sly

You would have to research that yourself, since the exact ratio can vary per program.

But in general FPC is written more with portability in mind, and this increases the library layer slightly. Also Delphi might have optimizations on while FPC needs params to enabled them. (I assume you already use -XXs to compile the fpc binary, you could also use -OG3p3 or so)

But in general FPC is written more with portability in mind, and this increases the library layer slightly. Also Delphi might have optimizations on while FPC needs params to enabled them. (I assume you already use -XXs

to compile the fpc

binary, you could also use -OG3p3 or so)

I was using -Xs, but I tried -XXs -OG3p3 and it made no difference.

Don't get me wrong, FPC is still great. It gives me more warnings and hints than Delphi does, which is a good thing (I like to have a compile with no hints or warnings).

Sly

-XX only works with units that are compiled with smartlinking (-CX)