You can not select more than 25 topics
Topics must start with a letter or number, can include dashes ('-') and can be up to 35 characters long.
435 lines
21 KiB
435 lines
21 KiB
This document describes how messages will be input, stored and formatted
|
|
by a Win32 application.
|
|
|
|
1. Message Input
|
|
|
|
Messages are input as ASCII text in a text file. The format of this
|
|
file supports specifying multiple versions of the same message text,
|
|
one for each language supported. It also supports automatic assignment
|
|
of code numbers to each message, along with the generation of a C
|
|
language include file for use by the application for accessing the
|
|
messages using symbolic constants. The purpose of the message text
|
|
file is to define all of the messages needed by an application, in a
|
|
format that makes it easy to support multiple languages with the same
|
|
image file.
|
|
|
|
Message text files are converted into binary resource files by the
|
|
MC program. These binary resource files are then input to the RC
|
|
compiler which will put them in the resource table for an
|
|
application or DLL.
|
|
|
|
The format of the message text file (default extension is .mc).
|
|
Basic syntax is Keyword=Value, where spaces around the equal sign
|
|
are ignored, and the value is delimited by white space from the next
|
|
keyword=value pair. Case is ignored when comparing against keyword
|
|
names. The value portion can either be a numeric integer constant,
|
|
{NUMBER}, using C syntax; a symbol name, {NAME}, that follows the
|
|
rules for C identifier names; or a file name that follows the
|
|
rules for the FAT file system (8 characters or less, no periods).
|
|
|
|
Comment lines are allowed in the message text file. The comment
|
|
syntax is the same as for WIN.INI, namely a semicolon begins a
|
|
comment which is terminated by the end of the line. Comments that
|
|
exist by themselves on a line are copied as is to the output .h
|
|
file.
|
|
|
|
The overall structure of a message text file consists of a header
|
|
section which contains zero or more of the following keywords:
|
|
|
|
MessageIdTypedef={NAME}
|
|
SeverityNames=({NAME}={NUMBER}:{NAME})
|
|
FacilityNames=({NAME}={NUMBER}:{NAME})
|
|
LanguageNames=({NAME}={NUMBER}:{FILENAME}[:{CODEPAGE}])
|
|
OutputBase={NUMBER}
|
|
|
|
These keywords have the following meaning:
|
|
|
|
MessageIdTypedef - gives a symbolic name that is output as the
|
|
typedef name for each numeric MessageId value. The default
|
|
value for this is NULL, which means there will be no type
|
|
cast output when defining symbolic names for a MessageId.
|
|
|
|
SeverityNames - defines the set of names that are allowed as the
|
|
value of the Severity keyword in the message definition.
|
|
The set is delimited by left and right parenthesis.
|
|
Associated with each severity name is a number that, when
|
|
shifted left by 30, gives the bit pattern to logically OR
|
|
with the Facility value and MessageId to come up with the
|
|
full 32-bit message code. The default value of this keyword
|
|
is:
|
|
|
|
SeverityNames=(Success=0x0
|
|
Informational=0x1
|
|
Warning=0x2
|
|
Error=0x3
|
|
)
|
|
|
|
Severity values occupy the high two bits of a 32-bit message
|
|
code. Any severity value that does not fit in two bits is
|
|
an error. The severity codes can be given symbolic names
|
|
by following each value with :{NAME}
|
|
|
|
FacilityNames - defines the set of names that are allowed as the
|
|
value of the Facility keyword in the message definition.
|
|
The set is delimited by left and right parenthesis.
|
|
Associated with each facility name is a number that, when
|
|
shift it left by 16 bits, gives the bit pattern to logically
|
|
OR with the Severity value and MessageId to come up with the
|
|
full 32-bit message code. The default value of this keyword
|
|
is:
|
|
|
|
FacilityNames=(System=0x0FF
|
|
Application=0xFFF
|
|
)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Facility codes occupy the low order 12 bits of the high
|
|
order 16-bits of a 32-bit message code. Any facility code
|
|
that does not fit in 12 bits is an error. This allows for
|
|
4096 facility codes. The first 256 are reserved for
|
|
use by the system software.
|
|
|
|
The facility codes can be given symbolic names by following
|
|
each value with :{NAME}
|
|
|
|
LanguageNames - defines the set of names that are allowed as the
|
|
value of the Language keyword in the message definition.
|
|
The set is delimited by left and right parenthesis.
|
|
Associated with each language name is a number and a file
|
|
name that will be used to name the binary output file that
|
|
will contain all of the message text for that language. The
|
|
number corresponds to the Language Id tag to use in the
|
|
resource table. The number is separate from the file name
|
|
with a colon. The initial value of this keyword is:
|
|
|
|
LanguageNames=(English=1:MSG00001)
|
|
|
|
Any new names that an application defines in its .mc file
|
|
which don't override any of the builtin names will be added
|
|
to the list of valid languages. This allows an application
|
|
to support private languages with descriptive names.
|
|
|
|
If the message file contains messages for languages that
|
|
must be represented in separate codepages, the optional
|
|
fourth (4th) parameter may be used to specify the codepage
|
|
that the messages for that Language's messages are in.
|
|
|
|
LanguageNames=(Japanese=411:MSG00411:932)
|
|
|
|
The default codepage used, if the codepage is not explicitly
|
|
specified, is the OEM Codepage of the system.
|
|
|
|
OutputBase - sets the output radix for the constants output to C
|
|
header file for messages. (It does not set the radix for the
|
|
SEVERITY and FACILITY constants. These default to HEX and can be
|
|
output in decimal using the -d switch.) If present, Outputbase
|
|
overwrites the -d switch for message constants in the header file.
|
|
Legal values are 10 and 16.
|
|
|
|
The OutputBase keyword is legal both in the header section and in the
|
|
message definition section of the input file. The OutputBase can be
|
|
changed as often as desired.
|
|
|
|
Following the header section are zero or more message definitions.
|
|
Each message definition begins with one or more of the following
|
|
keywords.
|
|
|
|
MessageId={|{NUMBER}|+{NUMBER}}
|
|
Severity={SEVERITY_NAME}
|
|
Facility={FACILITY_NAME}
|
|
SymbolicName={NAME}
|
|
|
|
The MessageId keyword is required to mark the beginning of the
|
|
message definition, although its value is optional. If no value is
|
|
specified, then the value used will be the last value used for the
|
|
facility, plus one. If the value is specified as +{NUMBER} then
|
|
the value used will be the last value used for the facility, plus
|
|
the number after the plus sign. Otherwise if a numeric value is
|
|
given, that will be value used. Any MessageId value that does not
|
|
fit in 16 bits is an error.
|
|
|
|
Severity and Facility are optional keywords that can specify
|
|
additional bits to OR into the final 32-bit message code. If either
|
|
of these are not specified they default to the value last specified
|
|
for a message definition. The initial values of these prior to
|
|
processing the first message definition is:
|
|
|
|
Severity=Success
|
|
Facility=Application
|
|
|
|
The value associated with these keywords must match one of the names
|
|
given to the FacilityNames and SeverityNames keywords. The SymbolicName
|
|
keyword allows the ISV to associate a C symbolic constant name with the
|
|
final 32-bit message code that is a result of ORing together the
|
|
MessageId, Severity and Facility bits. The constant definition is
|
|
output to the generated .h file with the following format:
|
|
|
|
//
|
|
// {MESSAGETEXT}
|
|
//
|
|
|
|
#define CONSTANT_SYMBOL_NAME ((MessageIdTypedef) 0x12345678)
|
|
|
|
where the comment before the definition is a copy of the message
|
|
text for the first language specified in the message definition.
|
|
The CONSTANT_SYMBOL_NAME is the value of the SymbolicName keyword.
|
|
The MessageIdTypedef is not output if it is NULL, the default value.
|
|
|
|
After the message definition keywords, comes one or more message text
|
|
definitions. Each message text definition begins with the Language
|
|
keyword that identifies which binary output file this message text
|
|
is to be output to. Beginning on the very next line is the first
|
|
line of the message text. The message text is terminated by a line
|
|
containing a single period at the beginning of the line, immediately
|
|
followed by a new line. No spaces allowed around keyword. Within
|
|
the message text, blank lines and white space are preserved as part
|
|
of the message.
|
|
|
|
Language={LANGUAGE_NAME}
|
|
{MESSAGETEXT}
|
|
.
|
|
|
|
Within the message text, several escape sequences are supported for
|
|
dynamically formatting the message. The percent sign character (%)
|
|
begins all escape sequences.
|
|
|
|
|
|
%0 - This terminates a message text line without a trailing
|
|
newline. This can be used to build up long lines or to
|
|
terminate the message itself without a trailing newline,
|
|
which is useful for prompt messages.
|
|
|
|
%n!printf format string! - This identifies an insert. The
|
|
value of n can be between 1 and 99. The printf format
|
|
string must be bracketed by exclamation marks. It is
|
|
optional and defaults to !s! if not specified.
|
|
|
|
The printf format string can contain the * specifier for
|
|
either the precision or width components, and if so, they
|
|
will consume inserts %n+1 and %n+2 for their values at run
|
|
time. MC will print a warning message if an explicit
|
|
reference is made to these inserts elsewhere in the message
|
|
text.
|
|
|
|
Inserts must reference a parameter passed to the FormatMessage API
|
|
call. It will return an error if a message refers to an insert that
|
|
was not passed to the FormatMessage API call.
|
|
|
|
Any other character following a percent sign, other than a digit will
|
|
be formatted in the output message without the percent sign. Some
|
|
examples:
|
|
|
|
%% - will output a single percent sign in the formatted message text.
|
|
|
|
%n - will output a hard line break when it occurs at the end of a
|
|
a line. Useful when FormatMessage is supplying normal line
|
|
breaks so the message fits in a certain width.
|
|
|
|
%r - will output a hard carriage return, without a trailing newline.
|
|
|
|
%b - will output a space in the formatted message text. This
|
|
can be used to insure there are the appropriate number of
|
|
trailing spaces in a message text line.
|
|
|
|
%t - will output a tab in the formatted message text.
|
|
|
|
%. - will output a single period in the formatted message text.
|
|
This can be used to get a single period at the beginning of
|
|
a line without terminating the message text definition.
|
|
|
|
%! - will output a single exclamation point in the formatted
|
|
message text. This can be used to get an exclamation point
|
|
immediately after an insert without it being mistaken for
|
|
the beginning of a printf format string.
|
|
|
|
Unicode support is not understood yet. If the input file is ASCII
|
|
text, do we need an escape sequence to allow input of Unicode values?
|
|
Or do we just let them use DBCS in the text file, assuming they have
|
|
a text editor that can do this.
|
|
|
|
2. Message Compiler (MC)
|
|
|
|
This program converts .mc message text files into binary files
|
|
suitable for inclusion into a .RC file by the resource compiler.
|
|
|
|
Command line syntax:
|
|
|
|
MC [-v] [-w] [-s] [-d] [-n] [-h DirSpec] [-e extension] [-r DirSpec] filename[.mc] ...
|
|
|
|
where:
|
|
|
|
-v - generates verbose output to stderr.
|
|
|
|
-w - generates a warning message whenever an insert escape
|
|
sequence is seen that is a superset of the type supported
|
|
by OS/2 mkmsgf (i.e. anything other than %0 and %n).
|
|
Useful for converting old OS/2 message files to this
|
|
format.
|
|
|
|
-s - Add an extra line to the beginning of each message that is
|
|
the symbolic name associated with the message id.
|
|
|
|
-d - Output SEVERITY and FACILTY constants in decimal. Set the
|
|
initial output radix for messages to decimal.
|
|
|
|
-n - Terminates all strings with null's in the message tables.
|
|
|
|
-e - Specify the extension for the header file. From 1 - 3 chars.
|
|
|
|
-h DirSpec - specifies the target directory of the generated
|
|
.h file. The file name is the name of the .mc file with a
|
|
.h extension.
|
|
|
|
-r DirSpec - specifies the target directory of the generated
|
|
.rc file. The file name is the name of the .mc file with a
|
|
.rc extension.
|
|
|
|
filename.mc - specifes one or more input message files that
|
|
will be compiled into one or more binary resource
|
|
files, one for each language that the message
|
|
files contain message text for.
|
|
|
|
The message compiler reads the .mc file and generates a .h file
|
|
containing all the symbolic name definitions. For each LanguageId
|
|
that was used to specify message text, it outputs a binary file
|
|
containing a message table resource. It also outputs a single .rc
|
|
file that contains the appropriate RC syntax to include each binary
|
|
file output as a resource with the appropriate name and type ids.
|
|
|
|
3. Message Win32 API Calls
|
|
|
|
DWORD
|
|
APIENTRY
|
|
FormatMessage(
|
|
DWORD dwFlags,
|
|
LPVOID lpSource,
|
|
DWORD dwMessageId,
|
|
DWORD dwLanguageId,
|
|
LPSTR lpBuffer,
|
|
DWORD nSize,
|
|
va_list Arguments
|
|
)
|
|
|
|
Routine Description:
|
|
|
|
This function formats a message string. Input to this function is a
|
|
message definition. It can come from a buffer passed into this
|
|
function. It can come from a message table resource in a module
|
|
already loaded. Or the caller can ask this function to search the
|
|
system message table resource(s) for the message. This function
|
|
finds the message definition based on the Message Id and the
|
|
Language Id and copies the message text to the output buffer,
|
|
processing any imbedded insert sequences if requested.
|
|
|
|
Arguments:
|
|
|
|
dwFlags - Specifies options to the formatting process along with how
|
|
to interpret the lpSource parameter. The low order 16bits of
|
|
this parameter are the maximum width of a line, in characters.
|
|
Possible values are:
|
|
|
|
FORMAT_MESSAGE_ALLOCATE_BUFFER - the lpBuffer is a PVOID * and
|
|
nSize is the minimum size to allocate. This function will
|
|
then allocate a buffer large enought to hold the formatted
|
|
message and store the pointer to the buffer in the location
|
|
pointed to by lpBuffer. Caller should free the buffer
|
|
with LocalFree when they are done using it.
|
|
|
|
FORMAT_MESSAGE_IGNORE_INSERTS - insert sequences in the message
|
|
definition will be ignored and passed through to the output
|
|
buffer as is. Useful for fetching a message for later
|
|
formatting. If this flag is set, the lpArguments parameter
|
|
is ignored.
|
|
|
|
FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_STRING - lpSource is a pointer to a null
|
|
terminated message definition. It can contain insert
|
|
sequences just as the message text in the .mc file can.
|
|
|
|
FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_HMODULE - lpSource is a module handle that
|
|
contains the message table resource(s) to search. If this
|
|
handle is NULL, then the current process's application
|
|
image file will be searched.
|
|
|
|
FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_SYSTEM - If the requested message was not
|
|
found in lpSource or if lpSource was not examined (i.e. neither
|
|
of the preceeding two flags was specified), then this function
|
|
will search the system message table resource(s).
|
|
|
|
FORMAT_MESSAGE_ARGUMENT_ARRAY - If set, specifies that the passed
|
|
Arguments parameter is NOT a va_list structure but instead is
|
|
just a pointer to an array of 32-bit values that represent
|
|
the arguments.
|
|
|
|
FORMAT_MESSAGE_MAX_WIDTH_MASK - The low order 8 bits specify the
|
|
maximum width of each line formatted into the output buffer.
|
|
A maximum width of zero, means that no restrictions are
|
|
placed on the width, and only the line breaks in the message
|
|
definition will be placed in the output buffer. If a non-zero
|
|
value is specified, then line breaks in the message definition
|
|
text are ignored, and instead line breaks are calculated based
|
|
on the maximum width, with white space delimited strings never
|
|
being split across a line break. Hard coded line breaks in
|
|
the message definition text, that are identified by the %n
|
|
escape sequence, are always output to the output buffer.
|
|
|
|
If the width specified is FORMAT_MESSAGE_MAX_WIDTH_MASK, then
|
|
line breaks in the message file are ignored and only hard coded
|
|
line breaks are kept and none are generated.
|
|
|
|
lpSource - specifies where to retrieve the message definition from.
|
|
The type of this parameter depends upon the settings in the
|
|
dwFlags parameter.
|
|
|
|
FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_HMODULE - lpSource is an hModule of the
|
|
module that contains the message table to search.
|
|
|
|
FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_STRING - lpSource is an LPSTR that points
|
|
to unformatted message text. It will be scanned for
|
|
inserts and formatted accordingly.
|
|
|
|
If neither of these options is specified, then this parameter is
|
|
ignored.
|
|
|
|
dwMessageId - specifices the 32-bit message identifier that identifies
|
|
the message being requested. This parameter is ignored if the
|
|
FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_STRING flag is specified.
|
|
|
|
dwLanguageId - specifices the 32-bit language identifier that
|
|
identifies the language of the message being requested. This
|
|
parameter is ignored if the FORMAT_MESSAGE_FROM_STRING flag is
|
|
specified.
|
|
|
|
lpBuffer - specifies a pointer to a buffer where the formatted message
|
|
is to be written. A terminating null byte will also be written.
|
|
If the FORMAT_MESSAGE_ALLOCATE_BUFFER flag was specified, then
|
|
this parameter points to a 32-bit pointer value that is filled in
|
|
by this call with a pointer allocated via LocalAlloc to contain
|
|
the text of the message.
|
|
|
|
nSize - specifies the maximum number of bytes that can be stored in
|
|
the output buffer. This parameter is ignore if the
|
|
FORMAT_MESSAGE_ALLOCATE_BUFFER flag is set.
|
|
|
|
Arguments - specifies a pointer to variable number of arguments.
|
|
These arguments are used to satisfy insert requests in the
|
|
format string. Thus %1 in the format string specifies the
|
|
first argument in the variable number of arguments described
|
|
by the Arguments parameter; %3 would specify the third, etc.
|
|
|
|
The interpretation of each 32-bit arguments value depends upon
|
|
the formatting information associated with the insert in the
|
|
message definition. The default is to treat each pointer as a
|
|
pointer to a null terminated string.
|
|
|
|
By default the Arguments parameter is of type va_list, which is
|
|
a language and implementation specific data type for describing
|
|
a variable number of arguments. If you do not have a pointer of
|
|
type va_list, then specify the FORMAT_MESSAGE_ARGUMENT_ARRAY
|
|
flag and pass a pointer to an array of 32-bit values that are
|
|
are input to the message formatted as the insert values.
|
|
Return Value:
|
|
|
|
DwORD - Returns the number of bytes actually stored in the output
|
|
buffer, excluding the terminating null character. Returns 0 if
|
|
an error occurred. Extended error status is available via the
|
|
GetLastError API.
|