PocketMatrix

Today <a href="http://www.develant.com">Develant Technologies</a> released GapiDraw 3.5c that improves Symbian UIQ compatibility. GapiDraw 3.5c also adds support for the Symbian SendoX device and fixes a key press issue with the Dell X50 Pocket PC. If you are developing for Symbian UIQ devices it is strongly recommended that you update to this latest version.

Here's the release history for GapiDraw 3.5c:

GapiDraw 3.5c [2005-03-17]
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SDK Additions

* Symbian. GapiDraw for Symbian is now shipped as two separate LIB files - one for Series 60 devices, and one for UIQ devices.
* Symbian. The Symbian sample applications now ships with an <appname>_caption.rss resource file so that they now show the correct application name.

SDK Changes

* Symbian. The Symbian sample build scripts (BuildSample.cmd) now assume GapiDraw is installed on C:. If you have installed GapiDraw on another partition, please change line #2 in all BuildSample.cmd script files.
* Win32. The Dell X50 sends dual key codes for each button press, the second "shadow" key press (value 91) is now filtered by CGapiApplication.

Bug Fixes

* Symbian. GapiDraw now works correctly on the SendoX device.
* Symbian. The UIQ sample applications did not compile correctly. This has been fixed by splitting the Symbian LIB file into two versions - one for the Series 60 devices, and one for the UIQ devices.
* Win32. Fixed a rotation issue with some of the sample applications when starting in non-portrait display mode on high resolution Windows Mobile 2003SE devices.

GapiDraw 3.5b can be downloaded at www.develant.com

Boo...no compact framework support?

Right now programming using the Wrapper. Initially no problems so far but I miss OnMinimize and OnRestore from GapiApplication. Also is missing FreeSurface from GapiSurface, but not from GapiRGBASurface
I need feedback on this issues to add the functionality... or maybe I'll port the code to C# (I hate VB.NET) and modify it, and also supress the exception raising which I don't like for games programming.
Back to programming...

I'm finding too much trouble fighting against my lack of knowledge of gapidraw and the possible issues with the wrapper. I've decided to port all the graphics code to C++ and maintain the game logic in C#; the C++ code will be a dll invoked from C# with specific game calls, but all the gapidraw code will be C++ natively.
Sorry if this don't provide the feedback needed for the wrapper, but I think it's the best way for developing my game.
Thanks again for the code. If you need help anyway with the wrapper, I can try any code you throw to me

Best regards

Gusi.

Well, the FreeSurface missing from the GapiSurface is because there is no similar method in the GapiSurface API. I seem to remember having this conversation with Johan at one point, perhaps he can remember better than I why this isn't there.

The OnMinimize and OnRestore, you're right. Those should be in there. I'll see if I can go about adding those to the class.

The language choice should really be a non-starter. The wrapper is its own assembly, so you can link that to your C# app. The GapiApplication can also be left in a separate assembly and then subclassed. (You shouldn't be implementing it directly) However, the GapiApplication object is a pretty trivial wrapper to the underlying code and can easily be written in the language of your choice.

As to the exception throwing...one of my primary objectives was to bring the GapiDraw API in to the .Net paradigm. It will *not* throw exceptions during regular usage. The only time it throws exceptions is when a situation it cannot handle occurs. This is the sort of stuff you should be trapping and handling anyway. I'm not sure where the hostility towards exceptions is coming from, but I'm firmly convinced they are the way to go. (To do otherwise would be circumventing the .Net error handling methodology)

If you're having trouble with the API, I'm on MSN about 16 hours a day. Plus there are tons of excellent articles in these forums, if you have a Gapi-specific question.

Your mix of managed and unmanaged code sounds frightening to me, but if it's something you're more comfortable with, by all means, go for it.

As I've always said...the best language for the job is the one that lets you get it done.