Symantec Top 10

This column, written by Symantec’s Technical Support Engineers, is dedicated to answering common problems relating to Symantec C++ 8.0 for Power Macintosh.

By Michael Hopkins and Craig Conner, Symantec Corp.

Q: I have made some modifications to some of the ANSI library sources and I want to have PPCANSI.o use my new versions of those sources. Can I rebuild PPCANSI.o using the Symantec Project manager, or do I have to use MPW?

A: You can build PPCANSI.o directly from Symantec C++ 8.0 for Power Macintosh. There is a ready-made project, PPCANSI_XCOF.Π in Standard Libraries:Headers and Source, that you can recompile. However, for the purpose of illustrating how to create static libraries, we will discuss how to convert PPCANSI.Π to a static library.

First, make a copy of PPCANSI.Π (in the Standard Library folder ). Open the copy and remove the following files: InterfaceLib.xcoff, MathLib.xcoff, and shlbPPCRuntime.o. Now, go to the Project menu and select Options to bring up the options dialog for your copy of PPCANSI.Π. Select Project Type from the scrolling list. From the Project Type Popup Menu, choose Static Library. Dismiss the alert dialog “You cannot build Static Libraries using the Incremental Linker. Change to use PPCLink & MakePEF?” by clicking the Change button. Now the File Type should read XCOF and the Creator should be RAIN. (See picture below)

Click on the Set destination button and navigate the StandardPutFile dialog to select the destination for your built library. Your target name should be PPCANSI.o (or select another name if you don’t want to replace your default ANSI library.)

You can save these options your version of PPCANSI.o by selecting Save Options As from the Options popup menu. Enter the name of your option set in the edit box and click on the Save button. Now exit the Project Options dialog by clicking the Save button at the bottom of the dialog.

To use your newly created option set, go to your project window and select the name of your newly created option set from the Options popup menu (see picture below). Before you build your library, make sure that you have an alias to ToolServer in your (Tools) folder. Then choose Build Library from the Build menu to create a new .o file.

Creating a Project Options Set

Choosing the Project Option Set

Q: I am trying to open my application from the Finder by selecting a group of documents and double clicking on one of them. In my application code, I use CountAppFiles() to determine how many files the user selected, and it doesn’t seem to work on my PowerPC. This code used to work fine on my 68K machine. What is the matter?

A: CountAppFiles(), GetAppFiles(), ClrAppFiles(), GetAppParms(), and getappparms() are not supported on the PowerPC. You must use AppleEvents to determine how many files need to be opened. See Inside Macintosh: Interapplication Communication for more information on how to use AppleEvents.

Q: I am going through the Hello World C++ Application tutorial on page 10-15 of the user’s guide and I get a bunch of link errors. How can I resolve these problems?

A: There is an omission in the manual. You will need to add InterfaceLib.xcoff and MathLib.xcoff to your project. These libraries are in the PPC Libraries folder within the Macintosh Libraries folder.

Q: I am writing a C++ program using IOStreams and when I compile it in Symantec C++ 8.0, I get “Internal Error: cgfunc.c line 1476”. How do I get around this problem?

A: This internal error is caused by having too many expressions following a cout statement. For example:

 cout <<“x”<<endl <<“x”<<endl <<“x”<<endl <<“x”<<endl
      <<“x”<<endl <<“x”<<endl <<“x”<<endl <<“x”<<endl
      <<“x”<<endl <<“x”<<endl <<“x”<<endl <<“x”<<endl
      <<“x”<<endl <<“x”<<endl <<“x”<<endl <<“x”<<endl
      <<“x”<<endl <<“x”<<endl <<“x”<<endl <<“x”<<endl
      <<“x”<<endl <<“x”<<endl <<“x”<<endl <<“x”<<endl;

Split up the statements above to correct the problem. In some cases, this error message will occur several lines after the actual cause of the problem.

Q: I am getting link errors with CtoPstr and PtoCstr. Am I missing a library, or are these functions no longer available?

A: CtoPstr() and PtoCatr() have been renamed as c2pstr() and p2cstr(). To use them, you need to include the Apple header file Strings.h.

Q: When I choose “Run with Debugger” from the Project menu, the debugger launches, but then I get returned to the Project Manager. Why does this happen?

A: The Symantec Debugger is dependent upon the Apple application Power Mac DebugServices to provide low-level debugging services for PowerPC executables. If DebugServices is not working properly, the Symantec Debugger will not run. Here are some things to check or try

• Make sure that you have Power Mac DebugServices on your local hard drive. It should be located in your (Tools) folder in your Symantec C++ for PowerMac folder.

• If you are not using System 7.5, make sure that you have ObjectSupportLib, PPCTraceEnabler, and AppleScriptLib in your system folder. These items can be found on your CD in the Apple Software folder, and then in the Pre-System 7.5 Additions folder.

• If you are using System 7.5, try turning off all of your extensions and rebooting. Debugger Nub Controls, PPC Debugger Nub, and PPCDebuggerNub INIT in particular may conflict with the Symantec Debugger.

• Throw away the Symantec Debugger Prefs file located in the Preferences folder of your system folder.

Q: I just got System Update 7.5.1 and when I run my application under the Symantec Debugger, I get “The application ‘appname.pef’ could not be launched because of an unknown reason (error = -27324).” What is wrong with the debugger?

A: Nothing is wrong with the Symantec Debugger. The problem lies with Power Mac DebugServices which is not compatible with System 7.5.1. You need to get Power Mac DebugServices 2.0b14 or later to resolve this incompatibility; available from Apple Computer, or as part of our latest free online upgrade.

<ftp://devtools.symantec.com/macintosh/updaters/devtools/
sym.cpp-va-tcl.updates/>

<ftp://ftp.info.apple.com/Apple.Support.Area/Developer_Services/
Tool_Chest/Testing_&_Debugging/
PowerMacintoshDebugging/Power_Mac_DebugServices_v2.0b14/>

Q: Why is the menu option for Run with Debugger grayed out?

A: To run with the debugger, you need to have linked with the Incremental Linker, by choosing Incremental linker in the Linker page of the Project Options dialog, and set the project to Application. You will not be able to debug the executable if you use PPCLink & MakePEF, or have selected a static or shared library as the project type.

Q: Why doesn’t the Project Manager automatically detect changes to my source files made by external editors and recompile them when I run?

A: The Project Manager will automatically detect changes to your source files if you are using an external editor that supports the new Symantec Project Manager editor interface. Otherwise, you will need to enable the check box Always check file dates from the Project page of the Project Options dialog.

Q: When I use the Find command in the editor, it always searches forward. Is there any way to make it search backward?

A: Yes. When you use the Find command from the search menu, it will find the first instance of the search string starting from the current insertion point. Command-G finds the next matching string, while Command-Shift-G finds the previous matching string. You can find other special features by experimenting with modifier keys while pulling down menus.

The following are additional features of Symantec C++ 8.0:

• Double-clicking on either an open brace ‘{’ or close brace ‘}’ in the editor will select the text between the matching braces.

• Command -> expands groups in the project window

• Command <- collapses groups in the project window

• Holding down the command key while scrolling windows in the editor makes scrolling twice as fast.

• Holding down the option key while scrolling accelerates scrolling by a factor of three.

Special Thanks to: Mark Baldwin, Glenn Austin, Phil Shapiro, Thomas Emerson, Colen Garoutte-Carson, Rick Hartmann, Kevin Quah, Steve Howard, Scott Morison, Levi Brown, Noah Lieberman, and Andy McFarland.