VX/VTWin
It is often difficult to migrate an OpenVMS application to a Windows® environment. If the program was designed to use the capabilities of the VT range of terminals the display output will not be as anticipated in the Windows® environment. The use of VT function keys simply results in worthless banging of the PF1 key. Re-designing an application to work in a "true" Windows® fashion -- with event-driven windows and mouse control, etc. -- can be time consuming and costly.
Sector7 has a solution: VX/VTWin. Without any extra API calls or changes to your application code, VX/VTWin provides the capability for your applications to output VT terminal control sequences to a Windows® VT220-compatible console window at run-time. Not only will the output be the same, but VX/VTWin also offers the same keyboard and function key capabilities as the VT terminal, so all your program input still works!
So how does it work? It’s simple. Link your program with the VX/VTWin library at build time. When your program runs, all of the screen and keyboard I/O is re-directed via VX/VTWin. The output display will take the form of VX/VTWin’s VT terminal window, thereby interpreting the VT control sequences and providing compatible keyboard feedback
Because VX/VTWin is a "true window" as opposed to a console window, it offers the benefits of re-sizing, cut-and-paste and the ability to modify the resources of the output window to enhance the Windows® look-and-feel of your application.
Specifications
VT Terminal Functionality
- Comprehensive support for VT220 control functionality
- Function Key, editing keypad & numeric keypad toolbars which can be disabled, floating or docked with the main window
- Fully configurable VT -> PC keyboard mappings
- Device pass-thru to Windows® printer devices and/or data ports
- DEC Display Controls mode available for development
- 80/132 column x 24 line display
- Full color through ANSI escape sequences
- Bold, underline, blink and reverse attributes
- Comprehensive color and attribute mapping
- Graphics character set for line drawing, etc.
- Euro character support
User Configurable Resources
- Icon shown on the desktop, in the top left hand corner of the title and on the start bar
- Title displayed by the local VT application
- Dialog displayed when the user clicks "Help/About"
- Help/About menu item text
- More are planned for future releases
Supported Languages
- Microsoft® Visual BASIC®
- Microsoft® Visual C++®
- Compaq Visual Fortran
- Others to follow
Supported Platforms
- Windows 95®
- Windows 98
- Windows NT® v4
- Windows 2000®
Sample Screen Displays
The Windows® API provides no inherent support for screen manipulation by use of VT terminal escape sequences, so they are displayed like any other piece of text instead of being interpreted…
You could of course make use of the ANSI.SYS device driver under Windows®, but this supports a limited set of VT terminal functionality…
Linking the same program with VX/VTWin, the double-high, double-wide output is represented in its true form.
