[Issue 1833] New: std.c.windows.windows should use enums for constants, or be more selective about use of extern(Windows)

[d-bugmail at puremagic.com]

http://d.puremagic.com/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=1833

           Summary: std.c.windows.windows should use enums for constants, or
                    be more selective about use of extern(Windows)
           Product: D
           Version: 1.025
          Platform: PC
        OS/Version: Windows
            Status: NEW
          Severity: normal
          Priority: P2
         Component: Phobos
        AssignedTo: bugzilla at digitalmars.com
        ReportedBy: wbaxter at gmail.com


The phobos module std.c.windows.windows defines many constants like so:

extern(Windows) { 
   ...
   const DWORD MAILSLOT_NO_MESSAGE = cast(DWORD)-1;
   ...
}

This is a bad practice because 

A) all those constants bloat the executables.  Using an enum instead fixes
that.

B) consts with Windows linkage are mangled without their module name, so if any
other module defines the same constant with Windows linkage, the linker will
complain of duplicate symbols.  This can be fixed either by using enums or by
not putting such constants in extern(Windows) blocks.

B may not seem like such a big deal, but a number of fairly high-profile
projects (Tangobos and DFL for example) contain copies of std.c.windows.windows
that are modified slightly in one way or another.  The copied versions of
std.c.windows.windows should be fixed too, but Phobos should provide a good
example of the "right" way to handle constants to begin with.


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