[CONNECT Update 12 C] 'native C' migration from V8i

Pascal Moron said:

the constant 'UNIT_ANGLE_Radians' is remapped by 'StandardUnit::AngleRadians'
Surely this kind of syntax cannot be compiled in C file

The C++ MicroStationAPI makes extensive use of namespaces, classes, smart pointers and templates, all of which are alien to C.

Pascal Moron said:

I want to stay in native C

That's a bad strategy.  We've been able to use C++ to write more functional, more concise, more readable, more reliable and higher performance applications than MDL since MicroStation V8 2004 Edition.  That was fifteen or more years ago.  But keep in mind that the ISO C++ standard is compatible with ISO C.

Pascal Moron said:

it must be a way keep using those old 'native C' API

Since MicroStation V8 2004 Edition, new functionality has been provided by the MicroStationAPI.  For example, the valuable GraphicElementEnumerator class has no MDL analogue.  Expect MDL to diminish while the MicroStationAPI grows.

Much of MDL/C relied on complex macros and 'magic numbers'.  The MicroStationAPI eschews that style of secret programming in favour of a well-designed interface.

Pascal Moron said:

For example 'mdlScan_initialize()'

The mdlScan_api is an example of a horrible C interface.  Its use depends on a set of complex macros to select element types, and extensive bit-twiddling to choose levels.  Its design emulated Intergraph's hardware DGN file scanner, which was a physical bolt-on to the mini-computers used by their customers.

With the MicroStationAPI, you can more simply enumerate elements.  You can abandon the mdlScan_api, although you might occasionally find a need to use its better-designed descendant, the mdlScanCriteria_api.

Pascal Moron said:

the constant 'UNIT_ANGLE_Radians' is remapped by 'StandardUnit::AngleRadians'
Surely this kind of syntax cannot be compiled in C file

The C++ MicroStationAPI makes extensive use of namespaces, classes, smart pointers and templates, all of which are alien to C.

Pascal Moron said:

I want to stay in native C

That's a bad strategy.  We've been able to use C++ to write more functional, more concise, more readable, more reliable and higher performance applications than MDL since MicroStation V8 2004 Edition.  That was fifteen or more years ago.  But keep in mind that the ISO C++ standard is compatible with ISO C.

Pascal Moron said:

it must be a way keep using those old 'native C' API

Since MicroStation V8 2004 Edition, new functionality has been provided by the MicroStationAPI.  For example, the valuable GraphicElementEnumerator class has no MDL analogue.  Expect MDL to diminish while the MicroStationAPI grows.

Much of MDL/C relied on complex macros and 'magic numbers'.  The MicroStationAPI eschews that style of secret programming in favour of a well-designed interface.

Pascal Moron said:

For example 'mdlScan_initialize()'

The mdlScan_api is an example of a horrible C interface.  Its use depends on a set of complex macros to select element types, and extensive bit-twiddling to choose levels.  Its design emulated Intergraph's hardware DGN file scanner, which was a physical bolt-on to the mini-computers used by their customers.

With the MicroStationAPI, you can more simply enumerate elements.  You can abandon the mdlScan_api, although you might occasionally find a need to use its better-designed descendant, the mdlScanCriteria_api.