annotate PROGRAMMING_NOTES @ 10658:61930cadca7c

[gaim-migrate @ 12190] sf patch #1108846, from Richard Laager This patch allows one to create protocol plugin options which are masked. This is useful for storing passwords, etc. This patch implements functions similar to the masking functions for general plugin preferences. I'm submitting this for inclusion in Gaim because I've written a plugin which hides the NickServ or Q (for QuakeNet) authentication details from the user. It makes IRC feel more like the other protocols in Gaim. I'd like to have the passwords masked in the preferences to match other password fields in Gaim. This is the only change to Gaim I need for my plugin to work. committer: Tailor Script <[e-mail]>

Notes on keeping GAIM OS independant
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General
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- Use G_DIR_SEPARATOR_S and G_DIR_SEPARATOR for paths

- Use g_getenv, g_snprintf, g_vsnprintf

- Use gaim_home_dir instead of g_get_home_dir or g_getenv("HOME")

- Make sure when including win32dep.h that it is the last header to
  be included.

- Open binary files when reading or writing with 'b' mode.

  e.g: fopen("somefile", "wb");

  Not doing so will open files in windows using defaut translation mode. 
  i.e. newline -> <CR><LF>

Paths
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- DATADIR, LOCALEDIR & LIBDIR are defined in wingaim as functions.
  Doing the following will therefore break the windows build:

  printf("File in DATADIR is: %s\n", DATADIR G_DIR_SEPARATOR_S "pic.png");

  it should be:

  printf("File in DATADIR is: %s%s%s\n", DATADIR, G_DIR_SEPARATOR_S, "pic.png");

PLUGINS & PROTOS
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- G_MODULE_EXPORT all functions which are to be accessed from outside the
  scope of its "dll" or "so". (E.G. gaim_plugin_init)

- G_MODULE_IMPORT all global variables which are located outside your
  dynamic library. (E.G. connections)

  (Not doing this will cause "Memory Access Violations" in Win32)