Relating to Perl features

Hello All,
I heard that perl has lot many features within it some of which
specifically cater to the windows operating system, the Win32 API
series. I had specific question relating to the Win32 API sets
supported through it and so thought of posting a query to this mailing
list.

First thing, I wanted to know is that, Can Perl scripting be used in
an Embedded Windows Platform like WinCE? If so, can it be supported
for all versions of WinCE till the latest release(WinCE-5.0 i.e.
Macallan)?

Second thing, I wanted to know is that,suppose I have a scenario in
which some application is running in WinCE and on a target board. Are
there any features in Perl wherein the user intervention with the
application can be automated? What I mean is that, instead of using
the display for giving in the necessary commands, is it possible to
simulate these commands by scripting through perl?

Please help me with providing in with the info if possible.

Regards,
xyz.

azbycx_47@yahoo.com wrote:
> I heard that perl has lot many features within it some of which
> specifically cater to the windows operating system, the Win32 API
> series.

Perl is pretty well platform-agnostic. The Win32 stuff is a set of
*modules* that give Perl access to Windows features. It is not part of
Perl itself.

> I had specific question relating to the Win32 API sets supported
> through it and so thought of posting a query to this mailing list.

This list/newsgroup is for discussion of Perl/Tk. The Win32 modules are
off-topic here. comp.lang.perl.modules or comp.lang.perl.misc would be
better choices. [followups set to c.l.p.misc]

> Can Perl scripting be used in an Embedded Windows Platform like
> WinCE?

Yes -- the perlport manpage (for 5.8.4) lists WinCE among the supported
platforms.

> If so, can it be supported for all versions of WinCE till the latest
> release(WinCE-5.0 i.e. Macallan)?

Presumably.

> suppose I have a scenario in which some application is running in
> WinCE and on a target board. Are there any features in Perl wherein
> the user intervention with the application can be automated? What I
> mean is that, instead of using the display for giving in the
> necessary commands, is it possible to simulate these commands by
> scripting through perl?

It's almost certainly possible, but that doesn't mean that there's a
drop-in solution for you.

At any rate, we can't answer that question for you -- it depends
entirely on your application and environment. If your app does all its
communication through STDIO it should be simple to connect to it via
Perl. If it uses some other API, you'll have to look for a module that
supports it, or write your own.

-mjc