Q43041: Calculating Memory Requirements for MS-DOS-Based Apps
Article: Q43041
Product(s): Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit
Version(s): WINDOWS:3.0,3.1
Operating System(s):
Keyword(s): kb16bitonly
Last Modified: 06-NOV-1999
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The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Windows Software Development Kit (SDK) versions 3.0, 3.1
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SUMMARY
=======
It is extremely difficult for an application to determine in advance how much
memory an MS-DOS (non-Windows) application will require to run. This data can be
estimated under real and standard modes; however, there is no method to
determine this information in enhanced mode.
MORE INFORMATION
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The Windows module WinOldAp is required to run MS-DOS-based applications. One
complication is that once WinOldAp is in memory, it can run many applications.
In the following table, "PIF Req'd" indicates the amount of memory required for
the application as listed in the corresponding PIF file and "PIF Des'd"
indicates the amount of memory desired by the application as listed in the
corresponding PIF file. The following table indicates the difference between
applications:
PIF PIF Free Mem Free Mem Memory
Req'd Des'd Before After Usage
-----------------------------------------
160 160 418 155 263 First copy run
160 160 153 152 1 Second copy run
As this table indicates, the second copy of the application costs almost no
memory. This is because the two copies of the application share the same memory
and are swapped in and out of memory (to disk, to a RAM drive, or to expanded
memory, depending on the WIN.INI settings).
Another factor is the order in which MS-DOS-based applications are loaded. The
statistics below demonstrate these differences. In the first case, an 80K
program is loaded followed by a 160K program. In the second case, the 160K
program is loaded followed by the 80K program: Case 1:
PIF PIF Free Mem Free Mem Memory
Req'd Des'd Before After Usage
-----------------------------------------
80 80 418 244 174 App #1 runs first
160 160 244 37 207 App #2 runs second
381 Total memory usage
Case 2:
PIF PIF Free Mem Free Mem Memory
Req'd Des'd Before After Usage
----------------------------------------
160 160 418 154 264 App #2 runs first
80 80 154 153 1 App #1 runs second
265 Total memory usage
These results are not as unusual as they may appear. In the second case, the
larger application (App #2) is loaded first. This sets the WinOldAp swapping
partition large enough to hold the application. When the smaller application
(App #1) is run, it fits into the existing partition. In contrast, in the first
case, the smaller application is run first, therefore the swapping area is not
set large enough to hold the larger application. When the larger application is
loaded, WinOldAp must create a completely separate partition to hold it.
The amount of memory needed to run an old application varies, depending on the
following:
1. Whether or not WinOldAp is loaded
2. Whether the existing swap area (if any) is large enough to hold it
3. Whether the application screen is saved in text or graphics mode
4. Whether large-frame, small-frame, or no EMS is in use (this variable does not
apply to Windows version 3.1)
5. The contents of the Memory Required and Memory Desired fields in the PIF file
6. Other factors related to the inner workings of the Windows memory manager and
the WinOldAp module
These methods are not applicable to enhanced mode Windows. The only way to
determine if an MS-DOS-based application will run under enhanced mode is to
attempt to run the application and see if the attempt succeeds. Even this
information is not available to another application because the WinExec return
value only indicates that WinOldAp has been successfully loaded into memory.
This value does not contain any information regarding the real target
application.
The handling of this type of problem is addressed by Windows version 3.1. In
Windows version 3.1, the TOOLHELP library can be used to retrieve the Exit Code
of a Windows-based application. This also works in Windows version 3.0, however,
the problem is that WINOLDAP (the MS-DOS-based application's Windows agent) for
Windows version 3.0 always exits with exit code 0. Therefore, there is no way to
obtain results of the attempted MS-DOS-based application run. The version of
WINOLDAP included with Windows version 3.1 will exit with the exit code of the
MS-DOS-based application that was run, or one of the following special values:
;
; Special WINOLDAP exit codes
;
EXIT_NoFile EQU 81h ; Could not start due to file or
; directory access problem
EXIT_NoMem EQU 82h ; Could not start due to insufficient
; memory
EXIT_Crash EQU 83h ; VM crashed (abnormal termination)
EXIT_BadVer EQU 84h ; Could not start due to bad version
EXIT_ExecFail EQU 85h ; Could not start because MS-DOS EXEC failed
EXIT_TaskAPIFail EQU 86h ; Could not start because task switch API
; refused start (standard mode only)
NOTE THAT THESE SPECIAL CODES MAY OVERLAP WITH AN EXIT CODE USED BY THE
MS-DOS-BASED APPLICATION. If this happens, there is no way to correct it other
than to change the MS-DOS-based application to use different exit codes that do
not conflict with these special ones.
ALSO NOTE: The exit code of a .BAT file run is always 0. This is a property of
COMMAND.COM, which is part of MS-DOS.
Additional query words: no32bit 3.00 3.10
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Keywords : kb16bitonly
Technology : kbAudDeveloper kbWin3xSearch kbSDKSearch kbWinSDKSearch kbWinSDK300 kbWinSDK310
Version : WINDOWS:3.0,3.1
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