User Guide: Upgrade to OWLNext with ease (documentation, tips, FAQ, etc.)

[Vidar Hasfjord]

To simplify the upgrade of your application code to the latest version of OWLNext — from either OWL 5 or a previous version of OWLNext — be sure that you make full use of the available documentation on our project wiki.

The general upgrade process is outlined in "Upgrading from OWL". The section "Changes in OWLNext" describes the changes between OWL 5 and the latest version of OWLNext. Note that this section has been updated for the latest version, so be sure you read it, even if you are just updating your code to the latest version.

In particular, the major changes to handlers and response tables in 6.40 and later are described in subsection "Message dispatch overhaul", which links to "Windows Message Dispatch in OWLNext", where the new implementation is documented. This section also links to the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions), where questions about porting and compatibility issues are answered.

The upgrade guide also links to article "OWL Compatibility Build Modes in OWLNext", which documents the revertible changes in the API (i.e. reverted when OWL5_COMPAT build mode is used). The use of the compatibility mode may ease the porting of old code based on OWL 5.

For help on migrating to the latest version 7, also see "Help on incompatible changes in 7 series" [discussion:e7350279af].

For problems with resource files and opening them in Visual Studio's Resource Editor see [discussion:5af0d44392] and FAQ.

If you can improve the documentation, please feel free to do so. And if you have tips and tricks that can be helpful while porting code to the latest version of OWLNext, please post below.