MCL

A new kind of machine code library for AutoHotkey.

THIS IS ALPHA SOFTWARE

Currently only supports AutoHotkey V1 U32/U64.

Requires a gcc-based Windows C/C++ compiler (for example, mingw-w64). MSVC is not supported.

If you run into any problems, please report them as GitHub issues.

Example libraries

• https://github.com/G33kDude/cJson.ahk
• https://github.com/CloakerSmoker/PDFGen.ahk

How to use it

From C/C++

The header mcl.h provides macros for "talking" to AHK from your code, mainly, this means "exporting" a function to AHK, or having AHK import a function from a .dll file before loading your code.

However, this header is not needed. By default, the __main function will be called if there are no "exported" functions, or if mcl.h is not used at all.

These macros are as follows:

• MCL_EXPORT(Name)
  will "export" the function Name to AHK, allowing the code to function as more of a library. See Examples/C_as_library.ahk for an example of using compiled code as a library.

  ---

• MCL_EXPORT_INLINE(ReturnType, Name, Parameters)
  will export and define Name at the same time, in the same place.

  ---

• MCL_EXPORT_GLOBAL(Name)
  will export Name to AHK like it is a function. However, the "address" of the function is truly just the address of the global variable Name, and cannot be called like a function. See Examples/C_set_global_from_AHK.ahk for an example of getting/setting a C global variable from AHK.

  ---

• MCL_IMPORT(ReturnType, DllName, Name, ParameterTypes)
  will import the function Name from the .dll file DllName, and declare Name to be a function pointer to said function, with the given ReturnType/ParameterTypes. See Examples/C_import_dll_function.ahk for an example of this macro.

Additionally, MCL provides a limited set of "fake" standard headers, which all use mcl.h to import/define implementations of common standard library functions.

The following headers are provided, but none contain the full set of functions mandated by the C standard.

• stddef.h
• stdio.h (note: does not have a printf implementation, but most file based functions should work)
• stdlib.h
• string.h (note: only implements very common operations)
• time.h

If calling a standard library function gives you an error, then that function isn't implemented. Feel free to open an issue to request having the function added.

In C++, mcl.h uses malloc/free in order to implement the global new/delete operators, allowing you to use them in your C++. For an example of using new/delete, see Examples/C++_with_new_delete.ahk.

MCL also provides a limited set of "fake" Windows API headers, designed to make interoperability with the Windows API based on MS documentation examples easier. These do not and are not intended to match the Windows SDK originals, but follow along with similar naming at a much smaller coverage.

The following headers are provided.

• windows.h (note: defines data types as specified here https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/winprog/windows-data-types)
• oaidl.h (note: defines some common COM types)

From AHK

In AHK, MCL provides all functionality through the MCL class.

Any method which is described as "returning compiled code" can return two different values:

• A pointer to the __main function if it is defined.
• Or if multiple functions are exported to AHK through the MCL_EXPORT/MCL_EXPORT_INLINE macros (as described above), then an object which maps {FunctionName: Address}.

See Examples/C_return_struct_to_ahk.ahk for an example of code with only a __main function, and Examples/C_as_library.ahk for an example of code which exports multiple functions.

Now, for the API:

• MCL.FromC(Code, Options := MCL.Options.OutputAHKBit)
• MCL.FromCPP(Code, Options := MCL.Options.OutputAHKBit)
  Compiles Code as C/C++ (throwing an exception for any compile errors) and returns the compiled code.

  ---

• MCL.FromString(Code)
  Loads Code, which is pre-compiled code packed into a string (returned by one of the following methods) and returns the loaded compiled code.
• MCL.AHKFromC(Code, Options := MCL.Options.OutputAHKBit)
• MCL.AHKFromCPP(Code, Options := MCL.Options.OutputAHKBit)
  Like MCL.FromC()/MCL.FromCPP(), but packs the compiled code into a string formatted as AHK source code, which MCL.FromString(Code) can load.

  ---

• MCL.StandaloneAHKFromC(Code, Options := MCL.Options.OutputAHKBit, Name := "MyC")
• MCL.StandaloneAHKFromCPP(Code, Options := MCL.Options.OutputAHKBit, Name := "MyCPP")
  Like MCL.AHKFromC(Code), but returns code which does not require MCL at all, and can be used without including MCL.ahk. This code will be formatted as a single function, which returns the compiled code in the same format as all other functions.

For any method which takes an Options parameter, the following options can be provided to control the bitness/format of the generated code:

• MCL.Options.OutputAHKBit
  Generates code which will run in A_PtrSize * 8 AHK. So, on AHK U32, this flag tells MCL to generate 32 bit code. On AHK U64, this flag tells MCL to generate 64 bit code.
• MCL.Options.Output32Bit
  Generates 32 bit code, ignoring the bitness of the AHK executable.
• MCL.Options.Output64Bit
  Generates 64 bit code, ignoring the bitness of the AHK executable.
• MCL.Options.OutputBothBit
  Only valid for methods which generate AHK code, such as MCL.AHKFromC or MCL.StandaloneAHKFromCPP. Generates code which is both 32 and 64 bit, and can run under either. This means compiling the code twice, once for each bitness. This also effectively doubles the size of the code.

However, if MCL is running under 32 bit AHK, the options MCL.Options.Output64Bit and MCL.Options.OutputBothBit will not work. This is because processing 64 bit code/data requires using 64 bit integers, which are not supported by 32 bit AHK.

Additionally, the following flag exists for the MCL.AHKFromC and MCL.AHKFromCPP methods:

• MCL.Options.DoNotFormat
  Do not format the resulting code as an AHK string literal, instead simply return it as a string. This allows for chaining, like MCL.FromString(MCL.AHKFromC(Code, MCL.Options.DoNotFormat)).

And that's it.

Differences

Compared to tools like MCode4GCC or mcode-generator, MCL has a much shorter list of limitations.

With MCL, you can define multiple functions, use global variables, and use function pointers (ex: return &some_function_defined_in_c; will return a valid pointer).

Generally, any language feature supported by standard C should work. If you find something that doesn't, please report it as an issue.