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Messages - Chris Boss

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1
General Discussion / What should I do with EZGUI ? (its future)
« on: September 07, 2024, 02:25:20 pm »
I am in a quandary of what to do with EZGUI ?

Powerbasic, simply put is dead. I won't go into the details, but it is a fact and the chances of it resurfacing are slim at best.

So what to do with EZGUI, without Powerbasic. There is too much code for me to port it to another language, unless that language supports a syntax at least close to Powerbasic. I used a lot of tricks found in the PB language which would need to exist in whatever I port it to. Second, 64 bit is critical to make it worth the time to port EZGUI.

EZGUI is over 50,000 lines of Powerbasic code (with a tiny bit of inline assembler).

Is it worth it to port it ?
I think so. EZGUI , as far as GUI tools go, has features far beyond anything in the PB compiler. It is so complex it is almost a programming language in of itself. There are over 1000 GUI commands in it, and so many low level features is can be extended to add even much more.

Kevin Diggins BCX looks interesting to me. That may be one approach to port EZGUI.

If one looks at many of the "other" BASIC's out there (indie developed BASIC's), I doubt any of them come close to the feature set of EZGUI. EZGUI is also quite unique in that I wrote 100% of it from scratch. Not a single line of so called "open source" code or libraries. What ever I do with it, I don't have to worry about third party licenses getting in the way.

Languages like Purebasic for example use a third party 3D engine. EZGUI's graphic engine I wrote myself from scratch.

EZGUI has features very unique to it such as:

2D Sprite animation engine which is very fast and does not require DirectX. It uses the Windows GDI (using Device Independent Bitmaps). It creates its own memory buffers and handles all drawing via my own code and then Bitblt's the memory buffer to the screen. It is very fast. I benchmarked to Patrice Terriers GDImage (which uses GDIplus) and the animation was significantly faster.

3D OpenGL based scripting language. It even supports loading and displaying STL 3D models (used in 3D printing). It is so fast it can load and display huge 3D models with over 1 million polygons in a few seconds, even on a old computer and does not need the latest (bleeding edge) hardware to do it.

Drag and Drop Visual Designer engine (build your own programming visual designers, form editors).

and much more.

If you have any suggestions, feel free to post them here or contact me via email (support@cwsof.com)



2
EZGUI 5 support forum / Re: Using EZ_SETONLAYER with a Page Form
« on: August 13, 2024, 09:29:57 pm »
A lot may depend upon when you create the page form.

I find it best to add the page forms during the parent forms %EZ_Loaded event. EZGUI does not like shifting between forms control creation mid stream.

Also it may be difficult to put the page form itself on the parent forms layers.

I really didn't do a lot of testing with layers on page forms as well as the parent form at the same time. There may be issues.

My suggest is simply to experiment with different ways of handling things. You may find one that works for your situation.

Now one technique which may work better is to convert your page form into a a Component (see: EZ_DefComponent command).

Components are forms which have controls on them which are treated as it is a single control. A component can even be used multiple times on the same parent form.

Since a Component is treated as if it was a single control it may work better with Layers.


3
EZGUI 5 support forum / Re: Questions about PButton and EZ_LoadPicture
« on: August 05, 2024, 08:09:20 pm »
If you want to change the image on the Picture Button, etc. dynamically using EZ_LoadPicture you must use the EZ_SetImage command to change the image, passing the value returned by EZ_LoadPicture.

This sends a message to the control that a new picture needs to be used. 

4
EZGUI 5 support forum / Re: Questions about PButton and EZ_LoadPicture
« on: August 05, 2024, 08:06:35 pm »
It is best to use Bitmaps which are 256 color for Picture Button and Picture controls.

EZ_LoadPicture can load 24 or 32 bit images for use with the Canvas control, but you draw them yourself using the EZGUI canvas commands. The Picture Button and Picture controls though do the drawing themselves and 256 color seems to be the most they can handle.


5
Advanced EZGUI / Re: Number Component
« on: July 17, 2024, 02:33:22 pm »
Just for your info, EZGUI has a masked edit control which can do this.

From the Help file under the EZ_Text command:


Masked Edit Features


            EZGUI converts the standard Text (Edit) control to a Masked Edit control if you define a Mask in the CProp$ parameter (after the properties).  The Mask is a set of characters between { }   characters (curly brackets). For example, a Mask for a telephone number would be:


            "{(999)999-9999}"


            The Mask must be added to the CProp$ (properties) parameter after the standard properties are listed  ( ie.   "ESTG({999)-999-9999}" )


            The Text field will also be set to a maximum length based on the length of the Mask. The Mask characters are defined below.


Standard Mask Characters:


      X - Any Character
      A - Alpha Character only and Space
      U - Alpha Character only and Space. Converted to Upper case !
      9 - Digits only (0 to 9)
      # - Digits (0 to 9) and space, +, -  and period
      N - AlphaNumeric and Space
      L - Logical (Y/N or T/F)
      Y - Logical (Y/N)
      T - Logocal (T/F)
      P - PlaceHolder when not using E property (means Read Only)


            Examples of Standard Masks:


     (999)999-9999 - Telephone number
     XXXXXXXXXX    -        Any text
     AAAAAAAAAA    - Alpha only
     UUUUUUUUU     - Uppercase only
     UUU-9999999   - Part number
     99/99/9999    - Date




            All other non-mask characters will be used "as is". They are frozen and can't be edited. If the Text Control is multiline, the Mask property is ignored. If the Text Control is readonly (does not have E (edit) property), then all mask characters are converted to P (Placeholder) mask character.


Calculator Mode Mask Characters:


      +  - This mask allows a Space (for Plus) or a minus sign ( - )
           and is used only in the first character position of a
           calculator mode mask.
      #  - Floating Point Mask
           (you can use a fixed decimal with this mask)
      %  - Whole Number Mask
      $_ - When a Dollar sign and a space are put to the
           left of a Calculator mode mask, then a $ and
           space will appear to the left in the textbox.


              ie. "$ ###.##"


      _% - When a space and % character are put at the
           end of a Calculator mode mask, then a space
           and % character will appear in the textbox at
           the far right.


              ie. "{##.## %}"


            Examples of Calculator mode masks:


     %%%%%%   - Whole number (positive only)
     +%%%%%   - Whole number (positive or negative)
     ######## - Floating Point number (positive only)
     +####### - Floating Point number (positive or negative)
     #####.## - Floating Point number
                (positive and fixed decimal)
     +####.## - Floating Point
                (positive or negative and fixed decimal)


     $ ###.## - Floating Point with $ (and space) to left
     ###.## % - Floating Point with (space and ) % to right


            When using a Calculator Mode Mask the Text control will allow entry of a real number and the characters will display Right to Left, like a calculator does. You can also add a + sign as the first character to allow plus or minus values (  ie. {+####} ). Also you can add just one decimal point (  ie. {+###.###} ). Using this format, you can mask Integers and real Numbers (with decimal).


            Caret Position !


            By default the Mask Edit control will set the caret position at the first character when the control gets the Focus. If you want the control to remember the previous position of the caret (character position cursor) then put a ? character in front of the mask (ie. {?XXXX} ). Masks that define a Calculator mode mask, always set the caret at the end of the text field, so the ? mask character has no effect.
           
            You can now use the Backspace key in most masks ! The control will determine the proper character to replace text with. For example, if the mask character is X, A, U or N it will use a space. If the mask character is a 9 (digits only) it will use a 0 (zero) when back spacing.




6
General Discussion / Re: Powerbasic Website Demise
« on: June 29, 2024, 09:44:10 pm »
The above app uses an external template file for different languages. I wrote a simple language editor using PB DDT using Unicode which saves text to a file template.

The EZGUI app loads the different language templates and can switch between different languages on the fly instantly.

The text for a  button may look like this:

Clear Terminal Display//0010

The ownerdraw engine removes the number after the // characters. If a different Language is selected, the app read the text in that language using the ID number after the // characters and draws that instead of the english.


7
General Discussion / Re: Powerbasic Website Demise
« on: June 29, 2024, 09:39:27 pm »
Screenshot of a custom commercial app I created for a client company:

Top picture is showing default English.

Bottom picture is same app which changes text to Japanese (Unicode) via ownerdraw.



8
General Discussion / Re: Powerbasic Website Demise
« on: June 29, 2024, 09:34:45 pm »
More pictures

9
General Discussion / Re: Powerbasic Website Demise
« on: June 29, 2024, 09:31:25 pm »
More pictures

10
General Discussion / Re: Powerbasic Website Demise
« on: June 29, 2024, 09:30:51 pm »
I have no desire to end EZGUI's usefulness just because PB is basically dead and gone.

I am working on a custom project for a client right now which takes much of my programming time, but I may later on see if EZGUI could be modified to work with other programming languages.

EZGUI users have underestimated benefit. While Powerbasic is basically defunct and no new features on the horizon, EZGUI's feature set far exceeds anything Powerbasic could come up with in a a few years time. Most EZGUI users only use only a small subset of the EZGUI command set. By tapping into the more advanced features the "sky is the limit".

For example the pictures below use things like OpenGL, Ownerdraw Listbox, Ownerdraw Combobox and more.

11
EZGUI 5 support forum / Re: Autosave
« on: June 05, 2024, 08:40:15 am »
There is an icon on the toolbar found on the Palette Window.

This icon toggles Autosave ON and OFF.

See attached picture.

12
EZGUI 5 support forum / Re: EZC file for Phoenix Grid
« on: February 25, 2024, 04:51:01 pm »
Appreciate the post.

Yes, the EZGUI designer supports third party controls, so feel free to post an EZC files for custom controls you may use.

I would like to point out that once a third party custom control is loaded into your app, EZGUI also allows you to subclass the control to allow it to benefit from the subclass engines features.

Use EZ_SubClassEx to subclass third party controls.


13
It amazes me how many EZGUI users continue to be very productive with it for so long.

Feel free to post any of your experiences using EZGUI here.

EZGUI currently is being used in a number of commercial applications all over the world.


14
For those interested in purchasing EZGUI 5.0 Professional, here is the link to the order page (at BMTMicro):

https://secure.bmtmicro.com/servlets/Orders.ShoppingCart?CID=727&PRODUCTID=7270033


15
Hello to all who have been using EZGUI.

I want to thank you for all your support and it has been a pleasure providing you with a product such as EZGUI 5.0 Professional.

As of this year (2023) I am now partially retired. So what does this mean for EZGUI and its future ?

(1) EZGUI 5.0 Professional is so feature rich that there really isn't any need for an update (unless a bug fix is released).
Powerbasic has yet to provide a 64 bit compiler so it makes little sense to work on a next gen version (if that changes it may be done)

(2) My website costs me money, but for now I can afford to handle the cost, so my forums will still be here

(3) I will continue to sell EZGUI 5.0 and provide support (via the forums) to all new and old customers. For how long I can't tell, but no need to stop it currently.

(4) Be aware that because of no updates to Powerbasic, third party addons have had minimal sales for years now and EZGUI is no exception.
I still do get sales, but it does not even cover my website costs.

(5) Now being semi-retired, I plan on changing my website to a hobby status, rather than purely 100% commercial. What does that mean ?
My website is now open to be used for any hobby projects I am working on, so the forums will likely reflect this before long. I no longer need to use it only
for commercial work. That means it won't be a write off for my business and I will bear the costs purely for my hobby use. This does free it up to be used for anything I have
an interest, which includes:

Embedded:
- Arduino
- ESP32
- Tibbo
- Raspberry PI
- an other SOC boards

Basic programming languages (other than Powerbasic)
- BASCOM AVR
- GreatCow Basic
- XOJO
- B4R (Basic for Arduino)

3D Printing

Hobby CNC
- Building my own CNC

Woodworking
- Designing jigs for tools, plans for projects and best of all using a Bandsaw sawmill (Frontier OS18)

see:  https://www.frontiersawmills.com/en_us/os18-sawmill-with-7hp-212cc-lifan-recoil-start-gas-engine

ART
- both my wife and I are casual artists and I can share stuff about our art and as well info about digital art.





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