Recent Posts

61

EZGUI 5 support forum / ListView Scrollbar messages

« Last post by Raymond Couzens on March 16, 2023, 07:39:48 am »

Hi, is there a way of getting the vertical and horizontal scroll bar position change events from a ListView control with EZGUI5?  I think the appropriate Win32 API messages are WM_VSCROLL and WM_HSCROLL but how to get these messages from EZGUI?  Thanks.

62

General Discussion / Considering a new FREE model for how EZGUI is made available to new users

« Last post by Chris Boss on January 24, 2023, 12:11:08 pm »

This is just an idea, but just wanted to "bounce" this off my customers to see what you think about it.

What would you think of EZGUI becoming a FREE product ?

Not open source though. One could register to get EZGUI for FREE and use it for FREE.

There would still be a software license and it would still be a proprietary product (not open source, since I think that would ruin it).

Support would be via the online forums.  I would do my best to answer questions, but of course with it as free I would have limits of how much I can do on the forums. It would have to assisted via the peer to peer forum. I am planning of trying to get some of the lost data (when I upgraded the forum software) back into the forum as a resource as well, but that will take some time.

"Extended" support though could be purchased (for a very reasonable fee) so one could get more extensive support. Any customers who purchased EZGUI already would continue to get priority for support as I have done in the past.

What good would this accomplish ?

Two things are needed for EZGUI to have a better future:

(1) It needs to support programming languages other than Powerbasic

(2) It needs to eventually become 64 bit as well

I can't do this with the limited current customer base. Powerbasic (as a company) while still viable, does not yield the regular new potential customers it did in the past. Also in Powerbasics last few  better years (when Bob Zale) was still alive, I had to compete with other third party products (which most have moved on now though) which made it a greater challenge to keep the new customer base increasing.

Lastly, 32 bit still has a few good years left to it, but eventually 64 bit may make 32 bit totally obsolete. While 32 bit still is viable and has a market, now would be the best time to change my marketing model.

My goals:

(1) Port EZGUI (mostly make modifications) so it is more friendly to other programming languages such as FreeBasic, PureBasic and expecially C.

C is important and could be a great market for EZGUI. There are actually many C programmers out there who shy away from C++ and also from dot.net. C still can produce amazingly fast and tiny apps.  But the programming mainstream has moved to dot.net mostly for GUI stuff so C is a second class citizen in the GUI world.

EZGUI could be a boon for C programmers, as well as for those who use other dialecs of Basic.

I am also not averse to licensing the actual source code to EZGUI for larger companies, so far I have only done this for one company at the moment, but it could be part of the extended support. Licensing the source code is not cheap though and is best suited for large companies where it makes sense. The current price for licensing the source code is in the $5000 range.

So what do you think of this possible new model for  EZGUI ?

What would be a reasonable price for extended support say for a yearly price ?

For those who can't afford much, especially for the hobby programmer market, it is still a deal since EZGUI would be free up front and one could still get decent support via the forums for free.

63

EZGUI 5 support forum / Re: No StatusBar

« Last post by Chris Boss on January 13, 2023, 10:38:30 pm »

The best way to diagnose the problem is to create a simple test app with just a form and the statusbar and maybe a few controls on it and see if the statusbar works as expected.

If it works on the test app then it may indicate that you are doing something different in your real app which causes the statusbar to have a problem.


Maybe some code is being executed before or shortly after the statusbar creation which causes a problem.

64

EZGUI 5 support forum / Re: No StatusBar

« Last post by Brian Reynolds on January 13, 2023, 09:03:50 pm »

Chris,
I am using the default form and the properties CK.
The following is my StatusBar code:

Code: [Select]

   EZ_StatusBar %FORM1_STATUSBAR, "Left", "4"
   EZ_SetSBParts "Form1", %FORM1_STATUSBAR, 4, "25|25|25|25|"
   EZ_SetSBText "Form1", %FORM1_STATUSBAR, 1, "Left", "P"
   EZ_SetSBText "Form1", %FORM1_STATUSBAR, 2, "Right", "P"
   EZ_SetSBText "Form1", %FORM1_STATUSBAR, 3, "Top", "P"
   EZ_SetSBText "Form1", %FORM1_STATUSBAR, 4, "Foot", "P"
I am using the StatusBar as an easy way to display information tom the user.

65

EZGUI 5 support forum / Re: No StatusBar

« Last post by Chris Boss on January 13, 2023, 05:08:51 pm »

What Form properties are you using ?

Different form properties could have an effect in Windows 11 if they changed  something.

Also note that the designer does not generate the "panes" for the status bar for you. You have to add them using the EZ_SetSBParts command. It may be possible that if no panes (parts) are defined the Statusbar may not be visible on Windows 11.

Each version of Windows changes how some controls look and Windows 11 may simply change the look of the Statusbar when no panes (parts) are defined yet.

It is all about the Themes that each version of Windows uses and how it makes a specific control class look and appear.

A good example of this is the ProgressBar control. Older versions of Windows allowed the progress bar to have different colors, while later versions theme the control to only use a fixed set of colors and also make it appear 3D rather than flat.

I haven't tested the Statusbar control with different versions of Windows to see if it appears differently.

66

EZGUI 5 support forum / No StatusBar

« Last post by Brian Reynolds on January 13, 2023, 12:48:16 am »

For the first time since using Windows 11 I have uses a StatusBar in the Designer.
It appears in the code when compiled but does not appear on the screen when the code is run.
Has this been experienced by anyone?

67

EZGUI 5 support forum / Re: Moving Sprites

« Last post by Chris Boss on December 24, 2022, 09:39:35 pm »

One thing I have learned from experience is that often the problem not what we initially think.

It may be possible that earlier code being executed causes a problem in later lines of code, but all we see is where the problem 'appears" to be.

This is why it is helpful to post larger blocks of code so I can see the "big picture"

Also it is helpful at times to try to recreate the problem in a simple test program with only the core task you are attempting. Such recreations often show up whether there really is a bug (ie. say in EZGUI) or whether we are possibly doing something wrong in our actual app.

You might want to try a simple test app with just the bare minimum to demonstrate your problem. Then post the entire test app here and we can discuss it in detail.

68

EZGUI 5 support forum / Re: Moving Sprites

« Last post by Brian Reynolds on December 23, 2022, 08:56:37 pm »

I apologise for posting this absurd question on something I have done many times some years ago and had simply forgotten.

I do, however, have a real problem with moving Sprites as I don't seem to be able to use IF ---- THEN before moving a sprite. This code doesn't work but if I REM out the IF THEN and END IF  lines it works okay. The trouble is, that without the IF ---- THEN it will also move other sprites.

Code: [Select]

         IF Sname$="LeftSP" OR Sname$="RiteSP" THEN
            EZ_MoveSprites Sname$, -1, 0, 1  ' Move Left
         END IF

I have also tried moving the code to a subroutine but it still doesn't work with the IF ---- THEN but works without it.

Any suggestions?

69

EZGUI 5 support forum / Re: Moving Sprites

« Last post by Chris Boss on December 22, 2022, 09:42:09 am »

The Canvas control does not respond to key presses.

You may want to preprocess the keyboard events before they get sent to other controls.

I would venture to say your problem may be more associated with how you handle the keyboard events rather than actually moving the sprite.

70

EZGUI 5 support forum / Re: Moving Sprites

« Last post by Chris Boss on December 22, 2022, 09:36:27 am »

The EZ_MoseSP command works well but you have to have the sprite index rather than a name.
use the EZ_GetFastSPIndex function to get the sprite index.

Code: [Select]

     FOR I&=1 TO 10
          ' move each sprite 8 pixels in both directions
          EZ_MoveSP SpriteIndex&(I&), 8, 8, 1
     NEXT I&