Newbie Question

[Joe Gucciardo]

I’m a total newbie to Power Basic. I recently inherited an application that I believe ran under Power Basic Console Compiler 2.<something>. I’m using PBCC 4.04. In my first attempt to compile the program, I fail on the following statement:

#INCLUDE "SCRNIO.INC"

PowerBASIC Console Compiler
PB/CC Version 4.04
Copyright (c) 1998-2007 PowerBasic Inc.
Venice, Florida USA
All Rights Reserved

Error 493 in C:\STLC\Source\cbs1.BAS(139:010): Compiler file not found/accessible
Line 139: #INCLUDE "SCRNIO.INC"
==============================
Compile failed at 8:40:21 PM on 12/3/2007

Any help would be appreciated. I know it’s probably a simple answer. Thanks.

Joe G.

[David L Morris]

Put SCRNIO.INC in the same directory as your C:\STLC\Source\cbs1.BAS file and try to compile again.

[Mel Bishop]

or add the full path to the #INCLUDE statement.

[José Roca]

The distribution of scrnio.inc was dropped from PB distribution set since PBCC 3.0. However, you can find the code in this thread: http://www.powerbasic.com/support/pb...ght=SCRNIO.INC

[David L Morris]

I also think that compiled executables, using scrnio.inc, will not work on XP or greater systems.

[Michael Mattias]

Another case for "don't just try to port on a verb-for-verb basis"

I took a look at the "scrnio.inc" file post, and found...

>Unfortunately, I have found nothing comparable to the QPRINT function yet.
...

sub qprint(byval row as long, byval col as long, byval text as string, byval attr as long)

Then I looked thru the code and you know what qprint does? It prints "text" at "row, column" in color "attr." How does it do it? It converted a bunch of MS-DOS BIOS service calls to Win32 Console API calls. (A pretty remarkable conversion, actually - demonstrating initiative, cleverness and a grasp of both MS-DOS and Windows technologies.)

But what the procedure actually does is nothing more than....

   COLOR
   CONSOLE SET LOC
   PRINT

So why not just rewrite the qprint function using the instrinsic PB/CC statements?

SUB qPrint (byval row as long, byval col as long, byval text as string, byval attr as long) 

  LOCAL fg AS LONG, bg AS LONG

   Fg = (something using attr, I forgot all that ms-dos stuff)
   Bg =  ditto

   COLOR fg, bg
   CONSOLE SET LOC  col, row
   PRINT   text
END SUB

The box thing (qBox)? Forget about it. Too much variation in the treatment of the high-order ASCII characters in the Windows console functions to create something which will reliably reproduce the box-drawing characters on all systems.

If you really need a box, add a GRAPHIC and use the deviously-named 'GRAPHIC BOX' function.

News Flash
There have been a lot of changes in the PB compilers since PB/DOS 2.1.

Sad to report, but but "qprint for Windows" is as obsolete as buggy whips.

It's time to drag yourself - kicking and screaming if it must be so, or even if it just feels good - into the 21st century.

MCM

[Michael Mattias]

I don't mean to discourage you, Mr. Gucciardo; but changing operating systems and changing compilers (Qprint was born at the very apex of the PB for MS-DOS era) means you ARE going to have to change some things in your inherited program.

The good news is, it is often far, far easier to accomplish things using the current tools than it was in Ye Olden Dayse.

[Joe Gucciardo]

Thanks Everyone. I was able to locate the SCRNIO.INC code on this forum and it did get me past my SCRNIO compile error. Of course, I've encountered another error futher down the line. But I'll try to troubleshoot that on my own. Thanks again.

Joe