Wishlist Item

[Clay Clear]

If PB, Inc. is indeed still planning on an upgrade to PB/DOS 3.5,
please add this wishlist item (or a "tick mark" for it):

I would like to be able to have ! db, ! dw, and ! dd tables so
they can have more than one entry per line, delimited with a comma,
just as the 32-bit PB compilers do. This is not a CRITICAL thing,
as it's just as easy (nay, easier) for a temporary EXE to create
single-entry lines in the output INC file as it is to create multiple-entries
per line. HOWEVER, when a person has to read (to proof, etc.) the generated
INC file, it is a MAJOR pain to have to scroll down many pages to see
the (relevant) data. No, I ain't whining, just explaining why I wish to add this
wishlist item.

Thank you for your time.


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[Michael Mattias]

I have not tried this or even looked it up in the help file, but won't this work?

asm whatever : asm whatever: asm whatever: asm whatever
asm whatever : asm whatever: asm whatever: asm whatever

No, what you'd end up with would not be easy to read. But it does get around the "scrolling" thing.

MCM

[Clay Clear]

Michael,

Thanks for the suggestion - I had not even considered such a thing.
However, the extra "command lines" in each line would make it
pretty limited, unless a person would have to put up with
scrolling HORIZONTALLY (which I think you have already identified).

Thanks for your reply.


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[Michael Mattias]

tableStart:
!db &h00, &h01, &h02, &h03,&h04,&h05, &h06
dwz = CODEPTR32(tablestart)

=

z$ = CHR$(&h00,&h01,&h02,&h03,&h04,&h05,&h06)
dwZ = STRPTR32(z$)

I know, I know: no assembly language = no romance.

MCM

[Clay Clear]

That's precisely it - the PB/DOS 3.5 inline assembler does NOT allow:

!db 001, 002, 003

It require sit to be:

! db 001
! db 002
! db 003
...ad infinitum

Hmmm....I don't know for sure....I think I'll go right now and
try again - I had only made one attempt, and it could very well
have been a syntax error (doubt it, though )


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[Tony Burcham]

Hi Clay,

I never found a way to put multiple db's on an asm line either.
You can use $Inline to do that, but PB recommends against it's
use, because it's being discontinued I think.

By the way if you want, here's a utility, "HexFormatter" that might
make your work easier. http://www.powerbasic.com/files/pub/...xFormatter.zip
It's made to work with code from Debug, Borland's TurboDebugger and VC++.

Here's the online documentation: http://www.gvii.net/tburcham/HexFormatter.htm

Tony Burcham



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[Tom Hanlin]

We do expect to release at least one more upgrade to PB/DOS. I've
added your suggestion to the wish list.

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Tom Hanlin
PowerBASIC Staff

[Clay Clear]

Tom, Lance, Bob,

Can you confirm/deny that $INLINE is going to be discontinued?
I am asking because I have a whole TRUCKLOAD of INCLUDEable BAS
files, with each one using $INLINE to use the ! SETxx opcodes.
If you confirm that it's going to be discontinued, I'll
change them all to ! dd (just add a NOP as the first byte )
tables.


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[Tony Burcham]

Originally posted by Clay Clear:
Tom, Lance, Bob,

Can you confirm/deny that $INLINE is going to be discontinued?
I am asking because I have a whole TRUCKLOAD of INCLUDEable BAS
files, with each one using $INLINE to use the ! SETxx opcodes.
If you confirm that it's going to be discontinued, I'll
change them all to ! dd (just add a NOP as the first byte )
tables.

Hi Clay,
I'm neither Tom, Lance nor Bob, but it says on page 29
in the reference guide, that:
$INLINE won't be available in future versions of
PowerBASIC; use ASM instead.

Maybe popular demand will change their minds though. I person-
ally like it.

Tony Burcham




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[Clay Clear]

Thanks. OK, After I get through with the massive recoding of my
date/time number/string conversion routines from BASIC to ASM,
I'll go and change all of those ! SETxx BAS files I made. Won't be
all that difficult - just change them from $INLINE to ! dd.
They're all 3-byte commands, so I'll just put a NOP as the first
byte in the DWORD tables.


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[Tom Hanlin]

There's no guarantee either way but, obviously, you might do better
to avoid using $INLINE if possible.

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Tom Hanlin
PowerBASIC Staff

[Matthew Berg]

Some other new feature suggestions (which are probably already on the wish list):[*] Enhance CALL DWORD to support USING syntax available in the Windows compilers, i.e.:

CALL DWORD [i]lpfnCodeAddr[/i] USING [i]function_prototype[/i] TO [i]lResult[/i]

I need to be able to return values from "dynamic" functions, which is not currently supported (please make this a big tick)
[*]String constants
[*]Floating-point numeric constants
[*]Constant expressions for specifying constant values, i.e.

%FLAG_1 = 1
%FLAG_2 = 2
%FLAG_All = [b]%FLAG_1 OR %FLAG_2[/b]

[*]New and enhanced string functions available in Windows compilers where they are not supported or not as capable in the current PB/DOS compiler
[*]Built-in numeric and string constants currently available in the Windows compilers (where applicable)
[*]Support for %DEF operator
[*]#-style compiler metastatements

I'm sure I'll be able to think of some others...

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If you try to make something idiot-proof, someone will invent a better idiot.

[This message has been edited by Matthew Berg (edited May 07, 2003).]

[Lance Edmonds]

While I cannot speak on behalf of R&D, I'd suggest that it would be a good bet that PB/DOS will inherit some new features from the Windows compilers...

That said, I'll add these to the wish list to be safe.

Thanks!

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Lance
PowerBASIC Support
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