Announcement

**Michael Mattias** · 16 Jul 2006, 06:41 PM

Can you provide an email address for that feedback?

I don't think you want everyone and his brother-in-law commenting - with possibly conflicting suggestsions -in some big long thread.

Better I think for you to filter out those responses and decide what gets posted.

If you don't want to do that, at least send <U>me</U> an address, because I saw two things in there which I would definitely counsel against most vigorously.

mailto:[email protected][email protected]</A>

[added]
(No, I do not mean the GLOBAL variables. I mean two other things.)
[/added]

[This message has been edited by Michael Mattias (edited July 16, 2006).]

**G North** · 17 Jul 2006, 01:05 AM

Originally posted by Fred Harris:
...sample programs...that I hope will help
folks get started with Win32 SDK/Api style coding with PowerBasic's
windows GUI compilers....

Fred thank you.

There is definitively a serious shortage of real examples programs/tutorials with PBWin "specially designed" for a newbie like my self.

Good on you.

Guy

------------------
Private Website:
Guy's Website -
SMS me on 0405 161 366 Brisbane, Australia

[This message has been edited by G North (edited July 17, 2006).]

**Frank Thomas** · 15 Oct 2006, 01:22 AM

Yes, yes, yes! Please Fred, pour it on!

I just came across this thread and am glad to see it as well.

Cheers and thanks Fred. This is a great augment to my learning
DDT with Stan.

Cheers!

------------------

**Fredrick Ughimi** · 15 Oct 2006, 02:45 PM

Hello Fred,

Fred, keep doing what you are doing.

Guys like me would benefit from this. For I have never
used the SDK style of programming and I'd love to learn.
Been using DDT.

Besides one has not been able to lay hands on Charles Petzold
book (programming windows).

Cheers,

------------------
Fredrick Ughimi
www.meganetcomputers.net
mailto:[email protected][email protected]</A>

- Imagination is more important than knowledge - Einstein.

[This message has been edited by Fredrick Ughimi (edited October 15, 2006).]

**Frank Thomas** · 17 Oct 2006, 05:22 PM

And Fred, you thought that we weren't peaking!

And Fredrick, if you do a search through amazon.com, you should
be able to get a copy of the petzold book used.

Frank.

------------------

**Fred Harris** · 18 Oct 2006, 01:52 PM

Glad its helping. I'll periodically add to it, so check in
occasionally.

------------------
Fred
"fharris"+Chr$(64)+"evenlink"+Chr$(46)+"com"

**Steve Hutchesson** · 18 Oct 2006, 09:31 PM

Fred,

I cannot find where you have posted your demos and this is after
doing a forum search on your name. Do you have a link ?

Regards,

hutch at movsd dot com

------------------

**Fred Harris** · 19 Oct 2006, 01:28 PM

steve,

not aweful far from beginning (august posts). here is the
link.
http://www.powerbasic.com/support/pb...ad.php?t=25174

be glad if you'd take a look and make some comments.

------------------
fred
"fharris"+chr$(64)+"evenlink"+chr$(46)+"com"

**Steve Hutchesson** · 19 Oct 2006, 06:56 PM

Compliments Fred,

nice clean authodox Windows API code and I have no doubt that many
will find clear explanation very helpful. DDT works fine but API
code comes close to the bare metal and with just a bit of attention
it generally comes in smaller.

There is some virtue in explaining the order of startup with a normal
CreateWindowEx() window as the concept is very useful for someone who
is studying the code to get it going.

I will just note them in order as reference.

1. Fill the WNDCLASSEX structure for the following RegisterClassEx()
function call.

2. Call RegisterClassEx() to register the window class with the attributes
specified in the WNDCLASSEX structure.

3. Call the CreateWindowEx() function specifying the window size,
location and style to be created.

4. Document that CreateWindowEx() BEFORE IT RETURNS branches to the
WndProc function and processes the WM_CREATE message.

5. The window is then displayed using a combination of ShowWindow()
and UpdateWindow().

6. The details and operations of the message loop.
(a) Continue to loop until GetMessage() returns ZERO.
(b) What TranslateMessage() does if keyboard actions are present.
(c) How DispatchMessage() works by pointing certain ranges of
messages to the WndProc.

7. Explain that the WndProc() function is an OS defined callback
function that is called by the OS, never by the application.

There are a heap of people who are members who know their way around
API programming so I have no doubt that if you need any help or
alternate views on how to do a particular task that you can find it
here.

Keep up the good work.

Regards,

hutch at movsd dot com

------------------

**Steve Hutchesson** · 19 Oct 2006, 09:03 PM

Fred,

I have been recently working on template design for the current
version of PBwin 80 so I gutted one and added a collection of
msgboxs to show what I suggested above. It has a conditional
compile option so you can turn off the msgboxs to see the build
size of the PB compiler when using API code.

An empty pbmain as follows builds at 5120 bytes. This includes
dynamic string and array support, thread safe code support, error
handling and exit cleanup code.

Code:

FUNCTION PBmain as LONG

End FUNCTION

The following template with the msgboxs turned off builds at 6656
bytes which shows the efficiency of pure API code which takes an
additional 1.5k of code to build a working window.

Code:

' «««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««

    %USEMACROS = 1

  ' -----------------------------------------------------------------
  ' set the following equate to 0 to see how small PB builds API code
  ' -----------------------------------------------------------------
    %msgboxes = 1

    #INCLUDE "h:\pbwin80\INCLUDE\WIN32API.INC"

    GLOBAL hInstance   as LONG
    GLOBAL hWnd        as LONG
    GLOBAL hIcon       as LONG

' «««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««

FUNCTION PBmain() AS LONG

    LOCAL  Msg            as tagMSG
    LOCAL  wc             as WNDCLASSEX
    LOCAL  szClassName    as ASCIIZ * 32
    LOCAL  DisplayName    as ASCIIZ * 32

    DisplayName = "PowerBASIC Demo"
    szClassName = "PB_Class"

    hInstance   = GetModuleHandle(ByVal %NULL)

    #IF %msgboxes
      msgbox "Instance handle = " + hex$(hInstance,8),0, _
             "The module's start address"
    #ENDIF

    hIcon = LoadIcon(%NULL,ByVal %IDI_APPLICATION)

    wc.cbSize        = SIZEOF(wc)
    wc.style         = %CS_BYTEALIGNCLIENT or %CS_BYTEALIGNWINDOW
    wc.lpfnWndProc   = CODEPTR(WndProc)
    wc.cbClsExtra    = 0
    wc.cbWndExtra    = 0
    wc.hInstance     = hInstance
    wc.hIcon         = hIcon
    wc.hCursor       = LoadCursor(%NULL,ByVal %IDC_ARROW)
    wc.hbrBackground = %COLOR_BTNFACE + 1
    wc.lpszMenuName  = %NULL
    wc.lpszClassName = VarPtr(szClassName)
    wc.hIconSm       = hIcon

    #IF %msgboxes
      msgbox "Register the window class after filling out the WNDCLASSEX structure"
    #ENDIF

    RegisterClassEx wc

    #IF %msgboxes
      msgbox "Create the main window with CreateWindowEx()"
    #ENDIF

    hWnd = CreateWindowEx( _
                 %WS_EX_LEFT, _         ' extended style
                 szClassName, _         ' window class name
                 DisplayName, _         ' window title
                 %WS_OVERLAPPEDWINDOW, _' windows styles
                 %CW_USEDEFAULT, _      ' initial x position
                 %CW_USEDEFAULT, _      ' initial y position
                 %CW_USEDEFAULT, _      ' initial x size
                 %CW_USEDEFAULT, _      ' initial y size
                 %NULL, _               ' parent window handle
                 %NULL, _               ' window menu handle
                 hInstance, _           ' program instance handle
                 ByVal %NULL)           ' creation parameters

    #IF %msgboxes
      msgbox "hWnd = " + str$(hWnd),0,"CreateWindowEx() return value"
    #ENDIF

    ShowWindow hWnd, %SW_SHOW
    UpdateWindow hWnd

    #IF %msgboxes
      msgbox "Enter the message loop"
    #ENDIF

    While GetMessage(Msg,0,0,0) <> 0
      TranslateMessage Msg
      DispatchMessage  Msg
    Wend

  FUNCTION = Msg.wParam

END FUNCTION

' «««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««

FUNCTION WndProc(ByVal hWin   as LONG, _
                 ByVal Msg    as LONG, _
                 ByVal wParam as LONG, _
                 ByVal lParam as LONG) as LONG

    Select Case as LONG Msg

      Case %WM_CREATE
        #IF %msgboxes
          msgbox "CreateWindowEx() calls the WndProc before it returns", _
                 0,"Hi from WM_CREATE"
        #ENDIF

      Case %WM_CLOSE
        #IF %msgboxes
          msgbox "Last chance to clean up before exiting",0,"WM_CLOSE here"
        #ENDIF

      Case %WM_DESTROY
        #IF %msgboxes
          msgbox "About to post the QUIT message to the"+chr$(13,10)+ _
                 "GetMessage() function in the message loop",0,"WM_DESTROY here"
        #ENDIF

        PostQuitMessage 0

    END Select

    FUNCTION = DefWindowProc(hWin,Msg,wParam,lParam)

END FUNCTION

' «««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««««

Regards,

hutch at movsd dot com

------------------

**Fred Harris** · 20 Oct 2006, 09:00 AM

Hutch,

Thanks for looking at it and for the comments. I liked your
demo. I'll link this thread in with the programs in 'Source
Code' so anyone who finds it will also be directed to this
thread and your template too.

------------------
Fred
"fharris"+Chr$(64)+"evenlink"+Chr$(46)+"com"

**Fredrick Ughimi** · 20 Oct 2006, 09:40 AM

Hello Frank,

>>And Fredrick, if you do a search through amazon.com, you should
be able to get a copy of the petzold book used.

Sure. But I ve problems paying for it. I live in Africa and paying
for stuffs in dollors or Euro from here is quite difficult and
when possible you might end up four times the real amount.

Does anyone have an old edition (Programming Windows BY Charles Petzold)
that he would like to send to me?

Best regards,

------------------
Fredrick Ughimi
www.meganetcomputers.net
mailto:[email protected][email protected]</A>

- Imagination is more important than knowledge - Einstein.

**Fred Harris** · 20 Oct 2006, 10:27 AM

Fredrick

------------------
Fred
"fharris"+Chr$(64)+"evenlink"+Chr$(46)+"com"

**Fred Harris** · 20 Oct 2006, 10:29 AM

Fredrick

Just checked at Amazon and in the used books one is
listed for just 40 cents! I'm sure the postage would run
you some though.

------------------
Fred
"fharris"+Chr$(64)+"evenlink"+Chr$(46)+"com"

**Brad D Byrne** · 20 Oct 2006, 12:10 PM

fredrick,

persoanlly i like rector and newcomer better, easier to understand and much better referance,

see, win32 reference books: http://www.powerbasic.com/support/pb...hread.php?t=39

2. rector and newcomer
"win32 programming", isbn: 0-201-63492-9

and the sdk, is even better than that, and can be gotten on-line for free, at microsoft.com

------------------
washington dc area
borje's "poff's" is likely the best tool for learning pb.. http://www.tolkenxp.com/pb
and a few pbtool's & beginner help:http://sweetheartgames.com/pbtools/jumpstart.html
& another good resource: http://www.fredshack.com/docs/powerbasic.html

**Paul Squires** · 20 Oct 2006, 02:33 PM

I agree with Brad. The Rector and Newcomer book is my favorite as
well. It even deals with Common Controls in sufficient depth. It is
well worth the money and I am very happy that I bought it.

------------------
Paul Squires
FireFly Visual Designer, Cheetah Database System, JellyFish Pro Editor
www.planetsquires.com

**Fredrick Ughimi** · 24 Oct 2006, 02:25 PM

Hello Guys,

Thanks alot for your response.

Fred,

Yeah, I ve seen those before. Its not actually the cost,
but paying for it is the problem.

Brad and Paul,

Thanks for recommending Rector and Newcomer.

Sure would get that also as soon as I am able to make payment.

Best regards,

------------------
Fredrick Ughimi
www.meganetcomputers.net
mailto:[email protected][email protected]</A>

- Imagination is more important than knowledge - Einstein.

**Fred Harris** · 18 Aug 2007, 10:31 PM

I guess its been over a year ago or so the way time flys that I
started my little tutorial on Windows programming using the
Application Programming Interface ( Win32 Api ). Lately I've
done considerably more work adding to and re-writting earlier posts,
rather than writting new ones (particularly the first and second -
I've completely scrapped the originals). Today, however, I added
the eleventh. So its not really a 'little' tutorial anymore.

Since sometime last winter I occasionally receive an email from
someone who is finding the material useful, and that gives me
inspiration to not give it up.

------------------
Fred
"fharris"+Chr$(64)+"evenlink"+Chr$(46)+"com"

[This message has been edited by Fred Harris (edited August 18, 2007).]

**Barry Marks** · 19 Aug 2007, 09:58 AM

How can I copy and paste the source from this tutorial, and other source from this forum? When I copy and paste it I get no line terminator at all.

Also, as I'm entering this text I get no word wrap. A lot of posts that I read in this forum also have no word wrap.

I'm using IE 7. I don't have this problem in other forums.

Any help or suggestions will be much appreciated.

Barry

------------------

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