Old PowerBASIC 3.0 DOS Source Code

[Shari Soza]

I did a lot of PowerBASIC programming back in the days
before Windows came out. I saved the best of this.
I was one of the pioneers in promoting computerization
of the legal process.

How would my old DOS version PB source code work in
these new versions of PowerBASIC? How much work would
it be to make a version that will run under Windows 95/98?




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[Lance Edmonds]

hi shari,

firstly, preparation and learning windows gui programming techniques is the key to making the move from dos to windows. how much work is involved in the process will depend on the compiler you choose, what your dos code does, and how it was written.

essentially, dos and gui-windows programming strategies are quite different, so getting to grips with a different approach to programming can take a bit of time to master, but if you arm yourself with a good windows programming reference book before hand, you'll find the learning-curve is much less steep than it may first seem. you can find a list of recommended titles at http://www.powerbasic.com/support/pb...hread.php?t=39

in a nutshell, windows gui applications work completely differently to dos applications, so all user-interface code in your dos app's will need to be rewritten. windows gui applications actually stop running until an "event" occurs (such as a mouse click, etc), whereas dos code typically sits in a loop waiting for keypresses (ie, the code runs all the time until the application ends). this is often referred to as "event-driven" versus "procedural" programming.

so, other than user interface code, computational and file handling code will probably port across with little or no changes, as this type of code is very compatible with pb/dll code. graphics and serial comms code does need rewriting though.

now, before you think the whole idea may be "too hard", let me tell you it is not impossible - in fact, it is far from impossible, but it may not always be easy either.

with all that said, there is another path that you may wish to consider: the powerbasic console compiler (pb/cc).

using pb/cc to create text-mode windows applications can be a *lot* less work when it comes to porting existing dos code to windows, since pb/cc supports typical dos statements such as print, locate, color, etc. moreso, it supports the "traditional" dos programming approach as i mentioned above.

graphics and serial i/o code will still need rewriting, but most other forms of dos code will often work in pb/cc with only minor modification. really, it is hard to offer more specific advice unless we can review some of the dos code you wish to port to windows. you may want to consider posting one or two examples for peer review and ask for estimations on the amount of work required to port across.

i hope this helps!

btw, you'll find a overview of the powerbasic compiler range at http://www.powerbasic.com/shop/compiler.asp and a keyword comparison table at http://www.powerbasic.com/support/technote/basic.asp


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lance
powerbasic support
mailto:[email protected][email protected]</a>

[Steven Pringels 3]

Shan,

Frankly, if you need a GUI program fast without the hassle of
the Windows API stuff, check out EZ-GUI at www.ezgui.com .

If you have a lot of screens in you DOS programs, EZ-GUI will be able
to make the transition *very* easy.

However, if you don't want to have a 3rd party DLL bundled with
your application you can check out the DDT that comes with
PowerBasic DLL compiler. Check out the FreeWare DDT version of
EZ-GUI for easy creation of Dynamic Dialogs... or wait until
EZ-GUI SDK for PowerBasic becomes available, which will produce
100% SDK code.

And to avoid that I'm biased about EZ-GUI - people may get the
impression - you can also check out the FreeWare Designer from
Ed Turner which produces SDK style code.

Steve.



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