PBCompiler 8.0.4 makes my program do unexpected stuff...

[Marc Giesmann]

Hey

I am hanging here on some strange behaviours with the new compiler.

I wrote a little Messenger (I call it LoCo ), which works over LAN, and without a server. But since the upgrade to the new compiler, my program always wants my attention- it blinks in the taskbar.

So, every time I click on another program, LoCo starts to get orange in the taskbar. If I don't change anything in my code, but activate the old compiler (I still got 8.0.3 here, cause of some more compiling problems with the new one) everything just works fine- or better: as expected.

Furthermore I just recognized, that LoCo, compiled with 8.0.4, is 2KB bigger than my old one. Thats not much, but I really wonder why.

Sorry If this topic already exists, but after some very frustrating search-orgies with the forum search I gave up. Or is it possible, that there really is no changelog for 8.0.4? A detailed changelog could be very helpful- I got some more .BAS- files here, which are GPFing the new compiler- without any clues where to begin the "debug".

Thanks in advance,
Marc Giesmann

[Wayne Diamond]

hrm i havent experienced any problems with 8.0.4 yet, but if I was you I'd compile the exe in 8.0.3, then in 8.0.4, then compare the two for differences - in particular calls to CreateWindow/CreateWindowEx. Maybe a window style has changed

[Marc Giesmann]

hrm i havent experienced any problems with 8.0.4 yet, but if I was you I'd compile the exe in 8.0.3, then in 8.0.4, then compare the two for differences - in particular calls to CreateWindow/CreateWindowEx. Maybe a window style has changed

So far, so good. Just took OllyDbg to make sure, the styles are the same- and they are.

...any other suggestions? Sorry, I am no code-ASM-Master...

It's exasperating :/

[Wayne Diamond]

Can you make a bare-bones demo that replicates what's happening? For example if you just create a program that has a single dialog, like a Hello World program but with a dialog, do you still get that same behavior difference from 8.0.3 to 8.0.4?

Does this for example exhibit the same behavior?

#COMPILE EXE
#INCLUDE "WIN32API.INC"

%DIALOG1 = 101

DECLARE CALLBACK FUNCTION ShowDIALOG1Proc()
DECLARE FUNCTION ShowDIALOG1(BYVAL hParent AS DWORD) AS LONG

CALLBACK FUNCTION ShowDIALOG1Proc()
END FUNCTION

FUNCTION ShowDIALOG1(BYVAL hParent AS DWORD) AS LONG
    LOCAL lRslt AS LONG
    LOCAL hDlg  AS DWORD
    DIALOG NEW hParent, "Dialog1", 70, 70, 119, 70, %WS_POPUP OR %WS_BORDER _
        OR %WS_DLGFRAME OR %WS_THICKFRAME OR %WS_CAPTION OR %WS_SYSMENU OR _
        %WS_MINIMIZEBOX OR %WS_CLIPSIBLINGS OR %WS_VISIBLE OR %DS_MODALFRAME _
        OR %DS_CENTER OR %DS_3DLOOK OR %DS_NOFAILCREATE OR %DS_SETFONT, _
        %WS_EX_CONTROLPARENT OR %WS_EX_LEFT OR %WS_EX_LTRREADING OR _
        %WS_EX_RIGHTSCROLLBAR, TO hDlg
    DIALOG SHOW MODAL hDlg, CALL ShowDIALOG1Proc TO lRslt
    FUNCTION = lRslt
END FUNCTION

FUNCTION PBMAIN()
    ShowDIALOG1 %HWND_DESKTOP
END FUNCTION

[Marc Giesmann]

Got it!

Heres a sample- tryed it with PB8.0.3 (no blink) and PB8.0.4(blink)

#PBFORMS CREATED V1.51
#COMPILE EXE
#DIM ALL

'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'   ** Includes **
'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#PBFORMS BEGIN INCLUDES 
#IF NOT %DEF(%WINAPI)
    #INCLUDE "WIN32API.INC"
#ENDIF
#IF NOT %DEF(%RICHEDIT_INC)
    #INCLUDE "RICHEDIT.INC"
#ENDIF
#INCLUDE "PBForms.INC"
#PBFORMS END INCLUDES
'------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'   ** Constants **
'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
#PBFORMS BEGIN CONSTANTS 
%IDD_DIALOG_BLINK        = 101
%IDC_RICHEDIT_HELLOWORLD = 102
%IDC_RICHEDIT_NOFOCUS    = 103
#PBFORMS END CONSTANTS
'------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'   ** Declarations **
'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DECLARE CALLBACK FUNCTION ShowDIALOG_BLINKProc()
DECLARE FUNCTION ShowDIALOG_BLINK(BYVAL hParent AS DWORD) AS LONG
#PBFORMS DECLARATIONS
'------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'   ** Main Application Entry Point **
'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FUNCTION PBMAIN()
    PBFormsRichEdit ()      ' Load RichEdit
    ShowDIALOG_BLINK %HWND_DESKTOP
    PBFormsRichEdit (%TRUE) ' Unload RichEdit
END FUNCTION
'------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'   ** CallBacks **
'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CALLBACK FUNCTION ShowDIALOG_BLINKProc()
    STATIC lNCACTIVATE AS LONG
    SELECT CASE AS LONG CBMSG
      CASE %WM_NCACTIVATE
         INCR lNCACTIVATE
         IF lNCACTIVATE = 5 THEN
            CONTROL SET TEXT CBHNDL, %IDC_RICHEDIT_HELLOWORLD, "I should blink now on PB/Win Version 8.04 "
         END IF
         
         'Here's the strange one
         CONTROL SET FOCUS CBHNDL, %IDC_RICHEDIT_HELLOWORLD
    END SELECT
END FUNCTION
'------------------------------------------------------------------------------

'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'   ** Dialogs **
'------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FUNCTION ShowDIALOG_BLINK(BYVAL hParent AS DWORD) AS LONG
    LOCAL lRslt AS LONG

#PBFORMS BEGIN DIALOG %IDD_DIALOG_BLINK->->
    LOCAL hDlg  AS DWORD

    DIALOG NEW hParent, "Blink", 342, 161, 156, 99, %WS_POPUP OR %WS_BORDER _
        OR %WS_DLGFRAME OR %WS_THICKFRAME OR %WS_CAPTION OR %WS_SYSMENU OR _
        %WS_MINIMIZEBOX OR %WS_CLIPSIBLINGS OR %WS_VISIBLE OR %DS_MODALFRAME _
        OR %DS_CENTER OR %DS_3DLOOK OR %DS_NOFAILCREATE OR %DS_SETFONT, _
        %WS_EX_CONTROLPARENT OR %WS_EX_LEFT OR %WS_EX_LTRREADING OR _
        %WS_EX_RIGHTSCROLLBAR, TO hDlg
    CONTROL ADD PBFormsRichEdit(), hDlg, %IDC_RICHEDIT_HELLOWORLD, "I want focus after reactivate!", _
        5, 5, 145, 25, %WS_CHILD OR %WS_VISIBLE OR %WS_TABSTOP _
        OR %WS_HSCROLL OR %WS_VSCROLL OR %ES_LEFT OR %ES_MULTILINE OR _
        %ES_AUTOHSCROLL OR %ES_AUTOVSCROLL OR %ES_WANTRETURN, _
        %WS_EX_CLIENTEDGE OR %WS_EX_LEFT OR %WS_EX_LTRREADING OR _
        %WS_EX_RIGHTSCROLLBAR
    CONTROL ADD PBFormsRichEdit(), hDlg, %IDC_RICHEDIT_NOFOCUS, "I don't want " + _
        "to have focus after minimizing...!" + $CRLF + $CRLF + "Step 1: Click me" + $CRLF + "Step 2: Click somewhere on the desktop!" + _
        $CRLF + "Step 3: Do this twice or more.", _
        5, 40, 145, 55, %WS_CHILD OR %WS_VISIBLE OR %WS_TABSTOP OR %WS_HSCROLL OR _
        %WS_VSCROLL OR %ES_LEFT OR %ES_MULTILINE OR %ES_AUTOHSCROLL OR _
        %ES_AUTOVSCROLL OR %ES_WANTRETURN, %WS_EX_CLIENTEDGE OR _
        %WS_EX_LEFT OR %WS_EX_LTRREADING OR %WS_EX_RIGHTSCROLLBAR
#PBFORMS END DIALOG

    DIALOG SHOW MODAL hDlg, CALL ShowDIALOG_BLINKProc TO lRslt

#PBFORMS BEGIN CLEANUP %IDD_DIALOG_BLINK
#PBFORMS END CLEANUP

    FUNCTION = lRslt
END FUNCTION
'------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Wayne Diamond]

How about my sample code - did that also exhibit the behavioral difference?

[Marc Giesmann]

Your sample code doesn't involve CONTROL SET FOCUS With your simple- sample everything is okay, and not blinking. Try my posted code, and you'll see

[Wayne Diamond]

Its just that I've already upgraded to 8.0.4 and can't readily downgrade back to 8.0.3 at the moment for various reasons so I can't do any comparisons myself, sorry
Experiment around with it though to try and isolate what's causing the problem ... is CONTROL SET FOCUS causing it?

[Roger Garstang]

This may be one for PB to answer. Perhaps Control Set Focus now also sets the foreground window to the control's parent? It is more of a Windows/Microsoft thing. They added that as a security type thing so a window couldn't just set itself to the foreground. I don't think I kept 8.0.3 to test, but either it got in some how through a loophole or never really got focus because the window should always flash if it didn't have focus before. There are tricks like linking to the other app or using API to give your app the ability to steal focus without flashing, but they don't work well...especially when Office Apps are open as they use the same tricks and some of their own, so you get conflicts.

[Michael Mattias]

>This may be one for PB to answer

"May" be?

Here you have code which when compiled with one version, does one thing; when compiled with another does something else.. except they are not supposed to do anything different.

Send source code (with all #INCLUDE files) to [email protected] with an explanation.

(Although... first I might look for differences in the #INCLUDE files..I think those can change across compiler versions if you take the default install).

MCM

[Marc Giesmann]

I just did that. Included the .BAS, and a link to this thread. Hope to solve this soon.
Thanks everyone, will post feedback ASAIK.

[Steve Rossell]

If you want the control to gain focus after the window is activated then you should do:

CALLBACK FUNCTION ShowDIALOG_BLINKProc()
    STATIC lNCACTIVATE AS LONG
    SELECT CASE AS LONG CBMSG
      CASE %WM_NCACTIVATE
         INCR lNCACTIVATE
         IF lNCACTIVATE = 5 THEN
            CONTROL SET TEXT CBHNDL, %IDC_RICHEDIT_HELLOWORLD, "I should blink now on PB/Win Version 8.04 "
         END IF

         IF CBLPARAM = %TRUE THEN
           CONTROL SET FOCUS CBHNDL, %IDC_RICHEDIT_HELLOWORLD
         ELSE
           FUNCTION = %TRUE
         END IF
    END SELECT
END FUNCTION

[Michael Mattias]

>If you want the control to gain focus after the window is activated then you should do:

I think I would instead test WM_ACTIVATE notification looking for wParam (CBWPARAM) to equal WA_ACTIVE or WA_CLICKACTIVE and set focus to the desired control at that time.

(I truly do not understand the STATIC 'activate counter' here. It must be a 'context' thing).

Regardless, there is 'something' which changed in the 8.04 compiler. If it's not in the "What's New" documentation (I have not yet upgraded from 8.03 so I don't know), then this should be reported to the proper authorities.



MCM

[Marc Giesmann]

Steve,
Thanks for this workaround, but I still think this is unacceptable- we've got some more programs to maintain. And If the compiler changes, and there is no clue what excatly changed- and after 1 or 2 weeks our customers are confused by some strange happenings, and we don't know where to search for the issue.

How do we now, this is the only "little" thing that changed?

Hope you understand my problem with this approach.

In this case it really helps- but I still don't know, in which cases the compiler just GPFs. I just got the first mail back from powerbasic, I'll give feedback again, ASAIC

EDIT
Michael,
Thats a good idea in this case.

BTW:
The static counter is just to explain, that on the fourth or fifth time the NCACTIVATE happens, my program starts to blink
in the taskbar with PB Win8.04. In fact, thats just a "cosmetical add on" to decribe the problem more accurate.

[Michael Mattias]

The COMPILER (pbwin.exe) is suffering a GPF?

That's Bad. Real Bad.

I've only been able to make that happen (reproducible) once in seventeen years of using PB products. Oh, wait a minute, that was not a GPF, that was an 'endless loop during compile' which I had to terminate.

Bit.... first thing to do is disable any antivirus software running and look for spyware. There have been numerous reports here of viruses, anti-viruses and spyware making Bad Things happen.

MCM

[Marc Giesmann]

Yep the compiler- and OllyDbg wants to look for this issue
And the endless loop... yup. But thats a half year ago.

[Michael Mattias]

>And the endless loop... yup. But thats a half year ago.

???

Mine was about seven years ago. If there was one a half a year ago I must have missed it. I guess I need to pay better attention to the PowerBase forum.

[Marc Giesmann]

Yeah don't know if this was discussed here, we needed to rearrange much of our code- AFAIK we just changed some MACRO-Functions to real functions. That did the trick- but thats only playing for time...

[Wayne Diamond]

AFAIK we just changed some MACRO-Functions to real functions. That did the trick- but thats only playing for time

Macro functions are just inline functions so maybe its a registers conflict ... try using #REGISTER NONE at the start of those subs/functions, and/or using MACROTEMP statements for variable declaration

[Roger Garstang]

Ok, so the only thing changed was a check for IF CBLPARAM = %TRUE. So, the problem was that you were setting focus when your window wasn't in the forground. Not sounding like this is the compiler's fault...

Sounds like previously the Control Set Focus wasn't working when a window wasn't in focus/active/foreground. When they fixed that bug it exposed yours. In windows you can set the foreground/active window and focus as two different things. Normally you wouldn't want to, but I do use it in things like TaskTray menus I usually set focus to 0 so my window doesn't get any of the keys pressed while in the menu. If you want to activate your app to present something to the user when another is in the foreground then yours will blink unless you use API/tricks to make it active without blinking, otherwise you should only set focus when your app is Active/Foreground.