Announcement

**Scott Slater** · 2 Aug 2009, 04:39 PM

After your PUT statements try using a FLUSH statement. It may not be flushing the file buffers right away.

**Scott Slater** · 2 Aug 2009, 04:53 PM

Also...

replace

Code:

PRINT PBMAIN                           'REM-out for PBCC

with...

Code:

END PBMAIN

placed at the end of the file. It does what the windows compilers do then. It returns the result code to the OS (if one is set).

You can also enclose it in a $IF / $ENDIF block something like...

Code:

%IS_PB_DOS = 1  ' Change to 0 for CCWin
...
...
Function PBMain() AS LONG
...
End Function
...
...
$IF %IS_PB_DOS=1
End PBMain
$ENDIF

**Emil Menzel** · 3 Aug 2009, 07:17 AM

On testing the programs further I found that they would not run correctly unless a joystick was connected. Sorry about that. Will correct for it if possible. Also there is an error in the verbose remarks: if you run 2 PBCC programs simultaneously, they do not stop after N message swaps. They keep going until you stop them.

Earlier drafts of the programs started up quickly, so I'm not greatly worried about that bottle neck, and I'll certainly check out Scott's suggestion about FLUSH, to see what it does.

The worst bottle necks are elsewhere. Whereas 2 PBCC programs can swap messages up to 1000 times per sec, as soon as a PBDOS program enters the picture, the rate can drop to less than 1 message exchange per sec. At least that is true right now, on my 2 machines, especially if the PBDOS program has Windows's focus. I suspect that the problem lies not entirely in the programs and in NTVDM.EXE but also in my current settings for other drivers or programs. As yet, however, I'm still mostly in the dark there.

I have, coincidentally, run across a number of references on these forums to sharing information between PBDOS & PBCC/PBWIN programs, but I have never seen any accompanying source code. If anyone can point me to some sample source code, I'd appreciate it.

A relevant question is, how many message swaps per sec would be acceptable? For some problems, even 1 might do. For a game controller program, 10 might do, but 20 or more would be better. And I am still hoping that the latter number is feasible.

Scott:
Thank you for your comments.

**Scott Slater** · 3 Aug 2009, 07:54 AM

You might also want to hunt around to look for some TCP functions for the DOS end of things. I'm pretty sure there was code around here for IPX communications and NetBIOS stuff for DOS, but don't recall any for TCP/IP. I'm sure you could find something on the net for PB or QB and translate it. You could then use the "localhost" as a way to establish communications between the two. I would of course make the Windows ap the server since you can run it in a thread and let it do its thing in the background.

This approach would give you faster communications over the shared file approach.

** Another thing, maybe set up a virtual disk in windows and use it for the shared file access. In this case you would essentially be sharing memory.

**Emil Menzel** · 3 Aug 2009, 09:14 AM

Scott:
Thanks again.

The old Ethan Winer Quickpack routines can do a flush-buffer in DOS BASIC, but I'm still searching for a freebie alternative. I suspect that PBDOS needs flushing more than PBCC does.

I've been tempted to try the clipboard rather than a disk file for a place to post messages (in which case one could communicate between DOS, Windows, & Mac OS X on a MacBook Pro, if one were so inclined) but the virtual disk might be neater, & I'll have to try that too.

Will get back to you on these & the other matters after I've done my homework.

**Scott Slater** · 3 Aug 2009, 12:37 PM

Flush is a built-in PB Command (statement) in both DOS and CC.

Flush {file handle number}

**Emil Menzel** · 5 Aug 2009, 04:20 PM

Thanks to Petr Schreiber, here's a translation of ShareCC.BAS into PBWin.
Not surprisingly, the compiled versions of these two programs will communicate with each other very effectively.
ShareDOS.BAS still "needs improvemnt", as the saying goes.

Code:

'SHAREWIN.BAS
'Freeware, Public Domain, by Emil Menzel & Petr Schreiber
'Compile in PBWIN (we developed it in ver 9.01)
$COMPILE EXE
$DIM ALL
$INCLUDE ONCE "Win32api.INC"

TYPE JoyInfoType
  Time AS LONG 'Windows time, in millisec

  'Joystick: X,Y,Z readings range from 0 to 65536; center=32767
  'Calibrate your joystick with Windows Start/ControlPanel/Game Controllers
  JX AS LONG 'joystick X axis
  JY AS LONG 'joystick Y
  JZ AS LONG 'joystick Z. will read 0 if your joystick is not 3-D
  JB AS LONG 'joystick button(s) status

  'Mouse readings from Win32 api can range from 0 to max resolution of your Display,
  'as set by Windows Start/ControlPanel/Display/Settings
  MX AS LONG 'Mouse X, on screen as a whole, according to Windows
  MY AS LONG 'Mouse Y, on screen as a whole, according to Windows
  MB AS LONG 'Mouse button(s) status

  'Keyboard: Status according to win api function GetKeyState
  'This does not include Shift state, etc.
  ' ("Needs improvement", most teachers would say)
  KyBd AS LONG
  'Add keyboard shift status, etc here if you wish
  'Add serial port,
  'and old gameport status here too, as you wish

  ID AS SINGLE 'identify which program read or wrote to the .DTA last

  'Error Messages, &/or commands from the PBDOS program, to be executed by
  'the PBCC program.
  Message AS STRING * 30 'use fixed strings for all messages, to keep
  'the .DTA file lines exactly equal in length

END TYPE

DECLARE SUB Sleeper(timeinsec AS SINGLE) 'for PBDOS
DECLARE SUB Play(SynAsync AS INTEGER, WavFileName AS STRING) 'for PBCC/PBWIN
DECLARE FUNCTION KeyStat() AS LONG 'for PBCC/PBWIN
DECLARE FUNCTION PBMAIN() AS LONG

'''PRINT PBMAIN 'un-REM for PBDOS

FUNCTION PBMAIN () AS LONG
  DIM hWnd AS DWORD
  DIM hFont AS DWORD

  FONT NEW "Fixedsys" TO hFont

  GRAPHIC WINDOW "Emil", 1, 1, 640, 480 TO hWnd
  GRAPHIC ATTACH hWnd, 0
  GRAPHIC SET FONT hFont
  GRAPHIC CLEAR %BLACK
  GRAPHIC COLOR %WHITE, %BLACK

  DIM Jinfo AS JoyInfoType 'room for identifier and all member elements
  DIM JS AS JOYINFO 'JoyInfo is defined in win api --x,y,z status of joystick + buttons code
  'At least in PBCC, JS can also be treated as a string
  '4 bytes for each of the various LONG integers
  'This info can be passed to other subroutines in a single 16 byte string,

  DIM pt AS PointAPi ' as defined in win api -- x,y of (e.g.) Mouse

  DIM ii AS LONG
  DIM StickError AS LONG
  DIM Count0 AS QUAD
  DIM Count1 AS QUAD
  DIM t AS SINGLE
  DIM identifier AS SINGLE
  DIM ky AS STRING
  DIM A AS STRING
  DIM DataFileName AS STRING

  RANDOMIZE TIMER
  t=TIMER 'use TIX to get quad identifier guaranteed unique.
  '(TIMER usually okay too unless exe's run < 18/th sec. apart)
  DO: LOOP UNTIL TIMER > t
  t=TIMER
  identifier = t 'give this exe the unique identifier
  DataFileName ="c:\shar.dta" 'Warning: SHAREDOS.EXE can't read long file names
  KILL DataFileName 'clear previous test runs

  Jinfo.ID = identifier 'put unique identifier in the data
  OPEN DataFileName FOR BINARY LOCK SHARED AS #1 'be sure to make SHARED
  PUT #1,, Jinfo 'initialize. write opening string

 DIM flagInstat AS LONG
 DO UNTIL ky$ = CHR$(27) OR INSTR(Jinfo.Message,"QUIT")= 1
 '--------Here is the actual sharing code----------------------------------------------

  DO UNTIL flagINSTAT 'The INSTAT check is for debug only.
  'I.e., press any key to read the current Counts

  GRAPHIC INSTAT TO flagINSTAT
  SEEK #1, 1 'seek to beginning
  GET #1,, Jinfo 'read in whole UDT
  IF Jinfo.ID = identifier THEN 'if it's from this exe, it's not our turn yet, so iterate after short sleep
  SLEEP 10 'For PBDOS program(s) CALL Sleeper(timeInSec) instead
  'Adjust SLEEP time for optimal performance (for your own purposes)
  'SLEEP 0 is fine ... to test max speed, anyway
  INCR Count0 'use for debugging or test only
  ITERATE DO
  ELSE
  INCR Count1 'use for debug or test only
  GOSUB ProcessInfo
  '''Jinfo.ID = identifier 'I moved this line into the GOSUB
  SEEK #1, 1 'seek to beginning
  PUT #1,, Jinfo 'and write it
  EXIT DO
  END IF
  LOOP
 '---------End of the actual sharing code----------------------------------------------
  GRAPHIC INKEY$ TO ky$
  GOSUB ShowInfo
  'make a click... A good way (in debugging) to tell how fast the program is running
  'try both SyncAsync=0 & =1
  '''CAll Play (1, "SOUND111.WAV") 'see Windows WAV file collection
 LOOP

 CLOSE #1
 IF DIR$(DataFileName)<>"" THEN KILL DataFileName 'delete data file
 GRAPHIC PRINT "Done in" & STR$(ROUND(TIMER - t, 3)) & " sec"
 GRAPHIC PRINT "Press any key"

 GRAPHIC WAITKEY$ 'for PBDOS use ky$ = INPUT$(1)
 EXIT FUNCTION

 '===== GOSUBs ================================
  ProcessInfo:
  'First read the Message from the other program & act on it
  'add your own code here
  '& post appropriate Messages for the other program
  'Get PBCC to do what PBDOS can't do, or can't do as well.
  'See, for starters, the list given on http://sourceforge.net
  'in its discussion of ntvdm.exe. Running DLLs & SHELLing without using
  'DOS cmd.exe would be also be relatively easy pieces.

  'Next,
  A$ = UCASE$(TRIM$(Jinfo.Message))
  IF INSTR(A$, ".WAV") THEN CALL Play(0,A$)
  Jinfo.Message = "ok" 'clear out old messages. New ones could be posted too

  'Get the current status of Windows keybord, clock,joystick & mouse with win api's
  Jinfo.KyBd = KeyStat 'check keyboard & mouse buttons
  'Note: this is regardless of which window has the focus now
  Jinfo.Time = GetTickCount 'win api current time
  StickError = joyGetPos(0,JS) 'win api...reads stick#0
  IF StickError THEN Jinfo.Message = "StickError# "+STR$(StickError)

  Jinfo.JX = JS.wXpos
  Jinfo.JY = JS.wYpos
  Jinfo.JZ = JS.wZpos
  Jinfo.JB = JS.wButtons
  GetCursorPos Pt 'win api mouse pos
  Jinfo.Mx = Pt.x
  Jinfo.My = Pt.y

  'better yet, get MouseButton status from Win32 api functions forbuttons, instead of this way
  Jinfo.MB = Jinfo.KyBd
  IF Jinfo.MB > 2 THEN Jinfo.MB = 0 'assuming max of 2 buttons

  '''ScreenToClient hWin, pt 'win api mouse pos on whichever window has the focus
  'could add this info too
  IF Jinfo.KyBd THEN
  GRAPHIC INKEY$ TO ky$ 'keypress, if CONSOLE of this program has Windows focus
  IF ky$=CHR$(27) THEN Jinfo.Message = "QUIT"
  'or add your own code for handling this
  'ignore (at least here) keypresses on any other windows
  END IF
  'IMPORTANT! if you don't call this GOSUB, put the next line in the main loop, where John Gleason had it
  Jinfo.ID = identifier 'otherwise, our turn to write so set ID to our identifier

  RETURN

  ShowInfo:
  Graphic_Locate (10,1)
  GRAPHIC PRINT "Time "+STR$(Jinfo.Time)+SPACE$(5)
  GRAPHIC PRINT " JX "+ STR$(Jinfo.JX)+SPACE$(5)
  GRAPHIC PRINT " JY "+STR$(Jinfo.JY)+SPACE$(5)
  GRAPHIC PRINT " JZ "+STR$(Jinfo.JZ)+SPACE$(5)
  GRAPHIC PRINT " JB "+STR$(Jinfo.JB)+SPACE$(5)
  GRAPHIC PRINT " MX "+STR$(Jinfo.MX)+SPACE$(5)
  GRAPHIC PRINT " MY "+STR$(Jinfo.MY)+SPACE$(5)
  GRAPHIC PRINT " MB "+STR$(Jinfo.MB)+SPACE$(5)
  GRAPHIC PRINT "KyBd "+STR$(Jinfo.Kybd)+SPACE$(5)
  GRAPHIC PRINT " ID "+STR$(Jinfo.ID)
  GRAPHIC PRINT " Msg "+Jinfo.Message+"|"

  Graphic_Locate (23, 1)
  A$="Count0"+STR$(Count0)+ " Count1" + STR$(Count1)+ " ID# "+ STR$(identifier)
  GRAPHIC PRINT A$
  RETURN
END FUNCTION

' -- No 100% perfect, but usable
SUB Graphic_Locate(y AS LONG, x AS LONG)
 LOCAL cx, cy AS LONG

 GRAPHIC TEXT SIZE "A" TO cx, cy

 GRAPHIC SET POS (cx*(x-1)+1, cy*(y-1)+1)

END SUB

$IF 0
'use for PBDOS programs only
SUB Sleeper (SleepTime AS SINGLE)
  'release a time slice
  'ASM code from PB Support
  DIM t AS SINGLE
  DIM iswindows AS INTEGER

  iswindows% = ISTRUE BIT(pbvhost,8)
  IF UCASE$(ENVIRON$("os")) = "WINDOWS_NT" THEN iswindows% = -1

  t=TIMER + SleepTime
  DO
  IF iswindows% THEN
  ! push ds
  ! mov ax, &h1680
  ! int &h2f
  ! pop ds
  END IF
  LOOP UNTIL TIMER > t
END SUB

$ENDIF

'PB INKEY$ does not work on a graphics window.
'KeyStat does -- albeit the returned keycodes are not all the same as INKEY$
'It "needs work", PB gurus and indows gurus will say
'But I leave it here as I posted it in 2005 in a thread called "NagBox"
'Use in PBCC/PBWIN only; REM-out or delete for PBDOS
FUNCTION keyStat() AS LONG
  LOCAL I,ks AS LONG
  DIM kb(255) AS STATIC BYTE
  GetKeyBoardState kb(0) 'win api
  FOR I=0 TO 255 'or .. ASC("A") to ASC("Z")
  ks=GetKeyState(I) 'win api
  IF ks<0 THEN EXIT FOR
  NEXT
  '''SLEEP 50 'watch out! fast-repeating keys
  IF I>255 THEN I=0
  FUNCTION=I
END FUNCTION

'Play a .WAV file (for PBCC/PBWIN only)
'from a post by Mike Doty, on PB Forums, June 2009
SUB Play(syncOrAsync AS INTEGER, sFileName AS STRING) EXPORT
 LOCAL zFileName AS ASCIIZ * 128
 IF LEN(sFileName) = 0 THEN sFileName = "tada"
 zFileName = sFileName + $NUL
 IF SyncOrAsync <>0 THEN SyncOrAsync = 1
 CALL PlaySound(zFileName, 0% , syncOrAsync) ' sync=0=play sound until done
  'async=1=start sound but don't wait
END SUB

**Reinhard Böck** · 6 Aug 2009, 02:03 AM

TCP Communication fpr DOS programs

Take a look at:

phatcode.net / downloads / libraries / network / dsock

http://www.phatcode.net/downloads.php?id=182

Winsock-to-DOS interface

Maybe it helps!

Greetings from austria,
Reinhard Böck

**Emil Menzel** · 8 Aug 2009, 06:42 AM

Reinhard:
Thank you. I prefer not to use a third-party external program, but since this one does give source code it might help to clarify some of the issues.

I'm going to take a break from ShareDOS for a while, to work on a different program, and to study TCP, etc. Will post again if & when I come up with something better. But in the meantime, the potential significance (at least for PBDOS programmers) of being able to communicate effectively between PBDOS and PBCC/PBWIN should not be underestimated!

**Michael Mattias** · 9 Aug 2009, 09:22 AM

STDIN and STDOUT may also be used.

**Emil Menzel** · 11 Aug 2009, 06:52 AM

Michael:
I do not know what you mean. Please explain.

**Michael Mattias** · 11 Aug 2009, 08:30 AM

The STDIN and STDOUT handles are part of all MS-DOS and PB/CC (#CONSOLE ON) programs.

And, you have easy-to-use STDIN and STDOUT functions in both.

That is, these conduits are options for exchanging data between a PB/CC and PB/DOS program.

Announcement

How effectively can a PBDOS program and a PBCC program communicate with each other?

How effectively can a PBDOS program and a PBCC program communicate with each other?

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