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**Paul Squires** · 27 Aug 2008, 10:11 AM

So, what makes FireFly so easy to use?

In FireFly, Windows events are captured for each Form/Control in your application and are processed in separate 'Message Handlers' that allow the programmer to create highly maintainable and modularized code, leading to less potential for errors in the long run. You are not forced into this approach (although it is encouraged). You could bypass the modular behavior altogether if you wish by simply placing all of your code into the Form's CUSTOM message handler - all message can be processed there, except for WM_CREATE).

This is how the modular coding looks in practice. In this extremely simple example we have a Form called 'MyForm' with a Command button called 'cmdOK' and a ListBox called 'lstCustomers'. The ListBox is loaded during the WM_CREATE message handler and a message box displays whenever the selection in the ListBox changes. Notice that FireFly uses the standard Windows message names allowing you to leverage your knowledge of existing Windows methodologies.

Code:

'-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Function MYFORM_WM_CREATE ( _
                          hWndForm As Dword, _      ' handle of Form
                          ByVal UserData As Long _  ' optional user defined Long value
                          ) As Long

   ' Add some customers to the ListBox
   FF_ListBox_AddString HWND_MYFORM_LSTCUSTOMERS, "PlanetSquires"
   FF_ListBox_AddString HWND_MYFORM_LSTCUSTOMERS, "PowerBASIC"
   FF_ListBox_AddString HWND_MYFORM_LSTCUSTOMERS, "Microsoft"
   FF_ListBox_AddString HWND_MYFORM_LSTCUSTOMERS, "Google"
   
   ' Select the first customer (ListBoxes are zero based)
   FF_ListBox_SetCurSel HWND_MYFORM_LSTCUSTOMERS, 0
   
End Function


'--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Function MYFORM_CMDOK_BN_CLICKED ( _
                                 ControlIndex     As Long,  _  ' index in Control Array
                                 hWndForm         As Dword, _  ' handle of Form
                                 hWndControl      As Dword, _  ' handle of Control
                                 idButtonControl  As Long   _  ' identifier of button
                                 ) As Long
   
   FF_CloseForm hwndForm
   
End Function


'---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Function MYFORM_LSTCUSTOMERS_LBN_SELCHANGE ( _
                                           ControlIndex  As Long,  _  ' index in Control Array
                                           hWndForm      As Dword, _  ' handle of Form
                                           hWndControl   As Dword, _  ' handle of Control
                                           idListBox     As Dword  _  ' identifier of listbox
                                           ) As Long
   
   Local sCustomer As String
   Local nCurSel   As Long
   
   ' Get the selected customer and display it
   nCurSel = FF_ListBox_GetCurSel( hWndControl )

   If nCursel >= 0 Then
      sCustomer = FF_ListBox_GetText( hWndControl, nCurSel )
      MsgBox sCustomer,, "Selected Customer"
   End If   
   
End Function

Now that is pretty painless! Notice the use of the "FF_" prefixed functions. Those are called "FireFly Functions" and there are loads of them already defined for your use. Everything from Command Buttons, Check Boxes, List Boxes to Progress Bars, TreeViews, etc... You will hardly ever have to use any other Windows functions but the beauty of FireFly is that every Windows API function can be used with FireFly. You can use any many or as few of them as you feel comfortable.

In the above example, you can see that we are handling three Windows messages: WM_CREATE, BN_CLICKED, LBN_SELCHANGE.

The WM_CREATE message is a place where you can populate your controls with required data, set controls visible/hidden or simply enable/disable them. Basically, anything you need to do prior to the Form being displayed.

The BN_CLICKED message is a notification message that signifies that the Command Button named 'cmdOK' has been clicked. In our example we call the built in FireFly Function 'FF_FormClose' to simply close the Form and end our application.

The LBN_SELCHANGE notification message is received whenever we change rows in the ListBox. In the example, we retrieve the index to the new row and retrieve the text of the Customer name and display it in a message box.

When you compile the project, FireFly will gather up all of your message handlers and generate the behind the scenes code that ties them to the application's message loop and windows procedure functions. All of that messy "API" stuff that people love to fear monger with is taken care for you. You never have to see it, edit it, or have to deal with it. FireFly will generate it and call the PB compiler to create the EXE or DLL for you. FireFly will even automatically delete the generated code if you really don't want it anymore.

FireFly is easy to use and it will make you more productive. It may not get you more girlfriends or help you plan that summer vacation you've been longing for, but it *will* enhance your programming experience and enable you to produce applications more quickly and efficiently.

FireFly is only $99. Compare it to other visual design tools available for PowerBASIC and you will quickly find that it is an incredible value. You bought the best BASIC compilier available... now do yourself a favor and treat yourself to bit of luxury with the FireFly Visual Designer. Haven't you waited long enough?

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http://www.planetsquires.com/firefly.htm

**Paul Squires** · 28 Aug 2008, 08:33 AM

The FireFly Visual Designer is not just pretty eye candy. It allows the programmer to do things with controls that are cumbersome for a lot of people with an ease of simplicity that is hard to imagine.

For example, working with TextBoxes (i.e. Edit controls) can be a bit of a pain if you need to do anything out of the ordinary with them. Most times, you will have to resort to subclassing the text box. Just the word 'subclassing' causes some people to shy away immediately. In FireFly, there is no need to subclass the text box. You have access to all of the capabilities of subclassing without ever having to write a line of subclassing code.

Here are a few examples of dealing with a FireFly TextBox. Take note of just how easy it is. You can deal with messages that are only available via subclassing in a manner that is no different than dealing with standard non-subclassed text boxes. It can't get any easier than this.

Say that you want to filter out characters from being entered into the TextBox. In this case we have a TextBox named 'txtCustName' and we do not want the letters "P" or "p" to be entered.

Code:

'--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Function MYFORM_TXTCUSTNAME_WM_CHAR ( _
                                    ControlIndex  As Long,  _  ' index in Control Array
                                    hWndForm      As Dword, _  ' handle of Form
                                    hWndControl   As Dword, _  ' handle of Control
                                    chCharCode    As Long,  _  ' character code
                                    lKeyData      As Long   _  ' key data
                                    ) As Long

   ' Filter out any unwanted characters by returning
   ' a %TRUE value from the function. This will prevent
   ' the WM_CHAR message handler from forwarding the
   ' character request to the default windows handler.
   Select Case chCharCode
      Case 80, 112     ' ASCII codes for 'P' and 'p'  
         Function = %TRUE 
   End Select      
      
End Function

Next, there are applications where it is convenient to be able to TAB to the next control by pressing the ENTER key while in a TextBox. With FireFly, this is very simple. I can image this type of code being used in a data entry type of Form.

Code:

'---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Function MYFORM_TXTCUSTNAME_WM_KEYUP ( _
                                     ControlIndex  As Long,  _  ' index in Control Array
                                     hWndForm      As Dword, _  ' handle of Form
                                     hWndControl   As Dword, _  ' handle in Control
                                     nVirtKey      As Long,  _  ' virtual key code
                                     lKeyData      As Long   _  ' key data
                                     ) As Long

   ' Handle the ENTER key. Treat it like pressing the TAB key
   ' to simulate moving to the next WS_TABSTOP field. Once we
   ' intercept the ENTER key we simply call the API function that
   ' gets the get tabstop control and we set our focus to it.
   Select Case nVirtKey
      Case %VK_RETURN
         SetFocus GetNextDlgTabItem( hWndForm, hWndControl, %FALSE )
         Function = %TRUE
   End Select
         
End Function

How about something a little stranger? Say, you have a requirement to know when your mouse cursor is over the TextBox. Here is how easy it is to this:

Code:

'--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Function MYFORM_TXTCUSTNAME_WM_MOUSEMOVE ( _
                                         ControlIndex  As Long,  _  ' index in Control Array
                                         hWndForm      As Dword, _  ' handle of Form
                                         hWndControl   As Dword, _  ' handle of Control
                                         MouseFlags    As Long,  _  ' virtual keys that are pressed
                                         xPos          As Long,  _  ' x-coordinate of cursor
                                         yPos          As Long   _  ' y-coordinate of cursor
                                         ) As Long
   
   ' When the mouse goes over the textbox, display the client screen
   ' coordinates in the caption of the parent Form.
   FF_Control_SetText hWndForm, "xPos:" & Str$(xPos) & " yPos:" & Str$(yPos)
   
End Function

See what I mean? Dealing with subclassing in FireFly is a no-brainer. Okay, maybe you don't need to deal with the depths of the TextBox control like in the samples above. If you simply need to react to when the text changes in a TextBox then you can use the EN_CHANGE notification message handler:

Code:

'---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Function MYFORM_TXTCUSTNAME_EN_CHANGE ( _
                                      ControlIndex   As Long,  _  ' index in Control Array
                                      hWndForm       As Dword, _  ' handle of Form
                                      hWndControl    As Dword, _  ' handle of Control
                                      idTextControl  As Long   _  ' identifier of text control
                                      ) As Long
   
   ' Whenever the text in the txtCustName TextBox changes, update the
   ' caption of the Form.
   Local sCustName As String
   
   sCustName = FF_TextBox_GetText( hWndControl )
   
   FF_Control_SetText hWndForm, sCustName
   
End Function

I'll leave it to you to decide whether FireFly fits your needs.

Please head on over to the PlanetSquires website and download a free, 30-day trial today. You can get FireFly from http://www.planetsquires.com/firefly.htm

**Paul Squires** · 2 Sep 2008, 10:29 PM

FireFly Visual Designer has been updated to fully support the PB9 compiler. See announcement at: http://www.powerbasic.com/support/pb...ad.php?t=38461

Announcement

FireFly Visual Designer for PowerBASIC

FireFly Visual Designer for PowerBASIC

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