01-25-2005, 09:35 AM
I'll try to keep everyone updated on this as the project progresses. Here's what's currently working:
Windows of all different kinds
Command buttons
Labels
Vertical and Horizontal Scrollbars
Combo boxes/dropdown boxes
Listboxes
Editboxes
Images
Menus
GetFolder
Checkboxes
Radio Buttons
Differences from VB versions:
Full control over the WhatsThisHelp cursor option.
Command buttons can have huge borders around them.
Image controls have hDc's (in VB, they do not) and their features are more customizable (transparency on/off, etc).
New menus/submenus can be added at runtime and without the use of resource files.
Currently unimplemented stuff for working controls:
TAB control switching. I've followed the MSDN to the letter and still cannot get this to work.
ToolTipText. Needed eventually but unimplemented for now.
Autoresizing labels. Not quite sure how this is done atm.
Currently working on:
RichTextBox
Toolbar
SaveFile/LoadFile
Some notes:
The VB picturebox control is NOT a static control. It is quite a complex control that is going to take some time to implement properly. It serves as a container, it can be aligned in a window, it takes input, etc. Basically, it does everything a static control cannot do. So for now, the Image control, while more powerful than VB's Image control, isn't quite as powerful as VB's PictureBox control.
Keep in mind that the GUI abstraction layer is a procedural layer only; it is not OOP. Its purpose is to make developing a GUI application in FB a bit easier by bringing common constructs together in an organized way. This will be the basis for the GUI Compiler, which is OOP (well, it's POOP, but anyways...).
Windows of all different kinds
Command buttons
Labels
Vertical and Horizontal Scrollbars
Combo boxes/dropdown boxes
Listboxes
Editboxes
Images
Menus
GetFolder
Checkboxes
Radio Buttons
Differences from VB versions:
Full control over the WhatsThisHelp cursor option.
Command buttons can have huge borders around them.
Image controls have hDc's (in VB, they do not) and their features are more customizable (transparency on/off, etc).
New menus/submenus can be added at runtime and without the use of resource files.
Currently unimplemented stuff for working controls:
TAB control switching. I've followed the MSDN to the letter and still cannot get this to work.
ToolTipText. Needed eventually but unimplemented for now.
Autoresizing labels. Not quite sure how this is done atm.
Currently working on:
RichTextBox
Toolbar
SaveFile/LoadFile
Some notes:
The VB picturebox control is NOT a static control. It is quite a complex control that is going to take some time to implement properly. It serves as a container, it can be aligned in a window, it takes input, etc. Basically, it does everything a static control cannot do. So for now, the Image control, while more powerful than VB's Image control, isn't quite as powerful as VB's PictureBox control.
Keep in mind that the GUI abstraction layer is a procedural layer only; it is not OOP. Its purpose is to make developing a GUI application in FB a bit easier by bringing common constructs together in an organized way. This will be the basis for the GUI Compiler, which is OOP (well, it's POOP, but anyways...).
I'd knock on wood, but my desk is particle board.