Update 08-31-2012 - New Demo Link

[LarryMc]

After finishing the rewrite of the Form Editor code (which ultimately got rid of almost 300 lines of code after I went in and cleaned everything up) I fixed a few other things.
Then I added a lot of conditional compile statements.
This basically inserts stub functions in place of all the file/project save and compile functions.
When one of those functions is called you'll get a message saying it is not available in the demo version.
This allows me to create a demo version of the new IDE that is free for anyone to download.

You can design a form and save the form file (.iwf)

Also included in the installation is a copy of the latest help file (wip)
Until Bruce finds more bugs or LarryS gets me over the hump on the debugger I'll start working on the help file next.


IWB2.5Demo_Setup

Download, unzip and run the installer.

DO NOT - REPEAT - DO NOT INSTALL THIS WHERE YOU HAVE IWBASIC CURRENTLY INSTALLED!!!

When the installer is ran the following will happen.
1.the welcome page is displayed
2. the license agreement(partial) is shown; accept it.
3. the installation type selection page is shown:
the user is given two choices
1) normal and 2) memory stick.
There are two choices because of where things are stored since there are no registry entries involved.

1) NORMAL
just what it says. the following installation pages will suggest the Program Files\IWBDev3 folder for installation but can be changed.
then the user can select what components are to be installed followed by where the examples and the templates will be stored. The suggested location will be the localappdata folder for the currently logged on user. Although not currentlt coded these entries are saved in the ini file (which will be in that folder) for preloading when opening one of those two type of files in the IDE.  This scheme gets around the restriction that win7 has that does not allow updating the ini file in the Program Folder.  This type of installation will add several entries to the START MENU.

2)MEMORY STICK
Really means something other than NORMAL.
The suggested location is the system drive(normally C:\IWBDev3) but can be any folder where the user has read/write access. So, this suggested entry will most likely be changed to a memory stick or other USB type drive; but it can be installed as suggested.
As above the user will then be prompted for what components to install.  The user will not be presented any destination pages at this point like above.
That is because all components will be installed below the application folder.  Also, no entries will be made in the PC's START MENU.

[Brian]

Larry,

Don't think I will have time to test for you - I'm going on holiday tomorrow morning,
for two weeks. Anyway, there might be a newer version by then!

Brian

[billhsln]

Looks really clean.

Bill

[Andy]

Hi Larry,

I have two laptops one with win 7 and one with XP, I have downloaded to demo program and I will test it over the next couple of days and give you some feedback as I have the time at the moment.

Will let you know.

Andy.

[RitchieF]

Hi Larry,

found some graphical issues:
if I start the IDE I have a large code window and a small output window . Maximizing the whole IDE window blocks the ability to change the height of the output window .

In maximized mode clicking  menu -> view -> Project file list shows a little flickering of the screen and in the first moment no change. But if I move the whole IDE window to the right I can see the docked file list window on the left. So the main IDE window must change its size if the Project file list is selected.

Changing the width of the IDE window by dragging with the mouse I can see a blue + sign below the word 'subroutines' and a red - sign 

You're doing a great job !!

Richard

[LarryMc]

if I start the IDE I have a large code window and a small output window . Maximizing the whole IDE window blocks the ability to change the height of the output window .

You can change the size of the output window when the main window is maximized but you can only make it smaller.
With both the project list and the output window you can only resize by dragging the side opposite the side docked to the main window.
That's not going to change.  And since windows does not allow a maximized window to be resized by dragging you can't make the main window small so you can increase the size of the other two. I guess I have always made the projectlist and output windows the size I want them before I maximize the main window.
It is 99% likely you'll always have to un-maximize to make the side windows larger and then re-maximize.

In maximized mode clicking  menu -> view -> Project file list shows a little flickering of the screen and in the first moment no change. But if I move the whole IDE window to the right I can see the docked file list window on the left. So the main IDE window must change its size if the Project file list is selected.

Now that is a situation I'll have to fix.  If the main window is maxed and either of the side windows are placed in view I'll have to force the main to un-maxed, open the side window and then force the main back to maxed let the user resize as desired and then re-max the main..  But that will still leave the first issue  you mentioned.

Changing the width of the IDE window by dragging with the mouse I can see a blue + sign below the word 'subroutines' and a red - sign 

Those are misplaced button bitmaps.  That must have gotten messed up while I was dealing with the resize issues.  I also noticed the scintilla editor window is not being resized when the main window is maximized.  Again, a resizing issue that wasn't there before.

Thanks for the feedback.

[LarryMc]

Okay,
The toolbar's images in the scintilla editor and in the Find-in-File output tab now work correctly.
It was simply a matter of turning the "Zero Local Variables" option back on in the Compiler Options dialog.

The Scintilla editor not resizing properly was simply a commented out API postmessage command sending an @IDSIZE message.

If the main window is maximized and either the View/Project or View/Output option is selected to OPEN the window then
the main window will be restored to its non-maximized state.  I did not automatically re-maximize the main window.
By not maximizing the main I give the user the opportunity to resize the side window.

A side effect of this is that if you close the IDE while it is maximized and one of the side windows is open; when you next open the IDE it will be in the restored state and not in the maximized state.  I may be able to fix that.

While typing this and double checking the operation I noticed that if the main window is maximized and the output window is closed and you compile (which opens the output window automatically) you can't see the output window.  That be will fixed in the next update.

The download link has been updated to reflect the fixes.  You can reinstall over your current install of the demo.  No need to uninstall the previous demo.

Thanks again for the feedback.

[Bruce Peaslee]

The demo version is a good idea as it puts more people to work checking things (and keeping LarryMc off the street).   

[LarryMc]

I 've updated the demo to reflect the fixes I've made since the last demo release.
The download link is located here


I've also updated the help file which is included in the demo install.
See the help file update scope here

[Brian]

How come the update puts it into C:\Program Files\IWBDev2.5Demo instead of C:\Program Files\IWBDev3 ?

Anyway, whatever folder it is, my Avast! just won't let it run properly. Always trying to put the
program into its Sandbox. And trying the form editor just crashed after about 30 seconds

Any ideas?

Brian

[LarryMc]

How come the update puts it into C:\Program Files\IWBDev2.5Demo instead of C:\Program Files\ ?

Because I put the version that will compile programs in IWBDev3 and the version that doesn't compile in IWBDev2.5Demo
Where did you actually install it?
I had never installed the demo in the Programs File directory.  I just tried that and it won't run at all when installed there.
There appears to be a problem with my demo installer.
However, when I install it someone else it appears to work fin.

Anyway, whatever folder it is, my Avast! just won't let it run properly. Always trying to put the
program into its Sandbox.

I use the free version of AVG and have no problems.

And trying the form editor just crashed after about 30 seconds

The form editor has never crashed on me.  Can you duplicate the failure and tell me what you were doing when in crashed.
The more details the better.

[Brian]

Well, I've just uninstalled, and then reinstalled in the root of C:\

It now says that IWB is not properly installed, and won't even run! Still getting the Avast!
error. I used to use AVG, but after one particular update, my computer slowed down
something shocking, so went to something else. Err, I'm not on Win 7 or Vista, so can't
blame that

Will keep trying...

Brian

[LarryMc]

Well, I've just uninstalled, and then reinstalled in the root of C:\

It now says that IWB is not properly installed, and won't even run! Still getting the Avast!
error.

I'm working on that problem.
It might be tomorrow since today is my football day.

[Brian]

No worries, Larry - you are entitled to a rest day!

BTW, do you have to have IWB3 installed for the Demo2.5 to run properly? If so, that
could be my error, as I have dumped both programs in my frustration!

Brian

[LarryMc]

IWB2 has to be properly installed (because of the compiler options)

[LarryMc]

Updated demo installer.

download link is at the top of this topic.

[Brian]

Larry,

I'll give it another go tonight. Can you point me to the correct link for the
IWB3 install, please? I'll then install that again before the Demo

Brian

[LarryMc]

The demo version replaces the iwb3 version.
I quit updating the free IWB3 version when I started adding code that let the user compile things.
Bruce is the only one that gets that as a beta tester.

The demo version does everything that your IWB3 version did plus it has all the fixes.
It just won't compile anything.
When we release the final version (IWB2.x) it will have all the compile functions added in and you will download it from your customer page entry.

LarryMc

[Bill-Bo]

The demo download is only 22 bytes?...

Bill

[LarryMc]

Try it now. I had a typo in the file name.

[Bill-Bo]

LarryMc,

It's OK, now. 14+ MB.

Thanks,

Bill

[Brian]

OK, I re-installed in the root of C: Once I had messed about with the Avast! exclusions, I
was ready to go

Ran up the program, clicked on new Form, right-clicked for Properties and added a
Border, Menu and Statusbar, clicked OK - crashed!

Restarted the program, clicked on new Form, right-clicked for Properties, and then
clicked Cancel - crash!

Running XP SP3, and don't know what else to try

I cleared out all the other IWB3 and 2.5 installs before I started. I have noticed that,
while installing in C:, there is another IWBDev2_5Demo folder in Program Files that
contains the uninstaller stubs. I would have thought that these would be in the
designated install folder?

Brian

[LarryMc]

Thanks for the info and the patience!

I'll look into it after supper in lieu of Monday night football.

LarryMc

[LarryMc]

I followed your steps and got it to crash.  Restarted and did the same steps again and it didn't crash and hasn't crashed since.
After supper I'll remove and reinstall and see if I can get it to crash again.
I hate these kind of intermittant problems!

But at least I was able to make it crash.

thanks

[LarryMc]

Making progress.
I've found the keystrokes that make it fail every time.

You don't have to add any controls to get it to fail.
The key is how you open the properties window.
If you open it by doubleclicking it doesn't fail.
If you open it by right clicking and then selecting properties it will fail if you then cancel.

And it does it every time.

So, in order to play with the Form Designer until I get the bug fix just use double click to open the properties dialog.