BTW, I am planning to use tabx as a means of creating nicer screens, I am not expecting to wait for events. I plan to detect and respond to changes of panes through simple mouse click detection.

Nice indeed!

I see you have the "gui bug" now... that is a dangerous thing...

Looks like you are off to a good start. When you mean "blue bar" do you mean in the "combo" control? Or are you referring to xtree which is the ability to add lookups and all sorts of grid features to your software? xtree started off as a simple listbox sort of control, now has grown to a almost a full blown spreadsheet / data entry tool in it's own right... but you can still use it for simple picklists, etc as it was initially designed.

Thanks Frank. I have created a user interface that resembles a combo box. This is a subroutine that creates a white background box containing a list, as the user scrolls down, the highlighted row has a pale blue background (see sample three in yesterdays attachment, bit like windows explorer). I need to decide whether I can achieve this by a combination of print tricks on the tabx control background. I will also have a look at xtree. My method is functionally equivilant to, say, .NET combos and I guess xtree, without the windows drag bar. I will put together a couple of simple programs to demonstrate my issues. Sounds like xtree is worthy of attention. Jack and Ty have certainly not let the grass grow under their feet.

In the past doing this has often focused my attention to the actual cause! By the way, I have now discovered that you shouldn't start one of these quick replys, then leave the page to check something, you lose the reply!

Hi Eddie,
Looking at your screen, in my opinion, a quick and nice upgrade will be to convert all your code/description fields to combos, which can be in two flavours, list and self.
You should use the self combo when the table behind the field is big enough that a regular combo list will not be easy to handle or you want to add some kind of advance search.
Easily you will find on the documentation everything about that and it's the kind of conversion that will not add an huge change into your program considering that in a combo list, everything happens inside the control itself and, it makes an huge difference in the look of your screen and you will save dozens of programming lines of code.

I'm not giving too much examples of my programs, at least by now, because I moved directly to 100% GUI and my logic of programming could be different and confuse things.

As an aside, if you want, I can send you LEO, it's a GUI tool that I developed to design GUI screens, below you can see the UI.
Once it's an A-Shell program itself, the desing matches 100% what it will look in you final program.
That's the starting point for all my programs because it creates the initial code and, after the first release, any change, just update the include that handles the GUI controls but, you can use LEO just for design and play with GUI controls or even just create proposals for customers.

Have fun.

Thanks Jorge. I have used the Combo concept with .NET. With my Alpha code I have a created generic user interface for simple lists as well as larger data files e.g. customers. Wheras .NET comes back for chunks of data, my method interacts with the file handling and also supports find, find next/previous and some other features. I need to investigate xtree/combos. Your LEO looks very impressive. Many years ago we created a code gererator which I have maintained going forward incorporating .NET, A-Shell features as well as the code restructuring required, very clunky compared to what you have created. Firstly, though, I need to spend a moment sorting out my current issue. It will almost certainly be something I have done wrong I think it will be my using a combination of A-Shell methods to output to screen combined with my newly learned tabx bits. I am creating a test program that contains just enough lines of code to demonstrate the issue, normally by that time I realise what I have done wrong and stop blaming Jack!

It looks as though as I get used to A-Shell, I can jetison a lot of my code.

You cannot go wrong using Jorge as your mentor!
Like he said, using the combo control i think will resolve your issue. As a general rule, if you have a bunch of selections, that's when i would employ xtree to perform the lookup/picklist function for you.

I have tried various combinations and managed to achieve my original hope which was to enable my current 'Combo' boxes to work with tabx controls. My problem was to do with mixing older print methods with more recent 'Controls'. FYI I swapped a tab(-10,AG_ATTRSUB) with a 3D tab in order to create diffently coloured, shaded backgrounds. Points noted and I will start looking at xtree soon.

Thanks for all input and have a good weekend, nearly time to open the wine over here

Unfortunately our crack-BBS doesn't allow for thumb's up to posts so here is mine:

{thumbs up!}

Eddie, that's not fair, mention the magic (wine) word on a Friday night???

That was the perfect excuse to open the most strange blend I've ever bought Marselan/Tannat while producing this video

Below is the final result of the 30 minutes video, you decide if it worths the time to watch it and I'll be happy if you skip it because you are ahead in your GUI process.
Also attached are the code/run files.

It was done on the fly so, apologize for some clumsy but, I hope you have fun to watch as I had to produce it.

PS: the video is still rendering, hopefully will not crash this post

Hi Jorge, that didn't seem to work for me, see top of screen for my version of A-shell plus the debug trace to the right. I'll post a copy of my revised prototype form when it's near done. I say near done as I have been working on this for fourty years and it never gets done

Video worked for me here in rainy Cambridge, I watched the whole block buster movie (nice one Jorge) but was expecting a Cheers with Jorge holding a glass of wine at the end!

Jorge, the last thing I want to do is burden you with a problem to fix on a Saturday morning (are you based in Portugal or Brazil?). I attach, for your perusal, a copy of the debug log.

Cheers, Eddie

Morning Steve, but I'm just the idiot user. I'll go back and take a look as all I received was .BAS and .RUN, settings issue I recompiled with /av/x:2/p/ls, still just seems to loop.

Good morning guys,
You're right Steve, apologize for that missing part, it was in my plans but the video became so extended that I was in a hurry to just hit the stop button and, also, that (strange) wine didn't encourage me
Let's try with the next bottle, maybe when I add the refresh button and the XTREE to list the wines below the fields.

Eddie, one message caught my attention in your ashlog:
CreateWindowEx Error = 1158 (The current process has used all of its system allowance of handles for Window )
Looking to your PDF, all AUI controls are there but missing all the INFLD.

Let's start with the basics:
1. what happen with a single line program with one sbxinp, like the one I've started the example?
2. updating to the attached SBXINP.SBX makes any difference?
3. If the above don't do the trick, my guess is about MIAME settings, or environment settings on the A.Shell top menu, if you want to share it, maybe something there can enlight the cause of the problem.


As for my location, I live in Rio for almost 9 years but my business is fully based in Portugal, all my customers are there (since last year I have one non-AShell customer here).
The World's new reality didn't change anything in my professional life because I'm in remote mode since then, except to the fact that, for the first time, I didn't visited customers in a full year, hopefully, that will happen next July if, in the meantime, the flights from Brazil don't get suspended, again.
So, in resume, we both work in the same Time Zone

Cheers! (now with my big cup of coffee in hands, due the domestic Time Zone)

Hi, just got back from my daily walk and it is indeed rainy here. I replaced the sbxinp and aligned our settings, got further but not beyond the brand. When I'm in Portugal I quite like the local farmer's produce, 10 Euros for a 5 litre water bottle from his vats!

Jorge, this is my MIAME.INI, I do not currently use infld.

Well, it seems that, now, you have a fully functional example.
Have you noticed the link to "the video" and watched it?
My exercise stopped there, there is nothing more after the Brand (besides the checkbox) so, apologize if you have frustrated expectations.
Have a nice weekend

Where's the video link Jorge?

just click in the "this video" sentence, in my post from last night, it's commented, so turn on your audio

Ahh, great.That was very imformative Jorge, and very kind of you to take the time.This language and environment has come on a long way. I will take some time soon to explore my options.

Pls. see attached a sample of my progress so far. As I said earlier I modified my code a long time ago while just using AMOS and Z-Term. We developed a .NET interface which prompted me to restructure my code (and there's a hell of a lot of it) to react to mouse clicks. So I had one set of code that either reacted to a full .NET GUI front end or, alternatively, mouse clicks generated via Z-Term. The problem I had was trying to get the users to use the GUI!

Have a great weekend

Today I'll see if I can adapt to sbxinp using WINE.BAS as a template. Exciting times.

Morning guys, I've dipped my toes in the sbxinp pool. I can see how field validation and file handling would be handled, a couple of quick questions before I go much further. The sample provided, I get it that it was quick to put together and powerful.

Can we detect if the user has clicked a field out of sequence? For this we needed to validate the field left and then focus on the field selected.
Can we put up icons and detect when these are selected?
With combos, can we process large files, say several thousand customers or products (I think you have answered yes to this). We had to deal with these differently to simple lists in the .NET interface.
Are there search options on combos?
Are there options for multiple row data entry forms?.

I'm sure you will answer yes to all these as you have all managed to put together solutions. Just asking.

Jorge, we hope to go to Portugal in two weeks, stay in touch as we have a villla on the Algarve, not many people sitting and writing A-Shell/Alpha Basic code down there.

I remember when Jorge met me in the Algarve and he popped into the local shop and they said sorry we don’t understand you !we only speak English! , think Jorge felt like he some how end up in a different country , maybe a new English colony by the back door didn’t you Jorge.

Hi Eddie, so, you're one of the English colonizers of Algarve
As Steve mentioned, and I remember very well (great days there ) at least in Albufeira area, I'm sure you feel at home, there, you listen more english than portuguese.
Where do you have your villa?
It would be a pleasure to visit you there but, unfortunatelly, I'm in Rio de Janeiro, unless you stay until July-September when I'll be in Portugal.

And, apologize for not have answered to your doubts, it was, and still is in my plans but, didn't have enough quiet in the last week to do it properly but, stay tunned.

We stay Vale de Para, near Ghia/Albufeira. Hope to be there in September as well

You mean "Parra", I guess, excellent, let's see if I'll be there by then.

Yes, oops, Parra

Hey Eddie - didn't know they let you out of the country yet! Have a good trip - in the meantime here are a few ideas:

Can we detect if the user has clicked a field out of sequence? For this we needed to validate the field left and then focus on the field selected.
>>Yes, unfortunately in the new GUI realm you must trap for every single event. (via an exitcode value). If this is not what you expect, you need to provid some user feedback. This was the most difficult transition from text where WE can control the program flow. Now its completely out of your hands.

Can we put up icons and detect when these are selected?
>> Yes, put icons wherever you want... then trap exitcodes as above and process or give some sort of error feedback

With combos, can we process large files, say several thousand customers or products (I think you have answered yes to this). We had to deal with these differently to simple lists in the .NET interface.
>> I would not use COMBOS for more than a small handful of choices... think maybe colors, genders, or small data sets. There is a limited string size the combo will hold. As a general rule, if its >50 i would move your selections to XTREE.

Are there search options on combos?
>> I believe it will match on the first char, then second if you key quickly. You must sort the input data first. Again if you're building complex pick lists i would use XTREE.

Are there options for multiple row data entry forms?.
>> Yes, if you research INFLD you will see the ability to create multiple line entries that you can parse when entered.

Many thanks Frank, I've got a bit side tracked after my initial burst of energy Sounds like I need to look at XTREE next.

{thumbs-up!}