A desire commonly expressed by A-Shell developers, especially those deploying in Windows environments, is for tools to give existing applications more of a Windows-like GUI (Graphic User Interface). This section provides a handy index to many of the currently available tools and extensions. The table below shows links to topics found elsewhere in the documentation, and following that are discussions on other relevant topics.
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Description |
Link |
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Display a File Open / Save Dialog. |
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Cut-and paste operations by user, and a subroutine interface to allow applications to copy-to and paste-from the clipboard under program control. |
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Saving information to and retrieving it from Windows' Registry. |
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Although you can use HOSTEX.SBR to launch any native application, it is sometimes useful to be able to launch the application associated with a particular file type or URL, without knowing exactly what the application is called or where it is. For example, when you click on a URL link inside of an email message, the email application does not need to know which web browser you use or how to launch it; it simply tells Windows to launch the application that goes with this URL. |
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Play a sound file. |
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A-Shell 4.9 introduced the ability to dynamically create real Windows controls in A-Shell. These include dialogs, buttons, checkboxes, radio buttons, group boxes, listboxes, combo boxes, edit controls, tab controls, static text controls, tree controls, etc. Using this technique, you can now using traditional Alpha Basic screen drawing techniques (print commands, tab functions, and subroutines) to create Windows "forms" and dialogs that are nearly indistinguishable from Windows programs created in Visual Basic. |
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Display Windows printer selection |
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Browse / select directories |
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Retrieve a Windows directory by its alias/ID |
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Choose a color |
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Choose a font |
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'3D' Tabs |
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Modify A-Shell GUI Settings |