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WGLIB version 1.01
Released: July, 1992
Copyright InfoSoft, 1989-1991, 1992


The files that should be included on this disk or .ZIP archive are:
WGLIB101.DOC - Library documentation.
WGLIBGLO.BAS - Compleat declarations for WGLib 1.01.
WGLIBDEM - Various VB source files that make up a demo of WGLib
controls and routines
WGLIB.DLL - Windows 3.x Dynamic Link Library for VB development
MAILER - Mailer to register your copy of WGLib.




I. WGLib Compatibility

WGLib 1.01 is a completely new product designed to enhance the function-
ality and esthetics of Microsoft Visual Basic. The WGLib routines are
based on the functionality that GLib 2.01/x brings to BASIC PDS. WGLib
is designed to work EXCLUSIVELY with Microsoft's VISUAL BASIC 1.00 and
Windows 3.0 / 3.1. Future Microsoft versions of these products may or
may not introduce compatibility issues not addressed in WGLIB 1.01.

Unless otherwise noted, all routines used in WGLib are written in
assembler with MASM 5.0 or 6.0, with custom controls written in Microsoft
C v. 6.00. Except as noted in specific situations we make use of fully
documeted DOS, WIN API and VB API calls in order to maintain system
integrity under Windows.



II. WGLib 1.01 System Requirements

WGLib is an add-on set of routines for Microsoft Visual BASIC. These
routines provide added functionality and power to VB and replace func-
tions lost in the conversion from QB or QBX to VB.

In general, if you can run Visual Basic, you can use WGLIB. Specifical-
ly, however, you need at least an 80286 processor (weird to require an
'AT' to run a BASIC huh?), 1 MB of memory, Visual BASIC 1.00 and Windows
3.00. These are largely requirements for VB and/or Windows.





Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
i




III. License, Terms and Use:

You are granted free and unlimited personal use of any and all routines
in the distribution development library (".DLL") that you find of value.
Furthermore, you are free to pass along the BBS distribution files
(listed at the start of this document), and only the distribution files,
as long as they are passed along as a whole according to the guidlines
listed above.

No one is granted any permission to share or pass along any development
DLL libraries, object modules or object libraries (LIB). As distribut-
ed, the WGLib documentation, demo and the environment library (".DLL")
provide you with everything you need to call and execute WGLib routines
from within the VB environment.

There are no time limits on how long you may use and examine the viabili-
ty of the distribution DLL. Likewise, your personal use of the distribu-
tion DLL also has no time restriction on it. This provides a generous
forum for purposes of sampling, testing and evaluation and allows
virtually unlimited latitude in terms of personal use or as a tutorial
regarding some of the more advanced features in today's BASIC. This
personal use specifically does excludes the right to distribute the .DLL
as a runtime module. That is, if your sole intent with WGLib is personal
use or experimental use from within the environment, no monies are
requested, expected or solicited.

The development time DLL is unsuitable for use as a runtime support DLL
and any attempt to use it as such is a violation of these terms. If you
find some of the routines of value and desire to incorporate them into
.EXE applications, the runtime DLL library of routines and permission to
use them in such applications may be licensed as described below. That
is, licensing provides both the right to use the Design time DLL, as well
the right to distribute the Runtime DLL in support of your application.

Under no circumstances may these routines contained in the user libraries
(.LIBs and/or .DLLs) be distributed individually or without the accompa-
nying documentation, which is an integral part of the package, nor may
the documentation be altered in anyway.

A RUNTIME DLL and license to use and distribute the same, is granted only
to the person or company providing payment or named on the mailer. No
grandfather, parent or child usage rights are implied or granted. That
is, a RUNTIME license purchased by an individual grant the usage of the
library by that individual, not their employer or anyone outside the
immediate family. Conversely, a license purchased by a company, corpora-
tion, business or other organization does not imply or grant any person
employed, allied or associated with that organization personal usage or
distribution rights without also purchasing a RUNTIME license.








Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
ii




Under no circumstances may the routines in the WGLIB package, source,
object files, libraries or documentation be distributed by or otherwise
become a part of, or affiliated with any group or organization involved
in the distribution of what is generally been come to be known as
SHAREWARE. WGLib is not SHAREWARE and distribution for disk or distribu-
tion fees, or for fees of any sort is expressly forbidden without written
consent. This includes supplying the routines, library and or documenta-
tion for so-called disk fees.


Finally, the publishers make no claims that the routines herein will fit
your needs, simply that in all testing and prior use that they worked for
us and that you may find them interesting and helpful in your program-
ming. Any liability for the use, misuse or inability to use the WGLIB
routines or libraries, is solely that of the users.




III. Support
As long as it exists, we will support and entertain questions regarding
QB and/or GLib as well as VB and/or WGlib via the QuickBASIC conference
on The Information Booth, (316) 684 8744, 1200 - 2400 bps, 24 hrs.

If you have a problem with WGLib, you _MUST_ be prepared to supply
supporting source code demonstrating the problem you are having. We are
more than a little interested in any WGLib or QB/VB bugs that you might
find, but do not have the time to track down problems based on vague
descriptions of problems when we cannot see if you are using the routine
right. PLEASE be specific and supply source examples.




VI Purchasing WGlib

To register this version of WGLib simply read and fill out the enclosed
order form (MAILER), enclosing sufficient funds (checks and money orders
must be payable in US Funds) and mail it to the address on the mailer.
In return you'll receive, by return mail a diskette containing:
o WGLIB101.DOC - Complete documentation
o WGLIB.DLL - Development DLL
o WGLIBR.DLL - Runtime DLL
o WGLIBQRF.EXE - WGLib QRF (quick reference program)
o WGLIBDEM.EXE - Compiled Demo and complete source code

o SysGauge.EXE - Standalone WIN System Resource gauge
o WGLIB.HLP - WGLib help in WinHelp format
o WGLIB101.BAS - Ancillary routines for WGLib 1.01
o LAUNCHVB.EXE - Program to start up VB with WGLib and it's
controls instantly available
o WGLIBGLO.BAS - Declarations for all WGLib routines
o WSETUP.EXE - Setup program to install WGLib as well as create
Program Manager WGLib group and group items




Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
iii





Note: Object modules are not supplied since recombining into a DLL
requires the use of the SDK and CDK.

Upgrading a previous GLib version must also be done via the mail order
form.

In all cases, please the mailer so that we can identify diskette type, VB
version etc. Please allow 2-3 weeks for delivery.


Mailing Address:
InfoSoft
WGLib 1.01
PO Box 782057
Wichita, Ks
67278-2057







































Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
iv






Calling Conventions

Each generation in the QB/QBX/VB family seems to produce new, and
theoretically improved, variable passing capabilities between the main
program and called routines. Along with these capabilities come certain
cautions for the programmer.

Visual Basic passes all variables by 32-bit reference by default. This
is the QB equivalent of all routines being SEG type calls. The reason
for this is due to how the Windows API manages memory and it is not
altogether bad. In this format VB passes the segment:offset address of
the variable to the called routine. However, this is sometimes overkill:
if the routine does not need to actually change a given variable, rather
the variable is used as a flag to indicate an operation or such, there is
no need to have access to the variable, just the value.

For example, take BitChkInt [which checks the given bit in an integer
variable and returns zero or non zero indicating set or not set;
syntax: retc = BitChkInt%(varY%, bitX%) ].
Since we are simply going to CHECK the bit x in the variable y, and the
return code will indicate the result, the routine need not have access to
either item, just the VALUE of them.

To accomplish this, we can use the BYVAL operator to tell VB to simply
pass the VALUE of varY and bitX. Rather than passing 4 bytes per
parameter, VB will simply pass the value of the integers or 2 bytes each.
In so doing, code size is slightly reduced as is execution time (there
are fewer ticks used in fetching a passed value versus far addresses).

The down side is that should you pass a variable by far reference when
the routine expects it BYVAL, you will very likely cause a UAE (Unexpect-
ed Application Error). This is very unlikely to happen if your DECLARE
statements are correct, and the Win API seems to watch all this quite
carefully and when the slightest thing goes wrong your program is aborted
lest it interfere with other processes running. This is one of the
legacies of running in protected mode. So, if you get UAE's try to track
down where it happens by using the VB step mode then wherever it crashes,
check that the syntax is correct.


One of the most major changes is in string management. By default,
when a string is past to a library routine, only a handle to that
string is past. To actually access the string data, the DLL routine
must call upon the VB API to get a (far) pointer to the string.
This would be bad except that VB also allows you to pass a pointer to
a string as opposed to a handle. These are declared as BYVAL as well
(odd name for that,huh?)

The VB API instructions are a little vague on this but it appears that
when passing a string BYVAL, rather than passing a far pointer to a
handle, a pointer to the string is passed AND the string is a 'C' type
string in that it is null-terminated or ASCII/z. This means that where
GLib for BASIC PDS or QB had to copy that string to local memory and
tack on a null for DOS file access, we can let VB do the work simply by
passing the string BYVAL. This has the side effect of making most VB /

Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
v




DOS file functions contain less code than the same routine would for
QBX/QB. It also opens up some unique capabilities in some of the file
routines.

In these cases, all you need to make sure is that the DECLARE
statement is properly set up. For example:

Declare Function FOpen% Lib "WGlib.DLL" (ByVal Fil$, FHandle%)

When called, VB will make an ASCII/z copy of Fil$ and pass it to the
FOpen routine in the WGLIB.DLL. Since the DOS funtion to open a file
also requires a null terminated string, the routine receives the string
ready to use!

Note that in addition to returning an error code, FOpen will set FHandle
to a new value: the handle of the file. In this case, you cannot pass
ByVal. First, if you pass a 0 (the VALUE of FHandle), rather than the
address of a variable that happens to equal zero, how can the routine
change the value of 0 to 5 to indicate the file handle? Second, the
routine expects to receive a 32 bit far pointer, not a 16 bit value, so
passing FHandle ByVal will likely cause a UAE.


The easiest way to be sure that your code has the proper declaration is
to copy those you need or use from the enclosed WGLIBDEC.BAS into your
code. It is not advisable that you load the file into each project as
the memory consumed by the file is almost always more than necessary.

Most of the routines in WGLib are FUNCTIONS meaning that they return a
value indicating something, as opposed to only changing the values of
passed parameters. A few routines are Sub routines. If properly
Declared, you can invoke these in your code without the keyword CALL.
As far as the documentation goes, we prefer to use CALL in the syntax
examples simply to clarify it. You can choose to either use or omit
CALLin your invocations, but beware that if you omit CALL, you MUST
also omit the parenthesis. For example 'CALL ThatThing(parm1)' becomes
'ThatThing parm1'. Mixing conventions is a recipe for disaster because
parentheses around a variable means the same thing as ByVal. So, the
syntax 'ThatThing (parm1)' would pass the 16 bit VALUE Parm1 as opposed
to the 32 bit ADDRESS of variable Parm1. Keep this in mind as you
invoke SUB type routines.
















Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
vi




DLLs
----
If you are familiar with QLBs for QBX or QB, you will like DLLs much
better than LIBs for the most part. For years, I have been preaching and
teaching people to make project-specific QLBs so that only as much memory
as is required for called routines is consumed. Dynamic Link Libraries
combine the best of both QLBs and LIBs.

Unlike DOS's LINK which will pull those routines needed from a LIB into
the end EXE, routines are only loaded from DLL's when called (NOT the
entire library as with a QLB!). Yet like QLBs, the procedures in a DLL
are available at development time.

Another thing you can do with a DLL that you cannot do with LIB/QLBs, is
to use multiple DLLs. Since only those routines called are loaded (WHEN
they are needed) into memory, you can DECLARE routines from any of a
number of DLLs in the same program. However since you cannot easily
create custom DLL's (this requires the Windows SDK and CDK), you would
have to distribute each and every DLL referenced including VBRUN100.DLL
even if for only 1 routine -- and they can get quite large.






WINDOWS Programming Considerations
----------------------------------

A. Windows and VB API considerations

Under Windows, some things get almost hopelessly convoluted in attempting
the simplest things. For example, to open a file you no longer simply
call DOS but now have to perform some setup steps, allocate a local
buffer, then ask the WIN API to ask DOS to open the file and please, give
me the handle.

Since Windows is not nearly as mature as DOS, we have avoided using
undocumented procedures or calls and adhered to the WIN API guidlines as
best we could. Naturally, all video related routines and most BIOS
routines have either been removed or reworked to go thru the WIN API.

One major consideration when writing a VB Windows program, and that has
to do with files and file I/O. Under QB/QBX and DOS, you could be quite
certain that yours what the only program running that might need access
or perform I/O on a given file.

Under WINDOWS, you assume the opposite. The first thing that this
entails is that you open a file when you need it and not before, and
close it as soon as you can. One reason for this is so that you do not
inadvertantly deny file access to another process.

Another reason for this is in system resources such as file handles.
Opening a file and keeping it open needlessly, denies access to this
resource until you release it. Such actions may cause another program or
process to abort or crash.

Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
vii






For these reasons a few of the GLib file functions have been modified for
inclusion into WGLib. Primarily, this means that ancillary file func-
tions such as FAttrGet now act on a file name rather than a handle
thereby aiding you in keeping files closed except during actual I/O.




B. Calling Convention

Most GLib routines pass parameters by reference - only a few were BYVAL.
Since there is actually an advantage to using VB's ByVal method, espe-
cially with strings, in converting to WGLib anytime code or execution
overhead could be avoided by using alternate syntax or calling conven-
tions, we availed ourselves of this.

This means that most syntax that you may be familiar with has changed.
For the most part, all that is required is a modified DECLARE statement.



C. Multiple names

For years we have supported multiple names for some routines so that the
programmer could use the one that makes most sense to them. FRep could
also be callled as FReplicate, for instance. While such multiple names
could be affected for VB as well, we have eliminated them for routine
management purposes. You can use the ALIAS parameter to set the name to
whatever you like:

Declare Function FReplicate Lib "WGLIB.DLL" Alias "FRep" (BYVal _
Src$, ByVal Dst$, ByVal Buffer$).



D. Memory Allocation

Since the Windows API allows greater freedon in allocating memory for
local routine use (such as is needed in file copy type operations), we
have relieved you, the programmer, of the chore of buffer management.

Examples:
DOS GLib: Errc = FCopy(Src$, Dst$, Buffer$)
WIN WGLib: Errc = FCopy(Src$, Dst$)

By eliminating the Buffer$, the routine is slightly easier to use, less
cumbersome and less error prone. Each routine that requires internal
scratch space or a buffer allocates it's own via the WIN API.






Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
viii

vii


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BITMAPO 8 { { {w/{0;0;0;n;888e<<>>>~~~~s`3???m{w??~~~~}}[;;;;{{{{{{{{??}}EEppPP////
I. WGLib 1.01 Functions and Sub Programs
-----------------------------------------

Name: ArgCnt Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: QArgs = ArgCnt()


Returns the number of arguments in the command tail delimited by a
space. That is, with 'FOOBAR.EXE /qwerty /1 /2 /3 /4', ArgCnt would
return 5 as the number of command tail arguments. Example and see also:
See ArgVar$



Name: ArgVar Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: var$ = ArgVar$(arg)

ArgVar is the complementary routine to ArgCnt(qv) returning a specified
argument from the command tail in the programs PSP. ArgVar returns a
string variable representing the unparsed specified argument from the
command tail (care should be taken that the argument request - arg - is
greater than zero).

As with ArgCnt, ArgVar deals with the ACTUAL command tail found in the
program's PSP, so accomodations should be made for when your program
running as a VB file versus as a EXE (see VBLoaded).
Example - Load command tail elements into an array:
QArgs = ArgCnt
REDIM Args$(ArgCnt)
FOR x = 1 to QArgs
Args$(x) = ArgVar$(x)
NEXT x


Name: ArrayIncrI Type: Sub
Syntax: CALL ArrayIncrI(Array%(begin), ByVal Amt%, ByVal NumEls%)

Increments each element in an integer array by a given amount. The array
is passed with the starting element as the subscript, the ending point is
designated the number of elements to do in NumEls. The constant amount
that each element is incremented is that of Amt. This is actually a SUB
but can be declared as a function for uniform calling. In any case, the
return can be ignored. See Also ArrayTotI and ArrayNDX.



Name: ArrayIncrL Type: Sub
Syntax: CALL ArrayIncrL(Array&(begin), ByVal Amt%, ByVal NumEls%)

This routine performs the same function as ArrayIncrL except that it acts
on a long integer array.


Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
1





Name: ArrayInitI Type: Sub
Syntax: CALL ArrayInitI(Arry%(begin), ByVal iVal%,_
ByVal NumEls%)

Initializes all or part of an integer array to constant value. All
elements in the array beginning with the subscript passed and thru the
number of elements indicated by the NumEls parameter are initialized by
the value of the iVal parameter. See also ArrayNDX, ArrayIncrI and
ArrayTotI.



Name: ArrayInitL Type: Sub
Syntax: retc = ArrayInitL(Array&(begin), ByVal lVal&,_
ByVal NumEls&)

Initializes the desired elements of a long integer array to a desired
constant value. Aside from the array being long rather integer and the
initialization value being long as well, this is identical to ArrayInitI.



Name: ArrayInitNDX Type: SUB
Syntax: CALL ArrayNDX(Array(begin), ByVal StartVal,_
ByVal NumEls)

Initializes an integer array in sequential fashion (Array(1)=1,
Array(2)=2 etc) making it ideal for use in indexing routines. The first
element to be acted upon is passed as the Array subscript on the call,
and the number of subsequent elements to initialize is controlled by the
value of NumEls. See also ArrayInitI, ArrayTotI.



Name: ArrayTotI Type: FUNTION
Syntax: res& = ArrayTotI(Array(begin), ByVal NumEls%)

Scans a desired range of an integer array and returns a long integer
representing the sum of all those elements. The start range is passed as
the array subscript and the number of elements to sum is passed in the
NumEls parameter. Note that while this acts on an integer array, it
returns a long integer to avoid overflow possibilities.



Name: ArrayTotL Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: sum& = ArrayTotL(Array&(begin), ByVal NumEls)

This performs identically to ArrayTotI except that it sums a long integer
array.






Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
2




Name: ArrayToCombo Type: SUB
Syntax: CALL ArrayToCombo(CBCtl As Control, Array$(start),_
ByVal NumEls)

Transfers the contents of an array to a Combo Box.

Doing this in a loop with the Additem method has two drawbacks. First,
it is dreadfully slow; some systems experience a 400% speed up of this
operation using ArrayToCB. Second, in such a loop, after each item is
transferred to the control, VB and/or the WIN API will flicker the screen
- whether or not the addition is visible on the screen!

Note: Especially during development, it is important that you periodical-
ly use CBClearList to clear the contents of the Combo Box. Each call to
ArrayToLB will simply add elements to the control, if they are never
cleared you run the risk of running out of memory (VB handles only arrays
under 64k - shades of QB 3). LBClearList will quickly clear the contents
of a the List Box freeing memory for the rest of your program.
See also: ComboToArray



Name: ArrayToList Type: SUB
Syntax: CALL ArrayToList(Ctl As Control, Array$(start),_
Byval NumEls)

Transfers the contents of an array to a List Box.

Doing this in a loop with teh Additem method has two drawbacks. First,
it is dreadfully slow; some systems experience a 300% speed up of this
operation using ArrayToLB. Second, in such a loop, after each item is
trasferred to the control, VB and/or the WIN API will flicker the
screen - whether or not the addition is visible on the screen!

Note: Especially during development, it is important that you periodical-
ly use LBClearList to clear the contents of the List Box. Each call to
ArrayToLB will simply add elements to the List Box, if they are never
cleared you run the risk of running out of memory (VB handles only arrays
under 64k - shades of QB 3). LBClearList will quickly clear the contents
of a the List Box freeing memory for the rest of your program.
See also: ListToArray



Name: ASCII Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: ret = ASCII(c$)

Returns the ASCII value of a character (or the first character of a
string) very much like VB's ASC will but without fear of error when
called with an uninitialized string.







Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
3




Name: BitChkInt Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: result = BitChkInt%(ByVal value%, ByVal BitNo%)

Tests a specific bit in a passed 16-bit integer value. If the bit is
set, the return is non-zero; if not, the return is zero. These Bit?????
functions can be handy in creating compact data fields. For example, an
integer is more than adequate to store the days of the week which an
employee worked. See also BitClrInt, BitSetInt and BitChkLng.
Example:
' Bit # 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8....
' Day Mon Tue Wed Thr Fri Sat Sun

IF BitChkInt(WorkField, 4) THEN
PRINT "Employee worked Wednesday!"
End if



Name: BitClrInt Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: result = BitClrInt%(ByVal value%, ByVal BitNo%)

Clears (sets to zero) a specific bit in a passed 16-bit integer value.
See also BitChkInt, BitSetInt and BitChkLng.



Name: BitSetInt Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: result = BitSetInt%(ByVal value%, ByVal BitNo%)

Sets a specific bit in a passed 16-bit integer value. See also
BitChkInt, BitClrInt and BitChkLng.
Example:
IF EmpClockedIn THEN
WorkField = BitSetInt(WorkField, 2)
END IF



Name: BitChkLng Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: result = BitChkLng%(ByVal value&, ByVal BitNo%)

Tests a specific bit in a passed 32-bit long integer value. If the bit
is set, the return is non-zero; if not the return is zero.
See also BitClrLng, BitSetLng and BitChkInt.



Name: BitClrLng Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: result& = BitClrLng&(ByVal value&, ByVal BitNo%)

Clears (sets to zero) a specific bit in a passed 32-bit long integer
value. See also BitChkLng, BitSetLng and BitChkInt.





Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
4




Name: BitSetLng Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: result& = BitClrLng&(ByVal value&, ByVal BitNo%)

Sets a specific bit in a passed 32-bit integer value. See also
BitChkLng, BitClrLng and BitChkInt.



Name: ByteCombine Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: Word = ByteCombine%(ByVal HiByte%, ByVal LoByte%)

Performs a byte combine operation. Combines the byte values of the
passed high and low values into a single word value.



Name: ByteSplitLo Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: LoByte = ByteSplitLo(ByVal iVal%)

Returns byte value of the low order portion of a word (INTEGER) value.



Name: ByteSplitHi Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: HiByte = ByteSplitHi(ByVal iVal%)

Returns byte value of the high order portion of a word (INTEGER) value.



Name: ConcaveCtl Type: SUB
Syntax: CALL ConcaveCtl(VBControl As Control, ByVal Thick)

This is a handy and fast routine to draw lines around the specified
control so as to give it a sunken, 3D appearance. The routine will work
with any control, and goes to some trouble to get the effect just right.

Since larger controls may require a thicker frame or shaded area, the
THICK parameter allows you to specify the thickness of that shadow. In
general, smaller controls need a thickness of 1 or 2, while the largest
frames will only need a thickness of 5.

Note:
The light and dark borders attempt to replace the normal VB borders, but
this is apparently somewhat dependant on the type of dispolay sub sytem
and it's capabilities. The same code may replace the original borders on
one system and simply highlite or accent them on another. This seems
especially true of Picture controls

The top border that VB draws for frames is slightly inside the actual
frame-owned area to allow for the text title. Since eliminating the
title will not eliminate the problem, we adjust where frame shading is,
to locate it outside the VB frame like the Picture control.




Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
5




Name ConcaveFrm Type: SUB
Syntax: CALL ConcaveFrm(Frm As Form, ByVal Thick)

Like ConCaveCtl this adds a 3d sunken, concave effect, but to a Form.
The amount of shading required by a Form can be much more than a control
due to the size, usually a thickness of 5 is sufficient.



Name: ConvexCtl Type: SUB
Syntax: CALL ConvexCtl(VBControl As Control, ByVal Thick)

This handy and fast routine draws lines around the specified control so
as to give it a raised, 3D appearance. The routine will work with any
control, and goes to some trouble to get the effect just right.

Since larger controls may require a thicker frame or shaded area, the
THICK parameter allows you to specify the thickness of that shadow. In
general, smaller controls need a thickness of 1 or 2, while the largest
frames will only need a thickness of 5. Very, very effective images can
be produced using Convex Frames and Forms with Concave controls.

Note: The light and dark borders attempt to replace the normal VB
borders, but this is apparently somewhat dependant on the type of
dispolay sub sytem and it's capabilities. The same code may replace the
original borders on one system and simply highlite or accent them on
another. This seems especially true of Picture controls

The top border that VB draws for frames is slightly inside the actual
frame-owned area to allow for the text title. Since eliminating the
title will not eliminate the problem, we adjust where frame shading is,
to locate it outside the VB frame like the Picture control.



Name ConvexFrm Type: SUB
Syntax: CALL ConvexFrm(Frm As Form, ByVal Thick)

Like ConvexCtl this adds a 3D raised, convex effect to a Form. The
amount of shading required for a Form is usually more than needed on a
control due to the size, usually a thickness of 5.



Name: DayOfYr Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: DaySoFar = DayOfYr%()

This simply returns the day of year as an integer. It is accurate for
dates of 01-01-1980 to 02-28-2???. This is a FUNCTION that works off the
current system date, returning the day count in the FUNCTION name.
Example:
DECLARE FUNCTION DayOfYr%
..
..
TodayCount = DayOfYr


Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
6





Name: DeciBin Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: bin$ = DeciBin$(ByVal value%)

Returns a 16 character string representation of the passed value. This
is like BASIC's HEX$ except it returns a string of 0's and 1's.
Example:
Bin$ = DeciBin$(2) ' returns "0000000000000010"



Name: DOSDate Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: DOW = DOSDate(mo, day, yr)

Return the current system date information as well as the current day
of week.



Name: DOSInt Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: CALL DOSInt(Regs AS CPURegs)

One of the things missing in Visual BASIC is access to standard DOS
interrupt calls. DOSInt allows you to continue such direct DOS calls.
The structure CPURegs is defined in WGLIB.BAS (the declarations list) as
follows:
Type CPURegs
AXReg As Integer
BXReg As Integer
CXReg As Integer
DXReg As Integer

SIReg As Integer
DIReg As Integer
ESReg As Integer
DSReg As Integer
Flags As Integer
End Type

Upon entry set the registers to their desired values, when invoked DOSInt
will call Int 21h (and Int 21h only!), and return the post interrupt
register contents.

Note: This is a _very_ advanced routine and you should have a very good
understanding of DOS, the WIN API and the VB API before tinkering with
it. Any damage resulting from the use or misuse of this routine is soley
that of the user.










Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
7




Name: DOSTime Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: ret = DOSTime(hrs, mins, secs)

Rather than tearing apart BASIC's TIME$ with MID$ to determine the
current hour, minute, second, DOSTime allows instant access to these
items in integer format with no string garbage generated.



Name: DosVer Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: OEM = DosVer%(Major%, Minor%)

Returns the DOS Version the system is running under as well as the OEM
number, if any) - this is the DOS supplier for example, IBM's PC-DOS
will return 00 as the OEM number, DEC as 16h etc. The Major and minor
versions will return what function 30h returns correct regardless of the
OEM. Note that this function respects SETVER included with DOS 5.00; see
DosVerTrue for the true DOS version.



Name: DosVerTrue Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: retc = DOSVerTrue(Ver%, Rev%, HiLo%)

If DOS 5.00 is installed, this will return the true DOS version whether
SETVER is installed or not. The true DOS version is returned as a whole
number in Ver (DOS 5.00 will be returned as 500). Rev indicates any
revison codes returned, and HiLo indicates whether DOS is loaded High or
Low.


Name: DrvFree Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: FreeBytes& = DrvFree&(ByVal Drv%)

Returns the total free space in bytes on the specified drive. Input
parameter is drive number to poll: 1= A:, 2=B: etc; 0 = default.
Example:
a=0 ' read default drive
FreeSpace& = DrvFree(a)
See also DrvSiz


Name: DrvGet Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: drv = DrvGet

This gets the default disk drive. It returns the ASCII code of the
letter to avoid the confusion of drive numbering. Converting to a
character is simple with BASIC's CHR$ function.









Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
8





Name: DrvSpace Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: TotalBytes& = DrvSpace&(ByVal Drv%)

Returns the total bytes (used and free) on the specified drive. Input
parameter is drive number to poll: 1= A:, 2=B: etc; 0 = default.

Example:
a=0 ' read default drive
TotalBytes& = DrvSpace(a)
See also DrvFree



Name: DrvSet Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: ret = SetDrv(ByVal drv$)

Sets or resets the default drive. To set the drive, simply pass it the
letter, upper or lower case, to log into. This removes the ambiguity of
drive numbers (Hmm, is drive 1 A: or B: in this case...). SetDrv returns
nothing and if passed a bad parameter, DOS simply rejects it leaving the
default drive unchanged. See also DrvGet. Example:
errc = DrvSet("d")



Name: DrvStat Type: SUB
Syntax: CALL DrvStat(ByVal Drv%, SecClus, ClusAvail%, SecBytes%,_
TotClus%)

Returns key statistics on the drive requested. On entry the first
parameter is the drive number to poll: 1= A:, 2=B: etc;
0 = default.

On return, the parameters representing Sectors per Clusters, Clusters
Available, Bytes per Sector and Tot Clusters on the drive respectively
are filled in with the drive's values.


Name: EmbossFrm Type: SUB
Syntax: CALL EmBossFrm(Frm As Form, ByVal Top% ByVal Left&_
ByVal Bottom, ByVal Right%, ByVal Thk%)

Draws a very petite 3D frame like structure on a form.

Even though it is very effective, there are one or two things about VB
frame controls with our ConcaveCtl or ConvexCtl shading that are aesthet-
ically out of tune. One is that the top of the VB control is not where
the top line is drawn, and you cannot hide this with a frame style
parameter. Another is that on some frames and forms even a petite
shading effect is a little overwhelming when added to the standard frame.

EmbossFrm will draw a 3D frame-like structure on the given form at the
passed Twip coordinates. The embossed effect makes the framed area
appear to stand out (convex) from the form. We find that a thickness of
1 or 2 is perfect, but that is up to you.

Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
9





Notes: A) This is NOT a custom control, it is simply an effect to
highlight or draw attention to portions of the frame, or controls located
inside the embossed area.

B) The passed coordinates MUST be in twips format, the default ScaleMode
for VB forms.

C) The procedure will NOT obliterate or draw over existing controls.
This is a true asset as placing a LABEL control in the path of the top
line provides for the appearance of a very effective 3D frame.

See also: EmpressFrm



Name: EmpressFrm Type SUB
Syntax: CALL EmpressFrm(Frm As Form, ByVal Top% ByVal Left&_
ByVal Bottom, ByVal Right%, ByVal Thk%)

Draws a very petite 3D frame like structure on a form.

While there is really no such word as 'empress', it evokes images of the
inverse of emboss and places EmpressFrm directly after EmbossFrm in alpha
listings.

EmpressFrm will draw a 3D frame-like structure on the given form at the
passed Twip coordinates. The effect makes the framed area appear to be
pressed into (concave) to the form. We find that a thickness of 1 or 2
is perfect, but that is up to you.


Notes: A) This is NOT a custom control, it is simply an effect to
highlight or draw attention to portions of the frame, or controls located
inside the empressed area.

B) The passed coordinates MUST be in twips format, the default ScaleMode
for VB forms.

C) The procedure will NOT obliterate or draw over existing controls.
This is a true asset as placing a LABEL control in the path of the top
line provides for the appearance of a very effective 3D frame.

See also: EmbossFrm













Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
10




Name: EqInfo Type: SUB
Syntax: CALL EqInfo(Ser, Par, Floppy)

Returns some basic hardware configuration information as contained in low
memory. Should a CMOS system encounter an error during the POST (Power
on Self Test) this information could be incomplete. See also:
FloppyType.

Parameters
Ser - Returns number of serial ports installed
Par - Returns number of parallel ports installed
Floppy- Returns 0,1,2 as number of physical floppies
installed




Name: FAttrGet / FAttrSet Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: errc = FAttrGet%(ByVal fil$, fattr%)
Syntax: errc = FAttrSet%(ByVal fil$, ByVal fattr%)

These allow access to get or set the file attributes for a given file.
The file need not be open as the operations are performed on file names.
File attributes are as follows:
00 - Normal 04 - System
01 - Read Only 32 - Archive
02 - Hidden

The archive bit is typically used by back up programs to determine if a
file has been backed up since the last write process. To combine
attributes, just add the values, ie: Read Only - Hidden would be 3
because 1+2=3.

The function returns an error code indicating any error that DOS
encountered trying to execute the function. The most likely error would
be error code 6 - File Not Found. Note that when using FAttrSet, DOS
will not allow you to set or change volume labels or directories.
Error Codes:
-1 = Invlid File attribute 3 = Path not found
2 = File not found 5 = Access denied

Example:
DECLARE FUNCTION FAttrGet%(ByVal fil$, ByVal attrib%)
.
.
fil$ = "myfil.txt"
failure = FAttrGet(fil$, attrib)
IF failure THEN MsgBox("Sorry, cannot find "+fil$, 48, "Error!")









Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
11




Name: FClose Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: errc = FClose(handle%)

FClose performs the opposite of FOpen, that is, to close out a file
handle. FClose does some positive error checking to make sure that you
do not attempt to close one of the standard DOS file handles (like the
keyboard, monitor etc) and will return a error code of 6 - Invalid File
handle. Note that FClose will zero out the variable thus preventing you
from accidentally attempting firther file operations on a handle that has
been closed!

See also FOpen FUnique, FCreat, FSetPtr, and DOS File Functions.
Example:
DECLARE FUNCTION FClose%(ByVal fhandle%)
errc=FOpen(Fil$, FHandle)
. ' FHandle == 6
.
result = FClose(FHandle)
. ' now FHandle = 0
IF result THEN GOSUB ErrorControl



Name: FCopy Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: errc = FCopy(ByVal source$, ByVal dest$)

This function copies a disk file using a buffer supplied by the main
program, and performs about as fast as the DOS COPY command. You pass it
a source and destination string (paths / drives are ok) representing
filenames.

The FUNCTION returns a variety of error conditions:
2 = File Not Found
3 = Path not Found
4 = No Handle ("Too Many Files")
5 = Access Denied

Example:
DECLARE FUNCTION FCopy%(ByVal source$, ByVal dest$)
..
result = fcopy("WGLIB.DLL","\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WGLIB.DLL", SPACE$(4096))

IF result THEN
MsgBox("Oops! Error - Check parameters!", 48, "FCopy Error")
END IF



Name: FCount Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: NumFiles = FCount(ByVal fil$)

This is can be an indespensible tool - it quickly returns a count of the
number of files matching the given mask. This is extremely useful in
determining how large an array should prior to a directory related
function. If an invalid path or drive is included in the mask$, no
matching files will be found.

Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
12






Name: FCreat Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: errc = FCreat(ByVal fil$, FHandle%)

FCreat is similar to FOpen except that instead of opening an existing
file, we are CREATING a NEW file. If the file already exists it is
trunacted as if opened FOR OUTPUT in BASIC. As with FOPEN, and all the
DOS File Functions, error codes returned in the BASIC FUNCTION format and
are:
3 Path not found
4 No handle available ("Too many files")
5 Access denied (returned when attempting to FCreat a file that
is already open - use FOpen in this case).
Example:
DECLARE FUNCTION FCreat%(ByVal fil$, FHandle%)
.
.
fil$="mainprg.sys": attrib=0
IF fcreat(fil$, fhandle)=0 THEN
MsgBox("New file, " +fil$+ " successfully created!", 48, "Info")
ELSE
GOSUB WhatsGoingOn
END IF



Name: FDateGet/FDateSet Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: errc = FDateGet(ByVal fil$, mo%, day%, yr%)
Syntax: errc = FDateSet(ByVal fil$, ByVal mo%, ByVal day%, ByVal_
yr%)

These allow you to SET or GET the date for a file. The file need not be
open since the function(s) are accessed by file name. Because of this,
it would make sense to use FExist to see that the file is there. The
year parameter may be either 2 or 4 digits (ie 1989 or 89). Eg:
OPEN "foo.bar" FOR RANDOM AS #1
handle = FILEATTR(1,2)
errc = FDateSet(handle, 1, 1, 80) ' set date to 1/1/1980



Name: FDelete Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: errc = FDelete(ByVal fil$)

Simply deletes the file indicated by fil$ from the disk. The file should
NOT be open. This uses the DOS function UNLINK to simply remove the
first character so it may be UNDeleted with any of a number of low level
Disk tools. Example:
errc = FDelete("foo.bar")







Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
13




Name: FEOF Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: errc = FEOF(ByVal FHandle)

Sets the file pointer to the end of a file opened via FOPEN. You may want
to actually set the pointer to ONE BYTE less than the end of
text files to be sure that subsequent FWRITE funtions overwrite any hard
EOF marker (ASCII 26) left by many text editors. In this case use a
combination of FSIZEh and FSETPTR.

Additionally, FEOF checks for invalid handles as well as the 4 standard
DOS handles and aborts to return an error code of 6 - Invalid handle.
Using FOPEN and then FEOF is the equivalent of opening a file in APPEND
mode using BASIC's intrinsic file functions. See also:
FSetPtr.
Example:
DECLARE FUNCTION FEOF%(ByVal fhandle%)
.
IF FOpen("longtext.fil", fhandle) THEN
GOSUB StartNewFile
ELSE
j= feof(fhandle)
IF j THEN GOSUB WeirdError
GOTO AppendToText
END IF



Name: FExists Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: ExistCode = FExists(ByVal fil$)

This routine sets the return code (non zero) if the given file exists and
no path or other error is encountered. See also FileDNE.
Example:
DECLARE FUNCTION FExists%(ByVal fil$)
..
fil$ = "foo.bar"
IF FExists(fil$) THEN
ret = MsgBox(fil$ + " already exists! Overwrite?",48, "Query")
END IF



Name: FFlush Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: errc = FFlush(ByVal FHandle)

This flushes the DOS file buffers forcing any buffered data to disk. If
you are using the WGLIB DOS file functions, (FOPEN, FWriteStr, FWriteAry
etc), FFlush will dump any buffered data to disk much faster than closing
and then reopening the file will. FFlush will NOT dump the buffer for
files opened using VB functions - VB does some significant buffering of
its own which does not respond to FFlush. Pass FFlush the handle
associated with the file, any return indicates an error code the same as
the other DOS file functions. Example:
errc = FFlush(fhandle)



Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
14




Name: FileDNE Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: errc = FileDNE(ByVal fil$)

This provides the inverse logic of FExists. Instead of testing if a file
DOES exist, it returns non zero if the file DOES NOT exist. This can be
handy for logic or statements that work better with the non zero return.
See also FExists. Example:

'REM Instead of:
IF NOT FExists(Fil$) THEN... or IF FExists(fil$) = 0 THEN...

IF FileDNE(fil$) THEN
ret = MsgBox("File Does Not Exist - Create?", 32 + 3, "Warning!")
END IF



Name: FileLoad Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: errc = FileLoad(fil$, size&, Buffer$)

One of the slowest operations in VB is the assignment and manipulation of
string space, particularly string space allocation (your VB program has
to ask 'C' to ask the WIN API to allocate memory from DOS and back down
the chain to your program). FileLoad will quickly read a file of less
than 64k into memory. Upon entry, fill in fil$ with the name (drive and
path ok) of the file to read, and initialize Buffer$ to a minimum of 1
space. When called FileLoad will reallocate Buffer$ to the required
size, read the file into that string, and return the file's size to you
in the size& parameter.



Name: FloppyType Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: retc = FloppyType(ByVal Drv)

Returms a code indicating the type of floppy drive that the designated
drive is (default drive = 0, 1= A: ...)

Code Floppy Type Code Floppy
0 Unknown type or no such drive exists
1 360k 4 1.44 Mb
2 1.2 MB 5 2.88 Mb



Name: FMove Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: errc = FMove(ByVal source$, ByVal dest$)

This works the same as a FCopy/FDelete combination with the source file
being deleted after the destination file is created. Any errc return
indicates an error such as disk full, file already exists and is Read
Only, or disk is write protected. The source and destination file name
may be on different devices.
Example:
errc = FMove("foo.bar", "A:foo.bak")


Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
15




Name: FOpen Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: errc = FOpen(ByVal fil$, fhandle%)

FOpen is a standard DOS function (albeit executed thru the Windows API)
to open a file via a file handle. The DOS function requires that an open
mode or style be indicated, and Windows has further expectations or
requirements, so the mode is hard coded to open the file in READ/WRITE
mode and your process will have exclusive access to it.

The fhandle parameter returns the file handle and FOPEN returns
any error codes DOS or the WIN API encounter. An error can occur if the
file is already open, file not found etc. In this case, the errorcode or
result will indicate what happened and any fhandle number should be
ignored.
Example:
DECLARE FUNCTION FOpen%(ByVal fil$, fhandle%)
..
fil$="myprog.dat"
IF fopen(fil$, fhandle) THEN
GOSUB FileError
ELSE
' fil$ is now open under the handle ID of fhandle
END IF



Name: FOpenW Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: errc = FOpenW(ByVal fil$, FHandle)

This works very much like FOpen, but if the file does not exist, the WIN
API is set to pop up a dialog box asking the end user to insert a disk
with that file on in drive A:. This is a less than elegant way to handle
missing files, but can be handy in quick and dirty applications.




Name: FReadArray/FWriteArray Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: errc = FReadArray(SEG arry, ByVal FHandle, BYTES)
Syntax: errc = FWriteArray(SEG arry, ByVal FHandle, BYTES)

FReadArray reads data from a disk file directly into an array. The file
must have a valid DOS File Handle which is accomplished either by using
FOpen or FILEATTR on a BASIC file number. Elements indicates the number
of BYTES to fill (remember that each elements in the array is 2 Bytes),
upon return from the function BYTES is reset to the actual number read
(in case EOF is encountered before all the requested bytes can be read).
ERRC is set to indicate any DOS error encountered.

See the complimentary function FWriteArry.
Example:






Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
16




DECLARE FUNCTION FReadArry%(SEG arry%, ByVal Fhandle%, Bytes%)
..
..
REDIM Emps(NumEmps) AS StructEMP ' size array
..
fil = FREEFILE ' get next BAS file no
OPEN "screens" FOR RANDOM AS #fil LEN=LEN(EMPs(1))
handle = FILEATTR(fil,2)
Bytes = LEN(Emps(1)) * NumEmps ' size of record
errc = FreadArray(Emps(1), handle, Bytes) ' read all emps into
' struct



Name:FReadByte/FWriteByte Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: errc = FReadByte(ByVal FHandle, byte)
Syntax: errc = FWriteByte(ByVal FHandle, byte)

This is similar to BASIC native BINARY file I/O, allowing you to write or
read a single byte to disk. This is not a character but a byte, or the
ASCII value of the byte ( ASC(ch$) ) to be sent or read from disk.

You must have a valid, open handle for the destination file - use FOpen
or BASIC's FILEATTR for this. This can be considerably quicker for byte
I/O than BASIC's BINARY method. Example read 5 bytes:
FOR x = 1 TO 5
errc = FReadByte(handle, byte)
NEXT x



Name: FReadStr/FWriteStr Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: errc = FReadStr(ByVal Bufr$, ByVal Fhandle, CharsCnt)
Syntax: errc = FWriteStr(ByVal Bufr$, ByVal Fhandle, CharsCnt)

FReadStr reads data from a disk file directly into a string variable,
FWriteStr writes that string. The file must have a valid DOS File Handle
which is accomplished either by using FOpen or FILEATTR on a BASIC file
number. CharCnt indicates the number of CHARACTERS or BYTES to read or
write. Upon return from the function, CharCnt is reset to the actual
number read (in case EOF is encountered before all the requested
characters can be read). ERRC is set to indicate any DOS error
encountered. Because FReadStr is in high-speed assembler, you must
initialize the buffer or string that will hold the read data to at least
as long as the number of characters to read or an error will occur.
Example:
DECLARE FUNCTION FReadStr%(ByVal Buffer$, ByVal Fhandle%, Bytes%)
..
..
message$ = SPACE$(25)
chars = 25
fil = FREEFILE ' get next BAS file no
OPEN "myprog.dat" FOR OUTPUT AS #fil
handle = FILEATTR(fil,2)
errc = FReadStr(Message$, handle, chars)


Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
17





Name: FRecGet/FRecPut Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: errc = FRecGet(ByVal FHandle%, ByVal size%, fStr As Any)
Syntax: errc = FRecPut(ByVal FHandle%, ByVal size%, fStr As Any)

These perform essentially the same function as QB's GET # and PUT # by
reading a single record from the current location of the file pointer
represented by the handle passed. Use FsetPtr (qv) to set the file
pointer to the desired location. These are the single record version of
FRecGetA/FRecPutA (qv). In using these over PUT/GET, you can completely
bypass QB's file I/O, buffering and obnoxious error routines and interpet
the return code for errors. The biggest advantage to using these will be
to those who are also using the multiple record I/O routines
(FGet/PutRecA). Note that while these are setup for TYPEd file I/O, they
will work for FIELDed files, though the hassle involved with this is
probably not worth the effort. An error return indicates failure,
generally an invalid handle was passed (6).

See also FGetRecA/FSetRecA, FSetPtr.




Name: FRecGetA/FRecPutA Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: errc = FRecGetA(ByVal FHandle, ByVal Quan, ByVal size,_
fStruct As Any)
Syntax: errc = FRecPutA(ByVal FHandle%, ByVal Quan%, ByVal size%,_
fStruct As Any)

These perform essentially the same function as QB's GET and PUT, with the
exciting difference that rather than single record operations, an entire
TYPE array of records (designated by Quan) are read or written at once.
Rather than reading (or writing) many records from within a QB FOR...NEXT
loop, you can read as many as desired in one pass and much quicker,
making it ideal for large database operations:

errc = FGetRecA(handle, 128, LEN(Emp(1)), Emp(1))

This would read 128 records from the file handle (starting at the current
location) and place them in the TYPE array Emp beginning at subscript 1.
The size of the (TYPE) structure is passed so that the functions can
calculate the number of bytes to read.

Care must be taken that the read or write (transfer) request does not
exceed 64k (Quan recs times Size of struct) since VB does not handle huge
arrays at this time. The only likely return code placed in errc,
generally signals an invalid handle (6) or a SHARE violation (5).

NOTE: Records or data are read from the file at the current DOS file
pointer position. Use FSetPtr to locate this to the desired spot: QB's
SEEK may not always do the equivalent on random files.
See also FGetRecA/FSetRecA, FSetPtr.





Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
18




Name: FRename Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: errc = FRename(ByVal oldf$, ByVal newf$)

This allows you to rename a disk file. Since a simple DOS function is
used, both the source and destination files must reside on the same
device (you may not move the file from one drive to another with this
function - see FMove, FReplicate or FCopy for that). Any return
indicates an error such as an attempt to span drives. Example:
errc = FRename("foobar.new", "foobar.old")




Name: FRep Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: errc = FRep(ByVal source$, ByVal dest$)

This works very similarly to FCopy, except the file date and time are
preserved on the destination file. You supply the buffer by simply
passing a string or temporary variable. Any errc return indicates an
error such as disk full, file already exists and is Read Only, or disk is
write protected. Eg:
errc = FRep("foo.bar", "A:foo.bak")



Name: FSetPtr Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: errc = FSetPtr&(ByVal Fhandle%, ByVal RecNo&,_
ByVal RecSize%)

Moves the DOS file pointer to a specified location in a file (usually to
a specific record in a random file) opened with a handle. Note that
RecNo is a LONG INTEGER so that very large files can be addressed. This
function is used with FGetRec, FPutRec, FGetRecA and FPutRecA (qv) to
position the DOS file pointer to a specific location. Note that this
acts directly on the DOS file pointer and therefore acts differently than
BASIC's native SEEK would (due to significant file buffering performed by
VB iteself), and returns a long integer indicating the byte position of
the DOS file pointer. Note that the use of this function is a
prerequisite to calls to FGetRec, FPutRec, FGetRecA and FPutRecA.

See also FEOF, FRecGet, FRecPut, FRecGetA, FRecPutA.
Example:
TYPE struct
RecNo AS INTEGER
AName AS STRING * 25
BStuff AS STRING * 15
FooBar$ AS STRING * 15
END TYPE
DIM RecThing AS STRUCT

RSize = LEN(RecThing) ' calc once rather than many LEN calls
OPEN datfil$ for RANDOM as #f LEN = RSize
Fhandle = FILEATTR(f, 2) ' Ask BASIC for handle of file
..
..
fpos& = FSetPtr&(FHandle, RecNo&, RSize) ' seek to RecNo

Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
19






Name: FSizeH Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: SizeOfFile& = FSize&(ByVal FHandle%)

Passed a valid file handle from FOpen or FILEATTR, this will return a
long integer representing the size of the file in bytes. See also:
FSizeN



Name: FSizeN Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: SizeOfFile& = FSize&(ByVal Fil$)

Passed a string representing a valid file, this will return a long
integer representing the size of the file in bytes. See also: FSizeH




Name: FTimeGet/FTimeSet Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: errc = FTimeGet(ByVal fil$, hr, min, sec)
Syntax: errc = FTimeSet(ByVal fil$, ByVal hr, ByVal min, ByVal sec)

Like the names imply, these allow you to set or get the timestamp of a
file or the last time it's directory entry was updated. You pass it the
name of the file and the only likely error code is that of File Not
Found. Example:
errc = FTimeSet(Fil$, 10, 10, 10) ' set time to "10:10:10"




Name: FUnique Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: errc = FUnique(ByVal fil$, ByVal attr, Fhandle)

This DOS disk file function creates a file with a unique name, which
makes it ideal for scatch data files. Rather than HOPING that
"mydat.@@@" is a unique filename, FUnique makes SURE that a file is in
fact unique. DOS will create such a file in the specified directory and
open it with read write access with the attributes you specify and return
to you a valid handle for use - or an error code.

FUnique will also return to you the actual file name that is open for
access, but to do so requires very specific handling. First, populate a
string variable with the path where you wish the temporary or scratch
file to exist. Terminate this string with a NULL (CHR$(0)), then tack on
a minimum of 12 spaces. DOS will overwrite the null and most of the
spaces with the actual file name.

NOTE: The unique file is OPEN with a handle! Subsequent file access
should be thru WGLib file functions, or close the file handle and reopen
it using the name and Visual BASIC.
Example:



Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
20




DECLARE FUNCTION FUnique%(ByVal path$, ByVal attrib%, fhandle%)
..
..
tempfil$ = "C:\BIN\" + CHR$(0) + SPACE$(13)
IF FUnique(fil$, 0, fhandle) THEN ' path, normal file
GOSUB InvalidInfo
ELSE
errc = FClose(Fhandle)
OPEN TempFil$ For Output as #1
END IF



Name: GetWGlibVer Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: WGVer = GetWGlibVer()

WINDOWS programs are unique in that called routines such as those in
WGLib remain external to the program even at run time AND the library
name is referenced in your VB code (in the DECLARES).

To preclude any possible confusion, this routine will a code indicating
the WGLib version. This is returned as a whole number, meaning 1.01 will
be returned as 101.



Name: INCR / DECR Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: result = INCR(ByVal x, ByVal y)
Syntax: result = DECR(ByVal x, ByVal y)

Provides an easy method of incrementing or decrementing a VB variable by
a given amount. The function return is the result of the operation.
Example:
DECLARE FUNCTION Incr%(ByVal x%, ByVal y%)
DECLARE FUNCTION Decr%(ByVal x%, ByVal y%)
..
i = INCR i, 5 ' same as i=i+5
j = DECR j, q ' same as j=j+q



Name: INSTRI Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: result = INSTRI(ByVal Start, ByVal FindIn$, ByVal LookFor$)

This function is identical to the native INSTR except that it is case
insensitive. That is, INSTRI will return an integer pointing to the
first occurrence of either "CD" or "cd" in "ABCDEF" or "abcdef". Like
INSTR, INSTRI allows the use of a starting point to begin the search
withing the string to BE searched, unlike BASIC, this is not optional.
Like BASIC, the return is a relative pointer from the starting point.
Further, the routine will recognize "?" in the search string as a
match-all wild card. Example:
DECLARE FUNCTION INSTRI%(ByVal start%, ByVal a$, ByVal b$)
..
j = INSTRI(1, "AbCdEFGhiJkL", "cDe?") ' returns 3


Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
21





Name(s): IsCharxx Type: FUNCTION (s)
Syntax: status = IsChar????(ByVal c$)
status = IsStr?????(s$)

The 'izzy' collection provides for assembler level replication of the
highly useful IsChar???? macros found in 'C'. Where the 'C' macros work
only on a single character, WGLIB provides routines that work on
characters (IsChar???) or whole strings (IsStr???). When using a string
however, a single non matching character forces a false return. Example:

IF IsCharAlph("The quick brown fox is really a lazy dog.") THEN
Text1.Text = "All Alpha chars!"
ELSE
Text1.Text= "Non alpha chars in string!"
END IF

In this example, the return is FALSE, the string is NOT all alpha
characters - the spaces and period in the string cause a zero (FALSE)
return. All the IZZY functions return a 0 or -1 based on the function.
The IsChar functions are:

IsCharAlph - Test if the character is between A-Z or a-z.

IsCharAlNum - Test for characters A-Z, a-z and 0-9.

IsCharUppr - Tests to see if the character is Upper case. Very
useful when you want to preserve the case of some
input or want to avoid generating string garbage in
reassigning UCASE(x$) to a new, temporary variable.

IsLowr - Similar to IsUpper - tests for lower case.


The IsString functions are:

IsStrAlph - Checks an entire string for alpha components.

IsStrAlNum - Checks that all character entries in a string are
Alpha-Numeric.

IsStrText - Similar to AlNum but allows the inclusion of spaces
and punctuation (ASCII 32 to 127).














Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
22




Name: Julian Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: JDay& = Julian&(ByVal month, ByVal day, ByVal year)

Returns the TRUE julian date for the passed month/day/year. What many
dating schemes call "julian" is merely an ordinal day code or an ordinal
code serialized with the year such as 90102 which is supposed to indicate
the 102nd day of 1990. Even worse, there are some that return a SERIAL
date by calculating the number of days since 1/1/1. These are invariably
wrong since they do not take into account that leap years are NOT every 4
years (years such as 1700, 1900 and and 2100 are not leap years); also
they tend to ignore that there were 11 days supressed in 1582 (you went
to bed on Oct 4, you woke up on Oct 15).

A modified form of serial dating that is widely used is to calculate the
number of days elapsed since Jan 1, 1900. This modified julian date
method is used by LOTUS 1-2-3. This is generally used because invoicing
needs and such usually need not extend back to before 1900 and returns a
smaller number (on the order of 32,000).

A _TRUE_ julian date such as those returned by Julian&, represent the
number of days passed since Jan 1, 4713 BC. Note that Julian& returns a
long integer representing this Julian date. Because Julian& will not
accept dates before Jan 1, 0001 AD, the smallest number returned is
1721424. That is, Julian does not convert BC dates.

Such a dating method allows for significant, long range date calc-
ulations, such as getting the date for a day x days in the future or x
days ago. Note that in passing the year to Julian, nothing is assumed.
That is, yr = 89 DOES NOT equate to 1989 but 89 AD.

See JulianCvt for examples.




Name: JulianCvt Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: errc = JulianCvt(Ser&, mo, day, yr)

Reconstitutes a long integer formulated by Julian (qv) into a valid date.
The long integer must be a _TRUE_ julian date not an ordinal or
serialized date from an arbitrary point. The use of Date, Julian,
JualianCvt and/or DFrmat allow for extensive date caluclations. The
function return is non zero for unsupported dates (such as any BC date).
Example:

REM 1. Find the maturity date for a 90 Certificate of
' Deposit purchased 4/5/1989

MatDate& = Julian(4, 5, 1989) ' get julian date for 4/5/1989
CALL JulianCvt(MatDate& + 90, m, d, y) ' convert it, add 90

PRINT USING " CD matures in 90 days on ##_/##_/#### ";m;d;y
CALL DFrmat(m, d, y, Mat$)
PRINT "That day is ";Mat$



Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
23




REM 2. Calculate difference in 2 dates

CALL Date(tm, td, ty) ' get today's date
Today& = Julian(td, tm, ty) ' julian date for today

DueDate& = Julian(dd, dm, dy) ' julian date for a past date

Diff& = ABS(Today& - DueDate&) ' get difference


IF DueDate& > Today& THEN
Text1.Text = "Library book is not due for "; Diff& ; " more days."
ELSE
Text1.Text = "Library Book is "+ Diff& + " days overdue!"
OverDue.Text = "Pay up $"+ (Diff& * LateChg)
END IF



Name: KBCapsOn / KBCapsOff Type: SUB
Syntax: CALL CapsOn
Syntax: CALL CapsOff

Neither of these take an argument or pass a parameter. They simply
engage (CapsOn) or disengage (CapsOff) the Caps Lock state via the WIN
API.



Name: KBInsOff / KBInsOn Type: SUB
Syntax: CALL KBInsOff
Syntax: CALL KBInsOn

This subroutine simply puts the keyboard into INSERT ON state (KBInsOn)
or turns the insert toggle off (KBInsOff). Example:

CALL KBInsOn



Name: KBNumsOn / KBNumsOff Type: SUB(s)
Syntax: CALL KBNumsOn
Syntax: CALL KBNumsOff

Sets the Keyboard Num Lock key to on (NumsON) or off (NumsOff).




Name: KBScrLkOn / KBScrLkOff Type: SUB
Syntax: CALL KBScrLkOn
Syntax: CALL KBScrLkOff

Toggles the scroll lock key on or off. If the keyboard is equipped with
LED's, they are also toggled to the appropriate state.


Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
24






Name: KeyLock? Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: status = KeyLockC()
Syntax: status = KeyLockN()
Syntax: status = KeyLockS()
Syntax: status = KeyLockI()

This queries the WIN API to see which keyboard locks are engaged. One
routine is provided each for Caps, Nums, Scroll and Insert keys and all
return zero for NOT engaged, non zero for engaged:

KeyLockC - Check Caps Lock KeyLockS - Check Scroll Lock
KeyLockN - Check Num Lock KeyLockI - Check Insert key

Example:
IF KeyLockC THEN Text1.text= "Caps Lock is ON!"





Name: LCount Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: NumLines = LCount(ByVal Fil$)

This is a handy routine that quickly scans an existing disk text file for
ASCII 13 (carriage return) and counts them. This is handy for sequential
file I/O operations where you might want to inform the user how long
processing will take or to figure the size an array needs to be to hold
the file contents.

LCOUNT is a function that requires only a valid file name. Unlike the
QB4.5 version of GLib, you need not specify a scratch buffer - WGLib
creates a temporary internal buffer.

Note: LCount starts counting CR's at the current file position so you can
count only a portion of the file by using SEEK or FPtrSet to set the file
pointer to other than the start of the file. After the operation, LCount
closes the file. If you need access to it, simply re open it with FOPen
or VB's OPEN statement. LCount is incredibly fast: a 50K test file takes
only .5 seconds to count on a 286 system.

Example:
DECLARE FUNCTION LCount%(ByVal fil$)
..
..
fil$="GLIBDEMO.BAS" ' text, not QB quick save format!

LineCount = LCount(fil$)
IF LineCount > 0 THEN
GOSUB CalcTime
Text1.text= "File will take "; CalcResult ;" secs to process."
ELSE
GOSUB ErrControl
END IF


Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
25







Name: LastNFirst Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: Swapped$ = LNameF(ByVal text$)

This data entry routine is handy for rearranging names from some other
source to convert them to "Lastname, FirstName". It works on names of
all types, those with middle initials, just first and middle initials and
multiple middle names. It does not work correctly on Jrs, people who are
the II, III or IV (ad nauseum). In this case, I'd suggest using BASIC's
INSTR and LEFT$ to trim off the Jr or II etc and append it after the
LNAMEF call.

All that is required is that the name have no leading or trailing spaces.
You can trim these spaces without either creating a new string variable
OR altering the original as shown in the example. The return is the
names in swapped format. Examples:

"Mary Beth J. Sandra Brooks" => "Brooks, Mary Beth J. Sandra"
"P. T. Barnum Bailey" => "Bailey, P. T. Barnum"
"Thomas Q. McFly III" => "III, Thomas Q. McFly"
"John Public" => "Public, John"

Example:
DECLARE FUNCTION LNameF$(ByVal text$)
..
..
text$="John Smith " ' MUST NOT have trailing space...

' Look for Jr or a sequel indicator at the end
IF INSTR(LEN(text$) - 5,text$, "IVJrR") THEN
GOSUB ReformatName ' hack it off, if so
END IF

NewName$ = LNameF$(LTRIM$(RTRIM$(text$))) ' passed trimmed copy
PRINT text$ ' "Smith, John"




Name: MHZ Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: speed = MHZ()

This returns an approximation of the speed the system is operating at.
This return is the result of a very quick benchmark. It is an
"approximate" Mhz because it will be off a little depending on the
number of wait states of the machine, and some faster PC/8088 clones
return falsely high numbers.

MHZ returns the speed factor as a whole number: that is a return of 935
means an effective MHZ speed of 9.35. Divide the return by 100. It is
advised that you cross reference the speed with the chip: if MHZ returns
1400 but CPUINFO indicates a 8088 machine, you know the speed is wrong
and that the PC is more likely 8 to 10 MHz.


Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
26





Name: MaxI, MinI Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: ret = MaxI(ByVal a%, ByVal b%)
ret = MinI(ByVal a%, ByVal b%)

Returns the larger (MaxI) or smaller (MinI) of 2 passed Integers. See
also MaxIArry/MinIArry.


Name: MaxL, MinL Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: ret = MaxL(ByVal a%, ByVal b%)
ret = MinL(ByVal a%, ByVal b%)

Returns the larger (MaxL) or smaller (MinL) of 2 passed Long Integers.
See also MaxLArry/MinLArry.



Name: MaxIArry, MinIArry Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: ret = MaxIArry(Arry%(), ByVal NumEls)
ret = MinIArry(Arry%(), ByVal NumEls)

Scans an entire integer array from starting with the element passed to
find and return the largest (MaxIArry) integer foundor the smallest
(MinIArry). The second parameter indicates the number of elements to
search. Example:
REDIM ProgDat%(1000)
..
..

' scan for largest int in the elements 250 - 750 elements
smallest = MinIArry(ProgDat(250), 750)



Name: MaxLArry, MinLArry Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: ret = MaxLArry(Arry%(), ByVal NumEls)
ret = MinLArry(Arry%(), ByVal NumEls)

Scans an entire Long array from starting with the element passed to find
and return the largest (MaxLArry) integer foundor the smallest
(MinLArry). The second parameter indicates the number of elements to
search. Example - see MinIArry, MaxIArry.



Name: MemCompA Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: offset = MemCompA(Src(beg), Dst(beg), ByVal words%)

Very quickly compares 2 arrays (or two sections of the same array) and
returns the first offset where the 2 arrays do not match. You will find
that the declaration file WGLIB.BAS contains 2 declarations for this
routine. The first allows for fast integer array compares, the second
allows for the same compares on any array (even user defined, TYPE
structures). Note that the WORDS parameter designates how many items to
compare by indicating the number of words (16 bit integers) to compare.
Be sure to use the proper multiple for Currency, doubles etc!

Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
27






Name: NybbleCombine Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: Byte = NybbleCombine(ByVal HiNybble, ByVal LoNybble)

This combines 2 values representing the high and low nybbles into a
single byte (half an integer). NybbleSplitLo and NybbleSplitHi perform
the complementary operation by splitting the value of a byte into
separate low and high nybbles.



Name: NybbleSplitLo / Hi Tyep: FUNCTION
Syntax: Nibble = NybbleSplitLo(ByVal byte%)
Nibble = NybbleSplitHi(ByVal byte%)

These nybble split operations return either the low (NybbleSplitLo) or
high (NybbleSplitHi) portions of a byte. When used with NybbleCombine,
can be used to combine record info in database operations.




Name: ParseFileSpec Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: errc = ParseFileSpec(ByVal raw$, FileInfo As Any)

Given a legal filename, this will parse it into a definite TYPE structure
of it's component parts. The format of the structure is as follows:
TYPE struct
Drv AS STRING * 2
Path AS STRING * 64
Fil AS STRING * 8
Ext AS STRING * 3
END TYPE
DIM FInfo AS struct

Of course, while you can use any names you wish, the sizes must remain as
shown. The dot separating Fil and Ext is omitted, but path backslashes
and the drive colon are preserved. If ParseFileSpec finds what it
perceives to be an invalid character or size in the passed raw file
string, it will do what it can and return an error code of -1.



Name: PCase Type: Function
Syntax: Prop$ = PCase$(ByVal p$)

Converts a passed string to 'proper case'. That is, "bob smith" is
returned as "Bob Smith". Prior to calling PCASE convert the string to
lower case and check that the string to convert is not a null string:
x$ = "TIMOTHY FOOBAR"
x$ = LCASE$(x$)
IF LEN(x$) THEN p$ = PCase$(x$) ' or p$ = PCase$(LCASE$(x$))




Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
28




Name: ReverseStr Type: Function
Syntax: BackWard$ = ReverseStr(ByVal s$)

Reverses the character sequence in a string very quickly. When used in
conjunction with XLATE, that can be a failry good encryption system.
Example:
x$ = "PassWord"
PW$ = RevStr(x$) ' returns as "droWssaP"



Name: RINSTR Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: position = RINSTR(ByVal test$, ByVal ch$)

Returns the LAST occurrence of a character in a string. This works
conversely to BASIC's INSTR, which returns the first occurrence, and is
faster and much more code efficient than a loop to keep testing INSTR
until the end of the string is reached. The character location however
is still returned from the left. Note: RINSTR works only on character
seeks, not on sub strings like INSTR does. That is, in the case of

j = RINSTR("ABCDEFG","A@B")

RINSTR will only seek and match on "A", not "A@B". Multiple passes thru
RINSTR, however seeking each successive character in a sub string could
be accomplished. Example:
DECLARE FUNCTION RINSTR%(searched$, seek$)
..
..
test$="123456x890" : char$="x"
l = RINSTR(test$, char$) ' returns 7




Name: ShiftLeftI/ShiftRightI Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: Result = ShiftLeftI(ByVal value, ByVal ShiftCount)
Result = ShiftRightI(ByVal value, ByVal ShiftCount)

This returns RESULT after the integer VALUE has been shifted left or
right the number of times indicated in ShiftCount. Besides providing a
quick multiplication and division method, it is handy for bit operations
such as isolating the date bits in a DATE word for instance.
See also ShiftRightL (etc) for shifting LONG integers.



Name: ShiftLeftL/ShiftRightL Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: Result& = ShiftLeftL(ByVal value&, ByVal ShiftCount)
Result& = ShiftRightL(ByVal value&, ByVal ShiftCount)

This works identical to ShiftRightI and ShiftleftI except both RESULT and
VALUE are long integers.




Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
29




Name: StrCmpI Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: result = StrCmpI(ByVal str1$, ByVal str2$)

Retuns an integer code indicating if the strings are identical after
performing a case insensitive compare. Results return:
< 0: string 1 is 'less'
= 0: strings are equivalent
> 0: string 1 is 'greater'



Name: SubDirCount Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: count = SubDirCount(ByVal mask$)

Count the number of subdirectories matching a given mask. This counts
the number of files with the directory attribute in the default
directory. Note that while it is unusual, a directory CAN have an
extension. Example:

DirCnt = SubDirCount("*.*")



Name: SubDirCH Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: errc = SubDirCH(ByVal SubDirName$)

Name: SubDirMK Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: errc = SubDirMK(ByVal SubDirName$)

Name: SubDirRM Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: errc = SubDirRM(ByVal SubDirName$)

Changes (SubDirCH), Makes (SubDirMK) or Removes (SubDirRM) the sub
directory specified by SubDirName$. The advantage over BASIC's native
sub dir functions is case of an error, rather than an error CONDITION
being forced on your code, an error CODE is returned. The return code is
set (non zero) if an error is encountered.




Name: SubDirExist Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: RetCode = SubDirExist(ByVal mask$)

Returns a non zero value if a given sub directory exists, and zero if it
does not.
Example:
IF SubDirExists("QB45") THEN
CHDIR "QB45"
ELSE
PRINT "No can do"
END IF





Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
30




Name: Swap? Type: SUBS
Syntax: CALL SwapI(a%, b%)
CALL SwapL(a&, b&)
CALL SwapS(a&, b&)
CALL SwapD(a&, b&)
CALL SwapC(a&, b&)

Visual Basic lacks an instrinsic function to swap or swicth variable
contents. WGLib provides these in 5 versions to swap variables in any of
the 4 data types integer (SwapI), long integer (SwapL), single precision
(SwapS), double (SwapD) or currency (SwapC). Any return from these
should be ignored as meaningless.



Name: SwapStr Type: SUB
Syntax: CALL SwapStr(a$, b$)

Performs a compleat and comprehensive swap of 2 strings.




Name: SysTicks Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: TicksSoFar& = SysTicks&()

SysTicks returns the number of clock ticks that have elapsed since
midnight. This allows for an even finer resolution of time that SysTime
or TIMER. Note that SysTicks returns a LONG integer.




Name: TimerToggle Type: SUB
Syntax: CALL TimerToggle(ByVal TimerNum, ByVal Toggle)

TimerToggle and TimerElapsed provide for an assembler based medium
resolution set of timers. The granularity of these timers is approx-
imately smaller than BASIC's TIMER function which is seconds based.

The TimerToggle and TimerElapsed functions allow for 5 different time
slots so that you can track several different processes. When invoking
TimerToggle, TimerNum should be 1 to 5 indicating the timer to toggle.

The Toggle parameter indicates whether you are starting or stopping that
timer: 0 HALTS or stops the timer, any other value starts it. If a given
timer has already been started, issuing another START command for it
causes the previous start time to be overwritten - a timer cannot be
RE-started.








Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
31




Name: TimerElapsed& Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: ProcTime& = TimerElapsed&(ByVal TimerNum)

Fetches the number of elapsed clock ticks since the specified timer was
started. If the timer was never started, garbage is returned. TimerNum
refers to an integer 1 to 5 indicating which timer elapsed time is to be
returned. TimerElapsed& returns a LONG INTEGER, so be sure to use the
right data type. Also TimerElapsed& does not do an implicit timer stop
function, it merely returns the difference of the start and stop ticks
for that timer. Example:

CALL TimerToggle(1,1) ' start timer one
..
CALL TimerToggle(1,0) ' stop timer one
ProcTime& = TimerElapsed&(1) ' get elapsed timer ticks
' into ProcTime&



Name: VBLoaded Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: Result = VBLoaded()

This simply checks to see if the currently executing program is VB.EXE.
The use for this is esoteric but allows you to determine of the process
executing in memory is an .EXE or a program image being executed by
VB.EXE. Possible returns are:
0 VB Not loaded - EXE file executing
1 VB.EXE loaded




Name: ValidDrv Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: result = ValidDrv(ByVal drv$)

ValidDrv tests a given character passed to see if it is possibly a valid
drive character. The return is 0 or non zero indicating if the drive is
valid and available. The spectacular thing about this function is that
it returns LOGICAL, not just physical drives, so that if the DOS version
is greater than 3.0, if SUBST or networking software are in use, ValidDrv
will return correct information - this is done by accessing the IOCTL
functions if DOS 3.0 or greater is active. The only possible non true
return would be drive B: in which, the system recognizes A: as B: when
only one floppy is installed.
Example:
DECLARE FUNCTION ValidDrv%(ByVal a$)
..
..
FOR x = 1 TO 26
msg$ = CHR$(x+64);
IF ValidDrv(CHR$(x+64)) THEN
msg$ = msg$ + " is a valid, active drive letter."
ELSE
msg$ = msg$ + " is not a valid drive letter."
END IF
NEXT x

Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
32






Name: VARPTR Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: vptr = VARPTR(thing)

One of the things left out in VB from other Microsoft BASIC
implementations was VARPTR. This returns the offset of a variable or
structure. Useful in some converting some older QB code to VB, but be
careful! Winows managemes memory somewhat differently than DOS, which
may be impacted by direct memory acces.



Name: VARSEG Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: vseg = VARSEG(thing)

Returns the memory segment of a passed variable or structure. This is a
mainstay of vaious DOS QB versions but was not implemented in VB.




Name: VerifyGet / VerifySet Type: FUNCTION / SUB
Syntax: vflag = VerifyGet()
Syntax: CALL VerifySet(ByVal vflag)

Sets or gets the DOS VERIFY switch. This is not a 'read after write'
operation as is sometimes thought, but DOS will check the CRC of the data
written and compare it to the source. Note that if you intend to alter
such a system switch, it is good programming practice to restore it to
its original setting when your program terminates, this switch can be
determined via VerifyGet. In calling VerifySet, 0 turns VERIFY OFF, 1
turns it ON. Example:
Vflag = VerifyGet
..
..
CALL VerifySet(VFlag)



Name: ValFileName Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: errc = ValFileName(ByVal fil$, DOSCode)

This checks a string you pass it to determine if the string is a valid
filename. Pre testing a string that you may have gotten from end user
input, helps avoid runtime errors later on and in the case of novice end
users allows, considerable feedback from your program on what is wrong
with a filename typed in.

The process is twofold - it tests for characters such as ,[>< and also
attempts to open the file and returns 2 error codes. In the case of the
character test, the FUNCTION returns 0 if it finds no offending
characters, or the ASCII value of any invalid filename character. This
allows you to be able to give apparently intuitive feedback to users on
valid filename characters.


Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
33




A second pass is needed to test drive and path validity. To test this,
ValFileName attempts to open or create the file and any DOS error will be
in the parameter DOSCode:
3 - Drive or path not found
4 - No handle available ("Too Many Files")
5 - Access denied (already opened on multi system)
80 - file exists.

NOTES:
1) VFNAME does NOT actually create or open the file! It just
pre-tests for any possible runtime error in trying to do so.
2) VFNAME requires DOS 3.x
Example:

DECLARE FUNCTION VFName%(ByVal fil$, DOScode%)
..
getfname:
fil$ = Text1.Text = fil$

CharCode = VFName(fil$, DOSCode)
IF CharCode THEN
ret = MsgBox("Sorry, but '"+CHR$(CharCode)+"' is illegal in
filenames!",48,"Ooops!")
END IF




Name: VLabelGet Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: VLabel$ = VLabelGet$(Drive)

Allows you to get the volume label on any attached disk: (0=default
drive, 1 = A:, 2 = B: etc). Volume Labels are always 11 characters, so
when using VLabelGet you will get back an 11 character string regardless
of the number of characters in the string.



Name: WinCurTime Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: ticks& = WinCurTime

Retrieves the current WINDOWS time.



Name: WinDirectory$ Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: win$ = WinDirectory$()

Returns a string representing the directory where WINDOWS resides.








Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
34




Name: WinKBFuncKeys
Syntax: NumFKeys = WinKBFuncKeys()

Returns the number of function keys on the installed keyboard. This can
be handy in reassigning F11 and F12 if they are not on the KB.
Return: 1 = 10 Function keys 4 = 12
2 = 12 (sometimes 18) 5 = 10
3 = 10 6 = 24

Note: This is as per the WINDOWs documentation, but at least WIN 3.1
seems to return the actual number of function keys (10, 12, 18 etc).




Name: WinKeyBdType type: FUNCTION
Syntax: kbtype = WinKeyBDType()

Returns an integer code indicating the type of keyboard driver intalled
in WINDOWS. 1 = IBM PC/XT 83 key style
2 = Olivetti 102 keyboard
3 = IBM/AT 84 compatible
4 = IBM enhanced 101/102 compatible
5 = Noika 1050
6 = Noika 9140



Name: WinMem Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: mem = WinMem&()


Returns the amount of system resources available (free). This is a long
integer and includes RAM as well as swap files memory.



Name: WinMode Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: WMode = WinMode()

Returns the mode that WINDOWS is operating in, Standard or Enhanced.
Since VB will not run in REAL mode, this mode is not queried nor
returned. A return of 1 = Standard mode while 2 = Enhanced.



Name: WinMouse Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: ret = WinMouse()

Simply polls the WIN API to see if a mouse is installed and/or operable.
The return is zero for false, non zero for true.







Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
35




Name: WinPrgName Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: EXEName$ = GetWPrgName$

WinPrgName polls the WIN API and returns a string with the drive/pathname
of the currently executing program. (See also ArgCnt and ArgVar). Note:
WinPrgName will return different information in the VB environment than
as a .EXE file, because the program running is VB.EXE and NOT your
program. Example:

EXEName$ = GetWPrgName$
' returns "C:\DIRNAME\FOOBAR.EXE"
Text1.text = "Program running is: "+ EXEName$




Name: WinSysDir$ Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: SystemDir$ = WinSysDir$()

Returns a string indicating the pathname of the Windows SYSTEM directory,
typically "\WINDOWS\SYSTEM".



Name: WinSpkrSnd Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: WinSpkrSnd(ByVal freq%, ByVal dur%)

Sounds the speaker for the specified duration in the specified frequency.
Note that while this has the same syntax as SpkrSnd in our GLib for
QB/QBX, it is radically different in that it performs it's speaker
operations via the WIN API.




Name: WinTempDirectory$ Type: FUNCTION
WinTempDrive$
Syntax: TempDrv$ = WinTempDrive$()
TempDir$ = WinTempDirectory$()

Returns a string representing the optimum drive and or directory for
creating temporary files.




Name: WinVer Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: WVer = WinVer()

Returns the version of WINDOWS running. The return is a whole number and
should be divided by 100 to get the true minor version.






Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
36




Name: XLate Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: errc = XLate(source$, ByVal table$)

This will translate or substitute all characters in SOURCE$ from the list
of characters in TABLE$ based on their ASCII value. Note that since this
may be as high as 255, that TABLE$ should allow for all possibilities and
be 256 characters long. This provides for an easy and configurable
encryption scheme.
Example:
FOR x = 1 to 256
Table$ = Table$ + CHR$(256 - x)
NEXT x
Serial$ = "123456" ' '1' becomes ASCII 206
errc = XLate(Serial$, Table$) ' '1' = 49 and 255 - 49 = 206.



Name: ZellerDay Type: FUNCTION
Syntax: DCode = ZellerWeek(ByVal month%, ByVal day%, ByVal yr%)


This uses Zeller's Congruence to determine the day of week for any valid
date. Example:

WeekDay = ZellerDay(5, 17, 1991) ' returns 3 for Wed

Text1.Text = DayName$(WeekDay)






























Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
37




II. VB Custom Properties Actions



The following are specially designed routines that allow you to
perform special operations on many of the controls that come with Visual
BASIC. Note that while these are not actually properties, if carefully
called, they can appear to be such.


Name: CBClearList
Syntax: CALL CBCLearList(Ctl AS CONTROL)

This allows you to instantly clear the contents of a Combo Box. Rather
than looping thru each element to set the string to NULL this calls
directly upon the the WIN API to reset the contents of the control passed
thereby freeing that memory with a minimum of hassle.



Name: CBShowList
Syntax: CALL CBShowList(Combo AS CONTROL)

Forces the list attached to a Combo Box to drop down, thereby preventing
the end user from having to click on the open button to see the choices.
For maximum visual effect, this should be called after the size of the
combo list has been established. An ideal location for this is in the
GotFocus Event.



Name: FrmFlash
Syntax: CALL FrmFlash(ByVal hWnd)

Flashes a form or window as if it has the focus, then turns it off. The
flash is that of the borders and title bars assuming their 'active'
color. This can be especially effective in background type DDE message
windows to indicate the contents have changed. Note that the parameter
required, hWnd or a handle to a window or form, is not available from VB,
but is via our GetCtrlHnd. Also, hWnd is a reserved word in VB.




Name: LBClearList
Syntax: CALL LBCLearList(Ctl AS CONTROL)

Like CBClearList, this allows you to instantly clear the contents of a
List Box. Rather than looping thru each element to set the string to
NULL this calls directly upon the the WIN API to reset the contents of
the control passed thereby freeing that memory with a minimum of hassle.







Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
38




Name: GetCtrlHWnd%
Syntax: WHandle = (AnyVBControl AS Control)

There are many things you can do by calling the WIN API directly from
Visual BASIC, but most, if not all, of them require that you pass the
hWnd (WINDOWS handle) as part of the syntax, yet VB provides no easy
access to hWnd. The Window (or control) Handle can be gotten in VB but
it is very slow and cumbersome. GetCtlHWnd provides easy access tot eh
control handle. Note: This is a very advanced routine and should only be
used by those who have a documented source of WIN API calls.



Name: LBCLearList
Syntax: ignore = LBClearList(ListCtl As Control)

Once a list box has been created, it is cumbersome and slow to delete all
the items in it solely using VB. LBClearList allows you to instantly
clear the contents of a list box with one line of code.



Name: LBFindPreFix
Syntax: index = LBFindPreFix(Ctl As Control, ByVal Search$)

Passed a string, this will search the contents of a list box and return
the index of the first element that begins with the string passed.

Note that this is not an INSTR type search, but it finds the element that
starts with Search$. Use of this WIN API function is how WinHelp finds
and updates the current selection as you type in characters in the SEARCH
box. The function returns the index os the element with matches the
passed string.




Name: LBGetFirst
Syntax: index = LBGetFirst(ListCtl As Control)

Passed a valid list box control, this funtion returns the index of the
first visible item. See also LBSetFirst.



Name: LBSetFirst
Syntax: errc = LBSetFirst(ListCtl As Control, ByVal Index)

Passed a valid ListBox control, this sets the first visible element to
that of INDEX.







Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
39




Name: TextBoxFLoad
Syntax: retc = TextBoxFLoad(TextCtl As Control, ByVal fil$)

One of ther most excruciatingly slow aspects of VB and Control
manipulation is loading a file, one line at a time into a (MultiLine)
ListBox. TextBoxFLoad cuts out one of the 'middlemen' by bypassing most
of the VB API and goes directly to the WIN API to load the specified file
directly into the TextBox. By avoiding VB and being in assembler, the
time saved in the loadin process is incredible.



Name: TBSizeLimit
Syntax: retc = TBSizeLimit(TextCtl As Control, ByVal Size%)

While text boxes are neat as ready made input controls, they lack a great
deal of functionality. One thing missing is the ability to limit the
number of characters input. TBSizeLimit allows you to specify in SIZE
the maximum number of characters to accept. For those familiar with GLIB
for DOS style QBs, this is like MFed's FSize parameter. See also
TBPassword.


Name: TBPassWord
Syntax: TBPassWord(TextCtl As Control, ByVal Char%)

The invocation of this function allows you to specify the echo to echo
when the end user types in a character, allowing you to devise a password
style input box. Char is the ASCII code of the character to echo.




























Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
40




III. Visual Basic Custom Controls


1. Clock

yq>*(PBrush
0 0 48 28@BMv(0
Clock is a Custom Control for Visual BASIC that allows you to
constantly display a digital clock on any form or window. This approach
to time display elimiates the need for you to develop a timer routine and
update the screen.

While this is a fairly intuitive and straight forward control, it is
necessary to note that WINDOWS allows for only 30 timers to be active at
a time. While 30 is a lot, you must allow for this depending on the
number of instances of the CLOCK custom control, the use of the WINDOWS
on screen clock and the number of TIMERS you have in use.


Standard Properties supported:
CtlName Width DragIcon
Index Height Tag
BackColor Visible FontName
ForeColor Enabled FontSize
Left Parent
Top DragMode


Custom Properties supported:
AlarmEnableTimeFormat
AlarmHrTimeLabel
AlarmMinTimerMode
HideSecsTimeZone

Custom Events supported:
Alarm


Clock Custom Properties Defined

Name: Alarm_Enable Type: BOOLEAN

When enabled, and the system time matches that defined as the alarm
time (Alarm_Hr: Alarm_Min), the Alarm Event is triggered. The event is
triggered each second for one full minute - until the system time no
longer matches that of the Hr:Min designated as the alarm time.
It is up to your program to supply the actual activity to be
performed at the specified time. It may be as simple as a series of
beeps (like in an appointment book application), or it may signal that it
is time to exit your application and execute another (such as a timed
EMail link).



Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
41





Name: Alarm_Hr Type: INTEGER

Defines the hour that the alarm will sound. Must be used in
conjunction with Alarm_Enable and most likely Alarm_Min.




Name: Alarm_Min Type: INTEGER

Defines the minute that the Alarm Event will trigger. This is only
of any matter if Alarm_Enable is active (TRUE) and will likely be used in
conjunction with Alarm_Hr.



Name: HideSecs Type: BOOLEAN

This TRUE/FALSE property allows you to hide the display of seconds in
your clock display. In some instances it may be more aesthetically
pleasing to simply display in Hrs:Min format rather than Hrs:Min:Sec.

There are several benefits in hiding the seconds display. First, the
WIN API has to process many, many requests for action (called messages)
from every program active or running and still contend with things that
the end user may do such as rearrange windows on screen requiring any
number of screen updates. To contend with the virtual blizzard of
messages, the WIN API uses a queque type approach.

So, when you've installed the Clock Custom Control, while we've
designed to to update the display more frequently than once per second
the speed with which other processes act on their messages has an impact
on how often Clock will actuall get it's messages. The effect of this on
slower systems, such as 80286 systems means that the time could 'jump'
more than one second occasionally.

Next, a future version of Clock will implement a less demanding timer
when HideSecs is TRUE, thereby freeing up system resources for other
processes running.



Name: TimerMode Type: BOOLEAN

Rather than displaying the current time with the default TimerMode as
FALSE, you can tailor Clock to display the time elapsed (TRUE) from a
desired starting time. In this mode, the TimeFormat setting is ignored
and the time display will ne in hh:mm format, but the HideSecs setting
will be honored. Naturally, the Alarm Property is not available.

The Enabled standard properties have a special impact on the
ElapsedTimer property. When FALSE and Clock is not in TimerMode, the
currect time is simply displayed. However, more extensize control is
required for Elapsed Mode, specifically what the starting time is. By
default, the starting time will be the time that the Clock/Timer was
created, however to supress the timer display until you are ready, you

Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
42




can either set the VISIBLE property to FALSE or set the ForeGround Color
to that of the BackGround. Reversing either of these will normalize the
display. Then to set a new starting base time, simply
set the ENABLE property to 1. Each time your code sets or resets the
ENABLED property to 1, the starting time is reset.

Secondly, if the Clock is in Elapsed Timer Mode, but is not Enabled,
it may be desirable to hide the display by setting the Standard Visible
property to FALSE.




Name: TimeFormat Type: ENUMERATED

At design time, you can designate the format of the Clock display.
The choices allow you to display the hours in either 12 or 24 hour
format.



Name: TimeLabel Type: ENUMERATED

Allows you to designate the Clock's time display label. You may
choose from AM/PM, am/pm or None.



Name: TimeZone Type: INTEGER

The TimeZone property allows for each Clock display to represent the
local time in another time zone. Simply initialize the value to the
time difference for the desired locality. To display Eastern Time
when the system is in the Central time zone, set TimeZone to -1; to
display Mountain Time from the same zone TimeZone would be set to 1
and naturally. To display the time of most MidEast countries, subtract
1200 years.

In all instances, local time would be displyed by setting TimeZone to
0. Further, the value of TimeZone should be in the range 0 to 24.



Name: Alarm Clock Custom Event

The Clock Custom Control will trigger the Alarm Event when the following
are true:
- AlarmEnable is true
- AlarmMin equals the current system time minute
- AlarmHr equals the current system time hour
If any ONE is not true the Alarm will not sound. The Event will be
triggered approximately once per second, or until your code invalidates
one of the above conditions. (No, we don't have a Snooze property).






Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992


43

2. Meter


h*( PBrush
0 0 53 31BMv(5dffwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwxxxxxxxfxxxxxxxx"xDxx3
Meter is a Custom Control for Visual BASIC that allows you to display
a meter of the percentage of a job that is done. The visual effect is
that seen when installing WINDOWS where a horizontal bar slowly gets
filled in showing the percentage of the job that is complete.


When defining the Fore and Back colors, it is the ForeGround color
that fills in the bar as the percentage increases, replacing existing
BackGround color.


When locating and sizing a Meter Control on your form at design
time, it need not be a horizontal style bar, Meter supports vertical
meters as well as an Inverse property. The Inverse property causes the
Meter to act in reverse mode, that is it begins filled in (with the
ForeGround color) and 'drains' to an empty bar.



Standard Properties supported:
CtlName Width
Index Height
BackColor Visible FontName
ForeColor Enabled FontSize
Left Parent
Top Tag


Custom Properties supported:
Units_Total
Units_Done
Inverse
VerBose


Custom Events supported:
None












Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
44




Meter Custom Properties Defined



Name: Inverse Type: BOOLEAN

When TRUE, the Meter starts out filled with the ForeGround color and
'drains' to an empty Meter as the percentage complete increases.
The default (FALSE) setting allows the Meter Control to fill with the
ForeGround Color as the percentage increases.



Name: Verbose Type: BOOLEAN

When set to TRUE, as the percentage complete increases, the Meter
Control is labeled with the actual percent. A FALSE setting leaves the
control unlabelled and percentage done (or percentage left) is simply
implied from the display.

The mode of text display will 'clip' any text that will not fit in
the Meter Control and can cause an ungainly appearance. This is more
likely with narrowish vertical meters where '100%' may not fit, but is
also likely with horizontal meters when either of the SpecialFX are used.
See the SpecialFX Property for more information regarding this.



Name: UnitsDone TYPE: INTEGER

In order to display a meter of the percentage done, the internal
control code must know the total number of parts in the job and what the
current number of parts done are. These values are handled by the Custom
Properties UnitsTotal and UnitsDone.

The Meter Control code will handle all the calculations and color the
Meter Control the appropriate amount, you simply set the amounts of the 2
units--- properties.

The UnitsDone property is updated as your program completes portions
of your process. When the WIN API notifies the Meter Control that
UnitsDone has changed, the Meter Control code updates the meter display.
Note that simply addressing UnitDone cause WIN API to send a message to
the Meter Control, even if the new value is the same as the old.
However, Meter checks to see if the percentage has changed and exits
early if there is no change.

See UnitsTotal for more information.









Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
45



Name: UnitsTotal Type: INTEGER

As explained in the description of the UnitsDone property, the Meter
Control Code will calculate the percentage from the values of UnitsDone
and UnitsTotal. What these represent however is up to you.

Being of the data type integer (short), valid values will range from
0 to 32,767. But the actual amounts can be representative and
independant of what is actually being done. For example, setting
UnitsTotal to 100, allows you to directly manipulate the percentage done
since whatever you set UnitsDone to will be the percentage displayed in
the Meter Control.

In the case of an installation process, let's assume you have to copy
2,509,832 bytes from floppy disks and the number of bytes read so far is
what you wish to base the UnitsTotal Property on. Since 2.5 million is
beyond the legal range of UnitsTotal, simply divide by 100 and set the
UnitsTotal Property to 25098. Then as each file is copied, simply divide
the new aggregate copied amount by 100 and the Meter Control will be
accurate. The chances of such a wide spectrum Meter actually registering
100 of over 35,000 units on a 6' or so Meter is remote. Given that files
can vary widely in size a byte method is more accurate than a file count
method.

Another example would be in loading an index or random access file.
The UnitsTotal could be the size of the file in records, then every two,
three or five records, depending on the size of UnitsTotal, you could
update the UnitsDone property so as to inform the Meter Control that the
display needs updating.




























Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
46




3. Extended Control Text Box (XtdEd)


X*(l
PBrush
0 0 40 28BMv((0wwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Overview

By far, one of the popular and useful tools in our GLib toolbox for
QB/QBX is that of MFED, a text input control routine. Virtually
everything that can be controlled in collecting user input can be
programmed in. While VB's TextBoxes go along way in replacing MFed,
there are still some things that MFed can do that you cannot do with a
text box. So, we set out to replicate the key MFed capabilities in a
custom control Text Box, and added a few facets available under WINDOWS.

Several of the things that you can control in our XTDEdit control can
be altered in a standard TextBox, but requires separate WIN API calls for
each box - XTdEdit allows you to access them as built in properties.



Properties List

BACKCOLOR FONTNAME PARENT
FORECOLOR FONTBOLD TAG
LEFT FONTITALIC VISIBLE
TOP FONTSTRIKE TABINDEX
WIDTH FONTUNDER MULTILINE
HEIGHT FONTSIZE
TEXT ENABLED


(Custom)

ErrAlarm
MaxSize
InsertMode
BadCharList
NumsOnly
ReadOnly



Events Supported

CLICK (std)
CHANGING






Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
47





Name: MaxSize (INTEGER)

Available at design and runtime, your code can control the length of the
text string to be entered into an XtdEdit control. By setting the
MaxSize property, the edit control rejects any characters beyond that
length and optionally beeps based on the ErrAlarm property.

The MaxSize property can be set at design time via the VB drop down
properties box. If one text box is doing multiple edits, your code can
set the current maximum character length at run time.

An obvious use of this is in data entry applications where you wish to
collect only a certain number of characters, such as for a filename.



Name: InsertMode Custom Property (BOOL)

One of the things that irks me about the standard WIN Text Box is that
they all start in overwrite mode. Type one character and the previous
entry is gone. Even for the experienced user, tapping a cursor key, then
backing up to preserve the original text requires you to tap the Insert
Key for a true inseret mode.

The InsertMode Custom property allows you to design the control to work
as other TextBoxes do (FALSE) or to support InsertMode upon startup
(TRUE).

When set to TRUE, the XtdEdit Control does not just emulate insert mode,
but it sets the WIN API for it. That is, upon entry if the start up is
Insert Mode TRUE, XtdEdit sends a message to the WIN API to toggle the
Insert Key ON. For the balance of the time that the edit control has the
focus, it monitors the Insert state to see if the user has toggled it
off. Should the user do so, then conventional text box input behavior
takes place. Otherwise the control remains in overwrite mode.



Name: NumsOnly Custom Property (BOOL)

In the case where the input your application requires should be numeric
only, your only option with a standard text box is to examine the
contents or .TEXT property after the control loses focus.

With XtdEdit's NumsOnly Property, when set to true, the control examines
each character and accepts it only if it is numeric. This makes XtdEdit
ideal for data base entry where any number of fields such as phone
numbers, zip codes and the like are numeric only.











Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
48




Name: BadCharList Custom Property (TEXT string)

Like with the entry of numeric characters for phone numbers, there are
instances where there are characters that you just do not want in the
entry. Filenames are one example, but with data that will be saved to a
sequential file, you will likely not want any commas in it.

By listing or populating the BadCharList property with those characters
that are forbidden in the entry, you instruct the XtdEdit control to
reject these. If one is encountered, XtdEdit will discard it rather than
add or append it to the text being entered.



Name: ReadOnly Custom Property (BOOL)

In some instances, it is desirable that the text in an edit box be Read
Only. That is, it is for the user's information only and is not within
their power to change it.

An ideal example of this would be where you might have a record being
edited displayed in one XtdEdit box where the user is editing. Another
however, may be another XtdEdit control where the original record is
displayed for comparison. The latter control should ideally be a
ReadOnly control so that even when it receives the focus the user cannot
change the contents.

In this or other instances where you wish to display something to the
user, without them changing it you can set the ReadOnly property to TRUE
and even when the XtdEdit control receives the focus via the mouse or tab
key sequence, they can scroll thru multi line controls and otherwise view
the data, but cannot alter it.



Name: ErrAlarm Custom Property (BOOL)

This characteristic is one ported from MFed. Whenever a user violates
the constraints that the above XTdEdit control properties impose on them,
when ErrAlarm is set to TRUE, the speaker will sound.

Some typical situations:
- Entering a character found in BadCharList
- Attempt to edit or change a ReadOnly control
- Attempt to enter an Alpha character in a NumsOnly control
- Entering a character that will cause the length of the text to
exceed MaxSize









Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
49




CHANGING Custom Event

One of the slickest things about the Windows Help system is it's ability
to dynamically update the Search list. Open the SEARCH window and as you
type each character into the text box, the contents or subject list is
updated. With a standard text box, replicating such behavior is
difficult at best, but easy with XtdEdit.

After each characacter is qualified according to the custom properties
above (NumsOnly, BadCharList etc), it is appended to the contents. At
that instant (as much as anything happens instantaneously in Windows), a
CHANGING event is triggered. This event therefore notifies your code
that the contents of the edit control is being updated.

Replicating the behavior found in the WIN help system in your own
application is then quite simple. In response to the CHANGING event,
simply call LBFindPreFix to get the first item in a list box that
matches the contents of the XtdEdit control (XtdEdit.Text). If need be
you can also use LBSetFirst to force the List Box to display that item.

An ideal use and example of this would be in a Movie or VCR tape
database. When searching for movies with a certain star or director, or
even a title, as each character is entered you can respond in the
CHANGING event to execute the code needed to display the applicable
section of the list box.

































Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
50




4. Enhanced Scroll Bars (EhVScroll, EhHScroll)

z
1*(oPBrush
0 0 79 48BMv(O0wwwwwwwwwwwpwwwwwwpppppppwwww

When we were developing the Changing event for the XtdEdit control, it
occurred to us that the CHANGING event would be ideal for Scroll Bars.

Such an event, linked to Scroll Bars would make dynamic updates and fine
tuning easier and faster for the user. So we developed a sub class of
scroll bars that supported just that. We were somewhat dismayed that the
VB Pro Toolkit turned out to have one as well, but since not everyone has
$100 for a few controls, or needs the CDK or the Help Compiler, we
decided to go ahead and release our Enhanced Scroll Bars with WGLib as
well.

The WGLib toolbox supports vertical Enhanced Scroll Bars (EnVScroll) as
well as horizontal ones (EnHScroll). Both work the same as standard
scroll bars with the exception of generating a CHANGING event which you
have the option of not reponding to.




Properties List

LEFT ENABLED MIN
TOP PARENT MAX
HEIGHT TAG VALUE
WIDTH LARGECHANGE
VISIBLE SMALLCHANGE


Events List

CHANGE
CHANGING




Properties

All the properties listed behave much the same as the standard
properties for standard scroll bars do. You set the MIN and MAX range,
SMALLCAHNGEs are generated by clicking the arrow, LARGECHANGEs are
generated by clicking the scroll bar itself between the slider button
(called the THUMB) and the arrow.







Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
51




CHANGING Custom Event

The key enhancement of our Enhanced Scroll Bars is that each time the
value changes, whether as a result of dragging the thumb, clicking the
arrow or generating a LARGECHANGE by clicking on the Scroll Bar between
the thumb and arrow, a CHANGING event is generated.

In responding to the CHANGING event, you can get the current Enhanced
scroll bar setting via the En?Scroll.Value property and update whatever
is being scrolled (lists, colors, values etc). This gives a much
snappier appearance to the application since the focus no longer has to
be lost by the scroll bar in order for the result to be displayed.

It is important to note that when a CHANGING event is triggered, the
Enhanced Scroll Bar still has the focus. The triggereing of the
CHANGING event simply allows you to take a 'time out' to update whatever
is being scrolled. Having the result of the scroll being dynamically
updated on the screen also makes it easier for the user to produce the
exact right setting via scroll bars in one focus session.






































Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
52




5. Keyboard Status Control (KBStat)

&*(?&PBrush
0 0 82 37BMv(R%\333www333www

The Keyboard Status Control (KBSTAT) allows you to paste a display board
onto your form that will dynamically reflect the status of the key board
locks (Caps, Nums, Insert).

The design was based off the WORD for WINDOWS status bar, since it was
well done, well positioned and aesthetically appealing. In highly input
intensive applications, a keyboard status bar such as this can be of
great aid to the user, especially for touch typists who look at the
screen far more than the keyboard.

The KBStat control can be of any size and any location on your form. Too
small of size however, and the contents of the control (the three
indicator boxes) can be hard to read or chopped.

KBStat is very, very Windows aware. Once installed, it periodically
polls the WIN API to check on the status of the KB lock states. If
changed, the new status will be updated and displayed. Like WINWORD, the
indicator boxes are blank if off, or display "Caps", "Num" and "Ins" when
each are ON.

KBStat goes to quite some trouble to find a suitable font for usage based
on the size of the control as the capabilities of the display device.
Later implementations of KBStat will likely allow for FONTNAME
properties, but for now, part of the charm of KBStat is is ease of use
and universal compatibility.

In the area of FORECOLOR and BACKCOLOR, the default is black on grey.
Naturally, these can be changed via the properties box, but some
combinations will look odd on KBStat controls. The thing to keep in mind
is that the FORECOLOR is that of the text of the indicators, and that is
it. BACKCOLOR is the background color of the parent box and indicators
themselves, while the shading for 3D effects is always black, grey and
white.



Properties List

FORECOLOR WIDTH PARENT
BACKCOLOR HEIGHT DRAGMODE
LEFT VISIBLE DRAGICON
TOP ENABLED TAG


(Custom Properties)
STYLE




Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
53




STYLE (Custom Property) (ENUMERATED)

KBStat supports 3 style modes: Convex, Concave and Flat.

In the Convex style, the control appears to be raised above the rest of
the form with the indicators sunken into that control or parent box. By
far this is the most appealing.

Concave has the control or parent box appearing to be sunken into the
form, with the indicators raised above the parent box.

Flat style is flat. Very flat. Neither the form nor the status
indicators are accented.

The terms concave and canvex refer to the appearance of the larger
parent box, with the smaller indicator boxes or frames being the
inverse.

The Style property is read only at run time. Precluding the user or your
code from changing the style of the KBStat control allows it to draw the
special effects only once rather than each time the status is updated
thereby creating less overhead.



































Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
54





Acknowledgements

The following have proved valuable in one way or another either in
designing specific routines or as a general, MASM, system or QB
reference:

The Microsoft KnowledgeBase

Norton Guides For Assembler















































Copyright (C) InfoSoft, 1991, 1992
55
gn was based off the WORD for WINDOWS status bar, sincewPsPRozkgc_[44e"wg"s.o.Ekzkgc_[4iI7=1<>@BdfG#%jIIegik/egI








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