Another good GUI from the creator of M-OS. This one has a little different layout and more programs, but you can definitely see the resemblance. Try
QBF OS 99 today!
The Three Types of GUIs
In the QBASIC GUI community, we use GUI to cover just about anything with objects that have graphical representations that aren’t games. I tend to think that there are really 3 different types of programs that we call GUIs:
- Object libraries- The simplest form of the QBASIC GUI, these aren’t always compiled into a library, sometimes they are just a collection of SUBs that are designed to be modified to be used to create your own applications. They don’t have an application launcher and generally don’t have any programs beyond an example showcasing the GUIs objects.
- Single Task Desktops- DOS doesn’t have any type of multitasking built in, so often the next step in GUI development is to make a launcher and some example programs that use your object library. This is the first “GUI” that resembles a fake OS. Often times the most liked GUIs belong in this group, because they tend to be faster and simpler to expand than the next group.
- Scripters/Mutlitaskers- These are the hardest GUIs to develop, especially in QBASIC. You run into the limitations of QBASIC quite quickly, and if you are targeting vintage hardware, you’ll run into the limits of that hardware as well. Trying to get around the limitations of DOS itself lead to some creative ways of getting the “multitasking” to work. A few ways that can be done: 1. A scripter, it runs lines from one running script, then breaks and moves to the next. 2. One large kernel, has all the applications built into one program. 3. Multiple EXEs which dump RAM to the hard drive before calling the next EXE.
So I’ll end all this with: Which GUIs of each type stand out to you and why?
GOTW: Pheonix
This is actually a pretty interesting GUI. Originally I had the idea to make a GUI as a team, and a few people said they’d help. What ended up happening is Todd Suess wrote an object library and no one else did anything. This is the result: Pheonix
Ancient Computers in use Today
I recently read this interesting article about old machines that are still being used for real work today, and thought that it would be enjoyed here: PC World
GOTW: Spacecat
I know that I usually post these on Sunday, but this weekend was busy as I moved back home from college on Friday. Anyway, this week I’ve decided on Spacecat. Spacecat isn’t really a GUI, but a TUI. It uses text elements to create “GUI” objects that create an interactive environment for a personal assistant type set of applications. First you need this: Spacecat 1.0 then you can use this: Spacecat Update 1.2
Rush Source Code
Rush, a popular QB GUI from the late 90s has been seen as one of the benchmarks for GUI design and user-friendliness. Several years ago, I started a GUI collection by finding as many QB GUIs as possible – even going as far as contacting authors to learn more or ask for source code. One of them was Rush since many aspects superceded “traditional” GUI designs – for example, reading a list of files from a directory was typically shelled out to the DOS shell and piped to a file, and then read back in which was not always reliable or the most efficient way to handle file listings. Rush’s technique involved using a series of MS-DOS API calls through machine interrupts and Assembler calls to retrieve a listing for a directory.
After e-mailing the authors, one of them responded with a copy of the source code to Rush. It was pretty exciting given that many GUI authors either lost the source code or could not be contacted. I’m attaching what was sent to me from years ago. At one point when Rush had a website, the source code was freely available so I don’t believe the authors would object to me sharing it on The GUI Blog. Hopefully it will be useful to someone looking for inspiration to develop a GUI. Portions of it are in Dutch.
[File: rush_sources.zip]
Time Machine: Creation of the Blog
Here’s a neat quote from QB Express #16 (November 2005)
Todd Suess Launches QuickBasic GUI Blog
Todd Suess recently announced the launch of a new QuickBasic GUI Blog. The blog will serve as a news source for the QB GUI community, and Todd has done a great job of posting the latest news on QB GUI since the site launched on November 20th. There have already been ten posts, and I’m sure there will be many more to come. If Todd keeps up with the pace that he’s updated this blog with in the first week, this will be an incredible resource for QB & FB GUI programmers.
News Brief by Pete
A Word Of Warning…
Not a big post, but if you EVER decide to implement your own scripting language/compilable program into your GUI, make SURE you double check your scripts after you write them for errors and don’t assume it’s your actual GUI that’s slow. I just spent the last hour rewriting the final “app” that was hard-coded into my GUI and making it into a script that updates where your mouse cursor is and stuff, and the thing was rarely updating…like 2x a second in the window…unacceptable when you’re trying to show in real-time where the mouse cursor is and stuff. I seriously looked through my code over and over and couldn’t figure out why it was running so slow but overall the GUI was super responsive.
I finally decided to look at the actual code of the stats.dsf file (DOSDoors Script File) and saw I had a “DoEvents” line at the bottom before it looped… came to realize i copy/pasted the fps window code and never removed the line. I have that in there to basically wait like 1/2 a second before doing anything else in the window to save processing power for apps that don’t need it. Yeah, took that out and now I can have a ton of the windows open and all are updated in real time.
D’OH!
GOTW: UGOS
This week I dug up an old copy of Jason’s first publicly released GUI: UGOS
DOS Doors Build 0008
Changelog:
- More work on the compiler
- ESC now does a kernelpanic instead of it’s own seperate “quit” action
- Added a GUI-wide variable for the number of TotalPrograms
- Fixed CreateProgram to use TotalPrograms, not TotalVariables
- Added function to convert UUID to ProgramID
- Added a routine to read the headers from .DES files
- Added AddJumpTable routine
- Added GetJumpTable routine
- Added ProgramLocation
- Added a RunProgram routine
- Implemented working (compilable) programs! (interpretted)
- Allowed System.X variable to be assigned to local variables
- The program “uptime” is now a true program and not built-in
- The program “about” is now a true program and not built-in
- Added the “call” command to scripting language for basic loop creation
Build 0009 will finish off the last “window” (statistics) and allow that to be it’s own program. Afterward, I’m going to start working on the shell (not sure if I want to keep the taskbar/tray thing still) and maybe add a few apps to allow you to change settings. I need to add a lot more primitives to the scripting language first, though.
Proudly powered by WordPress | Theme: Chunk by Automattic.
Content 2010-2013 Brandon Cornell & contributors.