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TunaGibsonGUI Help Anyone?
Hello everyone :)   As I'm sure you know, I've only just registered. Recently, I've been interested in creating a DOS GUI in BASIC, and have been trying out some source code and examples. Now, I'm think about starting to code.   As a first release, I'm not aiming too high (you know, just a mouse, a nice background, and a taskbar really). I was wondering if anyone could give me any advice in starting off.   Thanks in advance :)		2010-08-216:29 PM
JasonRe:GUI Help Anyone?
Hey!  (woot, some people are alive :D, lol, just kidding) I've made a few GUIs back in 2007-2009; 2010 is sorrt of a research and develoment year.  The one thing that i have found extremely useful in the past is something called the future libaray: it contains many types of graphical functions, such as loading BMPs and animated GIFs.  It can also give you higher screen modes, unlike SCREEN 12 (640x480&4bpp (16 colors)) or SCREEN 13 (320x200&8bpp (256 colors)).  the future library can give you 800x600&32bpp, over 4.2 billion colors!  some other neat functions in the library are the built in mouse routines, the WAV player and the XMS (extended memory system) gives you more than just 640k conventional memory, (personally i only use XMS for storing window data) i hope that helps, if you wanna chat im at jasonwoodland (at symbol:) hotmail.com PS: if you want a copy of QB ready with the future library, just ask!		2010-08-218:58 PM
BrandonRe:GUI Help Anyone?
Looking at the code of other GUIs can always been helpful. http://qbasicgui.datacomponents.net/ is a database with many more GUIs than the ones on this site. Please feel free to ask more specific questions. I have multiple IM screennames listed on my profile, feel free to contact me.		2010-08-219:19 PM
TunaGibsonRe:GUI Help Anyone?
Hello Again !!   Woah quick replies everyone! thankyou very much. Ok then, here are some more questions for ya!: 1.) Would the future library work in native DOS? 2.) How would I go about detecting hardware (I've seen it in other GUIs) => Does    the future library have commmands for this. (I know of ISXMSInstalled)   Also, are there such things as a complete walkthrough tutorial of writing a GUI. Mr Jacob Palm had some apparently, though his website has shut down (I think).   Sorry if I sound a bit of a beginner, but hey we all have to start somewhere :) Once again thanks again for all the advice		2010-08-226:00 AM
JasonRe:GUI Help Anyone?
yes, future only works in native dos for me.  to detect hardware i would go about learning CALL INTERRUPT (&H##, InRegs, OutRegs) go http://www.ctyme.com/intr/cat.htm to find out what you want the computer to do, then email me and i'll show you how to do it and for more interrupts.		2010-08-226:23 AM
BrandonRe:GUI Help Anyone?
Technically, Jason is correct, however youy don't have to learn anything too advanced as here is a lot of QB code out there can be modified to work for you, if you look at the credits for Fun500 6 (my GUI) you'll see that there is a long list, because I used a lot of other people's work or got their support. GUI building is a lot more team based than it might seem. If you haven't yet I'd recommend trying all the GUIs that are on the Awards page, if the got an awards that obviously means something.

Hardware detection really depends on what hardware you want to detect but the first place I always search when I want a new routine is QB45 (It's linked from the bottom of each page).

And yes, the future lib is for DOS, all the GUIs on this site are made for real DOS.

I suppose it might be nice for me to introduce myself and give a little community background. I started GUI programing in 2005, when I was 12 and the most popular GUI site at the time was JacobPalm.dk. Some on the original members included ysft12 (now known as dick), Todd (tlsuess), Kyle (ksr), and of course Jacob (The Walrus). These are the oldest members of the GUI community and likely the most knowledgeable. Other members came over time and it would be impossible to list them all, the site was a pretty popular place with GUIs being released fairly often. The GUI community seems to run in cycles, growing and srinking, and eventually I was the only person really working on a GUI and Jacobs site was pretty patched together. It was originally Guppy CMS, but Jacob had customized it to fit his needs and he didn't have a lot of time for GUIs anymore. His site went down, and the community for the most part was dead, however Todd had started a GUI Blog on his server that I'd post updates on, and eventually Jason showed up and the community seemed to be in motion. Using a blog for a community can be limiting and a forum is needed for real interaction, so I sort of took over the blog, Todd now in college had less time for it. I set up a nice Joomla! based site and the community had a pretty nice boost in population. The site we have now I hand coded in PHP and I like it because it allows you to find the newest GUIs and see the latest GUI news without reading though the forum.		2010-08-2211:28 AM
TunaGibsonRe:GUI Help Anyone?
Very interesting background there Brandon.   Well, after having a good long read, I'm gunna take all of your advice, and look at some more source as well as learning some BIOS interrupts (they look easy enough).   So, on a final note, thanks for everything, and I hope to get my own share of awards if I ever make a half decent GUI !! :P		2010-08-222:56 PM
DickRe:GUI Help Anyone?
If you ask me, you don't need all that fancy stuff if you're just starting.  Just get a mouse routine (I can post one if you want) and make something with pure QBASIC.  You can get pretty far there. 		2010-08-239:05 PM

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