PowerBASIC Users Meeting Point - Programming

Very Simple Round Gauge Discussion Thread

Wed, 24 Sep 2025 21:33:01 +0000

Posted in source code forum.

Nice one Kevin, yours looks better. I didn't know I had a friendly stalker!

Patrice, I gave it a try, while I've run out of socks from trying all your other demo's out, I did feel the whoosh and then goosebumps! Impressive! Seems much much faster! Did you use the native LZNT1 in the last release?

Since I know diddly about obj files I downloaded a free one of the curiosity Rover...
https://free3d.com/3d-model/curiosity-rover-46907.html
...but it's missing the MTL file, so I made one up, unfortunately the conversion still failed.

Code:
# dummy MTL for Curiosity Rover

newmtl default

Ka 0.200000 0.200000 0.200000

Kd 0.666667 0.666667 0.666667

Ks 0.000000 0.000000 0.000000

Ns 1.000000

illum 2

Pl
P

WAITKEY$ not in FreeBASIC

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 12:03:46 +0000

not posted in FreeBASIC forum because a PB user will know what I'm talking about.

I'm having bad success compiling and running (from tiko).

(before someone bitches - isn't helping coders only used to PB a good subject for PUMP?

One problem is the FreeBASIC "appears" not to run because console never shows. They do run from Command Prompt because console does not close at end of code. I can not find an equivalent to WAITKEY$ in FreeBASIC. The problem presents with samples from FreeBASIC and tiko too. FreeBASIC INKEY in a loop should work. Is that the answer?

GUI sample problems later.

(repeat from elsewhere- I'm not really transitioning from PB to FreeBASIC. It is a 64 bit alternative even though what I do does not need that much horsepower)

Cheers,

Comments re High resolution replacement for Sleep

Sat, 13 Sep 2025 23:00:49 +0000

I had a bit of a 'carrry on' creating post #2. I couldn't figure out the difference between 'Quick Edit' and 'Full Edit'. On one occasion, I got post #1 merging with post #2. On another occasion, I got post #2 being duplicated within itself.

Would someone explain the difference?

Anyway, the question is whether to use SleepX or SleepXX. I cannot answer that - only you can by trying the two source codes. On my Windows 10 machine with a Performance Counter Frequency of 10MHz and a CPU Base Frequency of 3.5GHz SleepXX is the more accurate.

If you have the time, would you let me know what your Performance Counter Frequency is, your CPU Base Frequency, and a console output of the more accurate.

Ta much.

WMIC removed in WIn11 25H2

Sat, 06 Sep 2025 02:23:36 +0000

There are currently a number of threads in gbThreads that contain a Shell to WMIC (Windows Management Instrumentation Command-line), including some from the last few years.

If you are currently using an application that Shells to WMIC, it will not work in Win11 25H2 (coming very soon). It is being removed (along with PowerShell 2.0).

Very Fast WString /Object Hash Table (Comments)

Fri, 05 Sep 2025 01:20:41 +0000

One thing I learned from this, for absolute speed, you can’t use normal WString comparison. Also, Equal is faster than Comparison if that’s all you need, which is the case with a hash table. Comparison requires two comparisons to determine if it’s less than or greater than. For absolute speed, you can’t use; If A$ = B$ Then.
In the Equal callback, testing the lengths first immediately eliminates some values. Passing a pointer and the length to the callback eliminates that overhead in the callback.
I could get this faster, about 0.095 seconds to find 1,000,000 keys, by writing the code inline instead of using callbacks, but the complexity isn’t worth the benefit.

Code:
Very Fast WString /Object Hash Table

Clockwise sort of coordinates

Sat, 30 Aug 2025 08:33:46 +0000

Anyone who cares to post the final iteration of the "clockwise sort of coordinates" source code, which was recently discussed in the PB forums? I waited too long to store a local copy.

Thanks.

Pac-Man maze

Sat, 30 Aug 2025 02:28:29 +0000

I'm starting to work on a pac-man maze. I have a long road ahead of me with this challenge. I'm going with a technique I read up on using tiles that are setup as a grid that allows you to draw the maze dynamically. Each tile is stored in a 2D array. The maze is setup 28 across and 31 tiles down. The array elements are structures that allow you to include properties or attributes about the tile and can be used for game flow logic and drawing updates. I'm curious to know if anyone else in PB land has done any work in this area? TIA.

A picture of what I have so far... (obviously more work to be done )

sofar.jpg (Size: 82.42 KB / Downloads: 32)

The LeapYear

Fri, 07 Mar 2025 15:09:06 +0000

Here, Dale Yarker shows a fast Way to find a Leap Year.

This looks very nice - for 32-Bit Systems.

Programming in 16-Bit PB 3.5 for DOS, I can only make eyes…

I use a much slower routine, calculating results for julian and gregorian calendar.

Code:
Declare _

Function iFeb(ByVal iJahr As Integer)        As Integer

Function iFeb(ByVal iJahr As Integer) Public As Integer

  If iJahr < 1582% then

    Function = 29% _

             + ( _

                 ( _

                   iJahr Mod 4% _

                 ) _

                 <> 0% _

               )

  Else

    Function = 29% _

             + ( _

                 ( _

                   iJahr/4 _

                 ) _

                 <> _

                 ( _

                   iJahr\4 _

                 ) _

                 Or _

                 ( _

                   iJahr/100 _

                 ) _

                 = _

                 ( _

                   iJahr\100 _

                 ) _

                 And _

                 ( _

                   iJahr/400 _

                 ) _

                 <> _

                 ( _

                   iJahr\400 _

                 ) _

               )

  End If

End Function

Does someone has an idea, how this could look in 16-Bit-Inline-Asm?

Mapped Drives and Run As Administrator issue

Wed, 29 Jan 2025 01:45:25 +0000

Just ran into a little oops.

Writing a small backup utility to copy files from a mapped drive to a USB Thumb Drive.
I initially couldn't work out why it was silently failing with "Compile and Execute"

I tried running the executable from Windows Explorer and it worked.

Then it dawned on me :
I have PBEdit and PBWin set to "run as Administrator' to avoid the known issues with occasional slow compilation and/or compiler fails.
"Administrator " didn't have the drive mapping.

My solution:

Code:
      dwDrives = GetLogicalDrives

      IF BIT(dwDrives,25) = 0 THEN ' Drive Z not available

      ? "Cannot access source drive Z:\." & $LF & $LF & "You must run this application as a user with drive Z:\ mapped!" & $LF & $LF &  _

        "Note that the backup will fail if you run ""as administrator"" rather than as a normal user who has Z:\ mapped",%MB_ICONERROR,"Backup To USB Failed"

      EXIT FUNCTION

  END IF

Calling opcode string discussion

Mon, 27 Jan 2025 19:18:28 +0000

Calling opcode string discussion was started at https://forum.powerbasic.com/forum/user-...discussion

It is an answer To Anne on how to get and embed a function in a string and call it via "call dword"
This one show particularly how to find the end of the function code by inserting data near the end.

Code:
'follow up of https://forum.powerbasic.com/forum/user-to-user-discussions/programming/838669-calling-opcode-string-discussion

#compile exe '#Win 10.04 (D:\Dev\Pow\Bas\Jose Roca\Forum\Jose\Windows API Headers\3.1.07\uz)#

#dim all

'#register none

'%Unicode = 1

#include "Win32Api.inc"

#RESOURCE MANIFEST, 1, "XPTheme.xml"

global hDlg as dword

$AppName  = "call dword"

%Static01 = 101

%Button01 = 201

declare function myfunction(byval var1 as long ,byval var2 as long) as long 'for call dword to use

'_____________________________________________________________________________

function HexView$(sString as string) as string 'HexString

 local  pByte   as byte pointer

 local  sBuffer as string

 local  sChar16 as string

 local  Looper  as long

 pByte = strptr(sString)

 do

   if (Looper and 15) = 00 then                 'Like MOD 16

     sBuffer = sBuffer & hex$(Looper, 4) & ": " 'Line number:

   elseif (Looper and 07) = 00 then             'Like MOD 8

     sBuffer = sBuffer & "- "                   'Middle dash

   end if

   if Looper < len(sString) then                'Add data

     sBuffer = sBuffer & hex$(@pByte[Looper], 2) & $spc

   else

     #if %def(%pb_win32) 'A to F have bigger width

     sBuffer = sBuffer & "     "                'Windows: No more data, fill with five spaces

     #else 'Use STDOUT in console

     sBuffer = sBuffer & "   "                  'Console: No more data, fill with three spaces

     #endif

   end if

   if (Looper and 15) = 15 then                 'End of 16 bytes line

     sChar16 = mid$(sString, Looper -14, 16) 'Next line replace non visible characters with dot

     replace any chr$(0,1,7,9,10,13,27 to 31,127,129,140,141,143,144,152,157) with "..................." in sChar16

     sBuffer = sBuffer & "; " & sChar16 & $crlf 'Add ascii string and CRLF

     if Looper >= len(sString) - 1 then exit do 'Job done

   end if

   incr Looper

 loop

 function = "Binary data lenght is" & str$(len(sString)) & " bytes." & $crlf & sBuffer

end function

'____________________________________________________________________________

function Add2Numbers(byval var1 as long ,byval var2 as long) as long

 function = var1 + var2

 'function = var2

 exit function

 !DB &h12, &h34, &h56, &h78, &h9A, &hBC, &hDE, &hF0 

end function

'_____________________________________________________________________________

callback function DlgProc

 local sAsm        as string

 local sTerminator as string

 local pcode       as dword

 local pString     as dword

 local RetVal      as long

 local byteVal     as byte

 select case cbmsg

   case %wm_command

     select case cbctl

       case %Button01

         if cbctlmsg = %bn_clicked or cbctlmsg = 1 then

           'call original function

           sTerminator = chr$(&h12, &h34, &h56, &h78, &h9A, &hBC, &hDE, &hF0)

           pcode       = codeptr(Add2Numbers)

           RetVal      = 0

           call dword pcode using myfunction(2, 2) to RetVal

           MessageBox(hDlg, "CALL DWORD pcode result =" & str$(RetVal), $AppName, 266240)

           '-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

           'call a copy of original function using myfunction()

           sAsm = ""

           do

             sAsm &= peek$(pcode, 1) 'build sAsm byte by byte to be sure to not access out of bound memory

             incr pcode

             if instr(sAsm, sTerminator) then

                sAsm &= peek$(pcode, 16) 'get the end of function

                exit do

             end if

           loop

           RetVal = 0

           pString = strptr(sAsm)

           call dword pString using myfunction(2, 3) to RetVal

           MessageBox(hDlg, "CALL DWORD pString result =" & str$(RetVal), $AppName, 266240)

           '-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

           'call a copy of original function without using myfunction()

           pString = strptr(sAsm)

           ! push 4

           ! push 2

           call dword pString 'Or you may use !call pcode

           ! mov RetVal, eax

           MessageBox(hDlg, "CALL DWORD ASM result =" & str$(RetVal), $AppName, 266240)

           '-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

           'show the copy and original function code side to side

           MessageBox(hDlg, "pcode:" & $crlf & HexView$(peek$(codeptr(Add2Numbers), len(sAsm))) & $crlf & $crlf & $crlf & _

                      "pString:" & $crlf & HexView$(peek$(codeptr(Add2Numbers), len(sAsm))), $AppName, 266240)

         end if

     end select

  end select

end function

'_____________________________________________________________________________

function pbmain()

 dialog font "Segoe UI", 9

 dialog new %hwnd_desktop, $AppName, , , 150, 50, _

 %ws_caption or %ws_minimizebox or %ws_maximizebox or %ws_sizebox or %ws_sysmenu, %ws_ex_left to hDlg

 control add label, hDlg, %Static01, "codeptr() and strptr() test", 5, 10, 140, 11, %ss_center

 control add button, hDlg, %Button01, "test codeptr() and strptr()", 15, 25, 120, 15

 dialog show modal hDlg call DlgProc

end function

'_____________________________________________________________________________

'

Puzzle

Sun, 16 Jun 2024 19:21:08 +0000

A puzzle for those that have time to spare.

The solution is a regular photograph of me.
Developed with an algorithm on a square image.
Post your resulting image and method to prove you have the solution.

puzzle1.jpg (Size: 64.68 KB / Downloads: 29)