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I do not understand the usage for the Display Settings and Executable File Settings options in DBPros IDE. (When in Project View mode)

In DBPro's Help files.
Getting Started - Lesson 4 'using the project panel' is ludicrously brief and explains no more than the the varoious options titles give away about themselves.

Is there a Tutorial/Documentation out there that explains when to use the varous Display Settings, and what the effects on the resulting program of using each one are.
~ Can these settings be overridden by Display Settings commands within the program? - Which settings get priority? And what happens if there is a conflict of the settings selected in the Project Panel and the settings made by the Set Display Mode command in the actual program?
~ Which setting will give the best system performance for a graphics intensive game or for an application program such as a calculator or an encryption program designed for the Windows desktop?
~ Do any of the options set the programs display mode to the users display mode, (as used by the windows desktop of the particular computer the program is currently running on)?

What about the Executable File Settings.
What is a PCK file and what are the consequenses (if any) of encrypting or compressing the attached media?
In what situations would you use an Installer type EXE, or, what are the advantages of using this option?

I have extensively searched the forum(s) for help on this and I feel a bit like I'm looking into the fridge and saying "There's nothing to eat". I'm sure the info on such a fundamental topic is out there, I'm probably just not looking in the right place! Just as there's always something to eat in the fridge! (I'f only you know what to see rather than what you're looking for!)

To my/our respondant.
Thank you for your assistance Oh! font of wisdom.
I'm sure it will be a lengthy explanation but it will certainly be a worthwhile resource for many, many newcomers.

yea, it can be overide because the runtime programing it have the priority. you can use comands sutch as "Set window on" or "set window title" to change those definitions. Relember, this is programming, everything is at out hand to be manipulated.

witch settings? hum... see your yourself... I think that in full mode there's a bether quality (don't ask me why...xD)

I don't think so... to set resolution i'd ask the user the resolution and use the command set dysplay mode (ex1024,768,32

Executable File Settings ... it's the settings of your game's executable and the consequences of compressing the media on the exe are on the syze of the Exe itself. instaler type would be to make something like the instaler pack ...like the name says...

I really don't mind to answer but, this kind of questions could be easilly solve by trying the program and modiffy the settings of it

The following reply was originally posted by Mike at the Curved Basic Website. It has been copied here with his kind permission for the benefit of the readers of this thread.

Visit the Curved Basic Website at http://curvedbasic.com/Forum2/index.php
Curved Basic may soon feature a tutorial on setting up the DBPro IDE by Mike.


Quote:
Is there a Tutorial/Documentation out there that explains when to use the various Display Settings, and what the effects on the resulting program of using each one are.

No tutorial out there, other than the help documents.

Quote:
~ Can these settings be overridden by the Set Display Mode command within the program? - Which settings get priority (Project Panel or Program Executed Command)? - And what happens if there is a conflict of the settings selected in the Project Panel and the settings made by the Set Display Mode command in the actual program?

Whatever you right in code, should always take priority over anything set in the project panel.

Quote:
~ Which setting will give the best system performance for a graphics intensive game or for an application program such as a calculator or an encryption program designed for the Windows desktop? - And why is this so?

Full screen exclusive is best for performance, because it dedicates your entire window to the game. The full screen program will take priority over everything else running on your computer. For applications, windowed mode is usually used, because these applications(like a calculator) are less intensive, and you can have multiple programs open(like notepad and calculator, etc.)

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~ What happens if you make a window with a different resolution to the windows desktop resolution? Are there important system performance issues to consider here?

The higher the resolution of your window, the slower the performance(but of course, the better graphic quality) of your program. Nothing should happen if it's a different resolution than the window resolution, it'll just get scaled down a little so you can fit however many pixels into a space.

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~ What does the exclusive in Full Screen Exclusive Mode mean?

As mentioned briefly above, exclusive makes your program take presedence over any other program.

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~ What's the difference between Windowed, Windowed Desktop and Windowed Fullscreen? - Are there performance issues to consider in the selection of these?

Windowed will be a resizable window.
Windowed desktop will be just like windowed, except it'll size to the desktop size.
Windowed full screen will take up the full screen, but it'll still have the titlebar in place.
For performance, they should be about the same, but you'll have to do your own benchmark to verify.

Quote:
~ Do any of the options set the programs display mode to the users display mode, (as used by the windows desktop of the particular computer the program is running on)?

I don't think so. In order to do that, you'll have to first retrieve the users desktop resolution. Of course, if you run it in full screen mode, it'll take up the users entire screen using DBP's default resolution(I believe 800x600x32)

Quote:
~ Why do different Display Settings affect the appearance of the font even though the font settings aren't changed (or even specified) by a program?

The higher the resolution, the sharper the text. Thus you'll have more pixels (or less if you're using a lower resolution) to make each letter. The window size and resolution combined will scale the font proportionally to how you set them.

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~ Hidden seems self explanatory but is that a fair assumption? - What else is there to know about the Hidden option?

Yes, it's a fair assumption. If you're talking about the "hide window" command, then that's exactly what it does, hide the window.

What about the Executable File Settings.
Quote:
~ What is a small EXE and PCK file? - What exactly is a PCK file?

Not sure about PCK files myself. Some type of package file perhaps.

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~ What are the consequences (if any) of encrypting or compressing the attached media? - Does this result in any issues with program loading/starting speed (due to unpacking/decrypting)?

Shouldn't be any consquences. People will of course(with enough skill) be able to decrypt the media, as it's not the best encrypter availiable. Starting speed may be slowed a little, as it has to unpack the media.


~ In what situations would you use an Installer type EXE, or, what are the advantages of using this option?
Advantage is it's 1 simple(and smaller) file for users to download and unpack.

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Are there any pearls of wisdom you can impart on the options for Source Files, (Main Source File & Included Source Files)?

Unfortuantly this isn't the IDE's strength. With this ide, it's almost easier to just have 1 big source file 90% of the time, even though it's better practice to split up large source files.

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~ Are there any other options or often ignored settings that should be used to make the best end-result for the program? - To make a program professional using DBProfessional!

The debugger is often ignored, but it honostly doesn't do too much. Be sure to look through the help index often, as there are lots of ignored commands in there (Example, you can set the gamma settings within DBP, this is often seen in professional games, but hardly in DBP games).
Just keep tweaking things as much as possible, keep organized and use lots of comments. All comes down to polish.

Many stuff pretty straight forward I'd say, but nevertheless a good post for new people wondering!
I agree that the help file is a bit brief on it.
Thanks for sharing.