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Work in Progress / The X-PlugIn

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empty
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Posted: 16th Mar 2006 03:11 Edited at: 16th Mar 2006 03:13
We're currently beta testing and documenting the X-PlugIn.
The X-Plugin contains third party command sets for DarkBasic Pro that cover the following areas:


- Single Instance
Make sure only one instance of your DBpro App runs


- Shape Window
Mask the DBpro window with a bitmap file


- Flash Movies
Play and control Flash Movies within your DBpro app


- ActiveX /.NET Dlls
Use DLLs created with Visual Basic 6 or any .NET compiler in your DBPro app


- Dialogs
Provides Open and Save Dialogs as well several kinds of customisable Message Dialogs (also supports "Don't show this message again" checkbox)


- XML
Light-weight XML support. Create, load and save xml files.
Example source


resulting XML.txt:



All in all there are more than 80 new commands for DarkBasic Pro.
The plug in will be available by the end of March. The price isn’t determined yet.

Richard Davey
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Posted: 16th Mar 2006 03:18
Looks good. If you'd be interested in TGC distribution drop me an email.

Bite my shiny metal ass
Oneka
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Posted: 16th Mar 2006 03:58
Thats pretty interesting, since you cant have ActiveX dlls support normally


Making better games everday!
Oh yeah and just so you know its Oh-nek-a not One-ka!
Sergey K
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Posted: 16th Mar 2006 15:18
nice dude
you made it in delphi?

Van B
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Posted: 16th Mar 2006 16:04
Sounds like a very neat package Empty.

One thing I'd love to see in a plugin is the ability to record AVI from the screen and audio output, and also WAV recording the audio output would be cool too.

Having a good movie recorder that supports DBPro perfectly like that could would be very usefull, the usual method is FRAPS, but why should people buy FRAPS when they could buy your plugin instead.


Van-B

Put away, those fiery biscuits!
Pulsar Coder
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Posted: 16th Mar 2006 18:23
About the XML features: can you read the xml file within DBP?
empty
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Posted: 16th Mar 2006 18:54
@Rich
Thanks for the offer.

@Oneka
Thank you.

@GogetaX
Yeah it's written in Delphi.

@Van B
That's a very good idea. I'll keep it in mind for later on.

@Pulsar Coder
Yes. You can navigate through the nodes and read their values and/or attribute.

Pulsar Coder
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Posted: 16th Mar 2006 19:13
There is a free dll for DBP that also deals with XML but it needs an dll from a third party in order to work -this "external" dll must always be included in the exe folder.

Does X-Plugin also need an external to deal with XML?
empty
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Posted: 16th Mar 2006 19:41
No, it doesn't require an external DLL.
However, it's a light-weight implementation and doesn't support all of the XML features.

Pulsar Coder
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Posted: 16th Mar 2006 19:48
Quote: "No, it doesn't require an external DLL."


Now I'm interested.

Quote: "However, it's a light-weight implementation and doesn't support all of the XML features."


XML is excellent for application and level setups. As long as X-Plugin has read and write capabilities -no matter how basic they are- it is useful to me.
Zotoaster
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Posted: 16th Mar 2006 20:37
Shape window!! Awesome!

empty
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Posted: 17th Mar 2006 02:16 Edited at: 18th Mar 2006 03:04
Shape Window in "Action"




Source code:


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Jeku
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Posted: 17th Mar 2006 02:21
@empty - Nice work! That would be great if you could put in some midi commands like you've done in PB

If there are opportunities for testers please let me know, as I have some free time every night.

empty
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Posted: 17th Mar 2006 02:26
Quote: "@empty - Nice work! That would be great if you could put in some midi commands like you've done in PB"

That should be possible (if time allows, that is ).


Quote: "If there are opportunities for testers please let me know, as I have some free time every night."

Thanks a lot! I'll contact you in a couple of days.

dark coder
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Posted: 17th Mar 2006 03:08
Quote: "Quote: "No, it doesn't require an external DLL."

Now I'm interested."


i think he means that the dll would go in the plugins folder and be compiled with the program i doubt this would be dbp code ._O.

Halowed are the ori.
Supremacy
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Posted: 17th Mar 2006 03:14
if u need testers for this dll i would love to test it

Your signature has been erased by a mod because it's larger than 600x120....
Scilynt
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Posted: 17th Mar 2006 03:28
Just to let you know, there's two other window shaping plugins already available. Mine and someone else's, of which mine was here first .

Other than that some pretty nice features.
Duffer
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Posted: 17th Mar 2006 14:40
@ empty - looks v handy - would I need to add a stringtable to my VB dll still to make it work - how accessible would your plugin make these dlls? could you give an example?

a long time dabbler with DBC and DBPro with no actual talent but lots of enthusiasm...
empty
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Posted: 17th Mar 2006 18:34 Edited at: 17th Mar 2006 18:39
It's similar to the Call Dll commands in DarkBasic.
An example:

This is a VB code of an ActiveX Dll called "AXDemo.Dll". The class name is "TestClass"


To call this function in DBPro:


The parameters for CALL AX FUNC() are
1 = The AX Object Number
"AddFloats" = the name of the function to call
"F" = the type of the returned value *
"FF" = the type of the parameters (up to 7) *
4.2 and 1.3 = the actual parameters.


* To get usable results from ActiveX Dlls you must specify the type of the parameters and the return values. The following data types are supported:
F = Float (Single)
I = Integer
S = String
P = Pointer
D = Dispatch
U = Unknown

empty
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Posted: 18th Mar 2006 02:29 Edited at: 18th Mar 2006 02:30
Midi Out handling added.

Command List:


empty
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Posted: 18th Mar 2006 16:44 Edited at: 18th Mar 2006 16:47
A code example using the ActiveX commands of the X-PlugIns that shows how to control MS Word via OLE:



This opens Word, creates a new Document and adds the text "Hello Wor[l]d!!!" to that document.

Jeku
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Posted: 18th Mar 2006 19:23
MikeS
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Posted: 19th Mar 2006 17:23
Ooo, now I'm really interested with the midi support. Looking really good Empty, I can find many uses for this already.



A book? I hate book. Book is stupid.
(Formerly Yellow)
empty
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Posted: 22nd Mar 2006 19:50 Edited at: 22nd Mar 2006 19:59
Well, the command names are more or less determined, documentation is going on full steam:

Here's a full command list:

ActiveX/.NET Dlls


MacroMedia Flash


Window Shaper


Midi Out


Dialogs


XML Files


INI Files


String Routines


Misc Routines


Sergey K
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Posted: 22nd Mar 2006 22:42
wow dude you did whell!
(btw, im kinda trying to learn about how to make components in delphi and stuff, you think you could teach me those stuff?
if u got msn, please contact me~ sergy100@netvision.net.il )

keyboard hardware not found. press anykey to continue.
MyNewSite:http://gogetax.com
empty
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Posted: 23rd Mar 2006 16:21
@all
Question:
Currently each of the nine command sets has its own DLL with an average size of 100k (from ~50k to ~150k) so using all command sets at once would bring additional 900k to your app. The other solution is to put all sets in one DLL which than would be (hopefully) < 400k. These would be added to your exe no matter if you only used one single command of the plugin or everything it has to offer. So what do you guys prefer?



@GogetaX
Quote: "if u got msn, please contact me~ sergy100@netvision.net.il )"

Sorry no msn here.

Essence
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Posted: 23rd Mar 2006 21:01
Put it all togehter...
Should be much easier to handle, and faster too

Jeku
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Posted: 25th Mar 2006 06:28
Or you could have both versions with the final release? Then the developer who knows he will *only* ever use one set can do so.

empty
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Posted: 31st Mar 2006 02:34
Quote: "Or you could have both versions with the final release? Then the developer who knows he will *only* ever use one set can do so."

That'll get a little hard to maintain, though.

The compromise is to reduce number of Dlls. So the above nine categories are now in 3 Dlls plus 1 that registers all command sets...

Plus 1 with two top secret special command sets.

empty
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Posted: 5th Apr 2006 23:47
I've tried to make the use of ActiveX Dlls easier. So there's no need to register those DLLs on the user's system anymore (although it's still possible).
The disadvantage of registering Dlls is that the end user of your app would need to have administration rights.
The advantage of registering Dlls is that creating objects from their classes is faster once they are registered.

The new commands for this are:

LOAD AX DLL LibName, ClassName, ActiveX Number
This will load a Dll and one of its classes ready to use.

LOAD AX CLASS ClassName, ActiveX Number
This will load and create an instance of a class of an already registered Dll or app that support OLE. So automation of OLE apps is possible (ie. MS Word, Internet Explorer, Corel Draw etc.)

MAKE AX INSTANCE ClassPointer, ActiveX Number
This creates an instance of a class pointer that you eventually retrieve from other objects. This is mainly useful for OLE automation.

empty
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Posted: 13th Apr 2006 18:56
The doc files are complete. We're currently in the process of writing examples to demonstrate the use of the now slightly over 200 commands.

Sergey K
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Posted: 17th Apr 2006 20:01
omg.. 200 commands.. v. nice..

and btw, who are "we"? how many guys and who making that x-plugin anyway?

MyNewSite:http://gogetax.com
Forums(About BLO and more):http://gogetax.com/forum
Jeku
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Posted: 18th Apr 2006 01:25
@empty - I emailed you a few times with a new email address--- not sure if you got it. It was a while ago so I forget what I said, but I made some comments about the DLL. It is looking very good so far and I can definitely see a lot of use for it

empty
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Posted: 21st Apr 2006 19:28
Quote: "and btw, who are "we"? how many guys and who making that x-plugin anyway?"

We = underware design
The plugin is written by me, but examples are written by other people as well.

Quote: "@empty - I emailed you a few times with a new email address--- not sure if you got it. It was a while ago so I forget what I said, but I made some comments about the DLL. It is looking very good so far and I can definitely see a lot of use for it"

Yes thanks, I got it. I did send you an updated version a couple of days ago (but I don't remember to what address ).
If you like you can send your correct address to empty at underwaredesign dot com.

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