February Twenty-First 2005 From: Bob Zale, President PowerBASIC, Inc. PowerBASIC Gazette #44 ====================== Subject: Late Breaking News - New Compilers =========================================== This is hot news... Really hot news... A suite of hot new compilers! PowerBASIC Console Compiler 4.0, and PowerBASIC 8.0 Compiler for Windows. This is special, really special... Our most important upgrades ever. Of course, PB/CC is our Console Compiler -- with a text mode interface to 32-bit Windows. PowerBASIC for Windows is oriented towards a GUI (graphical user interface), and they've both taken a huge leap forward. Then there's PowerSHIRT version 1.0... but more about that later. Both compilers have graphics? They surely do! Even a GRAPHIC PRINT to do plain text or fancy text... Any font. Any size. Any color. Bold. Underline. Italic and strikeout. Open one or many windows -- mix any combination of fonts on any window. Print just about anything, just about anywhere, even on private bitmaps that aren't yet visible. You'll copy or stretch bitmaps. Shrink them or change them. Circles, ovals, lines and boxes. Fat lines, skinny lines, stylized lines. Arcs, circles, rounded rectangles. Ellipses, pie sections, polygons, polylines. Even get or set pixels -- one by one. Filled forms or empty. Colors or not. The choices are endless. You can mix new colors with those which exist, and measure proportional text size before you print it. Then create a custom scaling system, even with fractional floating point coordinates! Of course, once you've built that work of art, you need to load and save it. So load from a resource, load and save a BMP on disk! And then there's printing. Access to printers has always been something of an issue, but not any more. First, we added LPRINT to PB/Win for direct text mode printing, just like PB/CC. Then, we added extended printing (XPRINT) to both compilers, even USB and "Windows-Only" printers! Just like GRAPHIC for the screen, XPRINT offers it all on the printer. Print plain text or fancy text -- any font, any size, any color. Bitmaps and images, lines and boxes, circles and polygons, virtually all the features of the GRAPHIC screen are there for printers, too! You can retrieve the size of the printer page, the printable area, the margins, even the number of points per inch. Select landscape or portrait mode, even the print quality setting. The PRINTER$() function returns the name and port of every available printer. You can attach a printer by its name, by default, or just display a printer dialog to let the user decide. And XPRINT$ returns the name of the selected printer. Another interesting point is that graphics are extensible. Using the DC (Device Context) from PowerBASIC, you can call the Windows API, your own custom code, even third-party code for special graphic functions. With GRAPHIC GET/SET BITS, you can even manipulate the bitmap directly... each pixel is stored in succession as a long integer color value. And new variable types? Just what you need for that "special situation". You'll get BIT and SIGNED BIT variables in TYPES and UNIONS. Each may be from 1 to 31 bits wide, packed one after another. Perfect for bit coding, or translation from C code. Then there's THREADED variables for "Thread Local Storage"... each thread gets a unique copy of your data. And FIELD variables? They work with the new FIELD statement, just like in DOS. A FIELD is a string, mapped to a specific section of a file buffer, or another string. They're allocated at run-time, so they can be changed as needed. Much like a TYPE that can be altered under program control. Best of all, a new internal design makes them fast, fast, fast! Pointers are great, but sometimes the syntax is daunting, particularly for very simple tasks. So we implemented Dynamic Pointers, using the original PEEK/POKE as a model: xx# = PEEK(DOUBLE,addr&) This retrieves the double precision value stored at addr&, assigning it to xx#. Very straightforward and it works for all data types. And unlike the old PEEK and POKE, it's just as fast as a pointer variable! Speaking of simplification, DIM, LOCAL, STATIC, GLOBAL, and RESET can use a list of variables, like: STATIC abc, bcd, xyz AS STRING And, ARRAY ASSIGN lets you assign values to every element of an array in a single statement! More tools for error processing? RESUME lets you retry the statement which failed, while RESUME NEXT just skips to the statement which follows it. And, for a great debugging tool, ERL returns the line number which precedes the error. PB/CC gets some great new console functions: You can define a screeen buffer larger than the screen, then treat the console as a moveable view port on sections of the buffer. You can also move the console window on the desktop, get its size, even set the focus. You can even create a program with no console at all. END is back for DOS compatibility, while KEY and KEY$() assign strings to the function keys. Even INPUT is back with multiple variables. Just think how easy DOS conversion will be. PB/Windows gets some specialties, too. Dialogs, and their controls, now have a PIXEL option -- just in case you want more precision than dialog units, while DIALOG SET CLIENT lets you resize to a specific client area size, regardless of styles. There's even a new GRAPHIC control for all your special designs. Both compilers offer even more... Multiple ALIAS declarations. DESKTOP functions to get all the sizes, #COMPILER to specify which compiler should be used. JOIN$, PARSE, and PARSE$ offer binary options for better, faster packing. LEFT$, MID$, and RIGHT$ support negative lengths to return LEN(x$)-n bytes. Then there's BGR and an ENVIRON statement, too. FILEATTR enumerates file numbers currently in use, while HI, LO, MAK, and BITS are greatly expanded. We even have NUL$, and SHELL with a HANDLES option. The PowerBASIC IDE (for both compilers) had a serious makeover. You'll really like the results. First, the editor has BLOCK INDENT/OUTDENT and BLOCK COMMENT/UNCOMMENT! Then add more undo buffer space, bookmarks in the editor, and source file templates for that tiresome boilerplate code. There's faster debug load/unload, and file save with tab compression for even smaller source files. The debugger and editor are unified, so you can set breakpoints in advance, even in include files. How many times have wondered "Is there an array bounds error somewhere?" or "Where's that pointer error?" Well, here's how you find it! Just set the debugger to "BREAK ON ERROR"! Your program runs normally, in the debugger, but halts as soon as any error is generated -- even if you have no error handlers installed. The new watch windows are moveable and resizable -- and all dialogs remember the last used size and location. Help files for add-ons are supported, and there's a direct link to Win32 API help, too. With all this, debugging might now be fun! PowerSHIRT version 1.0 ? That's the new PowerBASIC T-Shirt! It's a high quality, black T-Shirt, emblazoned with "PowerBASIC.COM", and a personal motto "I Compile Without Compromise". You couldn't be more stylish! The new PowerSHIRT 1.0 is available in sizes M/L/XL/XXL/XXXL, and priced at just $19.95. More information? Sure, it's very simple. Just click to go to any of the PowerBASIC product pages... PB/CC 4.0: http://www.powerbasic.com/products/pbcc/ PB/WINDOWS 8.0: http://www.powerbasic.com/products/pbdll32/ PowerBASIC FORMS: http://www.powerbasic.com/products/pbforms/ PowerSHIRT 1.0: http://www.powerbasic.com/products/pbshirt/ PB/WIN 8.0 is priced at $199, while PB/CC 4.0 is just $169. Upgrades from versions 7 and 3 are just $99 and $89 respectively, if you order in the first 30 days. After that, pricing may increase. Of course, PowerBASIC Forms 1.5 (our visual designer) is available at just $99. Orders will be fulfilled in the sequence they're received, so please don't wait. In the last round of upgrades, some who hesitated waited weeks for delivery. We really were that busy, and this round could be even busier. You can order right now by replying to this email. You can call us today at (888) 659-8000 or (941) 473-7300, or fax us at (941) 681-3100. You can visit https://www.powerbasic.com/shop/ to place an e/order on our secure web site, or even mail an order to our offices. But no matter what method you choose, do it today and do it with confidence. Every product PowerBASIC ships for physical delivery is offered with a money-back guarantee for a full 30 days from the transaction date. Regards, Bob Zale, President PowerBASIC Inc. =================================================================== PowerBASIC Price List ------------------------------------------------------------------- PB/CC Console Compiler 4.0 - Full Product $169.00 PB/CC Console Compiler 4.0 - Upgrade from ver 3 89.00 PB/CC Console Compiler 4.0 - Upgrade from prior versions 119.00 Add Printed Documentation 39.00 ------------------------------------------------------------------- PowerBASIC for Windows 8.0 (GUI) - Full Product $199.00 PowerBASIC for Windows 8.0 - Upgrade from ver 7 99.00 PowerBASIC for Windows 8.0 - Upgrade from prior versions 129.00 Add Printed Documentation 39.00 PowerBASIC FORMS Visual Designer fro PB/Win 99.00 ------------------------------------------------------------------- PowerSHIRT 1.0 T-Shirt (M/L/XL/XXL/XXXL) $19.95 ------------------------------------------------------------------- PowerBASIC for DOS 3.5 - Full Product $99.00 PowerBASIC for DOS 3.5 - Upgrade from prior versions 49.00 Add Printed Documentation (2 book set) 29.00 ------------------------------------------------------------------- PowerTree BTree Manager for DOS and Windows $99.00 PB/Vision for DOS 20.00 PB/Xtra III for DOS and Windows 49.00 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Console Tools Standard: 49.95 Console Tools Professional: 99.95 SQL Tools Standard Version: 99.95 SQL Tools Professional Version: 199.95 Graphics Tools Standard ver 2: $69.95 Graphics Tools Professional ver 2: 139.95 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Shipping/Handling fcosts: Software & Each Any Software 1 or 2 books Addl Book Email $6 N/A N/A UPS Ground/Mail US $10 $10 $6 Fedex 2-day US $16 $16 $6 Fedex 1-day US $28 $28 $6 Air Mail Canada/Mex $12 $22 $6 Air Mail Intl $16 $28 $6 Fedex Intl $34 $44 $6 PowerSHIRT T-Shirts are shipped by postal mail for one shipping fee, regardless of quantity. North America: $6 Elsewhere: $12 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Order online at https://www.powerbasic.com/shop/ or just send an email with all pertinent information to sales@powerbasic.com We'll take it from there! ------------------------------------------------------------------- Most PowerBASIC products (those without printed books) can now be delivered by electronic mail. No wait for a package to arrive... No high shipping costs... For just $6 per order, no matter how many products, we'll deliver directly to your computer. If you're outside the U.S., savings might be greater. You won't pay taxes or duties to a freight company or postal service, because they aren't involved in the delivery. Check your tax code to be sure, but some countries charge no tax at all on transactions of this type. It could just be your lucky day! ==================================================================== Is your PowerBASIC Gazette Electronic Edition subscription coming to you at home or work? If you don't want to miss a single issue, why not subscribe from both email addresses? Send your subscription request to email@powerbasic.com and please include your name and all email addresses you'd like to add as well as your Zip or Postal Code. If you know someone else who would enjoy this newsletter please forward a copy to them so they can subscribe. ==================================================================== All contents Copyright (c) 2005-2009 PowerBASIC Inc All Rights Reserved. PowerBASIC, PB/CC, PB/DLL, PowerBASIC Forms, and PowerTREE are trademarks of PowerBASIC Inc. Other names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their owners. ==================================================================== PowerBASIC Gazette - Electronic Edition Volume 1 - Issue 44 PowerBASIC, Inc. (888) 659-8000 Sales 2061 Englewood Road (941) 473-7300 Voice Englewood, FL 34223 (941) 681-3100 Fax Visit us on the World Wide Web at www.powerbasic.com Email PowerBASIC Sales at sales@powerbasic.com This newsletter is only sent to email addresses in our subscription list. If you have received this newsletter by mistake or no longer wish to receive it, please send a simple unsubscribe request to support@powerbasic.com with your name and zip/postal code. This newsletter is best viewed with a fixed-width font. ====================================================================