PowerBasic is Great!!!!!!!

[Phil Tippit]

Gentlemen and Members:

I have made comments on this BBS before as to what I think about
Powerbasic. In the last year I have converted two older software
packages written in PDS and assembler to PowerBasic using PBDLL
and PBCC. I have also created two new software packages with the
same products. I have over 500 of these packages in the market
place being used by collection agencies and field service
organizations. Now all are written in PowerBasic and running in
Win 95,98, and NT. PowerBasic saved me.

The last time I made a comment about the four previous threads
on this forum,(SF's) I was put down. But,if you read other members
comments, you will see that I am not the only one that is
getting very sick of (Stephane's comments).

Stephane made a comment on one of his threads on March 12, 2000
that he would not repeat himself anymore. He has done it 10 times
since then, enough is enough, the point is taken.

Stephane must be very happy about some aspects of PowerBasic,
or he would not be using it. I don't want PowerBasic to turn
into a Delphi or Visual Basic Product. If you want to add new
features to the product, well be it, that will be great.

My thinking is that Stephane wants you to create a new Visual
Basic that compiles small code and runs as fast as PowerBasic.
What a mistake that would be if it turned out to be bloatware.

My last statement, and you will see that others have made the
same statement; Stephane, send your future requests to
Support@Powerbasic.com. "I would hope that this forum could
be used only for current product questions in the future."

Members, Get up and speak up.

Phil




[This message has been edited by Phil Tippit (edited May 23, 2000).]

[Phil Tippit]

Just to put my post back on top.

Phil

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[Florent Heyworth]

Hi

personally I believe in every members' right to express his/her opinion.

PS: what does your favourite song have to do with your post?

Cheers

Florent

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[Patrice Terrier]

Phil,

I also believe in every members' right to express his/her opinion, even when some messages irritate me.

I would be proud to be considered as a world citizen.



------------------
Patrice Terrier
mailtoterrier@infonie.frpterrier@infonie.fr</A>

[Steve Hutchesson]

Phil,

Number one, I am very pleased to hear that you have had very good results
with your rewrite of programs in the PowerBASIC compilers. I think you have
joined many including myself who have found the advantages of using well
written software.

I am a little surprised at the comments about another member, if there is
one thing I have enjoyed with this forum is the general level of experience
and maturity of its members. Where you have programmers working on
different problems on different types of software, you are bound to get
differences of opinion from time to time.

Now I join the other members who are willing to tolerate the odd message
that annoys me because I see that a forum of this type needs to be open and
friendly as it usually is. Perhaps you need to look at other systems on the
Internet to see that it is reasonably unique and this is because the
members have made it that way.

The other part of the equation is that Bob Zale and his staff have both
made this forum available and contributed to it in a manner that is unusual
in the software industry. I cannot think of any other place where the
person who writes the compiler also answers questions and has a staff of
well experienced people to assist members.

================================================== ======================
"I would hope that this forum could be used only for current product
questions in the future."
================================================== ======================

This would be a very substantial loss to the value of an open forum of this
type where different contributors share their experiences and assist other
programmers on the basis of the things they have already done. Losing this
to make the forum a narrow product area would destroy it.

I think I get the swing of your parting coments and I commend a person for
being proud of their country but I suggest that you need to be a little
tolerant of the differences with people from other countries as they have a
different cultural and social background.

For those of us who grew up in the land of OZ on a diet of Rock 'n Roll,
(yours, ours and everyone elses), migrated to heavy metal and gave up in
disgust when disco hit the scene, choice of music is a matter of personal
taste and while your choice may work for you, its very difficult to
translate that to people who are from another country.

Regards and I hope you keep writing successful software.

hutch@pbq.com.au

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[Lance Edmonds]

Folks, suggestions are _always_ welcome here. They open up disussion, and great ideas are often hatched. Remember, R&D do lurk on this BBS too, plus BBS administrators pass on these suggestions to R&D. R&D take all suggestions very seriously, and each one gets thoroughly debated before a decision is made. There is one critical question that is asked of every single feature request though: "Will people pay to have that feature?". Even if the answer is no, the suggestion is often put back into the "wish list" file, so it can have another chance of being implemented at a later date.

That said, repeatedly asking for the same feature just wastes time and bandwidth. To date, requests for features such as OOP have been repeatedly posted on this BBS, through support@powerbasic.com, direct email to PowerBASIC staff, and by telephone. We've got OOP on the list now, thanks!

Other people may certainly ask for a "tick" to be added to features that have already been requested... The more ticks, the more likely the feature will be implemented as the "demand" can be considered statistically higher.

As I stated earlier tonight in the DOS forum, each person is permitted one "vote" per suggestion. Otherwise it would not be fair to our customers if just one person voted 10,000 times for one particular feature - if R&D was to implement new features based on this type of voting, we'd end up with products that were not ideally suited to the widest range of programmers.

We (PowerBASIC) absolutely respond to customers requests - that's the reason we continue to grow and why we continue to produce world-class compilers.

We absolutely encourage our customers (and potential customers) to tell us what they like and dislike, what they want added or removed. Such posts are welcome to be posted her or can be sent directly to mailto:suggest@powerbasic.comsuggest@powerbasic.com</A> .

I understand the concerns that members of this BBS have made regarding certain individuals posting habits, but we will not permit flaming or other behaviour that we consider counter-productive. PowerBASIC also reserves the right to edit and delete posts we deem inappropriate or blantantly break the rules of this BBS.

Please folks, lets work together rather than against each other. Stephane is welcome to post his personal "wish list" here... we welcome it, but it should not duplicate suggestions he has already made on this BBS.

Finally, I have to say that we have some exciting products on the horizon! The ideas behind these products stems directly from the feedback and suggestions we have received. Lets keep the ball rolling!

Thank you.


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Lance
PowerBASIC Support
mailto:support@powerbasic.comsupport@powerbasic.com</A>

[Borje Hagsten]

> Finally, I have to say that we have some exciting products
> on the horizon!

Aha..? Sounds promising, Lance. Maybe should dig up that PB
job-offer from Bob and have another look at it after all..


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----------------------------------------------------------------
We absolutely encourage our customers (and potential customers) to tell us what they like and dislike, what they want added or removed. Such posts are welcome to be posted her or can be sent directly to suggest@powerbasic.com .
----------------------------------------------------------------

Maybe it would be interresting if someone from PB put an 'index' of everything people are asking for onto the forum. So then we can give each item a score. It would be easier to see for the people at pb what we really want (need) and what would be nice to add (if time permits)...

Just a suggestion

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[Phil Tippit]

OK Fellow Programmers,

Here is my point again.

Over the last year, I may have posted 10 questions to the
PBDLL and PBCC forums total. They were questions that I
had hoped someone could help me with. None were off base
with the current products, that I needed a little help with.

In at least four of those post, I received no responses or
only one. I eventually spent days writing code and testing
it and answered my own question. (But very time consuming.)

I posted a question sometime ago, with regards to how to determine
the com port that the modem was actually on. One response from
Lance about some topics at Borland, which didn't answer my
question. No other replies. I still have not found out the
answer.

Now, Stephane has posted 14 items to this forum and many others
to PBCC forum about the same thing several times. Almost all
of these have had multiple replies, some have as many as 4 pages.

It seems that everytime someone posts a wishlist,
it gets beat to death. There is a current thread on this forum
about a wishlist that currently has 45 replies.

---------------------------------------------------------------
My question about current product needs; still has not had a
satifactory answer from anyone from Powerbasic or any of the
members. But hundreds of replies have been made on these wish
list post.
---------------------------------------------------------------

I think we should let the people at Powerbasic spend their
time answering questions about current products, And let
R&D do what they need to do to enhance the current products.
Wish List are great, but don't beat it to death!!! over and
over again with the same stuff, I think Powerbasic by now
has read these post, they certainly had posted enough replies
to them.

Other comments from Administrators and Members.

Adam Ritchie: 3/4/2000
-----------------------------------------------------------
Not to sound rude, but I looked in almost all the forums
and I think you have made your point. I think support is
already aware of this and the subject has already been
hashed and bashed about. There is a place on the website
for submitting wishlists to the company.
-----------------------------------------------------------

Lance Edwards: 3/12/2000
----------------------------------------------------------
According to his email, Stephane wants us to implement
a form of static-libraries. Oh yes... and OOP.
----------------------------------------------------------

Eric Pearson: 3/12/2000
----------------------------------------------------------
Really? Are you sure? I don't know how you could have
gotten that impression...
----------------------------------------------------------

Dave Navarro: 3/13/2000
-----------------------------------------------------------
Hi Stephanel,

Thanks I'll pass your request along.
I have a request for you. Please post all of your "requests"
in a single message in *ONE* forum on the BBS so that I don't
have to keep sending individual emails to the development team.
And PLEASE stop sending the same request over and over and over
and over again. We heard you the first time.
------------------------------------------------------------
Dave Navarro: on the PBCC forum
-------------------------------------------------------------
Stephane,
As I have told you countless times on the phone and
in email messages, we do plan to support OOP in a future
version of PowerBASIC. Send us the same requests hundreds
of times by email, posting them over and over again on our
web site and calling us every other week is not going to get
you anything any faster.
Think about it.
--------------------------------------------------------------

************************************************** *************
Now back to the question, can anyone help with how to
determine what com port a modem is actually on?????????
************************************************** *************
Phil

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[This message has been edited by Phil Tippit (edited May 23, 2000).]

[Eric Pearson]

Hi Phil --

These are, after all, the "PowerBASIC Peer Support Forums". Those are the biggest words on the page!

There's a group of people that visit here from time to time and answer the questions we can. And we also comment on messages when we feel like it. Nobody pays us, or tells us how often we have to read new messages, or how many answers we must post.

If nobody responded to your question(s) then it's a good bet that...

1) Nobody knew the answer, or

2) Somebody knew the answer but did not take the time to respond.

If you don't get a free answer here -- or in other web resorces like newsgroups -- about your only option is to hire a consultant. You can hire PowerBASIC support if you want to, for a fee. (To be clear, they frequently volunteer "free" answers here, but if they don't know and you really need an answer, they will research it for you, for a fee.)

And IMO, the use of this BBS for things other than "current product questions" encourages a sense of community that actually increases peoples' willingness to volunteer their help.

> Now back to the question,

Your best bet is to start a new thread that isn't titled "PowerBASIC is Great!", since not everybody reads every message. For the record, I don't know the answer to your question.

-- Eric

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Perfect Sync: Perfect Sync Development Tools
Email: mailto:support@perfectsync.comsupport@perfectsync.com</A>

[Chris Boss]

Phil;

I can understand your feelings about your own posts and not getting answers. This could be discouraging.

Likely many see me post a great deal about subjects I have a passion for (Visual Development and stuff), but I (like many others) try to post answers to questions others have and even some times spend time trying debug others code to help find solutions to their problems. The problem is that I (like others) don't know everything, so likely I will only post an answer to a question that I am very sure about and have experience with.

Likely others who post answers do the same (we don't want to give erroneous answers). It is possible you simply asked questions that others weren't comfortable answering (it does happen). If your level of skill is high, then it is possible you pose questions others just don't know the answer to (or it just isn't their area of expertese).

Some members have developed a reputation for areas of expertese. Names like:

Hutch - Expert with assembler
Patrice - Expert with a lot of graphic oriented stuff (see WinLift)
Semen - posts some very good API code

and others.

I am sure if the questions you post can be answered, someone will likely speak up. Also if we treat one another nicely, then we are likely to get more help.



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Phil,
I have not been around this forum lately (i'm very busy) but judging by your comments I think that you may not appreciate it as much as you should, I don't really care about random 'wants' by some people, such as Stephane, because the bulk of the information on this forum is genuinely useful. Almost, if not everything is covered, just imagine if there wasn't a forum here!

Correct me if i'm wrong, but people like Lance and Tom (and many others) don't have to and aren't paid to answer posts but do so by their own free will.

Actually I think this thread should be entitled 'PowerBasic are great!' to congratulate Bob Zale and the team for creating such a mean compiler and nice neat forum.

Regards,


------------------
Kev G Peel
KGP Software
Bridgwater, UK.
mailto:Kev@KGPSoftware.freeserve.co.ukKev@KGPSoftware.freeserve.co.uk</A>

[This message has been edited by K Peel (edited May 23, 2000).]

[Gregery D Engle]

Phil,

I find this message board a huge value of resources, and not all of my questions have been answered but I come to this message board 10 or 20 times a day atleast, just to read the topics that are being discussed.

I think everyone has his/her own opinion and I think respecting them is the first step to becoming a solid figure in the workforce. I know how it feels to have your feelings not respected because I work with someone that does that on a daily basis.

Everyone has opinions, you don't have to like them, just respect them. As far as wishlists are concern, PowerBasic won't add EVERY SINGLE Wish that consumers have, but 3rd party companies will! Look at Chris Boss's product, do you think he would of made that product if nobody wanted it? He got feedback on these fourms. Eric's Product as well, because people want this stuff, obviouslly Powerbasic doesn't have the time to make all the requests people ask for, but thats fine because I would like to make a few bucks

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-Greg

[Peter Lameijn]

One way to detect a modem:

'==================================================================================================
' Modem detection example. PST_xxx equates are in Winbase.h
'==================================================================================================
#INCLUDE "win32api.inc"
%PST_MODEM = &h00000006&
FUNCTION PBMAIN () AS LONG
LOCAL lRet&,lComm&,lCommProp AS CommProp
  COLOR 15,0
  lComm& = CreateFile("COM1",%GENERIC_READ OR %GENERIC_WRITE,0,BYVAL %Null,%OPEN_EXISTING,%FILE_FLAG_OVERLAPPED,BYVAL %NULL)
  IF lRet = %INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE THEN EXIT FUNCTION
  lRet = GetCommProperties(lComm&,lCommProp)
  IF lCommProp.dwProvSubType = %PST_MODEM THEN PRINT "Modem on Com 1"
  CloseHandle lComm&
  lComm& = CreateFile("COM2",%GENERIC_READ OR %GENERIC_WRITE,0,BYVAL %Null,%OPEN_EXISTING,%FILE_FLAG_OVERLAPPED,BYVAL %NULL)
  IF lRet = %INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE THEN EXIT FUNCTION
  lRet = GetCommProperties(lComm&,lCommProp)
  IF lCommProp.dwProvSubType = %PST_MODEM THEN PRINT "Modem on Com 2"
  CloseHandle lComm&
  lComm& = CreateFile("COM3",%GENERIC_READ OR %GENERIC_WRITE,0,BYVAL %Null,%OPEN_EXISTING,%FILE_FLAG_OVERLAPPED,BYVAL %NULL)
  IF lRet = %INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE THEN EXIT FUNCTION
  lRet = GetCommProperties(lComm&,lCommProp)
  IF lCommProp.dwProvSubType = %PST_MODEM THEN PRINT "Modem on Com 3"
  CloseHandle lComm&
  lComm& = CreateFile("COM4",%GENERIC_READ OR %GENERIC_WRITE,0,BYVAL %Null,%OPEN_EXISTING,%FILE_FLAG_OVERLAPPED,BYVAL %NULL)
  IF lRet = %INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE THEN EXIT FUNCTION
  lRet = GetCommProperties(lComm&,lCommProp)
  IF lCommProp.dwProvSubType = %PST_MODEM THEN PRINT "Modem on Com 4"
  CloseHandle lComm&
  WAITKEY$
END FUNCTION

------------------
Kind regards,
Peter.

[Phil Tippit]

Peter,

Thank you, for responding with the code. I copied and pasted
it immediately to a file on my system. I have not had the time
to test it yet, but it's looks like what I have wanted.
If all is well, I can continue with the development of
additional features to my current programs.

As for other replies this thread has received, if I was rude to
Stephane, I apologize. I just feel that he has posted enough
wish lists about the same thing. Give Powerbasic a chance to
work on it, they will come up with the answers, and they
will be great as they always have been.

If any of the members have questions about any of the
following items, I will be more than happy to give my input:

Julian Date,Time, and String Functions, or File Locking and
Unlocking. All written in ASM and PowerBasic PBDLL60 and in a
DLL. As for file locks and unlocks, I was writing code
(when I was 38 years old) for this problem in 1980 in ASM 6502,
on one of the first multi-user micro's on the market,
OSI (Ohio Scientific,Inc.). By the way, OSI's basic language was
Microsoft Basic written by Bill Gates prior to it's use by IBM.
OSI paid him less than two thousand dollars for his code which
they made modifications too. How that two thousand has grown!!!!!

Again, thanks for your help, Peter.

Again, I apologize to Stephane.

Phil



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