BBC BASIC for Windows
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Windows Constants Utility
Post by Michael Hutton on May 10th, 2009, 07:34am

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bb4w/files/Tools/Add_Ins/WINCONST%20Utility%20Installer.exe

Update History:

Version 1.8b
- some dictionary definitions reported as being lowercase hexadecimal. 3 definitions fixed.

Version 1.8a
- memory alignment with PAGE rather than LOMEM

Version 1.8
- fixed potential buffer non-null terminated problem with Win2000

Version 1.7
- fixed progress bar bug when user clicked on it

Version 1.6
- you only have to put an underscore in front of constants which start with some BB4W keywords cf the manual.

Version 1.5:
- constants are accepted with or without a preceding underscore, but you will *have to* put an underscore in front of constants which start with all BB4W keywords.

- string constants must have a $ postfix.

- You can add a REM!WC directive in your program. Constants will be added just under this if one is present, if not, to the beginning of the program. (If there is more than one directive it will add them to the last one.)

- constants have now been simplified to a value. No more multiple definitions.. you might notice that some negative values are in hex format &F...... as the convertion was performed automatically. You can assume that these values are a mixture of different constants.

- there are still some ommissions in the database as some values (~1,500) did not convert, but scanning through this list most of them are fairly rare constants probably not much used by the BB4W community. However, if you find a constant missing you know the drill.

Michael
Re: Windows Constants Utility
Post by Michael Hutton on Jul 9th, 2009, 11:26pm

There are of course omissions and errors in winconst. I am keeping a list of things I have found but if anyone else finds missing constants or mistakes please could they post here.

If anyone gets the urge to translate windows macros then please feel free!

Also, it could be possible to automatically enter a windows structure definition but as Richard has pointed out the winApi definitions are sometimes wrong. Are there any people willing to help add to this utility by typeing out a BB4W verions of (all the/some) structures in the core .ddls? Another way of doing it would be to automatically convert the .h files to a BB4W format. We could have a cenrtal repository for submitting structures.....

Michael

Re: Windows Constants Utility
Post by Michael Hutton on Jul 10th, 2009, 12:25am

frinstance;

FILE_ATTRIBUTE_VIRTUAL = &10000
CB_SETCUEBANNER = &1703

are missing.

I'm sure there are more people would like.

1/3/2011:
TBS_TRANSPARENTBKGND = &1000


Michael
Re: Windows Constants Utility
Post by admin on Jul 10th, 2009, 08:56am

Quote:
if anyone else finds missing constants or mistakes please could they post here

As noted elsewhere on this forum, constants starting with 'TRUE' (e.g. TRUETYPE_FONTTYPE) are not recognised by the utility; you must prefix an (unnecessary) underscore. As I suggested in the other thread, you could use the function below to provide a 'foolproof' test of whether a constant name is valid or not:

Code:
      DEF FNvalid(var$)
      LOCAL dummy%, token$
      dummy% = EVAL("0:" + var$)
      token$ = $(!332+2)
      = (token$ = var$)

Richard.
Re: Windows Constants Utility
Post by Michael Hutton on Jul 13th, 2009, 1:59pm

FNvalid() is just the ticket but was wondering:

1. Is there a similar TRUE/FALSE function for machine code opcodes eg mov, movzx, etc...

2. Is there a base address for a pointer to a list of keywords? Rather than define my own string (or JR's really) for his FNdetokenise()

Michael
Re: Windows Constants Utility
Post by admin on Jul 13th, 2009, 5:16pm

Quote:
Is there a similar TRUE/FALSE function for machine code opcodes eg mov, movzx, etc...

I'm not too sure what you mean by a "similar TRUE/FALSE function". The function I listed determines whether a 'variable' name is invalid, because of starting with (or being) a keyword that would be tokenised. Since assembler opcodes aren't tokenised, you can start variable names with them without causing any problems.

Quote:
Is there a base address for a pointer to a list of keywords?

No. Why does the Windows Constants utility need a list of keywords? It's worth noting that the 'cruncher' - which has to be able to detect all variables within a program so they can be crunched, does not use a list of keywords! It's a feature of BBC BASIC that you can very easily parse a (tokenised) BBC BASIC program to find the variables without needing a list of keywords.

(This assumes there is no assembler code; detecting variables in assembler code is a completely different kettle of fish).

Richard.
Re: Windows Constants Utility
Post by Michael Hutton on Jul 28th, 2009, 3:03pm

I have updated winconst to fix the known bugs. I will keep it back until I have tested it a bit further, so expect it at the end of the week. I will also do a bit on the installer.

I have not yet updated the dictionary for the known missing constants. This will have to wait for a bit longer.

Michael
Re: Windows Constants Utility
Post by Michael Hutton on Jul 31st, 2009, 03:30am

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/bb4w/files/Tools/Add_Ins/WINCONST%20Utility%20Installer.exe

Well, hopefully this resolves the issues mentioned. Now Version 1.6.

I'm off for a surf.

Michael
Re: Windows Constants Utility
Post by Michael Hutton on Oct 25th, 2010, 4:44pm

Version 1.8b has just been posted. It corrects some database issues with the Windows Constants Utility. You can download it from the link in the first post.

Also, it has been bought to my attention that Windows Constants *may* have issues installing under Windows7 if you are not the administrator. I think I have got away with this one so far because most people who have installed this are tech savvy and are using an administrators account. Are there any other reports of this behaviour? Could people report if so?

Thanks

Michael
Re: Windows Constants Utility
Post by admin on Oct 26th, 2010, 08:12am

on Oct 25th, 2010, 4:44pm, Michael Hutton wrote:
Also, it has been bought to my attention that Windows Constants *may* have issues installing under Windows7 if you are not the administrator.

Not too sure what you mean by "issues" but it's to be expected that you will need administrator privileges to install it (and all the other add-in utilities for that matter) - considering that it installs in the Program Files hierarchy it would be jolly worrying if you didn't! To install a utility right-click on its executable (e.g. in Windows Explorer) and select 'Run as administrator' from the context menu.

Richard.
Re: Windows Constants Utility
Post by Malcolm on Oct 26th, 2010, 4:20pm

Is there a way of a program, such as a Utility, to detect the Admin status before trying to write to protected locations or is it a case of try to write and then test for a failure and prompt the user. I notice that Win 7 often pops up with a window asking for my (any admin) password but I have never been observant enough remember exactly under what circumstances that happens.

Regards, Malcolm
Re: Windows Constants Utility
Post by admin on Oct 26th, 2010, 4:46pm

on Oct 26th, 2010, 4:20pm, Guest-Malcolm wrote:
Is there a way of a program, such as a Utility, to detect the Admin status before trying to write to protected locations or is it a case of try to write and then test for a failure and prompt the user.

I can't think of a better way than doing an 'exploratory' write operation (an OPENOUT is sufficient; you don't actually need to write any data). If it succeeds you can just delete the (empty) file. But as you say in many cases you might just as well attempt to write the 'actual' file.

As far as prompting the user is concerned, it would be difficult to determine (reliably) that the reason for the failure was insufficient privileges, so really you can only issue a generic 'couldn't create file' type of message.

Hopefully this situation would only occur during installation (once installed, a utility ought not to be needing to write to a protected area anyway) so if it really bothers you a 'proper' installer could be used (e.g. created with Inno Setup) which will contain a manifest that activates Windows' 'installer detection' mechanism and therefore prompts for elevation at the start.

The next release of BB4W will make it a little easier to generate a BB4W executable with a 'non standard' (e.g. installer) manifest, but it will rarely be worth the effort.

Richard.
Re: Windows Constants Utility
Post by admin on Apr 11th, 2011, 3:48pm

I have uploaded an improved Windows Constants utility here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/bb4w/files/Tools/Add_Ins/winconsts.exe

This version has the following enhancements:


Note that a & or # suffix character is no longer accepted.

To update your copy download the file to a suitable place on your PC and execute it to run the integrated installer. If BB4W is open you will need to close and re-open it in order to recognise the change.

Alternatively you can replace the original winconsts.exe file (probably in your ADDINS folder). If you do that you won't need to run the installer, but on Windows Vista and 7 you will require administrator privileges to copy the file (and if you subsequently reinstall BB4W the original version of the utility will be reinstated).

Richard.