Liberty BASIC for OS/2 beta version 0.5 release notes: Copyright 1992, 1993, 1994 Shoptalk Systems Al Rights Reserved March 12, 1994 Liberty BASIC was originally released for the MS Windows platform almost two years ago as shareware. This is the _fifth_ beta release of a port from Windows to OS/2 platform. Eventually the two versions will converge and provide an easy way to write native apps for both Windows and OS/2 and to port between the two environments. This new 0.5 release gives you several enhancements. The most exciting is the ability to make *.TKN files of your programs! This lets you run large programs without waiting for the compile. Each BASIC statement is compiled only as it is needed. If you build very large programs, and only use half of its features in a sitting, it doesn't even need to compile the other half. To make a *.TKN file of a BASIC program, pull down the Source menu and select Make *.TKN File. Then once the file is created, running it is just as easy. Just pull down the Source menu and select Run *.TKN File. In addition, these *.TKN files will run interchangeably with the files in the Windows version of Liberty BASIC. Because some small differences are sure to exist between both versions of Liberty BASIC, and between Presentation Manager and Windows in general, two system variables Platform$ and Version$ have been added to both the OS/2 and Windows versions. Platform$ will contain the string "OS/2" or "Windows", and Version$ will contain the version #, for example: "1.1". This allows you to add exception code when needed by testing to see what version of Liberty BASIC is running. Other additions: - Trapclose now works with the graphics window type. - The new rule command provides the ability to control the way graphics are drawn in graphics windows. An xor (exclusive or) mode lets you draw an object once, and then just redraw it to erase it without disturbing other objects that intersect it. code example: ' switch to exclusive or print #chart, "rule xor" ' switch to over-draw (the default mode) print #chart, "rule over" See the included DRAW.BAS (new version) for an example of the rule graphics command. - Support for radiobutton controls is added. The syntax is the same as for checkboxes. See the included RADIOBTN.BAS program. NOTE: For now, groupboxes are not supported, and so all radiobuttons in any window belong to the same set, and only one checkbox can be SET at any one time. Until groupboxes are supported, the checkbox control can be used to imitate radiobuttons when more than one set of them is needed in a window. See the IMITATE.BAS program for an example of using checkboxes to imitate radiobuttons. - The File/New menu has been repaired so that no error message is returned. ------------------------------------------------- (Notes from previous version of Liberty BASIC) Liberty BASIC for OS/2 beta version 0.4 release notes: This new 0.4 release provides powerful new dialog box definition facilities. You can now create your own dialog boxes containing the following controls: - entry fields, using the TEXTBOX command - buttons, using the BUTTON command - statictext, using the STATICTEXT command - listboxes, using the LISTBOX command - comboboxes, using the COMBOBOX command - checkboxes, using the CHECKBOX command Other controls (like texteditors, bmpbuttons, radiobuttons, and more) will be added in future releases. Look at the sample programs CHECKBOX.BAS and CONTACT.BAS for examples of how to use dialog boxes and their controls. NOTE: In the samples the window type dialog is used. The graphics window types also allow use of the above controls, but because of the way Presentation Manager handles controls in non-dialog windows, the TAB button will not cycle through controls, nor will Alt-key combinations work with buttons in non-dialog windows. ----TRAPCLOSE Any dialog box (and later windows of all types) let you define a branch point to transfer execution when a user tries to close it. This is done with the TRAPCLOSE command. See CHECKBOX.BAS and CONTACT.BAS for examples of this technique. ----NOMAINWIN The nomainwin command can be inserted anywhere into your Liberty BASIC programs to prevent the appearance of the Program Named ???.BAS window that automatically appears when you run your programs. See how this is used with the CHECKBOX.BAS and CONTACT.BAS programs. Since it really is best to use TRAPCLOSE when using NOMAINWIN, restrict its use to programs using the dialog window type (for now). ----Observant users of the DRAW.BAS program (included with v0.3) noticed that the drawing of boxes in a graphics window was fouled up. This has been repaired. ----BUG FIX: Earlier versions reported an 'exitLibertyBASIC not understood' message when Exit was selected from the File menu. This is repaired (and then some). ----Printing in Liberty BASIC: Because the port from the Windows version isn't complete, the LPRINT command produces an error. You can still print to LPT1 though by using code like this: open "lpt1" for output as #1 print #1, "this is a test" close #1 The next release will add the ability to create tokenized program files. This will enable creation of distributable programs, which will require the RUN.EXE runtime engine, which will only be available to registered users of Liberty BASIC for a modest fee of $35. This will also make the Windows version available for just $15 more. The runtime engines for these two platforms will be able to run the same tokenized files. This will provide an affordable cross platform tool. ------------------------------------------ (Notes from previous version of Liberty BASIC) Liberty BASIC for OS/2 beta version 0.3 release notes: Copyright 1992 & 1993 Shoptalk Systems Al Rights Reserved Jan 22, 1994 This third release of Liberty BASIC for OS/2 includes: 1) To our embarrassment, previous versions did not have a pull-down menu for running and debugging. The undocumented way to run and debug was to pop up a menu for the editor by pressing mouse button 2. Now you can pull down the Source menu and select Run or Debug. Our apologies to those who were frustrated or confused on this matter. 2) The graphics are now fourth quadrant (x0,y0 is now in the upper left), as opposed to first quadrant (x0,y0 in the lower left), as Presentation Manager defines it. This makes it more compatible with the Windows version. 3) MORE documentation is included (SUMMARY.TXT and WINDOWS.TXT) describing functions and commands. This is straight from the Windows version and isn't guaranteed to be completely accurate for this version. Press ALT-O to open a file selection dialog box so you can read these files. 4) We include a Tic-Tac-Toe game as a code example. It doesn't play very well, but makes a good demonstration of coding technique in Liberty BASIC. PLEASE give us some feedback. Any suggestions or bug reports are eagerly needed! Contact Carl Gundel on Compuserve 71231,1532 or directly at (508)-872-5315. Next release will add dialog box features! Define your own without special tools! DISTRIBUTION POLICY: This is a BETA version. It is copyrighted material, but our policy for now is to give the OS/2 beta version away. Feel free to copy it and give it to friends and coworkers. Later versions will be shareware and will require registration (like the Windows version). ------------------------------------------ (Notes from previous version of Liberty BASIC) Liberty BASIC for OS/2 beta version 0.2 release notes: Copyright 1992 & 1993 Shoptalk Systems Al Rights Reserved Dec 30, 1993 About release 0.2: First of all, release 0.2 supports the use of the Tab key when typing and editing BASIC source code. Release 0.1 only let you use the space character, and reported a syntax error when it found a Tab character. This release adds the ability to open a graphics window and perform drawing. It also lets you read the mouse inside of this window. See the file windows.txt for more information. Later releases will add more types of windows including text, dialog box, generic windows, etc... Buttons can be added to the graphic window. For examples of how to program graphics and how to use buttons, see the files BUTTONS.BAS, DRAW.BAS, and GRAPHICS.BAS. DIFFERENCES FROM THE WINDOWS VERSION: - When drawing graphics, keep in mind that Presentation Manager uses the lower left of the screen as 0,0 and Windows uses the upper left. This means some minor recoding on your part. Later we might add that coordinate translation into Liberty BASIC. (This is fixed in this version 0.3, see above!) KNOWN BUGS: - Don't use the first line in the source editor for anything but a REMARK, the compiler only compiles from the second line on. ------------------------------------------ (Notes from previous version of Liberty BASIC) Liberty BASIC for OS/2 beta version 0.1 release notes: Copyright 1992 & 1993 Shoptalk Systems Al Rights Reserved Nov 2, 1993 Liberty BASIC was originally released for the MS Windows platform almost two years ago as shareware. This is the first beta release of a port from Windows to OS/2 platform. This release does not include the multi-windowing features of the Windows version yet. No graphics are supported and no dialog box controls on this platform yet. To get a good look at what this software will soon look like, take a look at the Windows version. The Windows version is called LB09D.ZIP and is available in the IBMPRO forum and the WINSHARE forum. What is supported? Here is a list of supported functions: ABS() ACS() ASN() ATN() ASC() BEEP CHR$() CLOSE CLS CONFIRM COS() DATE$() DIM END EOF() EXP() FIELD FOR...NEXT GET GETTRIM GOSUB...RETURN GOTO IF...THEN...ELSE INPUT$() INPUT INPUT # INSTR() INT() LEFT$() LEN() LET LOF() LOG() LPRINT MID$() OPEN PRINT PRINT # PUT REM RETURN RIGHT$() RND() STOP SIN() SORT STR$() TAN() TIME$() TRACE TRIM$() USING() VAL() WHILE...WEND WORD$() It is possible that a few of these do not work, but certainly most of them will. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Carl Gundel 508 872-5315 CIS 71231,1532