PBClone 3.0, 11/05/94: This is the final release of PBClone. The manual is no longer available, but registrations will be accepted for a little while yet. The price has dropped and a great deal of other products are included-- see the ORDER.FRM file for details. PBClone 2.3, 03/19/94: The registered version of PBClone now comes with a complete printed manual. This is 8.5" high by 5.5" wide, to fit neatly in normal bookshelves, and GBC bound to lie flat when open for convenient reference. It contains the entire text of the PBCLONE.DOC and PBCLONE.MAN files. Added BLDLIB.BAT to simplify creation of a single complete PBClone library. Using LibWiz is still the recommended method for creating subset libraries. Renamed the internal critical error routines to avoid any possible conflicts with other libraries. Updated the archive handler to support current ARJ formats and PKZIP 2.0 self-extracting archives. Updated DrvType to use NetWare info if available. Fixes: MatchFile (no longer case-sensitive), Phone2Num, VerticalPrint (missing docs), SDGetVer (now SDVersion), SetMatS (bad DECLARE) Additions: GetPath, SetPath PBClone 2.2, 04/26/93: ** The FReadLn routine has been renamed to FReadLine to avoid conflict with a BasWiz routine. ** The most exciting addition to this version of PBClone is SoundBlaster support. The SBSIM driver (which comes with the SoundBlaster) is required. Direct BIOS joystick access is also now provided, in case you're not satisfied with BASIC's built-in joystick support. A set of efficient shuffling routines for arrays and strings is included for use with games and simulations. Access to the SMARTDRV disk cache info is provided for SmartDrive 4.0 and later. PBClone has gotten so large, it's become difficult for people to download at lower speeds or copy to low-density disks. The Right Solution, of course, is to get a better machine. Since this is may not be a practical solution for everyone, I am splitting PBClone into two archives for distribution: PBC#A for docs, PBC#B for everything else. The "#" is the version number, so it's PBC22A and PBC22B for the current release. I hope this doesn't cause undue confusion. My thanks this edition go to Bruce Guthrie, as always, for his many comments and suggestions; to Jeff Sabatini, for tracking down and killing an elusive bug in FileCopy; and to Clifton Hodges, for tracking down and fixing a problem in DInput. These good gentlemen have been awarded free updates. The ADD4DOS.BAT file has been renamed to ADDFILE.BAT. PLAYVOC.BAS has been added to demo SoundBlaster support. Fixes: BoxMenu and BoxMenu1 screen restore, DInput exit, ScrRest and ScrSave DECLAREs, archive routines with far strings, CopyFile and FileCopy error handling, FileCopy root directory handling, DXQPrint and CRC1 far string versions, CheckShare and CheckShare2% more robust. Improvements: Archive routines (ARJ self-extractors) BoxMenu1 (select/unselect all items) DXQPrint (more than 255 rows) NameCase, NameCase2$ (more adroit handling of digits) Weekday1 (shortcut for today's date) Additions: Bickel2, CheckCAS, CreditCard, CRC32Calc, CRC32Done, CRC32Init, Cylinders, DblSpace, FormatPhone, GetLogiDrive, Heads, JButtonA1, JButtonA2, JButtonB1, JButtonB2, JButtons, JPos, LClickLoc, MatShuffleD, MatShuffleI, MatShuffleL, MatShuffleS, MatShuffleSt, MClickLoc, RandFile, RClickLoc, RndI, SBFreeHandles, SBFreeXMS, SBGetActive, SBGetDrivers, SBGetVer, SBGetVolume, SBInt, SBInitSrcFile, SBInitSrcXMS, SBIsFree, SBLoadXMS, SBMapMIDI, SBPause, SBPlay, SBResume, SBSetVolume, SBStatus, SBStop, SDFlush, SDGetVer, SDRCached, SDReset, SDStats, SDWCached, SetMatD, SetMatS, ShowBMP, ShuffleSt, ValidSt, VerticalPrint PBClone 2.1, 01/12/93: *** WARNING *** Note that the Num2Phone and Phone2Num functions rely on the current format of phone numbers, which is apparently going to change in a year or so. You are advised not to use these functions, as they will not be reliable with the new setup. The registration fee for PBClone has been raised to $35. New releases will be coming out less often-- perhaps once or twice per year-- since the library has become too large for casual updates. My thanks, this edition, to Bruce Guthrie and Raymond T. Schwarz for bug reports and wise suggestions. They have been awarded free upgrades. The order form has been renamed from REGISTER.TXT to ORDER.FRM, since that seems to be a more common convention. Also, CREATE.BAT has been renamed to MAKEDEMO.BAT. Some of the DECLAREs were not compatible with VB-DOS due to use of VB-DOS reserved words. Thanks to Douglas E. Carr for bringing this to my attention-- it has been fixed. In the interest of keeping the size of the PBClone archive manageable, the .EXE versions of the demo files have been removed. Use MAKEDEMO.BAT to make them after installing the PBClone library as explained in PBCLONE.DOC. Fixes: Any2Dec, FileCopy, ForceMatch, GrafPrint docs, HiByte DECLARE, LoByte DECLARE, Month0 far string version, PSortSt, SInput, SSrch, StripSpaces for trim left, WindowMan4 top line. Improvements: Any2Dec converted to asm. CenterSt converted to asm. FindFirstA now supports the new PKZIP 2.0 "deflated" format, and can read ZIP2EXE self-extracting files. IdentifyFile covers more file types. Additions: BoxMenu, BoxMenu1, CheckSum2, Command2, DataSeg2, DReadAbs, DReadAbsBig, DWriteAbs, DWriteAbsBig, FileMenu, FLock, FUnlock, FromPostal, GetMemBox, GetPrtSc, GetPSP, IStrNB, MMCheck2, PrintBox, ReadScreen, RotateL, RotateLL, RotateR, RotateRL, SCrunchSS, SetLogiDrive, ShowIcon, ToPostal, TVIdle, UnSCrunchSS PBClone 2.0, 10/19/92: From AdvBas to PBClone, I've kept a registration price of $25 for the last seven years. What was a good deal for a library of some 100 routines turned into a ludicrously low price for the 525+ routines in PBClone, however. In order to scale the price back to a mere outrageous bargain, I am raising the registration fee to $35 as of January 1, 1993. Special thanks to Bruce Guthrie for his many suggestions and attentive bug reporting, which have been of great benefit to PBClone on a continuing basis. Kudos! (AND a free update!) My BasWiz and PBClone libraries had a name conflict: both contained FOpen and FClose routines. To resolve this, I've renamed the PBClone versions to FOpen1 and FClose1. Instructions are now included for creating a PBClone library for use with the Visual Basic for DOS compiler. Among the new additions are file routines for numeric I/O, get/set individual palette values, convert a numeric ASCII code to uppercase, read 4DOS-style file descriptions, get mouse info, center a string, get CPU speed, and others. A number of routines have been converted from BASIC to ASM. This has caused changes in the DECLAREs for the following routines: GetScreen, InitPtr, PutScreen A mistaken assumption about far string handling caused problems with many far string routines. These have been fixed. Note that since far string support was added to the shareware version of PBClone as of v1.9, these routines have not been tested in use as much as the near string routines, and I expect more bugs will probably settle out within the next few releases. If you run into any problems, tell me! The ArcView demo program now works smoothly with archives containing filenames that include path specifications. Fixes and improvements: DriveSpace& and DrvSpaceL recognize invalid drives. IdentifyFile recognizes many more file types. ObjScan now screens out VB-DOS internal symbols. SubExist and SubExist2% now screen out wildcards. Upcase1 now uses National Language Support if it can. Additions: BRead, BWrite, CenterSt, CPUSpeed, FDescRead, FReadLn, GetMouseVer, GetTick, GetVGAColor, IRead, IWrite, LIRead, LIWrite, LRead, LWrite, SetVGAColor, UpcaseI, UpcaseI1 PBClone 1.9, 07/27/92: The source code for the PBClone routines which are written in BASIC is now included in the shareware version. A set of near and far string libraries for the assembly language part of PBClone is also included. This allows you to create a PBClone library for QuickBasic 4.x and PDS 6.0-7.1, rather than just for QuickBasic 4.5 as in previous versions. Fixes and improvements: Elapsed & ElapsedTime$ allow times that cross midnight. FileCRC is much smaller and faster. FindFirstA can now scan self-extracting LHARC archives. PCDat$ works properly with far strings. Processor & Processor2% can now identify 80486 CPUs. StrUsqu2 and StrUsqu3 now support far strings. SubExist & SubExist2% now check drives as well as dirs. WeekDay1 now works. Many routines have been converted from BASIC to assembly language. In the case of the following routines, this caused the DECLARE to change as well: CheckDate, DateA2R, StripBlanks, StripRange, StripSpaces As Microsoft adds time and date functions to BASIC, the names of certain PBClone routines become a problem. I've renamed Month to Month0 and WeekDay to WeekDay0 in order to resolve the conflicts. In addition, the variables Hour%, Minute%, Second%, Month%, Day%, and Year% have been replaced by HourNr%, MinuteNr%, SecondNr%, MonthNr%, DayNr%, and YearNr%. Sorry for any inconvenience. Such is progress. Added LIB_BI.DOC, a tutorial which explains how to use libraries and include files. This is included with PBClone by the kind permission of Daniel M. Smith, Jr., the author. Additions: AscM, DupeVar, HiByte, HiLite, HiWord, LoByte, LoWord, StrSqu, StrSqu3, StrUnsq, StrUnSqu3 PBClone 1.8, 05/08/92: A bug was fixed in SetComm, which was setting the baud rate incorrectly. More importantly, however, I ran into a serious Microsoft bug which I'd thought had long since been fixed. It appears that QuickBASIC 4.0-4.5 and BASCOM/PDS 6.0-7.1 destroy vital comm port information in the BIOS data area, making it impossible for any of the PBClone comm routines to function. I have enclosed patch information for QB 4.5 in QBPATCH.TXT. If you have a different compiler or do not wish to modify your BASIC libraries, use the following work-around: SaveComm$ = SPACE$(8) DGetSt &H40, 0, 0&, SaveComm$ ' save comm info ' OPEN the comm port as desired DPutSt &H40, 0, 0&, SaveComm$ ' restore comm info ' now you can use PBClone comm routines In the new QBPATCH.TXT file, there is information about how to permanently eradicate that comm-killer bug, among other things. It's been many years since Microsoft upgraded QB. Maybe it's time for us to start fixing the bugs ourselves. Speaking of bugs... a lot of 'em have settled out in the last few months. Bugs were fixed in the MaxL and MinL functions, which would return the wrong results if both parameters were negative. A bug was fixed in FCreate, which would lock the computer. A bug was fixed in the near-string version of Xlate. A bug was fixed in the far-string version of GetExecPath. Bugs were fixed in SubExist and SubExist2, which changed the path. They were also made insensitive to a DR-DOS flaky. The PSortSt and SortSt routines were incorrectly documented. The Date2Int and Int2Date routines had a problem and return different values now. The various sort routines would not compile under BC7/PDS due to use of a STACK array (STACK is a PDS reserved word). The TimeN2S routine will no longer translate zeros to the current time. After all, although "00:00:00" is an unusual time, it is a valid one. Getting the current time can be more easily done with the TIME$ function anyway. The CatchError/GetError routines don't work any better than they used to, but you can replace them with the new GetError2% function, which appears to be more effective. The VARCDEMO program has been renamed to ARCVIEW. As well as the filename-only listing, it now allows a detailed view of an archive-- try the /V option. A new demo has been added, DIRVIEW, to show the use of the LoadDirAll routine. If you use the excellent 4DOS command shell, try the new ADD4DOS batch file-- it adds descriptions of all PBClone files which will show up when you type DIR. No more guessing about filenames! Microsoft's simplified segment directives made it much easier to create assembly language routines. Unfortunately, when you have a library as big as PBClone, they're counterproductive. I've converted the PBClone sources to use the old-style full segment directives. The added flexibility this gave me provided a number of benefits: - the .QLB library is smaller, providing more QB/QBX environment space - data areas have been consolidated, providing more data space - common code has been consolidated, reducing memory requirements (and often improving the speed, since near calls can be used) - improved granularity Many of the routines that were in BASIC have been converted to assembly language. Although few of these routines were particularly time-critical, the translation allowed for fewer segments and improved memory usage. Doc files have been converted to 64 col x 59 row pages to allow printing on a greater variety of printers. You may want to think twice before printing out the PBCLONE?.MAN files, though, as they total over 10,000 lines. Additions: CeilD, CeilS, ExplainFAttr, FarPeekI, FarPeekL, FarPokeI, FarPokeL, FileCount, FloorD, FloorS, GetError2, GetFSize, Int2DateSt, Int2TimeSt, IsAlNum, IsAlpha, IsASCII, IsCntrl, IsDigit, IsLower, IsPrint, IsPunct, IsSpace, IsUpper, IsXDigit, LoadDir, LoadDirAll, LogicalDrives, MPrint, MWindow, Num2Phone, Odd, OddL, Phone2Num, PrinterInit PBClone 1.7, 01/08/92: Argh, drat. In the rush to release a fix for PBClone 1.5, I forgot that I'd pulled the ARCHIVE.OBJ routines out to add new capabilities. Result? A bug fix that only had different bugs! My apologies. I've added a group of beta testers to prevent this sort of thing in the future. Bug fixes affect: CheckDisk, CheckDsk, CRC, GetTimeFx, RenSub, SInput. I'm breaking PBClone away from its obsession with following ProBas. I am taking this opportunity to remove dummy parameters from routines which only included them for ProBas compatibility, and to delete routines which are obsolete or have no function except in ProBas. My apologies for any inconvenience these changes may cause you. This is a one-time thing. Altered: CtrlKey, DCal, FindPatch, GrafRest, GrafSave, HCls, HLine, HMode, HPrint, HSetPixel, HTestPixel Deleted: DrvSpace, GetMoveBack, GetSizeF, HInit, HPage, SetRows The FindFirstA set of routines now supports ARJ and ZOO archives. Some of the territory covered by the new routines includes Windows and 4DOS detection, sorting and binary searches, control over the Break key, graphics mouse cursors, printer checking and formatted dollar input. Additions: AllExtMem, AndSt, BinSeekD, BinSeekI, BinSeekL, BinSeekS, BinSeekSt, BreakCheck, BreakOff, BreakOffDone, CRC1, DInput, FloppyType, Get4DOSv, GetPrtAddr, InitPtr, MouseCursor, OrSt, PrinterReady, PSortD, PSortI, PSortL, PSortS, PSortSt, ReverseD, ReverseI, ReverseL, ReverseS, ReverseSt, RolSt, RorSt, SetPrtAddr, ShlSt, ShrSt, SortD, SortI, SortL, SortS, SortSt, WinCheck, XorSt, XQPrintOver PBClone 1.6, 10/09/91: There was an error in the PBCLONE.INF entries for GetXMSm and GetXMSv. This has been corrected. The CheckDate routine would bomb out if it was given an illegal month. This has likewise been fixed. The reference manual was getting too large for my favorite editor, so I split it in half. PBCLONE1.MAN covers A-F and PBCLONE2.MAN covers G-Z. PBClone 1.5, 09/25/91: Support for far strings has been added to PBClone. This means you can use PBClone in the QBX environment and with the BC7 "PDS" /Fs option. Only the registered version provides this feature, since you must recompile the BASIC sources with whichever PDS version you have. A bug in the DEMO.BAS file having to do with expanded memory has been fixed. This derived from my not reading the documentation-- take heed! EVERYBODY needs to read the documentation! Bugs of varying levels of significance have been collected, labeled, and sent to the Smithsonian. Fixed routines: FindFirstA series, FindPatch, MMButton, MMButton3, ObjScan. In PBClone 1.4, a PBCOBJ.ZIP file was included which contained all of the object files for PBClone. This has been replaced with PBCLONE.LIB. Use the utilities included with LIBWIZ (separate) to extract all of the .OBJ files from the library to allow you to create your own custom libraries. Complaints of bugs in BarMenu have prompted me to add MENUDEMO.BAS and MENUDEMO.EXE. BarMenu works flawlessly, but evidently was insufficiently documented. The addition of this example code should help. I've added VARCDEMO.BAS and VARCDEMO.EXE as well to demonstrate the archive-viewing routines. Assembly language source code has been converted from OPTASM to MASM 6.0. While MASM is still not up to OPTASM in many respects, it's close enough, especially given that SLR has not updated OPTASM in the past few years and it doesn't even support 80386 codes yet. Oh well. MASM may be yucky, but it's still (somehow) the standard, and as of v6.0 it's at least tolerable. Additions: FileCRC, GetXMSm, GetXMSv PBClone 1.4, 03/28/91: This library is now too large for BASIC to cope with as a unit. Look for LIBWIZxx.ZIP (separate), a library manager which will allow you to create custom libraries containing just the routines you need. The Processor and Processor2 routines can now differentiate NEC V20 chips. Additions: AltKey, BarMenu, BarMenuM, CalcDate, CDROM2, CheckDate, CheckDsk, ClearArea, CtrlKey, CWindowManager, DateA2R, DateR2A, DCal, DCalendar, DGQPrint, DGXQPrint, DGXQPrint1, EnhKbd, EuropeDate, EWindowManagerC, EXQPrintC, FileCopy, FindFirstFx, FindNextFx, FindPatch, ForceMatch, FormatDate, GetAttrFx, GetCommAddr, GetDateFx, GetDView, GetHGA, GetLine, GetMoveBack, GetNameFx, GetRows2, GetSizeFx, GetTimeFx, GetTView, GetTVScreen, GXQPrint, GXQPrint1, KbdType, KbdType2, KVal, LScroll, LVal, MemSwap, ObjScan, PatchDone, PrtSc, Rand, RScroll, SetCommAddr, SetPatch, TypePrint, UpdTVScreen, WeekDay1 PBClone 1.3, 02/21/91: The GetLabel and GetLabel2 routines were fixed to overcome a DOS 2.x bug. They should now work properly with DOS 2.0 on. A crude TSR file viewer, FV.EXE, has been added to make syntax and usage questions less of a bother. It would be wise to try it out on something nonessential first-- it seems to work fine with QuickBASIC, but it locks up my favorite editor. See PBCLONE.DOC for details. Additions: CheckShare2, CloseA, CPrintScreen1, CPrintScreen2, CursorInfo, EMSBuffer, EMSClose, EMSGet, EMSOpen, EMSPut, EMSRest, EMSSave, FindFirstA, FindNextA, GetCRCA, GetCRCAL, GetDateA, GetMouseLoc, GetNameA, GetSerial, GetSizeAL, GetStoreA, GetTimeA, GQPrint, HandleInfo, HCls, HInit, HLine, HMode, HPage, HPrint, HSetPixel, HTestPixel, MaxD, MaxS, MinD, MinS, NumFormat, NumProc, NumProc2, ParseFSpec, PrintFile, Processor, Processor2, ReadBitF, RedirectIn, RedirectOut, SetBit, SetLabel, SetMouseLoc, SInput, SInputSet, SInputSet1, SInputSet2, WriteBitF PBClone 1.2, 01/28/91: A bug in the Floppies and Floppies2 routines has been fixed. Thanks to Dennis Allen for bringing it to my attention and suggesting a solution. A bug in the StrIns routine has been fixed. Thanks to Birk Binnard for bringing it to my attention. Additions: DRecDel, DRecIns, DReColor, DReColorArea, DWindowManager, DWindowMan2, DWindowMan3, DWindowMan4, DXQPrint, EGARest7, EGARest8, EGARest9, EGASave7, EGASave8, EGASave9, GetKbd2, GrafPrint, GrafRest, GrafSave, LClose, LGet, Locase1, LOpen, LPut, StrSqu2, StrSquLen2, StrUnsqu2, StrUnsquLen2, TInstr, UnSplit, Upcase1 PBClone 1.1, 12/28/90: The QLB version of the library is no longer included, to help reduce the size of this burgeoning package. You can create it from the LIB like so: LINK PBCLONE.LIB/Q/SE:512,,NUL,BQLB45 See the LIBRARY.TXT and QUESTION.TXT files if this doesn't work for you. The manual has been split into two parts to allow easier use. Several of the memory and string routines are now faster. The mouse-handling part of CheckKey, CheckKey3, GetKey, and GetKey3 has been enabled. Additions: AscI, BIOSInkey, CalcAttr2, DelayV, DGetRec, DOSErrM, DOSInt, DPutRec, DScrRest, DScrSave, ElapsedTime, Exist2, ExtendFSpec, Extract, FGetLoc2, FSize2, GetCRT2, GetDrive, GetEGA2, GetSub2, GetSwitch2, GetVGA2, IntVector, IStr, IVal, MaxL, MinL, MMButton, MMButton3, MMCheck, MMClick, MMClick3, MMCursorOff, MMCursorOn, MMGetLoc, MMSetLoc, MMSetRange, MousePen, MouseRest, MouseBuffer, MouseSave, NameCase2, ReColor, ReColorArea, ReplaceString, Sec2Time, Split, SubExist2, Time2Sec, WindowManager, WindowMan2, WindowMan3, WindowMan4 PBClone 1.0, 12/03/90: This is the initial release of the PBClone library, featuring 222 routines.