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Support Forums => General Board => Topic started by: Richard Kelly on May 09, 2011, 07:55:58 AM

Title: FF4
Post by: Richard Kelly on May 09, 2011, 07:55:58 AM
The silence on these forums reverbates loudly in my ear. I am made to think that folks are hard at work on FF4. It can't be soon enough 8)
Title: Re: FF4
Post by: Paul Squires on May 09, 2011, 08:30:48 AM
:D  Yeah, working on it. Most of the code generation is now working. I had to do a lot of testing of different ideas that I had for changes to the code generation. I kept coming back to my original design. Granted, I have consolidated a lot of code with making one common message pump the biggest change. Every form (modal) now uses one instance of the generated message pump code rather than having message pump code generated for every Form.

Still much work to do, especially in the area of MDI and adding Jose's new features like web browser, etc.
Title: Re: FF4
Post by: David Warner on May 09, 2011, 05:42:04 PM
FF4 will be cool without a doubt. Even so, the things I have been able to do thanks to FF3 / PB9 / Jose's efforts are absolute light years beyond what I would have achieved without them.

A clear example of uber-humans assisting a mere mortal!

Thanks Paul & all!
Title: Re: FF4
Post by: Richard Kelly on May 29, 2011, 07:10:17 PM
Quote from: TechSupport on May 09, 2011, 08:30:48 AM
:D  Yeah, working on it. Most of the code generation is now working. I had to do a lot of testing of different ideas that I had for changes to the code generation. I kept coming back to my original design. Granted, I have consolidated a lot of code with making one common message pump the biggest change. Every form (modal) now uses one instance of the generated message pump code rather than having message pump code generated for every Form.

Still much work to do, especially in the area of MDI and adding Jose's new features like web browser, etc.

Do we have a release month you can share?;-)

Rick Kelly
Title: Re: FF4
Post by: Paul Squires on May 31, 2011, 08:17:13 AM
Not sure yet. I haven't coded much over the past two weeks due to work commitments. Trying to juggle many things at the moment. :)
Title: Re: FF4
Post by: Bob Houle on May 31, 2011, 12:02:08 PM
Does "... Trying to juggle many things at the moment. " include watching the Canucks beat the Bruins?   :P

--Bob
Title: Re: FF4
Post by: Paul Squires on May 31, 2011, 08:23:03 PM
Quote from: Bob Houle on May 31, 2011, 12:02:08 PM
Does "... Trying to juggle many things at the moment. " include watching the Canucks beat the Bruins?   :P

--Bob

Oh, snap! You didn't just say that?!?!  :D   Bruins in 4 straight. Take that to the bank.

Title: Re: FF4
Post by: Bob Houle on June 01, 2011, 10:45:12 AM
 :o

"Trying to juggle many things at the moment." must mean you are painting your house.

P.S - Wear a mask... the fumes are getting to you!  :P

--Bob
Title: Re: FF4
Post by: Paul Squires on June 01, 2011, 06:26:27 PM
:D
Title: Re: FF4
Post by: Paul Squires on June 01, 2011, 06:27:49 PM
I have to travel to Toronto early tomorrow morning so I may not get to see the whole game tonight..... doesn't matter, Boston should be comfortably ahead by the end of the first period. :P
Title: Re: FF4
Post by: Bob Houle on June 02, 2011, 11:04:45 AM
Oooh... Ouch!

I hope the Bruins don't blame you for abandoning them in their hour of need!

--Bob

PS - It was a great game... could've went either way!
Title: Re: FF4
Post by: Paul Squires on June 04, 2011, 12:19:49 PM
game two is tonight! still traveling so hopefully i will get to see some of the game. :)
Title: Re: FF4
Post by: Paul Squires on June 08, 2011, 02:15:58 AM
Just got home from my week long vacation to the Toronto area. It was so refreshing...and getting to watch the Bruins win 8 to 1 last night really topped it all off!

:)
Title: Re: FF4
Post by: Bob Houle on June 18, 2011, 11:26:11 AM
 :-*

Well... I've had a few days to recover and now (in a moment of weakness) it's time to eat some humble pie.

"The Bruins are the better team and they deserved to win the Stanley Cup."

There.. I've said it.

--Bob

Title: Re: FF4
Post by: Paul Squires on June 20, 2011, 08:16:11 AM
I shall print this post, frame it, and hang it in my office so that I can bask in its truth every day....  :D

(It was a great series)
Title: Re: FF4
Post by: Klaas Holland on July 12, 2011, 06:01:22 PM
My wife and I were in Toronto the first week of June, but we didn't see any Paul.
I thought FF4 will be ready when we are back from Canada.
Can you tell us when you expect it to be ready???

Klaas
Title: Re: FF4
Post by: Paul Squires on July 12, 2011, 08:48:42 PM
...pretty slow with the summer here. Programming has taken a bit of a back seat at the moment. Hard to get 100% motivated. :)

There won't be an FF4 (at least not yet)... it will be FF 3.5 and will feature upgraded support for PB10 only and Jose's includes only, with code generation only compatible with that compiler. Eventually phase out all FF 3.1 support, focus on FF 3.5 and then finally build on FF 3.5 with many new features to justify a true upgrade.

Well, that's the "plan" at this point.
Title: Re: FF4
Post by: Klaas Holland on July 14, 2011, 01:29:43 PM
That sounds reasonable.
I don't use Jose's includes now.
Will this have effect on my older programs?
Is it better to start with PB10 when you have FF 3.5 ready?


   
Title: Re: FF4
Post by: Paul Squires on July 15, 2011, 11:10:46 AM
Quote from: Klaas Holland on July 14, 2011, 01:29:43 PM
I don't use Jose's includes now.
Will this have effect on my older programs?
Is it better to start with PB10 when you have FF 3.5 ready?
I fully intend to allow currently written FF3/PB10 projects to open in FF3.5 and compile/run without problems.
You can certainly wait if you feel more comfortable that way.


   
[/quote]
Title: Re: FF4
Post by: Jim Clawson on October 04, 2011, 04:41:09 PM
Paul,
Now that its officially autumn, any update on the timeline for a FF3.5 you reference in your post?  Thank you.
JimC
Title: Re: FF4
Post by: Paul Squires on October 04, 2011, 08:16:12 PM
Hi Jim,

I have some betas ready for FF3.5. I will clean them up and do a general release. No need to be holding on to this release too long. There are no real no features only better support for PB10, Jose's Includes, and code generation using Jose's cWindow class.
Title: Re: FF4
Post by: Paul Squires on October 05, 2011, 02:25:13 PM
...just working on a problem with MDI code generation in the new FF35 code generator. Should have the whole package ready to go this weekend.
Title: Re: FF4
Post by: Jim Clawson on October 06, 2011, 08:36:55 AM
Paul,
Thank you for the update.  Greatly appreciated.  Take care.
JimC
Title: Re: FF4
Post by: Theo Gottwald on October 07, 2011, 05:23:15 AM
Me too waiting for any new version!
Title: Re: FF4
Post by: Douglas McDonald on October 07, 2011, 11:39:26 AM
Sounds great
Title: Re: FF4
Post by: Robert Eaton on October 08, 2011, 08:36:41 PM
Quote from: TechSupport on October 05, 2011, 02:25:13 PM
Should have the whole package ready to go this weekend.
And with a day to spare!!!
Thanks Paul!
Title: Re: FF4
Post by: Rudolf Furstauer on October 09, 2011, 05:20:21 AM
Hi Paul,

thanks for the new version.
I work since 2 hours with the new FF without any problem - works great!

Rudolf Fürstauer
Title: Re: FF4
Post by: Douglas McDonald on November 05, 2011, 06:50:57 PM
I know this is a lot to ask but since FF4 will be a "NEW" version is there any chance to include a good debugger with it? I mean debugging directly out of FF4. At least being able to set break points, View Var's, step through code Ect.....

The other item would be a rewrite of the help. There is much that could be added.

I understand you are just one person and to even get this far is fantastic. I love FF3 / 3.5 Unfortunately I doubt the income form FireFly justifies the time it takes to add a debugger and I solute for the efforts you've made to this point. It's clearly a passion of yours. If it was just money I doubt we'd have even FF3. I wish many more PB users would see the 'light' so you could sell many more copies and afford to add a debugger and other cool tools. Maybe I'm way off base but that's my take on it. 

Anyway I'll buy FF4 no matter what. It will be worth it!!!!

doug
Title: Re: FF4
Post by: Marc van Cauwenberghe on November 06, 2011, 05:23:28 AM
Hi Douglas,

You are not 'way off', I think there are many more people that think like you. I for one see so much more potential in FF.
Anything I can do to help to encourage Paul if fine by me. Money, sales campaign, his favorite football club winning, ...

Rewriting the help file could be something we could help in. Sort of wiki perhaps?

Regards,
Marc
Title: Re: FF4
Post by: Haakon Birkeland on November 06, 2011, 07:11:12 AM
PB could have made a better job in opening up for 3. party in general. As far as I know Paul even has to open a text/logfile from the compiler and parse the content to get compilation errors.

Making a debugger is apparently a daunting task that I don't quite see Paul diving into instead of addressing/improving other areas of FF. We do have zTrace and PB's Trace statments, so we're not totally depending on excess usage of MsgBox statmens as a debugger.

The best attempt we've had at a debugger was AntEater, but it has been gone for years â€" and so has it's author apparently.

Maybe we should investigate the potential in a closer integration with zTrace ...?!