Interface example

[George Bleck]

I've owned FF for multiple versions but only JUST started using it in anger So I am somewhat new to the FF environment.  I have to admit, I am really liking it.  Albeit there are a few quirks and learn curve items, overall I am thoroughly impressed.  In just a few short hours, with a little help with TechSupport and some forum members, I've come up with a really functional UI for an APP I am working on. 



FF3 + SQL lightning are going to make this project a breeze.

[Paul Squires]

   Awesome! Happy to hear that FF is making the job a little easier.

[José Roca]

Hi Paul,

Happily you got right my idea of working with relative pixels. Dominic didn't agree and I think he has made a mistake. Working with absolute pixels force you to overdimensionig the size of the controls if you are working with a DPI of more than 96 (there are also some problems with fonts), and although applications made with Phoenix scale properly, the method chosen (to calculate the ratio at runtime taking into account the DPI at which it was designed) has a serious flaw: if you decide to work with a different DPI, you will need to change the sizes of the form and controls of your existing applications. At first, it may seem strange to work with relative pixels, but FireFly demonstrates that it is the best solution: every project looks the same no matter if it is loaded with someone using 96 DPI or 140 DPI. You're the one that has not ignored my suggestions. Most PBer's have not given DPI awareness any thought at all and are enjoying to get fuzzy fonts in their high resolution monitors.

Now, waiting for Unicode... As more you delay it, more work you will have to do.

[David Warner]

Most PBer's have not given DPI awareness any thought at all and are enjoying to get fuzzy fonts in their high resolution monitors.

Perhaps PB users don't want to think about issues such as DPI awareness, after all they are using a BASIC compiler and not an assembler or C compiler. I don't think they are happy about the situation, just more comfortable with a trusted guru such as Jose Roca or Paul Squires thinking about this stuff and implementing a solid pain-free solution for them. It suits me anyway.

Now, waiting for Unicode... As more you delay it, more work you will have to do.

Unicode would certainly be a useful addition to the FireFly feature set.

[Paul Squires]

Thanks Jose but the credit goes to you my friend. Without your knowledge and patience in explaining the importance of using high dpi code, FireFly would not have it. Likewise, the help you've given me with ActiveX/OCX implementation is invaluable. I can not thank you enough for all the contributions you've made to FireFly and PowerBasic.

Unicode is the #1 new feature that I have to implement. It will take a lot of work because just about everything inside FireFly needs to be examined.

[José Roca]

The credit goes to both, because a good idea is worthless if it falls on deaf ears, as it has happened in the PB forum. Well, I no longer care. Currently, I only read a few posts.

More than to use OCX, that is a deprecated technology, my interest writing the OLE container was to host the WebBrowser control. The ability to use HTML and javascript is very powerful, and something that has yet to be fully explored. Because of my lack of knowledge of javascript, I only have scratched the surface, but there are a lot of things that can be done with HTML5.