CWindow: Spectre - Beta 01

[José Roca]

This is a heavily stripped version of the original framework. Hope that it contains enough stuff to allow Paul to complete his work. I also hope that he will archive all my previous posts. I promise to no attempt to teach COM programming never again.

[Petrus Vorster]

Thanks Jose.

[David Warner]

I promise to no attempt to teach COM programming never again.

That’s sad; your knowledge in this area is extensive and invaluable to those wishing to learn more.

[José Roca]

Nobody was using or testing the code, so it did no make sense to continue working in this field. I'm using COM in some of my classes, but at low level, in the internal code.

Also, nobody except Paul is using or testing the SDK framework. They're waiting for a visual designer.

[David Warner]

I do understand your position. It is a lot of effort to write and maintain such a framework if few people will actually be using it. Having said that; I have an existing COM server application called from Microsoft Access which was quite straightforward to put together using the convenient COM abstractions provided by Bob Zale in PowerBASIC. It would have been nice to attempt a replication of this using your FreeBasic COM framework as low-level COM is quite complex from what I can see.

Anyway, my current intention is to spend some time testing your ODBC framework and I will let you know if I encounter any problems. I also intend on installing Paul's WinFBE on a Windows 7 machine as it currently does not run for me on Windows XP. After doing so I will take a closer look at the other gems in your framework to see what I can do to test them.

It occurs to me that perhaps others were put off testing your framework because of the 'Release Candidate' naming convention and the incredible speed at which you create new versions. Also there might be people who would respond to a 'request for testers' from you to work as a beta testing group in a more private forum. It would be great to see you getting the necessary testing support you require. Perhaps Paul could send out a private message or email invitation to all the forum users here asking for volunteers? What do you think?

[José Roca]

I complained about the lack of participation and all the replies that I got were that nobody intended to learn SDK programming and that they will wait for a visual designer.

I haven't posted anything in the official FB forum because they're used to modules, libraries, etc., and many will find my way of programming "heretical". I'm using include files, as I did with PowerBASIC, to take advantage of conditional compiling and dead code removal. If you use classes and compile them in a library, you get bloated code.

Anyway, as I have removed the high level COM stuff, I don't expect serious bugs in the framework, just the occasional mistake in some of the hundreds of wrapper functions. I have fixed a couple of them and I will post a new version when I will finish the wrappers for the rich edit control.

I don't have tested extensively the ODBC classes because I no longer do database programming, so you're welcome if you are willing to test them.

[Paul Squires]

I've come to the realization that since I stopped developing commercial products that I am much more relaxed and I actually find programming pretty therapeutic these days. No pressure and I can go at my own pace. I rarely worry about having to deliver on deadlines or work non-stop for hours on end. Feels like retirement :-)
 

[David Warner]

@Jose

Well, I like your 'heretical' approach a lot. 

@Paul
If you consider how much Gary Beene has done in the PB sphere since retiring then it seems retirement can be an incredibly productive time. No pressure though Paul.