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C O N T E N T S ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Introduction 1 Appendix B Environment variables 29 PtGen features ....................... 1 TVTool .............................. 1 TVToys.............................. 2 What's in this manual ................. 2 Typefaces used in these manuals........ 3 How to contact NederWare ............ 3 Acknowledgements ................... 4 Chapter 1 Getting started 5 File list .............................. 5 Installing PtGen ...................... 5 Environment variables .............. 5 Installing PtGen under Tools menu of Borland IDE ..................... 6 Installing PtGen under Windows ..... 6 Needed units....................... 6 Accessing Help....................... 6 Demo files ........................... 7 Chapter 2 The PtGen Development-cycle 9 PtGen development-cycle overview ..... 9 Ptgen single dialog box creating mode... 10 Chapter 3 PtGen basics 11 Mouse operation ..................... 11 Keyboard operation................... 11 Chapter 4 Sample applications 13 Creating a menubar and a statusline .... 13 Creating a dialog box.................. 17 Chapter 5 Turning your code into an executable 21 An example of a simple main........... 21 A more elaborated main ............... 22 Let PtGen create a main for you ........ 23 Chapter 6 More advanced topics 25 Using string resource files.............. 25 Adding units......................... 25 Using resources ...................... 25 Using TVToys ........................ 26 Appendix A Command-line options 27 i ii I N T R O D U C T I O N ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── PtGen is a tool is intended for Turbo Pascal programmers who wish to enhance their productivity by rapidly building Turbo Vision screens. PtGen outputs source code and is capable of reading that source code for further editing. PtGen comes in a real mode and in a protected mode version. This manual applies to both varieties. PtGen features ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── PtGen provides you with many things to make TurboVision programming easier, including ■ Creation of complete applications or just standalone dialog boxes ■ Quick and interactive menubar building ■ Quick and interactive statusline building ■ Quick and interactive dialog box building ■ Full helptext support for statusline help as well as for helpfiles (.HLP) ■ Build-in tutorial, covering creating of statuslines, menubars and dialog boxes ■ Support for TVTool 2.0 (see below section TVTool) ■ Support for TVToys (see below section TVToys) TVTool ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── PtGen supports TVTool 2.0. TVTool is a TurboVision tool written by Richard Hansen who can be reached at: ■ CompuServe: 70242,3367 ■ email: 70242.3367@compuserve.com ■ fidonet: 1:282/115 The TV Tool Box package was created to fill a few holes in Turbo Vision for Turbo Pascal. TV Tool Box includes formatted data entry with input masks, scrolling data entry dialogs, data entry field locking, check mark menus, enhancements to TApplication, Introduction 1 some handy string routines, scrolling dialog boxes, 3D controls, virtual list boxes, spin bars, sliders and more. PtGen currently supports all 3D controls of TVTool. PtGen also supports all TbxEditLine and derivatives (including mask definition). Planned enhancements include support for a scrollable dialog box, sliders, and spinbars.. Registered users of PtGen receive a 25% reduction on their TV Tool Box package, just as registered users of TVTool receive a 25their PtGen package. The shareware version of TVTool is shipped with the registered version of TVTool, just as the shareware version of PtGen is shipped with every registered version of TVTool. To receive your 25% registration discount YOU MUST INCLUDE your PtGen registration number on your TV Tool Box order form. THE SPECIAL 25% DISCOUNT IS ONLY AVAILABLE ON ORDERS MADE DIRECTLY TO RICHARD HANSEN. TVToys ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── PtGen has basic support for TVToys. Note that TVtool and TVToy are mutually inconsistent! You can use the one or the other, but not both. The advantage of using TVToys is its support for previous help screens besides much more. See section 6 for how to make use of TVToys. What's in this manual ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── This manual explains how to use PtGen to develop TurboVision objects. It doesn't tell you how to write TurboVision programs. ■ Chapter 1, ``Getting started'', describes how to install, start, and exit PtGen and how to access the Help system. ■ Chapter 2, ``The PtGen Development cycle'', introduces to the way PtGen is meant to be used, or how the author uses it. ■ Chapter 3, ``PtGen basics'', gives an overview how mouse buttons and function keys are assigned to perform tasks in PtGen. ■ Chapter 4, ``Sample applications'', covers the creation of a complete application with menubar, statusline and dialog boxes. 2 PtGen User Guide ■ Chapter 5, ``Creating an executable'', shows you how to write a main program for PtGen. PtGen's code is always in a unit (except for stand-alone dialog boxes). You need to include this unit and to initialize some other units. ■ Chapter 6, ``More advanced topics'', describes some more elaborated uses of PtGen. ■ Appendix A, ``Command-line options'', shows all command-line options available with PtGen. ■ Appendix B, ``Environment variables'', describes the two environment variables for PtGen. Typefaces used in these manuals ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── All typefaces used in this manual were produced by L A TE X2", dvips on a HP Laserjet IV. Their uses are as follows: Monospace type This typeface represents text as it appears on-screen or in a program. It is also used for anything you must type (such as PTGEN to start up PtGen). Boldface This typeface is used in text for command-line options. Italics Italics indicate identifiers that appear in text. They can represent terms that you can use as they are, or that you can think up new names for (your choice, usually). They are also used to emphasize certain words, such as new terms. Keycaps This typeface indicates a key on your keyboard. For example, ``Press Esc to exit a menu.'' Key1+Key2 Key combinations produced by holding down one or more keys simultaneously are represented as Key1+Key2 . For example, you can edit an object by holding down the Ctrl key and pressing the F8 function key. This key combination is presented as Ctrl+F8. How to contact NederWare ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── NederWare offers a variety of services to answer your questions about PtGen. Of course, this is true for registered users. If you don't have registered yet, support shareware (and me and my family) by registering PtGen to day. We made it very easy for you. You can register by CompuServe, fax, email or telephone, see REGISTER.FRM for details. CompuServe Introduction 3 CompuServe ID 100120,3121 Subscribers to CompuServe can reach NederWare at 100120,3121. The latest versions of PtGen are available in library 1 of the BPASCAL forum. Internet NederWare can be reached on internet through Email: berend@beard.nest.nl NederWare@beard.nest.nl or berend@beard.nest.nl. For the latest PtGen check-out garbo.uwasa.fi. Fidonet Fidonet 2:281/527.23 NederWare can be reached on fidonet at 2:281/527.23. The latest versions of PtGen are also available at 2:281/527, Contrast BBS, The Netherlands. Its full international telephone number is +31 70-3234903. From Holland dial 070-3234903. Acknowledgements ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── I would like to thank alpha tester Tom Kooij who provided me with valuable suggestions about the PtGen user interface. I would also express my thanks to the following people who contributed much to PtGen's operation: Hans van der Veeke and David MiddleBrooks. Also I wish to thank betatesters Christian Haarmeijer and Frank van der Ham who pointed out inconveniences and detected many errors. Thanks to Wouter de Boer for creating the PtGen icon, so PtGen can conveniently be called from your Microsoft Windows desktop (shrudder...). 4 PtGen User Guide C H A P T E R ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 1 Getting started File list ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Before installing PtGen, you should review the contents of the Read the READ.ME file before READ.ME file on your PtGen distribution diskette. This file proceeding contains important information (usage information, new features, changes, known bugs, etc.) that became available after this manual was printed. You should carefully review the READ.ME file before using PtGen. Installing PtGen ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── PtGen is simple to install. But first make a backup copy of the distribution diskette. Create a directory if necessary to hold your copy of PtGen. You can create any directory you like. Advised directory is C:/PTGEN. Make sure this directory is in your path because because each program developed with PtGen needs a seperate directory. You will call PtGen from the directory of each application. Next unpack PtGen with the directory option enabled. If PtGen is packed with arj use arj x to unpack. If PtGen is packed with pkzip use pkzip -d to unpack. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Environment Optionally you can set the environment variable PTGEN in your variables AUTOEXEC.BAT. All command-line options of PtGen can be preset in this environment variable. If you specify SET PTGEN=-50 PtGen will always start in 80x50 video mode. Specified command-line options will override the environment variable settings. See Appendix A for all command-line options. Chapter 1, Getting started 5 The environment variable PTGINPUT specifies the directory where PtGen should search for standard files PtGen needs when you create a new application. For example the standard string resource files ENGLISH.TVR should reside in this directory. Most of the time you simply set PTGINPUT to the directory where the PtGen executable resides. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Installing PtGen You can install PtGen also in the Tools section of the Borland IDE. under Tools Choose Options |Tools and press New. Specify under Title menu of Borland ~P~ tGen, under Program path PtGen's directory, for example c:\ptgen, under Command-line \$EDNAME \$SAVE ALL. As a IDE hotkey I suggest Shift+F9 but any other key or no key is alright too of course. ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Installing PtGen PtGen runs flawlessly under Windows. But don't use the graphic under Windows mouse switch (/GM ). Two pifs are supplied, one for the real and one for the protected mode version, called PTGEN.PIF and PTGENX.PIF respectively. You can also use the PtGen icon PTGEN.ICO or PTGENX.ICO (both are exactly the same). ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Needed units Make sure your compiler can find units from bp/examples/dos/tvdemo and /bp/examples/dos/tvfm. You need CALCULATORS.PAS, GADGETS.PAS, HELPFILE.PAS, VIEWTEXT.PAS, and maybe more. Accessing Help ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── PtGen offers a variety of online-help: ■ You can follow the online tutorials. Select a tutorial from the Tutorial menu. ■ You can press F1 to popup help about current situations. ■ You can press Ctrl+F1 to get context-sensitive help about which actions are currently available to you. For example when you are creating a dialog box, pressing Ctrl+F1 shows you how to add subviews to a dialog box or how to move/resize them, etc. 6 PtGen User Guide Demo files ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── The subdirectory sample has a sample file, SQLXPLMN.PAS, which was created with PtGen. You can compile XPL2SQL.PAS to run the full demo program. But you will also need TVTool for this. Chapter 1, Getting started 7 8 PtGen User Guide C H A P T E R ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 2 The PtGen Development-cycle PtGen development-cycle overview ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── This section shows you how to work with PtGen. But first is the underlying software development cycle discussed. PtGen is a prototype generator, that means, that you should not expect that PtGen can create complete applications for you. It will let you build TurboVision screens very fast and very visually but that's not the end. For example, when you create a dialog box a dummy TListViewer is inserted. What you should do is to first to create the dialog box including all buttons, helptexts, etc., than copy the dialog box code PtGen has outputted, and past it into your program. You don't have to copy/past all dialog code though. Some dialog boxes are complete by themselves. But as soon as you want a custom view to be inserted you need this copy/past scheme. An examples of a complete, compilable application can be found in the chapter titled Creating an Executable and the accompanying source files DEMOMENU.PAS and DEMOMAIN.PAS. The steps followed when using PtGen are: 1. Create a separate directory for each application. 2. Copy PREAPP.PAS to this directory. PREAPP.PAS contains the application object from which the application object PtGen creates is derived. 3. Start PtGen in this directoryand build a menubar, a statusline, dialog boxes and helptexts. 4. Save your work as a PtGen readable Pascal source file. PtGen readable means that several PtGen directives are inserted in the source file, but they won't affect compilation. 5. Create the main of your application. You probably want to override the HandleEvent of the TApplcation object PtGen has created in its source file. You probably need to copy/paste some PtGen created code to your source files if you want to change or add custom views. Chapter 2, The PtGen Development-cycle 9 6. Compile your program. This development cycle will become clearer after you have worked with PtGen and read the chapters Sample Apps and Creating an Executable. Ptgen single dialog box creating mode ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── For people not wanting to create a complete application but just use PtGen's dialog box creating capabilities there is an option Dialog |New. You don't have to follow the previous steps and you can just create a single dialog box. After you close the dialog box you can save the source code of the create dialog box to a file. You can read this file with Dialog |Open. 10 PtGen User Guide C H A P T E R ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 3 PtGen basics In the following two sections general principles when working with PtGen are covered. PtGen is designed to be very consistent. You will find the same basic set of operations throughout PtGen. Learn them once, and you know it for ever. First the basics for mouse users are covered, than for keyboard users. Mouse operation ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── PtGen differentiates the left and mouse buttons. Their meanings are: Table 3.1 Mouse button assignments Press this button... To accomplish this... Left button Clicked on backgrounds pop-ups the local menu Right button When the mouse is on an object/item, pressing the right mouse button pops-up a menu with actions you can apply to that object/item or it starts editing the current object/item Keyboard operation ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Keyboard users can OK, enough explanation. Let's create some sample applications with PtGen. Chapter 3, PtGen basics 11 Table 3.2 Keyboard assignments Press this key... To accomplish this... F1 Display context-sensitive help about the currently selected view. Ctrl+F1Display context-sensitive help about the actions you currently can undertake. Alt+F5 Pop-up local position menu for positioning the current object Ctrl+F5 Move/resize the current dialog box or pop-up menu. Shift+F5 Move/resize the current subview (inputline, button, etc.) Ctrl+F7 Delete current object/item Ctrl+F8 Edit current object/item Ctrl+F9 Link other objects to your object Alt+F10 Pop-up local menu Ins Insert an item Del Delete an item (same as Ctrl+F7) 12 PtGen User Guide C H A P T E R ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 4 Sample applications We'll build three different sample applications. The first two are covered by the build-in tutorial although the written version has more explanation and references other and advanced features. The first application lears you to create menus and a statusbar. The next learns you to create dialog boxes. Detailed information about the above mentioned subjects/objects(!) can be found in the reference manual. For every application: 1. Create a separate directory 2. Copy PREAPP.PAS and PREAPP.INC from your PtGen directory to this directory. The application object PtGen creates, is a descendent of the application object defines in this file. 3. Start PtGen from this directory so all files created by PtGen will be placed in this directory. Creating a menubar and a statusline ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── To create a new application, just start up PtGen. 1. Select New from the File menu. Now you're asked to specify some information about the new application you're creating. 2. Fill in the application name, in our case SampleApp. Your application will be saved in a source file you specify and the name will be: TSampleApp. PtGen automatically adds a T or P to the name of every object it creates, so don't specify T's or P's. PtGen supports helptext creating. To enable this option you have to mark Help in the Options menu and you have to specify a filename. Chapter 4, Sample applications 13 3. Enable the Help option 4. Specify as helpfile: sample.txt. The other options are explained more fully in the reference manual. We will not use this feature in our sample application. 5. Press Enter or click OK to close this dialog box. You are now ready to edit your application. 6. Select Edit from the menubar or press Ctrl+F8 to edit your application. Next, you'll see an almost empty menubar and an empty statusline. Let's add the familiar F1 and F10 to the statusline. 7. Popup the local menu by pressing Alt+F10 or, for mouse users, press the left button. A popup menu appears. 8. Choose Statusline. Go to the StatusKeys listviewer by pressing Tab. Now press the down arrow once (the lightbar should now be on kbF10). And add your first item. 9. Press Ins or click on New. A dialog box appears in which you can specify the same parameters as the NewStatusKey function. 10. Enter after Text: ~F2~ Save Enter after Keycode kbF2 Enter after Command cmSave 11. And press Enter or click OK to close this dialog box. When you look at the statusline, you'll see that F1 has appeared. Do the same for F10. 12. Press Ins, enter after Text ~F3~ Open Enter after Keycode kbF3 Enter after Command 14 PtGen User Guide cmOpen And press Enter to close the dialog box. And for Alt+X. 13. Press Ins. Leave the Text inputline empty, enter after Keycode kbAltF3 After Command cmClose and press Enter to close the dialog box. You see that in the Statusline dialog box entries are differentiated by their keys. If no key is specified (type kbNoKey), the first part of the text is shown. To close the statusline dialog box, press Enter again. 14. Press Enter to close the statusline dialog box. OK, now the menubar. 15. Press F10 (Menu). You'll see that a lightbar appears on menu =, but when you look at the statusline, you see that it hasn't changed. But in the IDE of Turbo Pascal the statusline changed to ``F1 Help |System commands''. It isn't there, but soon it will be. We have to add some helptext to the = menuitem. 16. Press Ctrl+F8 (Edit). The edit dialog box for a menu item appears. You can add all options you could when handcoding menu's for Turbo Vision and more. You can specify a statusline helptext and a normal helptext which the user accesses by pressing F1. REMARK A: helptexts for F1 will only be stored in a file when you had set helpfile on and had specified a helpfile name in the application edit dialog box, the one you where you specified the application's name. REMARK B: Only after TVHC has been run to compile a helpfile (.HLP) from the saved text, will helpfiles be shown on the screen. Instead of running TVHC you could also select HelpText from the Desktop Local menu. Next press the Compile button. 17. Add a helptext by entering system commands Chapter 4, Sample applications 15 after help text and press Enter to close the dialog box. You will now see that the statusline has changed and now shows the desired text. For more information about the menuitem dialog box, see the reference manual. Adding a menuitem is equally simple. We will add a submenu, the first part the File submenu as found in the Turbo IDE. 18. Move the lightbar on the ysymbol, the end symbol. Now press Ins to insert a menuitem. The menuitem dialog box will appear. 19. Enter after Name ~F~ ile 20. Enter after Help text File management commands (Open, New, Save, etc.) Leave the other fields empty. 21. Select OK to close this dialog box. The lightbar automatically moves right so you can quickly enter more menuitems, but let's first edit the created menu. Because you didn't specify a command, this will be a submenu. 22. Move the lightbar to File and press Enter. An empty submenu will appear with only the Endmark symbol ypresent. You can add more menuitems by pressing Ins. 23. Add a new menuitem by pressing Ins. Enter after Name ~O~ pen... After Command cmOpen After Keycode kbF3 After Param F3 We will not use hcConstant in this example, so leave it empty. See the reference manual for details and meaning of hcConstants. Generally speaking: hcConstants are used to refer to helptexts which you will use on more than one place your application. This saves you typing time and promotes consistency. 24. Enter after Help text 16 PtGen User Guide Locate and open a file in an Edit window 25. Select the OK button to close the dialog box. So, that's it for now. You learned how to create statuslines and menubars. 26. Press Alt+X (Exit) to exit your created application. You return now to PtGen. 27. Press F10 (Menu) and select Save from the File menu. You will be prompted for a filename. Enter Sample and select OK to save your application. PtGen will now save your application in Pascal source code format. It's a advised to look at the code PtGen's created to get a feeling for what it does. This is not necessary, but I think you will use PtGen frequently to quickly prototype a screen and than copy code fragments to your application and edit it further as already explained. See chapter DEMO for more information. Creating a dialog box ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── We'll use the application you created in the previous example. It's assumed that you are at the Dos prompt. 1. Load Sample into PtGen by typing ptgen sample and presssing Enter. PtGen will now load the code in SAMPLE.PAS. 2. Select Edit from the menubar or press Ctrl+F8 (Edit) to edit your application. We will add an about dialog box to this sample application. 3. Press F10 (Menu), position the lightbar on = and press Enter. Position the lightbar on the About menuitem. We wish that as we select About from the System menu an about dialog box pops up. We can do this by linking a dialog box to this menuitem. Take a look at the About menuitem by pressing Ctrl+F8 (Edit). You see that after Command is specified "cmAbout". Press Esc to close this dialog box. Chapter 4, Sample applications 17 We now link a dialog box to this About menuitem, that means: any time that the cmAbout command is encountered, this dialog box will pop up. You can link code by pressing Ctrl+F9 (Link). 4. Press Ctrl+F9 (Link). There is no mouse equivalent for this operation. A pop-up menu will appear from which you can choose between Predefined code, or self-defined code. Under the Predefined option you will for example find a complete calculator. See the Links chapter in the reference manual for more information about Links and predefined objects. A dialog box is code you interactively define. 5. Select Define and then select Dialog box. First you have to specify some general information about this dialog box. You can specify its name, its title and its helptext. More information about the last item can be found in the reference manual. We will only specify its Name and its Title. 6. Specify its Name as AboutDlg And enter after Title About and press Enter to close the Define a dialog box dialog box. Now you see the dialog box with the Title you specified. You can always edit the dialog box name and the Title by popping up the local menu and selecting Settings. At this moment you can resize/move the dialog box just by pressing Ctrl+F5 (Resize). Mouse users can do it their way (clicking on the upper frame, or lower-right corner). A dialog box is an object which can contain other objects. You can pop-up a local menu with the objects you can place in this dialog box by pressing Alt+F10 (Local Menu). Mouse users can place the mouse anywhere on the dialog box and press the Left mousebutton to popup the local menu. Objects that mouse users select from the local menu will be placed on the dialog box with their upperleft corner at the current mouse position. 7. Since we are making an About dialog box, pop-up the local menu and select Static Text. You're prompted to specify the text. 8. Enter the following text just as it appears. So enter for ÇC first a "Ç" than a "C": 18 PtGen User Guide ÇCTurbo PascalÇMÇMÇCVersion 7.0 and select OK. The ÇC means center this text, ÇM means go the next line. You will see the text centered and a blank line between Turbo Pascal and Version 7.0. If you are a keyboard users, you can move and resize the text by pressing Shift+F5 (Local Move/Resize). If you are a mouse user you can do so by placing the mouse on this view and pressing the right mousebutton, holding it down and selecting Move or Resize from the popup menu. 9. Press Local Move/Resize (Shift+F5) to spread the whole text from the left to the right of the dialog box. If you are a mouse user you can do so placing the mouse on the StaticText view and pressing the right mouse button. Select first Move to move the view to the left edge. Then do the same and select Resize to resize the right edge of the StaticText view to the right edge of the dialog box. You will now insert an OK button. 10. If you are a keyboard user: pop-up again the local menu by pressing Local Menu (Alt+F10), select Button and next select OK. If you are a mouse user: place your mouse in the middle of the second half part of the dialog box. Press the left mouse button and hold it down. The local menu appears: select Button, then select OK. The OK buton will appear in the upperleft corner if you used the keyboard equivalent, or in the place your mouse was before pressing the left mousebutton. You can now move or resize the button. There are some four actions you can do with the objects you place on a dialog box. Keyboard users have to press the appropriate key while mouse users can select the actions from the popup menu which appears if you press the right mousebutton while your mouse is on an object. 1. Move: press Shift+F5 (Local Move/Resize) if you are a keyboard users. 2. Resize: press Shift+F5 (Local Move/Resize). 3. Edit: press Ctrl+F8 (Edit). You can edit an object parameters. For example you can edit the static text view to add or change some text. All objects can be editted. 4. Delete: press Ctrl+F7 (Delete). Delete the object. Chapter 4, Sample applications 19 You can select an object with the common Tab/Shift+Tab keys or by selecting them with the mouse. We are now going to end the dialog box creating. There are many more objects you can place on a dialog box as you saw when you popped up the local menu. They are all listed in the Reference Manual. 11. Press Enter to close this dialog box, then press Alt+X to quit to PtGen. You are back in PtGen and you can save the application you created. 12. Press Alt+X to exit PtGen. A dialog box asks you if you want to save your application. Just press Enter and your application is saved before PtGen returns to the dos prompt. PtGen did save your application in Turbo Pascal source code format. It saved it as a unit. To turn the application you created to an executable, see the next chapter. 20 PtGen User Guide C H A P T E R ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 5 Turning your code into an executable The code PtGen creates is saved as a unit. As units can't be run, you need to write a main program. Sometimes this is very simple, most of the times, your program contains the real flesh and PtGen provides only the skin. Two examples are given: one very simple, the most basic one. And one more complex and realistically. PtGen has also the ability to create automatically a main. This is treated in the third section. An example of a simple main ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── The most basic Main is the following program. Assumed is that you saved your application in file SAMPLE.PAS and that you named your application object SampleApp. program Main; uses Objects, {* contains RStringList *} HelpFile, {* the helpfile unit from bp/examples/dos/tvdemo *} Sample, {* which contains the Application object *} BBStrRes; {* PtGen resource string unit *} var TMyApp : TSampleApp; begin {* register helpfile *} RegisterHelpFile; {* initialize string resources *} RegisterType(RStringList); LoadStrings; TMyApp.Init; TMyApp.Run; Chapter 5, Turning your code into an executable 21 TMyApp.Done; end. The BBUtil, BBDlg, BBStrRes and BBFile units, the PREAPP.INC include file as well as PREAPP.PAS (which should be in your directory) should be available for the compiler as the unit that PtGen creates needs them. A more elaborated main ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── program Main; uses Objects, {* contains RStringList *} Sample, {* which contains the Application object *} BBStrRes, {* PtGen resource string unit *} HelpFile, BBError; {* the errorhandling unit *} var TMyApp : TSampleApp; begin {* initialize string resources *} RegisterType(RStringList); LoadStrings; {* register helpfile *} RegisterHelpFile; {* initialize errorhandling unit *} InitBBError('MYAPP.LOG'); TMyApp.Init; TMyApp.Run; TMyApp.Done; end. The InstallExitHandler call will install an exit handler which gives you a stack dump when your program is aborted. This stack dump (and other information) is written to MYAPP.LOG. See the file SQL2XPL.PAS for a complete working example. It should be in the SAMPLE subdirectory or else in the SAMPLE.ARJ file. 22 PtGen User Guide Let PtGen create a main for you ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── PtGen has also a menu option which automatically creates an advanced main for you. Now you can prototype really fast! Choose from the main menubar File |Main file. This option only works if you have created and saved an application or if you have loaded an existing application. Next you are prompted to specify the filename for your main program. That's all. Chapter 5, Turning your code into an executable 23 24 PtGen User Guide C H A P T E R ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── 6 More advanced topics This chapter discusses some more advanced topics in PtGen like string resource files and adding units to the uses clause so you can import your own views. Using string resource files ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Still to be written... See Chapter 7 of the Borland Pascal Resource Workshop User's Guide which provides essentially the same information as should be presented here. PtGen's string resource handling is modeled after the Windows string resource handling. Adding units ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── For some views (for example the inputline) you can press a code button to change the pointer to the objecttype (for an inputline this is PInputLine) or to add parameters. In order to use your own views you can enhance the uses clause in the implememtion section. To do so popup the Desktop Local Menu by pressing Alt+F10 (Local Menu) and choose Units. You can now add, edit or delete unitnames. The units will be added at the end of the uses clause. Using resources ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── PtGen has the ability to turn the unit it has created into a TurboVision style resource file. It works as follows: first create the objects you want in the resource file just as you normally do. Next save your application as you always do. Chapter 6, More advanced topics 25 To create a resource file you need a resource file creating program. This program should import the unit PtGen created and write each of the objects to a resource file. You can write such a resource file creating program yourself, or let PtGen create automatically one. Choose File |Resource file from the menubar to create a resource file called MAKERES.PAS in the current directory. PtGen asks you for the main program filename. You can enter some name or leave it empty. It's only used to let identify MAKERES itself when it starts up and writes a string including the name of the program this resource file is for. MakeRes includes PTGRES.INC, an include file PtGen always writes when it saves an application. This file consists of one procedure PutPtGenObjects which puts all objects in the unit into a supplied resource file. You can extend MakeRes in anyway you want, although it's fully functional for all objects you created with PtGen. If you run MakeRes it creates a resource file called test .tvr. Using TVToys ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── You turn on TVToys support if you click on TVToys item in Options on the Application configuration dialog box. Your application will now inherited (via TPReApp) from TToyApp, TVToys' application object. If you want previous help screen support, create a new status def in the range 11111..11111 and add Alt+F1 (and if you wish F1 and Shift+F1) as status line items. Commands should be cmPreviousTopic, cmHelp, cmHelpOnHelp or cmHelpContents. These commands are only available with the correct values if you have turned on TVToys support. 26 PtGen User Guide A P P E N D I X ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── A Command-line options PtGen recognizes the following command-line options: Table A.1 Command-line options Option Description /h show all recognized command-line options and their meanings /BW black and white palette for monochrome monitors /25 25 lines /50 VGA 50 or EGA 43 lines /NGM don't use the graphics mouse /GM use the graphics mouse Command-line options always override options specified in the PTGEN environment variable, see the next appendix. Appendix A, Command-line options 27 28 PtGen User Guide A P P E N D I X ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── B Environment variables PtGen recognizes the following environment variables: Table B.1 Environment variables Environment variable Description PTGEN standard command-line options can be set in this variable. The command-line always overrides the specifications in the PTGEN variable. PTGINPUT The directory where the files are located that PtGen needs to create an application. Most of the time this will be the directory where the executable resides. Such files are DEFAULT.TVR, ENGLISH.TVR, DUTCH.TVR, PREAPP.INC and other.