Small Basic Forum

Small Basic Functions

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 15:37:00 Z

1) The introduction seems to assume that the student knows all of the functions available in Small Basic. is there a list of these available.
2) Is it possible to reade and write files in Small Basic. I can't find any reference to files in the intro

Create extension for Small Basic in Small Basic

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 16:20:23 Z

It's possible to create extensions for Small Basic in any DotNet language. This includes Visual Basic .NET and C#. But this also includes Small Basic itself.

http://cid-201f3835d49587fe.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Public/Small%20Basic/SmallBasicExtensionCompiler.zip

Creating an extension in Small Basic is very simple : Just create your program and compile it with this special compiler. You'll get two new files : <File>.dll and <File>.pdg. Copy those files in C:\Microsoft\Small Basic\lib\ and launch Small Basic. It's all you need !

To create sub/variables that are not accessible for other apps, start their name by an underscore '_'.

Sample (Test.sb) :

MyField = "(No value)"
_MyPrivateField = "Value of MyField : "

Sub TestSub
TextWindow.Write(_MyPrivateField)
TextWindow.WriteLine(MyField)
EndSub

Application using Test.sb

Test.Testsub()
Test.Myfield = 5
Test.Testsub()

' Few remarks :
' ===========
' * Test._MyPrviateField isn't accessible, because it begins by a '_'
' * All sub/variable names are capitalized to Mmmm... (M: MAJ, m: min)
' * Your program (Extension) is run just before the first time you use the extension object

Fremy - Developer in VB.NET, C# and JScript ... - Feel free to try my extension

My progress through projects

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:52:13 Z

Just started this thread to get my projects from the first to the most recent to show my progress and ideas. Plus feedback!
anyways i downloaded smart basic yesterday and after many hours (and no sleep) heres one of my complete projects:

The Button!

'Button Variables:
txt = "Button" 'Button Text
xa = 65 ' X Variable
ya = 87.5 'Y Variable
wa = 70 'Width Variable
ha = 25 'Hight Variable
upC = "DimGray" 'Button Up Color
downC = "Gainsboro" 'Button Down Color
textC = "Black" 'Text Color
'------------------------------

xb = xa + wa
yb = ya + ha
tx = xa + 15 'Adjust Acording to width of button text
ty = ya + 5

GraphicsWindow.Height = 200
GraphicsWindow.Width = 200
buttonC = upC
DrawButtonBox()
DrawButtonText()
GraphicsWindow.MouseDown = OnMouseDown
GraphicsWindow.MouseUp = OnMouseUp

Sub OnMouseDown
  x = GraphicsWindow.MouseX
  y = GraphicsWindow.MouseY
  If (x > xa And x < xb And y > ya And y < yb) Then
    If (Mouse.IsLeftButtonDown = "True") Then
      buttonC = downC
      DrawButtonBox()
      DrawButtonText()
    EndIf
  EndIf
EndSub

Sub OnMouseUp
  buttonC = upC
  DrawButtonBox()
  DrawButtonText()
EndSub

Sub DrawButtonBox
  GraphicsWindow.BrushColor = buttonC
  GraphicsWindow.FillRectangle(xa, ya, wa, ha)
EndSub

Sub DrawButtonText
  GraphicsWindow.BrushColor = textC
  GraphicsWindow.DrawText(tx, ty, txt)
EndSub

First project i did right after learning the basics and after editing and refining it :D

Happy Birthday Small Basic

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 18:30:44 Z

Exactly one year ago, we released the first version of Small Basic CTP to the world. Today, marking its first birthday, we're releasing the 7th installment of Small Basic CTP.

This version adds localized support to 4 new languages, broading the reach to Chinese, French, German, Italian, Korean, Russian, Spanish and Turkish.

Also, this version includes a new feature called "Graduate" that lets you port your Small Basic programs to Visual Basic.

In addition, this features contains the following bug-fixes and new features:

A helpful crash reporting dialog that pops-up whenever your program crashes
Fixes to Scrollbar size to make it easier to find in huge documents
Fixed crash when a specified image cannot be loaded
Fix for foreign keyboards not being able to use AltGr
Opacity and Visibility properties for Shapes
Made comments and objects more differentiated in syntax color
Made the resizer for help pane more discoverable
Fixed Intellisense clipping issues
Fixed error column offset issue in the compile errors list
Disable SaveAs command when no programs are open

Check it out: http://smallbasic.com

Or download directly: http://download.microsoft.com/download/C/A/F/CAF9E062-94D3-4003-80D9-44CDF7EC7BD9/SmallBasic.msi

Is this a good solution?

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 20:01:57 Z

yo!

i just coded a simple spring! and i want to know if this is a good solution for it: MZS896 (i know, it works only for the y axis and the car doesnt rotate, but that might be changed one day..)

its a kinda stupid solution if you ask me. but it works very well!

btw, you can set the amount of wheels on the top of the code.

Live for nothing, OR CODE FOR SOMETHING!

How do i get this angle??

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 20:05:19 Z

hi.

i have just coded a 360° spring with litdevs formula. QSV762

the only problem i have now is: How do i get the angle, so i you can rotate the spring to "look" thowards the axis??

i hope someone can help me here...

Live for nothing, OR CODE FOR SOMETHING!

Physics Engine?

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 15:06:55 Z

hi!

i just wondered:

did someone code a physics "engine" for small basic? if not, why not? is it just simply not possible in sb? i mean something like box2d (collisions, springs and stuff)...

Live for nothing, OR CODE FOR SOMETHING!

Endless crashing

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 08:24:15 Z

Every time I try to open Small Basic, the program crashes before it starts. It shows the logo, then 2 second later, vista says an error occured. How can I get this to stop happening? I have Parental Controls on the account.

Post your sample source code here and get featured on our blogs! (Part II)

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 01:18:37 Z

Good work, litdev. Nice going!

========

(This thread is a continuation from http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/smallbasic/thread/eaacf826-9d12-4e3c-aa10-1b2788f160a6)

Twenty Five Line Challenge

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 02:44:27 Z

Working on developing projects for my Intro to Programming class, I reminded myself of an article I read back in the early days of the PC. The article was in one of the first PC only magazines, and it was publishing the results of a contest the magazine sponsored. Preliminaries complete, here is what they did:

They challenged their readers to come up with the most useful BASIC programs they could using only a single line of code in the BASIC interpreter. With the colon instruction separator you could easily get twenty commands on a single line. And the winning submissions were brilliant. One was a screen saver-esk art program, a second was a working word processor, and the third was a full sub chase game. I wish I could share the article and results with this group, but my net search for mention of the article turned up nothing.

So, in the spirit of the early days of PC programming, here is my proposal to all of you:

The 25 Line Small Basic Challenge!

Give us your clever, entertaining, most creative best, but keep it under twenty five lines.

To get the ball rolling I wrote a text based version of Rock-Paper-Scissors in 24 lines (25 if you count my comment). Import Code: CTB433

Help With Paint Type Program

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:15:53 Z

Hello Everyone, I am very new to programming, but it is an absolute blast! I never thought it could be so much fun. For my 1st program I am making a drawing/paint program The beta is called "Blackboard" But I haven't decided on a final name yet. Anyway the basic of the program are pretty simple. I want to create it so a football coach can have a Virtual blackboard "if you will" to draw plays, save and print, etc while they are brainstorming or teaching in a learning environment. The concept is to keep it simple, small, and a useful tool. I have wrote some of the code borrowed some code and will be doing allot of work on it all by myself. But I'm so new to code and programing I thought is would great to ask for help. As I understand it that is what small basic and these forums are for. Thanks In Advance!

ok the 1st thing I cannot figure out how to do is Clear the graphics window on a double click of the left mouse button.

the second thing i cannot figure out is how to resize the image of the football field for the graphics window.

any help will be appreciated, once i get that done my next step is to create buttons, which i want to try an figure out myself 1st, the buttons i want to create are: Draw Offensive Line (5 Players), Draw Defensive line (3 to 4 players), Clear field so back ground is just black, Print, save as image. Flip players horizontal, add a player. Also i am looking to be able to move the player shapes.

This is a ton of coding but i think it will be fun and I'm up for the challenge. Any Help or guidance is appreciated!

here is the code so far:

DW = Desktop.Width
DH = Desktop.Height

GraphicsWindow.Width = (DW - 20)   ' to allow for edge
GraphicsWindow.Height = (DH - 85) ' To allow for window edge and taskbar

GraphicsWindow.Top = 0
GraphicsWindow.Left = 0
GraphicsWindow.BackgroundColor = "Black"
GraphicsWindow.PenColor = "Yellow"
GraphicsWindow.MouseDown = OnMouseDown
GraphicsWindow.MouseMove = OnMouseMove
GraphicsWindow.KeyDown = OnKeyDown
GraphicsWindow.Clear() = OnMouseRightCick




background = ImageList.LoadImage("C:\Users\guyj\Pictures\Football Field.jpg")
GraphicsWindow.DrawImage(background ,0 ,0)


Sub OnKeyDown
  If (GraphicsWindow.LastKey = "D1") Then
    GraphicsWindow.PenColor = "Red"
  endif
  If (GraphicsWindow.LastKey = "D2") Then
    GraphicsWindow.PenColor = "Blue"
  endif
  If (GraphicsWindow.LastKey = "D3") Then
    GraphicsWindow.PenColor = "LightGreen"
  endif
EndSub

Sub OnMouseDown
  prevX = GraphicsWindow.MouseX
  prevY = GraphicsWindow.MouseY
EndSub



Sub OnMouseMove
  x = GraphicsWindow.MouseX
  y = GraphicsWindow.MouseY
  If (Mouse.IsLeftButtonDown) then
    GraphicsWindow.DrawLine(prevX, prevY, x, y)
  endif
  prevX = x
  prevY = y
EndSub

Screen Shot V 1

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29724155@N05/4133427587/

Thanks

Create extensions under Windows 7

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:10:55 Z

I am trying to create a SmallBasic extension under Windows 7 but with no luck. It compiles well but when I put the extension dll in SB Lib folder and start SB the extension doesn't load. I'm using Visual Studio 2008 and target framework NET 3.5. Attaching a simple extension code as an example.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using Microsoft.SmallBasic.Library;
namespace SBTest2
{
    [SmallBasicType()]
    public class Class1
    {
        public void Test()
        {

}
}
}

This doesn't load!

Previously had no problems creating extensions under Windows Vista. Anyone have a clue about this?

Using double quotes in strings

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 06:41:51 Z

How do you use double quotes in strings, currently it converts " to two seperate single quotes. is there any way around this, or other escape sequences?

Wildcard

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:46:39 Z

Hi everyone, are there any wildcards in Small Basic? (As in a character that stands for many other characters, not *.exe or what have you).
Thanks in advance.

Internationalization

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 07:58:46 Z

Hello vijaye,
I think Small Basic is a nice idea and a good starting point for my kids to learn programming, but they don't speak a good english yet
So I would like to have a Small Basic release translated in italian (IDE, help, maybe also the keywords), do you have any plan about? I can help if you need, but I see this isn't an open source project

thanks
Mario Cosmi

Small Basic 0.7 Install Error

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:54:42 Z

I downloaded and attempted to install Small Basic 0.7 and install. Upon nearly completing the installation a "Error 1001 - Unknown Error "-1." " at which point Small Basic 0.7 unistalls!

This installation was performed on a WinXP system.

Does anyone have any ieas what is happening.

Bugs and Suggestions (v0.6 to v0.7)

Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:00:00 Z

First v0.6 "problems" :

* There's no documentation for Shapes.Zoom.

* When GraphicsWindow is hidden, Width/Height = 0 (they should return actual size if would be shown)

à System.Windows.Rect..ctor(Double x, Double y, Double width, Double height)
à Microsoft.SmallBasic.Library.GraphicsWindow.<>c__DisplayClass8.<FillRectangle>b__7()

* ImageList seems to rasterize animated gifs :-(

Few others remarks :

* GraphicsWindows.SetCursor is very great !
* Would it be possible to split SmallBasicLibrary in two DLL ? One would contains Primitive, SmallBasicCallBack, ... and the other the rest of the library. So it would be possible to update the library and still having extensions working whithout update (this is not possible for my extension because I rely on the library, but other extensions could not have the problem), at least if you don't need to change Primitive or other important type.

Fremy - Developer in VB.NET, C# and JScript ... - Feel free to try my extension

Turtle.hide

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 23:21:23 Z

I am writing a nice simple turtle program for a demo in my Programming I class. In old school Logo hiding the turtle made the drawing go much faster, the turtle did not have to be drawn. I have tried Turtle.Hide() with no results. I wrote this:

Turtle.Show()

Turtle.Hide()

The turtle is now hidden. As soon as a turtle command is given (like Turtle.Move(100)) the turtle reappears. Is there a way of truely hiding the turtle?

how do i make a good game?

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:46:30 Z

im trying to make make a game but it keeps coming up with errors and stuff i need help!

How to unload an image from the ImageList to save memory ?

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 09:33:03 Z

I don't find any method to delete an image from the ImageList when we don't need it anymore.
Is there a way to do that ? If no, can you add a UnloadImage to the ImageList for the next version ?

Fremy - Developer in VB.NET, C# and JScript ... - Feel free to try my extension

How do you use a NOT function in Small Basic?

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:46:15 Z

I am trying to use a NOT modifier in a conditional but whenever I use the != symbols it gives me 2 errors:

('line number of conditional',1) Expected RightParens Here

and

('line number of conditional',1) Expected Conditional Here.

When I just use = then everything runs. How would you use the NOT modifier in Small Basic if possible?

Wth is going on??!

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:53:36 Z

hi! i have a problem with my code!

the smoke particles wont fade out when the particles hit the circle! emit steam thowards the circle, and see what happens!

i have abolutely no explanation why this is happening...

XMQ437

Live for nothing, OR CODE FOR SOMETHING!

Is this possible?

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 14:07:00 Z

hi! i always wondered if the following is possible, because it would be very useful!

when you look at my steam code: BPV315 you'll see that the steam only being accelerated thowards the top. but i want it to be accelerated to every direction (360 degrees)

so i would get something like this:

i can set the angle of the emitter. for example 45° and then the steam is being accelerated in that direction.

but i dont know if this is possible with the way i coded it. is it just possible if i use that formula wich moves objects by its angle??

Live for nothing, OR CODE FOR SOMETHING!

Is the code for the IDE available?

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:28:38 Z

My team is working on porting a custom language that we use internally to use the VS Shell for our IDE. But, the IDE for SmallBasic looks so much cooler and fits with the simplified language syntax we have much better. Is the IDE code for SmallBasic available for use in other projects or are there interfaces to change the syntax and parsing to be used by another language? This would be a really great "little languages" IDE. If it is not available, please consider making it available.

Project Euler Solutions

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 23:11:51 Z

This thread is dedicated for interesting project Euler solutions. Some initial attempt on project Euler solutions are available on our Wiki: http://smallbasic.com/wiki/ProjectEuler.ashx.

Problems are available at: http://projecteuler.net/index.php?section=problems

Request: Binary Safe Functions & Generalised Networking

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:21:09 Z

It seems that the Text and File objects are not binary safe. While this does not inhibit general usage it does prevent users of Small Basic from processing unknown data types and working with arbitrary binary file formats. This would add no additional complexity to the language for the typical user while greatly extending the languages capability (i.e ability to write a routine to save each pixel to a bmp file).

Also, some generalised Networking routines would also be useful. Maybe Network.Write(host, port, data) and Network.Read(host, port) which could return an array of Host, Port and Data.

The Small Basic runtime would need to maintain the connection to the server (on the given port) and provide buffering between commands to simplify the developers' interaction (i.e. avoid network handles as you have done with file handles and file i/o).
It would also be nice to allow Network.Read() or equivalent to work for 'localhost' creating a way to create a server (which I why I suggest a comprehensive array return type).

So, that is my wish list for now.

Jason.

Cannot Graduate a simple program from Small Basic to Visual Basic, missing Microsoft.SmallBasic.Library, help please?

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:49:43 Z

Well its 35 years since I last wrote any code, at that time it was assembler and C for Intel 8085 and Zilog Z80, and reading Dr Dobbs journal. As I approach retirement I thought I'd start again with Microsoft Basic and then see how I progress. I know I have a lot of catching up to do. Anyway, I tried to "Graduate" the following Small Basic code segment into Visual Basic 2008 Express:

GraphicsWindow.BackgroundColor = "Black"
i = 1
While i < 1000
x = Math.GetRandomNumber(640)
y = Math.GetRandomNumber(480)
For z = 200 To 10 Step -10
    GraphicsWindow.BrushColor = GraphicsWindow.GetRandomColor()
    GraphicsWindow.FillEllipse(x-z/2, y-z/2, z, z)
EndFor
Program.Delay(500)
EndWhile

Within Visual Basic 2008 Express the following code was generated:

Module Rob_Circles_18th_Nov_09Module
    Dim i, x, y, z As Primitive
    Sub Main()
        GraphicsWindow.BackgroundColor = "Black"
        i = 1
        While i < 1000
            x = Microsoft.SmallBasic.Library.Math.GetRandomNumber(640)
            y = Microsoft.SmallBasic.Library.Math.GetRandomNumber(480)
            For z = 200 To 10 Step -10
                GraphicsWindow.BrushColor = GraphicsWindow.GetRandomColor()
                GraphicsWindow.FillEllipse(x - (z / 2), y - (z / 2), z, z)
            Next
            Program.Delay(500)
        End While

    End Sub
End Module

I then tried to build the application and run it from the Visual Basic 2008 environment, and the basic problem is this:

Warning    1    Namespace or type specified in the project-level Imports 'Microsoft.SmallBasic.Library' doesn't contain any public member or cannot be found. Make sure the namespace or the type is defined and contains at least one public member. Make sure the imported element name doesn't use any aliases.    Rob_Circles_18th_Nov_09

I'm stuck at this point because I can't find any Microsoft.Smallbasic.Library extension for the Visual Basic 2008 environment. Please can anyone help me?

Thanks,
Rob

Flickr Problem

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 19:20:34 Z

Hello!
I am just starting with SimpleBasic and tried the examples in the "Introducing..." manual. The Flickr example is working fine:

GraphicsWindow.BackgroundColor = "Black"
GraphicsWindow.MouseDown = OnMouseDown

Sub OnMouseDown
pic = Flickr.GetRandomPicture("urban")
GraphicsWindow.DrawImage(pic, 0, 0)
EndSub

However, if I replace "urban" with "xsdcvf9" [I tagged one of my photos on Flickr as "xsdcvf9" (just to create an unique tag)] the SmallBasic example is not working: no photo gets displayed. I can find my picture via the Flickr homepage though.

What do I do wrong?

Thanks,

Functions in Small Basic

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:31:38 Z

Are there plans to add standard functions to Small Basic? I would like to be able to write functions that accept an argument list, rather than pass global variables to sub procedures.

SOkoCUTE released.

Sun, 27 Sep 2009 19:37:38 Z

A Soko-Ban clone in SB.

Not perfect, but its SB:
Download-Link

Code will follow next week. I should remove some comments first. Dont expect too much from the code behind. Its as ugly as it can be ;-)

Have fun. Try it. And feel free to give me some feedback.

Very Useful Steam Code

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 18:16:09 Z

hi!
i tought i should share this with you guys.

maybe you know my old steam/smoke code from my old projects or my project compilation. ive now coded it that way, to be able to set and calculate the smoke particle amount in real time. for example:

if 10 smoke sprites are visible, just 5 will be calculated. once they disappeared, 0 will be calculated.

Import code: TFJ965

ive still got 1 little bug. to just calculate the steam sprites, i used 2 variables: Steam_Old, and Steam_New.

Steam_Old is the number of the Sprite that just Disappeared.
Steam_New is the number of the sprite wich has just spawned.

now it runs the code for the smoke for all the smoke objects inbetween of Steam_Old and Steam_New.
you can check the Steam_Old,Steam_New Variables and the amount of sprites being drawn, in the textwindow. but the strange thing is that Steam_Old always becomes greater by 1 than Steam_New, wich results that the amount of sprites on-screen is -1. i hope someone can help me to fix this!

also, if someone knows a way to optimize this even more, then please tell me!

EDIT:

I added the new version of the code!

Live for nothing, OR CODE FOR SOMETHING!

Cosine and Sine Formula Wanted

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 16:58:15 Z

hi!

following.

i need a formula that can calculate the direction of an object thowards another pixel. for example to make a box move thowards the mouse. (with an angle and stuff. not this: Insect_X[i] = Insect_X[i] + (Mouse_X - Insect_X[i]) * 0.05) )

Live for nothing, OR CODE FOR SOMETHING!

relative paths?

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:20:23 Z

is there a way to get Sound.PlayAnsWait("song.mp3") to work rather then typing the full path?
or is there a code to find the .exe's current path in the file system (detect what folder its in)

Small Basic 0.7 BUGs

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 11:18:04 Z

The small basic version 0.7 still does not write '*' on Hungarian keyboard. Insted of changing the size of letters!
(AltGr -)

Small Basic Solar System Simulator

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:58:02 Z

Just a bunch of coloured filled circles that follow an elliptical path around a yellow filled circle (the sun).

Does anybody have any ideas on how to improve this? Is there a simple way to alter the draw order, so that outer-planets
appear 'outer'?

Currently, sometimes a planet with a small orbit radius can appear to be on top of planets that have a
larger orbit radius, and it looks really weird. Any ideas are appreciated.

Geoff.

Get it at ... http://smalbasic.com/program/?VKP168

Or enter this code into Small Basic: VKP168

Here's the source ...

'----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
'   Microtronix - Solar System Simulator for MS Small Basic v0.7
'   by Geoff Williams - 4/11/2009 - Freeware
'   This graphic demo appears in my music video "Haunted House" at www.youtube.com/zylascope
'   www.cdbaby.com/all/zylascope
'   plethora at nsw.chariot.net dot au
'   http://smalbasic.com/program/?VKP168
'----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

GraphicsWindow.Width=1300
GraphicsWindow.Height=750
GraphicsWindow.BackgroundColor="black"
GraphicsWindow.Title="Microtronix - Solar System Simulator"
GraphicsWindow.Show()
x=GraphicsWindow.Width/2
y=GraphicsWindow.Height/2

While (1=1)
numOfPlanets=Math.GetRandomNumber(9)
delay=Math.GetRandomNumber(100)+50
GraphicsWindow.BrushColor="white"
GraphicsWindow.Clear()
GraphicsWindow.DrawText((GraphicsWindow.Width/2)-30,20,numOfPlanets + " planet system.")

'generate planets properties using random values...
For i=1 To numOfPlanets
    Array.setvalue ("planetRadius",i,Math.GetRandomNumber(600)+30)
    Array.setvalue("planetAngle",i,Math.GetRandomNumber(360))
    Array.setvalue("planetAngleInc",i,math.GetRandomNumber(3) + 1)
    Array.setvalue("planetSize",i,Math.GetRandomNumber(90)+10)
    Array.setvalue("planetColor",i,GraphicsWindow.GetColorFromRGB(Math.GetRandomNumber(255),Math.GetRandomNumber(255),Math.GetRandomNumber(255)))
EndFor

For loops=1 To 400

      'draw the sun first before the planets are drawn so it looks like the planets are in front of the sun, when the planet size is big
      GraphicsWindow.BrushColor="yellow"
      GraphicsWindow.FillEllipse(x,y,80,80)

      For z=1 To numOfPlanets
        'calc planet size based on angle...
        'make planet smaller if between 90-270 degrees
        If Array.getvalue("planetAngle",z) > 90 And Array.getvalue("planetAngle",z) < 270 Then
          planetsize = math.Round(Array.getvalue("planetSize",z) * math.Abs(Array.getvalue("planetAngle",z) - 180) / 100)
          If planetsize = 0 Then
            planetsize = 1
          EndIf
        EndIf
        'make planet bigger if between 270-360 1-90 degrees'
        If Array.getvalue("planetAngle",z) > 270 And Array.getvalue("planetAngle",z) <= 360 Then
          planetsize = Math.Round(Array.getvalue("planetSize",z) * (1 + (Array.getvalue("planetAngle",z) - 270) / 100)) '
          If planetsize = 0 Then
            planetsize = 1
          EndIf
        EndIf
        'make planet bigger if between 1-90 degrees
        If Array.getvalue("planetAngle",z) > 0 And Array.getvalue("planetAngle",z) <= 90 Then
          planetsize= Math.Round(Array.getvalue("planetSize",z) * (1 + (90 - Array.getvalue("planetAngle",z)) / 100))
          If planetsize = 0 Then
            planetsize = 1
          EndIf
        EndIf

        'draw planets...
        GraphicsWindow.BrushColor=Array.getvalue("planetColor",z)
        GraphicsWindow.FillEllipse(x+Array.getvalue("planetRadius",z)*Math.Sin(math.GetRadians(Array.getvalue("planetAngle",z))),y+Array.getvalue("planetRadius",z)*math.Cos(math.GetRadians(Array.getvalue("planetAngle",z)))*.2,planetsize,planetsize)

        'calc new values...
        Array.setvalue("planetAngle",z,Array.getvalue("planetAngle",z) + Array.getvalue("planetAngleInc",z))
        If Array.getvalue("planetAngle",z) < 0 Then
          Array.setvalue("planetAngle",z,Array.getvalue("planetAngle",z) + 360)
        EndIf
        If Array.getvalue("planetAngle",z) > 360 Then
          Array.setvalue("planetAngle",z,Array.getvalue("planetAngle",z) - 360)
        EndIf
      EndFor

      Program.Delay(delay)
      'For t=1 to 5000
      'delay loop. If I use program.delay(delay) above, then the graphics don't flicker as much
      'EndFor

      'GraphicsWindow.Clear()
      'draw a black filled rectangle over the screen area taken up by the orbiting planets, this flickers less than .Clear()
      GraphicsWindow.BrushColor="black"
      GraphicsWindow.FillRectangle(0,250,1300,450)
EndFor
Endwhile

Can multiple SB .exe's run at same time?

Wed, 24 Dec 2008 22:14:30 Z

I have an idea about being able to pull up multiple graphic and/or text windows.

I was thinking how cool it would look to be in a game where a separate window pops up to either show an alert or some other data (maybe you're a spy and your boss is sending you a message on a secure network channel?).
...and as the game progresses and becomes harder these windows would start popping up and maybe (fake) 'video feeds' would have snow to give player the feeling of 'what the heck is going on here?'

Maybe one graphic window per robot being controlled and the window wouldn't come up until you activate the robot.

What ever the scenario, I know that with one program running, you can have one graphic window and one text window.
Is there a way to run a second, third, and maybe fourth program from any of the SB program(s) already running and at the same time?
I figure values could be passed, if need be, through .txt files.

So;
1) can more than one SB program run at the same time,
and if so,
2) can one of the running SB programs start another SB program?

This sounds like one of those things that goes beyond the scope of Small Basic.

It's not working when I press ctrl + tab

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 03:29:35 Z

there are nothing to meessage.... what can I do? even I didn't saving ;(

Small Basic Expansions

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:30:00 Z

I'm new to exploring Small Basic, but I've already read a number of posts regarding various unofficial Expansions for it.

It seems a good idea to me that it would make good sense for a single open-source Expansion to be created in some location (like google code) that contains all the various Expansions from third parties.

This way, as a newbie to Small Basic, it would be possible to install a single expansion to get all the community desired features missing from the core package.

Any thoughts, or offers to do this?

Change ball color in Paddle

Thu, 19 Feb 2009 20:27:32 Z

In the simple paddle game in "Introducing Small Basic" is it possible to change the color of the ball by changing the property of the ball? As a learning exercise I want to change the color of the ball with each bounce. At present the only way I can see to change the ball color is to redraw the ball at the bounce location and use the Graphicswindow.Brushcolor. I am thinking that since the ball is not an object there is no slick way of using any ball property. It would be nice to have something like Shapes.Color(ball, "red"). I am getting lazy in my old age.

Full Screen

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 10:24:19 Z

Hello Everybody.

Is it possible to set GraphicsWindow in Full Screen Mode?

Thanks a lot