Bugs to Fix for Version 1.1 (continued)

Question

Shapes.addtext crashes if you dont make the graphicswindow show first.

Like this. one line program.

Shapes.AddText("Hello")

---

Zock77

Answer 1

Continued from: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/smallbasic/thread/8ff78a9c-f579-4aa9-a71f-e50a0a4af7e7

All of these crashes when 'GraphicsWindow hasn't been set before methods that require it are used' are the same. 

For each and every method that requires a GraphicsWindow an internal SmallBasic check needs to be made for its existence first - in some cases this is done in some it isn't.

The bugfixes are straightforward for the SB developers, but until then, always create a GW first.

Answer 2

There is a bug in the German Translation.

If I click on SetSize, will on the right side shown the introduction for this order. But there is a bug. Under the point "width" is written that:

Die Höhe eines Steuerelements.

But it must be:

Die Breite eines Steuerelements.

Please fix this.

Controls.SetSize

---

Ich bin Neu

Answer 3

I don't think there will ever be a v1.1.

If there will be a v1.1, it won't be soon.

Answer 4

It's dead now... So bad MS

---

They say working hard is good but i say working smart is best...

Answer 5

To me it is sad that Microsoft is just letting Small Basic sit on a shelf.  They have 1 person leave the company and the product essentially stops in it's tracks.  I know there were many people that worked on this product other than the person that left and I would think that one of them would pickup the flag and carry it to the finish line.  I think it's a really great concept and that it just wouldn't be in Microsoft's best interest to just let it die.

 

---

JR

Answer 6

In all honesty apart from very minor bugs does SmallBasic really need a V1.1? It has an endless possibility by extending the language. I just wish there was more interest in creating more extensions. I see alot of people throwing some good ideas out there, like 3d and networking, we also have some very useful extensions already like box2D by litdev.

We have a great foundation and the ability to build on top.

Answer 7

Who left and when??

Answer 8

I think it was Vijaye Raji who left to work for FaceBook. I don't know when though.

Answer 9

Thank you for the information.  We will miss Mr. Raji!

Answer 10

Not a bug, but 'lack of functionality'. We tried to drag'n drop a smallbasic-.sb-file

from Explorer-Window into SmallBasic-Window.

It doesn't do that. "Why?", the kids ask me now. I can't tell

OK, Microsoft 'Why doesn't it do that?'

Answer 11

This is not a bug.

When you use a graphics window, usually we must write like below. 

GraphicsWindow.Hide()
GraphicsWindow.Top=10
GraphicsWindow.Left=50
GraphicsWindow.Width=1200
GraphicsWindow.Height=650
GraphicsWindow.BackgroundColor="Darkgreen"
GraphicsWindow.BrushColor="Lightcyan"
GraphicsWindow.PenColor="Red"
GraphicsWindow.PenWidth=5
GraphicsWindow.FontName="Gothic"
GraphicsWindow.FontSize=35
GraphicsWindow.FontItalic="True"
GraphicsWindow.FontBold="False"

GraphicsWindow.DrawRectangle(90,190,300,80)
GraphicsWindow.DrawText(100,200,"Test Message")
GraphicsWindow.Show()

How about simplify like this?

GraphicsWindow.GWSet("False",10,50,1200,650,"Darkgreen","Lightcyan","Red",5)
GraphicsWindow.FontSet("Gothic",35,"True","False")
  .................

GraphicsWindow.Show()

Answer 12

Is this SB's bug? or SilverLight's bug?  Triangle mistery?

Left picture ; local PC   right picture ;silverlight     Try PMS516. 

Answer 13

In the spirit of improving what I consider a wonderful product, I find the "Help" window really qute annoying. Once you've typed the "." after an object name, the options for that object disppear, and don't come back unless you retype the object. And the "wheel" is unhelpful as you can't see all the properties/methods available. Maybe an actual help menu, which can be searched, or at least with contents woul dbe a nice addition?

Answer 14

I agree with Roninmujician, the Intellisense-behaviour is annoying and the handling of SmallBasic is not user-friendly at all.

If a method is typed in, the Intellisense-thing'o'magic shows some sparsely help for that method, if it comes to type the arguments for the method, the "help" fades out and does not help at all. The user has to go back withh the cursor to count the arguments or to check out what they stand for.  If one tries to edit/debug the code and move around in code-window using arrow keys that wheel blocks the movement, so the user has to grab for the mouse to click somewhere outside the Itellnosense to get free again. There should be some switch to turn it off.

A real offline-help file like in good old *.chm-format would be very useful - even more: is urgently needed. It does not help browsing classes and methods with that wheel to find a certain command or function - if the code contains 50 or more variables it needs almost a minute to scroll that whole wheel through once and it does not tell which class or method to pick or combine to solve a certain problem. An opened help-window would at least stay at the position the user chose, to display the desired information as long a the user needs it.

Program overview is - to express it friendly - "poor" - finding a certain position in some longer code (maybe 150 lines and above) is really time-killing and that slows writing code measurably down. There should be some "listings-overview" (a listbox, dropdown-list or whatever) where all subs and jumpmarkers of the current code are listed in. If the user clicks on one oft the listed items, maybe the name of a sub or some jump-marker it should directly show this (sub or  jump-marker) in code-window. Additional it could list on demand all user-variables and if the user clicks on that variables name, the code-window should show the next appearance of it.

What's also bugging me is the implementation of the useless keyword "then". While-clauses work fine without a similar keyword. And if I forgot it the compiler complains and tells me where exactly a "then" is missing instead of putting it in. But I know (and I always tell the kids)  that's not the computer that's so stupid, someone programmed it that way. Now at least the oldest has a goal in life: He wants to become a famous programmer like Bill Gates and create an user-friendly environment that's appropriate for children. 

---

The whole data on the internet is saved in 540.000.000.000.000.000.000.000.000 electrons, which is as much as a handful of peanuts

Answer 15

I believe that that's Silverlight's bug because it doesn't know how to move lines or triangles so it ends up putting them in unexpected places.

---

I am a 10 year old that loves math, games, and computers. 'Binary is as easy as 1, 10, 11.'

Answer 16

Local (Small Basic IDE) vs Remote (Silverlight)

I'd like to introduce known issues about behavior difference between Small Basic IDE and smallbasic.com with Silverlight run time environment in this article.  I'm going to maintenance this article.

1. Default GraphicsWindow.BrushColor is "#6A5ACD" in local but "#88AACC" in remote
2. GraphicsWindow.DrawRectangle() is as smaller as GraphicsWindow.PenWidth in remote
3. GraphicsWindow.GetPixel() returns "#rrggbb"in local but “#FFrrggbb” in remote
4. GraphicsWindow.GetPixel(x, y) doesn’t work properly if x or y has after decimal point in remote
5. GraphicsWindow.MouseX and GraphicsWindow.MouseY don’t return integer in remote
   
6. Setting to GraphicsWindow.FontSize or GraphicsWindow.PenWidth sometimes happen before previous drawing statements in remote
   
7. GraphicsWindow.TextInput() doesn't work in remote
   
8. ImageList.GetHeightOfImage() and ImageList.GetWidthOfImage() return zeros in remote
   
9. Program.Delay() is needed in loop in remote
10. Shapes.Rotate() rotates triangle and line at center in local but at corner in remote
11. Sound.PlayMusic() and Sound.Play() doesn’t work in remote
12. TextWindow.CursorLeft and TextWindow.CursorTop can’t be set in remote

And following facts must be specification.

• Line with File object statement will be commented out in remote
• Extension doesn't work in remote
• Sound of Sound.PlayClick() is different between local and remote

---

Nonki Takahashi

Answer 17

I'm going to unsticky this thread.

It's potentially valuable for the future of Small Basic (so we should continue this discussion and similar discussions), but it's not currently applicable.

The roadmap of Small Basic is undetermined at this time. We’ll provide an update after our plans have been finalized. Until then, the blog and forum will focus on the education and information about the current version of Small Basic and on continuing to build the community around it.

Thanks!

---

Ed Price (a.k.a User Ed), SQL Server Customer Program Manager (Blog, Twitter, Wiki)

Answer 18

This thread also has a lot of bugs: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-GB/smallbasic/thread/6b01a3d7-f7ad-4d5a-b803-40c00ee8fde1

---

Ed Price (a.k.a User Ed), SQL Server Customer Program Manager (Blog, Small Basic, Wiki Ninjas, Wiki)

Answer an interesting question? Create a wiki article about it!

Answer 19

I wrote this topic (local vs remote) into TechNet Wiki.  And in the future, I'll write about workarounds for these issues.

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/16042.small-basic-difference-between-local-and-remote.aspx

---

Nonki Takahashi

Answer 20

For the may Small Basic Challenge 2 I wrote:

SNX971

Which works.  But when I wrote it, I wrote the subs first, like this:

HPK219

And then tried to write in my for loop.  It comes out like this:

hpk219-0

When I put in the for loop after writing my subs, intellisense wouldn't recognize the getDigits() sub, or the EndFor command.  Intellisense did recognize the other two subs, though, and the For command. 

Also, the editor didn't auto-format the indentations like normal.

---

Allen

Answer 21

Please make sure your known issues are listed here:

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/24082.known-issues-about-microsoft-small-basic-v1-0.aspx

Thanks!

---

Ed Price, Azure & Power BI Customer Program Manager (Blog, Small Basic, Wiki Ninjas, Wiki)

Answer an interesting question? Create a wiki article about it!