Projects

Currently, most of programming projects on my site are all having something to do with REALbasic. In order to view any of the REALbasic sample projects, you should have the latest version of REALbasic, which can be found on REAL Software's site. I would suggest you download a copy of REALbasic if you haven't got it already!

Windows Functionality Suite

The Windows Functionality Suite (previously known as the Win32 Declare Library) is a collection of Windows-specific functionality that is not readily available in a free format. It is an open source collaboration that I am currently heading up to bring to users all of the specialized Windows functionality that is not included with REALbasic itself.

Advanced Graphics for Windows

Advanced Graphics for Windows is a set of over 40 REALbasic project items that exposes GDI+ graphics functionality on Windows. This powerful utility gives you access to hardware accelerated graphics operations such as anti-aliased drawing, image manipulation and much more. It is a must-have item for any serious Windows development involving graphics in REALbasic.

Service Manager

The Service Manager project was put together for my talk at REAL World 2004 about how service applications work using REALbasic. I put it together because I was tired of trying to mess around with bad command line application and script files. So the Service Manager is a GUI application that allows you to control service applications in Windows, OS X and Linux. It is an open source project, so you are welcome to download it for your own purposes.

VB Declare Converter

One question I have seen come across the various lists about REALbasic comes from people who are trying to port declares from Visual Basic into REALbasic. The declare syntax is strikingly close between the two languages, but there are some very subtle differences to watch out for. So the VB Declare Converter is a whitepaper that explains how to convert VB declares that you find online or have written yourself into RB declares. Also included with the whitepaper is an open source application that will convert declares automatically. The program isn't 100% fool-proof, but it will convert the majority of VB declares.

RegistryItem Tutorial

Many RB developers are not familiar with the power and utility of the Windows Registry, and so the RegistryItem remains an under-utilized part of the REALbasic framework. This tutorial explains what the registry is as well as how to access and modify it from a REALbasic application. It's a must-read for anyone thinking about deploying their application on Windows; people of all programming skills have something to learn from it.

Socket Read Me

This project is the definitive guide to networking in REALbasic. It covers all the changes to REALbasic's networking functionality since RB 5 and covers topics such as TCP, UDP, ServerSockets, SSLSocket and much more. While I am the main author of the read me, Lars Jensen has been kind enough to reformat and host it, so you will be redirected to the article's new home.

Screen Saver Template

If you've ever wanted to make a screensaver for Windows using REALbasic but thought you couldn't do it... then this is the template for you! It's an example project that can be put directly into your Templates folder to allow you to write a screen saver application for Windows. It includes support for the preview window, a configuration dialog as well as the main screen saver application itself. The template is an open source REALbasic project file, so you are welcome to use it without having to pay for anything.

Printing Tutorial

One thing I've seen people stumble on time and again is how to properly print from a REALbasic application. So I sat down tonight and wrote an article to accompany a sample project of mine. The article outlines printing basics such as page metrics and how to print multiple pages, and goes on to explain a bit about the StyledTextPrinter object and its uses. The example project demonstrates (with a ton of comments) how to properly print a document while keeping in mind things like the number of copies or the page range from user input.

Window Subclassing Tutorial

If you are thinking of making a custom control using REALbasic instead of writing a plugin, then one of the things you will need to learn is how to hook into the underlying messaging system so that you can properly handle events for your control. For example, you may need to know when your control is double clicked on so that you can fire an event. The act of hooking yourself into the message system for a window is called "window subclassing" and this in-depth article covers how to properly do that from REALbasic.

MenuItem Tutorial

If you've ever found yourself wanting to use a dynamic menu in your application (such as an Open Recent or Window menu), then you should check out this short tutorial. It covers the new MenuItem API (introduced in REALbasic 5.0) and demonstrates how to properly use it. If you're used to using the old-style MenuItem arrays, you should also check this out because it's a much cleaner solution than what you're used to.

Accessing the Parallel Port

If you've found that you need access to the parallel port in Windows from REALbasic, but are stuck on how to accomplish this, look no further. This quick start (and project) will show you how to use the InpOut32.dll library to access the parallel port on Windows.

Using the UnRAR SDK in REALbasic

If you're looking for the ability to decompress RAR files in REALbasic, I've created a sample project which implements the UnRAR SDK from RARLab.

Making a card game with Microsoft's Cards.dll

If you're like me and enjoy making fun card games, but hate the tedium of the graphics logic, then you'll be very interested in this simple set of classes which make use of the Microsoft Cards.dll library. The sample project includes a simple demonstrating of the classes by implementing the game "War."

Mersenne twister in REALbasic

One of the great new features of REALbasic 2006r1 is the inclusion of the new integer data types. This opens up a new realm of algorithms to be implemented in REALbasic. One such algorithm is a common, fast pseduo-random number generator, called the Mersenne twister.

REALbasic Example Projects

This is a little drop-box for various example projects I've made over the years. Don't expect any high-quality applications, pretty UIs or even comments in these samples. They're mostly just projects that I use to test various pieces of functionality within the product. You're welcome to download and modify these examples in any way you see fit.

Desktop Changer

I wanted to learn how to program in C# using the .NET framework, and the Desktop Changer was my first try. As you can imagine, the point to the application is to change your desktop wallpaper. Feel free to download the executable (obviously, it runs on Windows only, and needs the .NET framework installed) to try it out. I am also making the source code available for anyone who's interested.

Targeting Windows

As seen on O'Reilly's -- how to properly deploy an application to Windows. This article is full of excellent tips for anyone who's never published an application on Windows before, and may even have some tips in it for people who have used Windows for a long time. This article is primarily targeted at programmers who are familiar with the Mac.

Developer Resources

I have assembled an invaluable collection of resources for developers. This includes things like user interface guidelines for various platforms, API references and other online resources. It's not a place where I plug just anyone's site -- these are excellent resources that programmers should look into when starting to develop for new platforms.

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