Appendix A

Gambas online resources:

1. Gambas project homepage (the starting point)
http://gambas.sourceforge.net/en/main.html
2. Gambas Wiki Encclope!ia
http://gambas!oc.org/help"en
#. $anguage references %ote that these same resources (belo&' in this section) are
a(ailable offline' for our current (ersion of Gambas !istribution' if ou click the )"*
item on our Gambas +,E menu. +f ou !o that' a bro&ser &in!o& &ill open' gi(ing
access to the !ocumentation' &ithout nee!ing to ha(e a Web connection.
http://&&&.gambas!oc.org/help/comp
-his is the gate&a to !ocumentation of all Gambas2 components an! classes
!atatpes' controls' properties' metho!s' etc.
http://&&&.gambas!oc.org/help/comp"(#
-his is the same as the abo(e' but for Gambas#.
http://gambas!oc.org/help/lang
-his is the $anguage +n!e. for Gambas2. +t inclu!es an /(er(ie& section an! an
+n!e. 0 %ame for ke&or!s an! functions.
http://gambas!oc.org/help/lang"(#
-his is the same as the abo(e' but for Gambas#.
1. 2onte.t help
+f ou are &riting co!e in the Gambas +,E' ou can highlight a &or! an! click on the
magnifing glass/3uestion mark icon ( )an! the +,E &ill open a help bro&ser &ith
that specific Gambas language &or! !efine!.
page 1
4. 5pecial purpose !ocuments
http://gambas!oc.org/help/!oc
-his contains !ocuments !iscussing ho& to !o a (ariet of special6purpose jobs
connecte! &ith Gambas.
http://gambas!oc.org/help/!oc"(#
-his is the same as the abo(e' but for Gambas#.
7. Gambas6relate! sites an! forums:
http://gambaslinu..eg2.fr/in!e..php"lng8en
-his &ebsite is bilingual in 9rench an! English. 5ome of the co!e samples are
!ocumente! in 9rench' others in English. -here are man useful co!e samples' some
complete programs' an! links to other forums an! blogs. %ote the chat function' ):ini
-chat*' &here ou can ask 3uestions.
http://&&&.gambasforum.com/in!e..php"
;<;5E55+,8fcc!c7e=e>1?!1a!=424?aa4?ac?4=47@boar!82.>
-his is a (er &ell6organiAe! Gambas forum' &ith a lot of participation. Great for
fin!ing a!(ice.
http://gambasra!.org/Aforum/in!e.Bhtml
<ere is another forum' &ith thousan!s of topics an! co!e e.amples' an! man
participants.
http://en.&ikibooks.org/&iki/Gambas
-his is a &iki that nee!s more submissions' but it !oes contain useful information.
http://pigasoft&are.a.&iki6site.com/in!e..php/GambasBE.amples
-his is a &iki that !iscusses techni3ues an! co!e e.amples' &ith a special focus on
games.
http://beginnersgui!etogambas.com/
-his is a Wor!;ress blog' inten!e! to support this book b allo&ing comments or
3uestions relate! to the book contents.
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Appendix B
Managing the Gambas experience:
1. Cea!6onl Gambas E.amples +n Gambas 2...' the E.ample projects
!emonstrate a lot of (aluable programming techni3ues: net&orking' barco!es' charts'
games an! me!ia' an! much more. -hese can pro(i!e the basis for our o&n great
programs' but the E.amples inclu!e! &ith the installation are )rea!6onl*' so ou canDt
(ie& the GE+ properties for the forms an! other controls. 5olution: the )rea!6onl*
propert can be remo(e! b simpl coping a project fol!er an! pasting it as a ne&
fol!er in another location. /r' ou can cop an! paste &ith a ne& name in the current
location. Ft an rate' the complete set of Gambas2 E.ample projects' &ithout the
)rea!6onl* propert' has been inclu!e! in the ,G, that accompanies this book. 5ee
the fol!er name! )Gambas2 e.amples %/- rea!6onl*.
+n the Gambas# Flpha (ersion' these projects are not' at this time of &riting' )rea!6
onl*' an! &e !onDt kno& &hether or not that &ill be true in the release (ersion of
Gambas#. <o&e(er' if ou encounter a problem' the cop6paste proce!ure mentione!
abo(e &ill probabl sol(e it.
2. ,ifferences bet&een Gambas 2... an! Gambas #... -he release !ate for
Gambas #... has not been set et. -here are a number of changes' compare! to
Gambas 2.... +f ou tr to use Gambas# to open a program &ritten in Gambas2'
Gambas &ill notif ou about this !iscrepanc' an! &ill ask ou if ou &ant to con(ert
the project to Gambas# format. +f ou repl positi(el' Gambas &ill make the
con(ersion. -his makes the project incompatible &ith Gambas2. -herefore' make a
backup cop of our Gambas2 project before ou make the con(ersion to Gambas#.
+n mo(ing from Gambas2 to Gambas#' some of the changes inclu!e simplifie! snta.'
fe&er snonms for ke&or!s an! properties' impro(e! consistenc' better G-HI
performance' an! Jt1 compatibilit. -here is a major structural change in the project
fol!ers' as sho&n in the follo&ing figures:
page 3
Figure 1- TreeView1, original project
structure under Gambas2
Figure 2- TreeView1 project structure,
converted to run under Gambas3
%ote that the filenames &ith til!e characters (K) are backup files that appear after ou
ha(e e!ite! the original program. 5et our file bro&ser to )Gie& hi!!en files* &hen
ou look insi!e a Gambas project' because most of these files an! fol!ers are hi!!en.
Flso' these tree(ie&s of -reeGie&s &ere generate! using the -reeGie& of 2hapter L.
CecursionM
page 4
+f ou con(ert a project from Gambas2 to Gambas#' there is no guarantee that it &ill
run correctl. Gambas just con(erts the project structure' as sho&n abo(e it !oes
not attempt to change our co!e to insure compatibilit' an! the programmer must
troubleshoot an nee!e! changes. %ote the &ebpage:
http://gambas!oc.org/help/!oc/gb2togb#"(#
-he page title is );orting from Gambas 2 to Gambas #*' an! the table on that page
tries to take an in(entor of all incompatible changes bet&een the t&o (ersions.
#. 2hanging the project properties after creation When ou start a ne& Gambas
project' ou respon! to a number of prompts until the project is create!. 9or e.ample'
ou ha(e an opportunit to inclu!e the components for +nternationaliAation' ,atabase
access' %et&ork programming' etc. -he configuration that ou chose at creation is not
fi.e! fore(er' therefore !onDt &orr if ou fin! later that ou nee! to a!! something' or
that a component &as unnecessar. -he );roject* menu gi(es ou a );roperties*
!ialog that allo&s ou to assign a project title (if ou !i!nDt !o that before)' change a
(ariet of options (inclu!ing translatabilit) an! check or uncheck components that &ill
be use! in the project. Nou can e(en s&itch from the Jt toolkit to G-HI' an! (ice
(ersa. +tDs a goo! i!ea to spen! some time e.ploring the top menu bar to see all of the
tools that are a(ailable to ou.
1. Can!om notes on project management from the +,E
E(er time ou e.ecute a program from the +,E' the current state of our project
&ill be temporaril sa(e! before e.ecution' an! ou &ill be able to un!o our
changes b clicking on the )back* icon.
E(er time ou )5a(e* our project' our class/form/mo!ule files &ill be up!ate!
to the current state' an! our pre(ious (ersion is sa(e! into the backup files &ith
names that inclu!e til!es (K)' as sho&n in item 2 abo(e. Ffter sa(ing' if ou run
into a serious problem' ou canDt use the )back* icon anmore' but ou can
!elete (or rename) our current class/form/mo!ule files' then rename the
backup files b remo(ing the til!es. -his restores our project con!ition prior to
the last )5a(e*.
When ou e.ecute our program from the +,E' our e!iting toolbar or ;roperties
tab &ill !isappear' an! the !ebugging toolbar &ill be acti(e. +f the interpreter
encounters an error that causes the program to freeAe' ou must terminate the
program before ou can resume e!iting. -he s3uare )5top* icon on the
!ebugging toolbar is the best &a to terminate the program an! return to e!iting.
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