PPL beta 0.9 will be released this week

[kornalius]

As a nice Christmas gift for the PPL users, version 0.9 beta will be released this Thursday. I decided to skip the final 0.8 beta release and go directly to 0.9 since there are so many new features added.

I will post a list of changes since 09.09.2005 version 0.8 soon, be prepared it's shocking long!

[kornalius]

Here is the list of changes so far:

- GameAPI never fullscreen on the PC in demos.
- Fixed runtime error with PUBLIC/PRIVATE of global variables.
- Fixed bug where local variables being moved to global wouldn't create all structure variables.
- Fixed bug with LCopy.
- Fixed Classes.ini file.
- PIDE fixed reopen menu list bug.
- Fixed pocketfrog to support images bigger than 8192 pixels.
- Fixed FPS limitation bug.
- Fixed GameAPI.ppl to allow PC to support variable resolutions.
- Fixed sprite collision error when sprites are not moved.
- Fixed spirte collision check when SO_PIXELCHECK and not.
- Fixed runtime error dialog to deactivate WndProc calls.
- Optimized compiler and parser.
- Many PASM fixed.
- Optimized garbage collector.
- Fixed concat() function memory leak.
- Fixed Console.ppl, Write() and Writeln() functions.
- Fixed collision detection to calculate angled sprite's rectangle.
- Fixed NewCollisionGrid() bug.
- Fixed FOR statement when starting value is smaller than ending value.
- Sprites are not created with SO_CANCELSPEEDX, SO_CANCELSPEEDY anymore.
- New sprite's options: SO_TOP, SO_BOTTOM, SO_LEFT, SO_RIGHT to limit collisions to certain side only.
- Fixed sprite's angle to be clockwise.
- Removed SO_FIXED and replaced by SO_FIXEDX, SO_FIXEDY.
- Fixed source code formatter in PIDE.
- Fixed memory leak in sprintf() function.
- Optimized particle system.
- Reprogrammed parser to have a cleaner and better operators order.
- Updated Particle.ppl demo.
- Fixed internal Wide
- Fixed bug with SpriteAngle() function.
- Fixed bug in PIDE when exiting, it was asking to save the same document over and over.

- Support for ActiveX visual components, event triggering is not implemented yet.
- Support for user defined load (via load.ppl).
- Support for 64bits integer values.
- New SpriteFirstFrame() and SpriteLastFrame() functions.
- New RandomSet() function.
- New SetSpriteCollideRect() function.
- New ClearSpriteChildren() function.
- New SetSpriteVelocity() function.
- New TLONG and TUINT types support.
- New SpriteVisible() function.
- New SetSpriteSpeedLimits() function, to limit sprite's speed.
- New SO_BOUNCE sprite's option, to have sprite bounced without physics applied.
- If string within ' ' it is treated as an eval code.
- % operator to concatenate strings.
- Support for array of objects.
- Possible to create struct inside another struct.
- CASE statement supports multiple values.
- PASM now supports BYTE/WORD statement.
- Find() function now supports structs and numeric values.
- New #DEASM command for the PASM.


The PPL Editor and Visual Form Builder for the PocketPC have been enhanced a great deal too. They are really nice to use. Maybe Brad can give us an update?

[bmanske]

I sat down this morning to write this and got started by looking through my email for the last month or so and 20 minutes just dissappeared. It is amazing the volume of email we have generated.

Here is the short list...

Main PPL interface:
- Added Most Recently Used Menus for Run, Compile, Make EXE and Edit.
- Added an option dialog box. Startup Directory added.

Editor:
- Added Procedure List for .PPL files. Shows all Proc, Func, NProc & NFunc in a dialog and allows you to jump directly to the begining of the proc or function. Allow sorting of the list by line number or function name.
- File names passed from Main are now stored in the Most Recently Used Lists
- Changed the Run and Compile sub-menus to have a select option

Visual Form Builder:
- Added Procedure List for .PPL files. See Editor for more...
- Added Grid Size option.
- Updated drawing procedures so you get a better idea of the form layout.
- Adds "UNKNOWN" as a control that gets displayed with a light reg background. Displayed for the controls that this version doesn't know about yet.
- Added the ComboBox control.
- Added support for forms that are not full screen like the Find Dialog in the Editor.
- Added support for showing the form with fonts and sizes specified in the .FRM file.
- Added Select All and Comment Code to make the VFB editor more like Editor.
- Added the ListBox control
- Added the ability to resize forms
- Fixed screen redraw to only update when needed
- Lots of fixes to the PPL code generation. Code should be nearly identical to code generated by PIDE.
- XLATE PPL sub-menu added to the file menu. A "select..." with MRU list for translating a FRM to PPL without loading the form.

Two points about these lists that Kornalius and I have posted. First, things aren't always as they seem. For example, the fix to classes.ini on Kornalius list, fixes problems with the ListView component. So, even though we haven't listed a specific problem you may have had, It might actually be on the list of fixes.

Second, even though we haven't specifically listed a fix, that doesn't mean that it didn't get fixed. Looking back through my email, I saw fixes for component libraries, updates to Windows.PPL, new libraries like Font.PPL, features that didn't get listed like startup state reporting (animated splash screens - so new I haven't tested it), a fix that made order of #include files less important and fixes for precidence of operators.

I am probably guilty of such oversights on my list above...

In addition to chasing bugs, and working on VFB, I have been breaking PASM every chance that I get. While I wouldn't recomend that anyone start a major project with it, if you have some interest in assembly code, please try it out. Since Kornalius first uleashed it on you, it has gained...
- the ability to import files into the assembly code so that you don't need to write the same code over and over.
- the ability to call some PPL internal functions
- the ability to call some PPL external functions
- optimized stack frames
- a macro like function call ability that automatically sets the stack frames
- Word and Byte operands
- the ability to use local stack vars in an indirect mode
- and more...

I don't know what kind of demos that Kornalius is going to put into the distribution, but maybe I can post some of my test code if people are interested.

bmanske

[kornalius]

Hi Brad,

Thanks for the update. Wow we have gone through lots of work in the past month or so.

I unfortunately won't have a PASM demo to include in the beta release. I didn't have time for it. Feel free to post your sample codes here though.

Here a small bad news, the release might be pushed back to tomorrow instead of today! I'd rather take some extra time to make sure everything is alright because I will be going on vacation for 2 weeks after tomorrow.