SOME CLARIFICATIONS...
Posted: Sat Mar 27, 2010 3:18 am
Hi All,
Some time ago, Grigory posted a document in this forum.
That document signal the allegedly minigui ext. enhancements over HMG.
As I've stated publicly in this forum too, IMHO, such document is inaccurate in many aspects and (more important) it contains (marketing style) misleading information.
With "misleading information", I mean that in some cases, the facts about some minigui ext. features are exposed in such way, that the reader could assume that such things are not present in HMG, but that is not always true.
Remember that the theme/spirit of that document is (basically) to signal things that minigui ext. has (or can do) that HMG don't.
The document is very extensive and a detailed review would require a lot of time. So, I'm going to talk about of some of the most outstanding cases of misleading information and/or "unintentional mistakes":
1. "BUTTONEX control - so-called OwnerDraw Buttons implementation with support for XP Style.
This button can use images (icons or bitmaps) and text together."
In HMG there is only one BUTTON control, but it has CAPTION and PICTURE properties allowing the creation of MIXED (TEXT and IMAGE) buttons, or (if you prefer) text-only or image only buttons giving it nearly THE SAME FUNCTIONALITY.
A frequently used technique in mimigui ext., is to add controls with the same functionality that existing ones, but with some new properties to give them additional features.
2. "COMBOBOXEX control - combobox which support of images for items"
Again... there is only one COMBOBOX in HMG, but it has the IMAGE property that allows (optionally) add images to the items, giving it THE SAME FUNCTIONALITY IN ONLY ONE CONTROL (as in BUTTONS).
3. "DEFINE FOLDER command. A Folder allows the user to define multiple pages for the same area of dialog box from resources and without using resources."
Again, again...
Although FOLDER uses a very different (dialog based) approach and API calls, it provide a nearly SIMILAR FUNCTIONALITY THAT THE TAB CONTROL, but with the DISADVANTAGE that it could require some LOW LEVEL KNOWLEDGE to be handled and an overall more complex code.
4. "COMBOBOX - property 'ListWidth' for definition a width of dropdown list, <...> events ON LISTDISPLAY and ON LISTCLOSE."
HMG COMBOBOX includes the following:
- DROPPEDWIDTH PROPERTY (equivalent to ListWidth)
- ON DROPDOWN EVENT (equivalent to On ListDisplay)
- ON CLOSEUP EVENT (equivalent to On ListClose)
Giving it THE SAME FUNCTIONALITY in these aspects.
5. "Windows Clipboard support:<...>CopyToClipboard(cText) <...> RetriveTextFromClipboard()->cText"
HMG INCLUDES System.Clipboard object providing SIMILAR FUNCTIONALITY.
6. "The IMAGE BUTTON control with bitmap use mask, created on the fly, for disabled button state."
HMG includes SIMILAR FUNCTIONALITY for IMAGE BUTTONS.
7. "PropSheet library support"
Like DEFINE FOLDER, another somewhat difficult/low level artifact providing dialog-based TAB CONTROL like FUNCTIONALITY.
8. "The ReadOnly state of EDIT controls family (TEXT & EDIT) preserve userdefined FontColor and BackColor properties. We can also define these properties as array of RGB arrays {aEnabled,aReadonly}."
According a minigui ext. screen-shot posted recently for a sample from Luigi, when you specify only a backcolor and a fontcolor, the same color pair is used for normal and read-only state, overriding the system default colors for read-only state. As I've already stated, IMHO this a MISTAKEN behavior.
DisabledBackColor and DisabledFontColor properties were added to HMG before that Grigory posted the 'diff' document, providing SIMILAR (in fact BETTER) FUNCTIONALITY.
9. "The ACTIVATE WINDOW command supports an optional NOWAIT clause."
SIMILAR OVERALL FUNCTIONALITY is achieved in HMG with the ACTIVATE WINDOW ALL scheme and multiple windows activation.
These schemes are meant to reduce the WAIT STATES in the program, not being one to one for each defined window, driving the programmer to create an easier to debug/maintain code than the one created using NOWAIT.
10. "DEFINE DIALOG command - create a Dialog Box from resources or without using resources:"
DIALOGS, basically ARE WINDOWS that are created with different API CALLS than standard ones.
They are nearly indistinguishable from standard windows for an user, with the disadvantage (as in FOLDERS and PROPSHEET) that they requires more complex coding and some low level knowledge.
SIMILAR FUNCTIONALITY is provided by DEFINE WINDOW command in HMG.
To be continued...
Some time ago, Grigory posted a document in this forum.
That document signal the allegedly minigui ext. enhancements over HMG.
As I've stated publicly in this forum too, IMHO, such document is inaccurate in many aspects and (more important) it contains (marketing style) misleading information.
With "misleading information", I mean that in some cases, the facts about some minigui ext. features are exposed in such way, that the reader could assume that such things are not present in HMG, but that is not always true.
Remember that the theme/spirit of that document is (basically) to signal things that minigui ext. has (or can do) that HMG don't.
The document is very extensive and a detailed review would require a lot of time. So, I'm going to talk about of some of the most outstanding cases of misleading information and/or "unintentional mistakes":
1. "BUTTONEX control - so-called OwnerDraw Buttons implementation with support for XP Style.
This button can use images (icons or bitmaps) and text together."
In HMG there is only one BUTTON control, but it has CAPTION and PICTURE properties allowing the creation of MIXED (TEXT and IMAGE) buttons, or (if you prefer) text-only or image only buttons giving it nearly THE SAME FUNCTIONALITY.
A frequently used technique in mimigui ext., is to add controls with the same functionality that existing ones, but with some new properties to give them additional features.
2. "COMBOBOXEX control - combobox which support of images for items"
Again... there is only one COMBOBOX in HMG, but it has the IMAGE property that allows (optionally) add images to the items, giving it THE SAME FUNCTIONALITY IN ONLY ONE CONTROL (as in BUTTONS).
3. "DEFINE FOLDER command. A Folder allows the user to define multiple pages for the same area of dialog box from resources and without using resources."
Again, again...
Although FOLDER uses a very different (dialog based) approach and API calls, it provide a nearly SIMILAR FUNCTIONALITY THAT THE TAB CONTROL, but with the DISADVANTAGE that it could require some LOW LEVEL KNOWLEDGE to be handled and an overall more complex code.
4. "COMBOBOX - property 'ListWidth' for definition a width of dropdown list, <...> events ON LISTDISPLAY and ON LISTCLOSE."
HMG COMBOBOX includes the following:
- DROPPEDWIDTH PROPERTY (equivalent to ListWidth)
- ON DROPDOWN EVENT (equivalent to On ListDisplay)
- ON CLOSEUP EVENT (equivalent to On ListClose)
Giving it THE SAME FUNCTIONALITY in these aspects.
5. "Windows Clipboard support:<...>CopyToClipboard(cText) <...> RetriveTextFromClipboard()->cText"
HMG INCLUDES System.Clipboard object providing SIMILAR FUNCTIONALITY.
6. "The IMAGE BUTTON control with bitmap use mask, created on the fly, for disabled button state."
HMG includes SIMILAR FUNCTIONALITY for IMAGE BUTTONS.
7. "PropSheet library support"
Like DEFINE FOLDER, another somewhat difficult/low level artifact providing dialog-based TAB CONTROL like FUNCTIONALITY.
8. "The ReadOnly state of EDIT controls family (TEXT & EDIT) preserve userdefined FontColor and BackColor properties. We can also define these properties as array of RGB arrays {aEnabled,aReadonly}."
According a minigui ext. screen-shot posted recently for a sample from Luigi, when you specify only a backcolor and a fontcolor, the same color pair is used for normal and read-only state, overriding the system default colors for read-only state. As I've already stated, IMHO this a MISTAKEN behavior.
DisabledBackColor and DisabledFontColor properties were added to HMG before that Grigory posted the 'diff' document, providing SIMILAR (in fact BETTER) FUNCTIONALITY.
9. "The ACTIVATE WINDOW command supports an optional NOWAIT clause."
SIMILAR OVERALL FUNCTIONALITY is achieved in HMG with the ACTIVATE WINDOW ALL scheme and multiple windows activation.
These schemes are meant to reduce the WAIT STATES in the program, not being one to one for each defined window, driving the programmer to create an easier to debug/maintain code than the one created using NOWAIT.
10. "DEFINE DIALOG command - create a Dialog Box from resources or without using resources:"
DIALOGS, basically ARE WINDOWS that are created with different API CALLS than standard ones.
They are nearly indistinguishable from standard windows for an user, with the disadvantage (as in FOLDERS and PROPSHEET) that they requires more complex coding and some low level knowledge.
SIMILAR FUNCTIONALITY is provided by DEFINE WINDOW command in HMG.
To be continued...
It's a family of like minded people 