Real Software Forums

A quick question regarding the picture property on a command button. In VB6 it is easy to set the background picture property to a control such as a command button and also on a form background itself. This makes VB6 easy to re-skin at design time simply using the IDE. Is it as easy to reskin a REAL Studio form/button at design time?

I have downloaded the trial version of REAL Studio and a picture property is not apparent. It may be just me making a mistake but some advice would be appreciated. I am looking for a healthy replacement to VB6 which I am unfortunately still using on an old project of mine.

RB apps aren't quite as easy to skin as VB6 apps using the standard controls, IMO. You can certainly implement your own custom controls using subclassed canvas controls but it's not an out of the box solution. There are a number of relatively inexpensive (if not free) 3rd party controls available but you'll have to hunt for them and really explore their capabilities and features against your requirements.

Others will disagree with this statement, but one of the things that annoys me about many Windows apps is that they are skinned so they don't look like other Windows apps. Coming from the Mac world I like having consistency across applications. Having a different skin is okay, but needs to be done rarely and for a definitive purpose (rather than just because).

The bevelButton control has an icon property which you can set.
It is fairly trivial to create buttons from a canvas class and have the button draw an icon in its paint event.
Pictures can be created from scratch using the "picture" class. One can also draw any pic in the paint event of a window, canvas, etc. Using the passed graphics object.
Just a few ideas to get you started.

Thanks for your responses chaps. As for applications not looking like standard Windows apps, well unfortunately that is exactly what I am trying to achieve, being of the school of thought that despises the standard 'Windoes' look-and-feel. Here is an example of a VB6 app that I was able to skin very easily using the VB6 IDE and Photoshop.



Skinning is really my game, so that is what I need to do right from the outset.

If I interpret your comments correctly then I think you are telling me that although it is possible to skin a Real Studio app using some methods/extensions it is not part of the standard capability of the Real Studio IDE - which probably means it is not for me. Please correct me if I am wrong. What I simply want to do is to apply a skin to a standard button and to the background form and to imagebox controls as required. Anything more complex is probably going to put me off, note that programming is my means to an end, not my profession.

I am experimenting with Jabaco (unfinished) and Kbasic. Real Studio seems a lot more finished and 'professional' with a supporting community, multi-platform capability and that is what initially attracted me - but I may be holding onto the VB6 IDE for a little longer...

Thanks for your help though.

I also have other apps that were written in Javascript and which use the Yahoo widget engine, the graphics done with Photoshop, this is the typical "look-and-feel":



I am looking for a multi-platform environment that will allow me to create this sort of app. with a transparent background and the ability to move slide it around. Ease of skinning is important.

I would definitely invest in the Overlay plugin by Monkey Bread Software if you want your controls to be standalone on a desktop with full alpha control. Without it you'll have to do some declares for each platform to control window alpha channels. Otherwise you'll have a great looking UI with an ugly window behind it.

I think investing some time into subclassed canvas controls is in your future if you pursue Real Studio. Another thing to consider is that flicker is sadly a major problem with Windows apps. Flicker can be minimized but it's very hard to totally eliminate in Windows app.

I've been in the community for 11 years and people bitched about it (flicker) back then and it's *still* a problem. Part of that is MS since they don't double buffer their windows like Mac and Linux but part of it is the RS framework. And *that* might be the real reason why not to consider Real Studio for your project.

I really appreciate the responses. Thanks Chaps! I have some thinking to do.

I'm doing a highly graphical interface. I love your designs.

If you stick an invisible label control over your buttons. you can use them to trigger your methods.
With carefully done coding, you can eliminate the windows flicker problem. I had to work hard...
But if you want to draw graphics in a canvas, and you want that to happen from somewhere rather than a paint method,
A) dim a picture the size you want
B) draw into it using the graphic object of the picutre (you can do this anywhere
C) make sure that your picture is accessed from the paint control (i.e have a variable called canvas1on as boolean, set it to off]
when the canvas1on is set true by you and you want the paint canvas to show, use this from your method

canvas1.invalidate(true)
this will draw whatever you want into the canvas without flickering

However, to clear the graphic from the canvas is another thing I am waiting for the guys on the forum to tell me.

Thanks ever so for that information - I will give it a go, I am still using the trial version of Real Studio so I need to do it quickly before it runs out, if you like my graphics then please forgive me if I post another I am doing now:



This is javascript and not VB6 though one of the reasons I am looking for a new platform is to host these sort of programs. I use the yahoo widget engine, xml and javascript but it does not currently support linux.

That is gorgeous!
You have a real talent there!
Sean

Sean, do you fancy posting a visual of your RealBasic project? It would be good to see what is being done in RB. My skills are primarily in Photoshop and I am only a VB6-er after that. My .js skills are similar to my VB skills, not great but sufficient.

I will - I'll do it tomorrow when I've got some time
Rock on

Sean, where is your post? I'd still like to see your design.

This is my latest design, I decided to stick with XML, javascript in a Yahoo widget for the moment as javascript is enough like basic so that I do not feel too far from my comfort zone. I miss an IDE though as it all has to be coded in a flat file editor. I am using Context.

I am still looking for my replacement VB6-like tool that allows me to skin from the outset using the IDE.

Sorry about the delay on that... My computer is in the shop and I'm in the process of moving cities.
I heard somewhere that RS is going to have transparency attributes on it;s windows - meaning that our design would appear o a transparent window - allowing you to make use of al the code you want in RS.

You may wan to contact RS support about this - I may have just dreamed it.