I've been buckling down the last while and worked on the WFS a bit more. One of my main goals for this release was to make it easier for beginners to work with the suite. So I split it into multiple templates (as well as one main template) and a series of external items. This way, the user just has to dump the whole kit and kaboodle into the Project Templates directory, and then the suite becomes available to them. What's more, it's easier to add to existing projects because all of the items are external. So I think I accomplished my main goal.
But there's more than just a new layout in this release. I also added a lot of new functionality. One main piece would be an entire set of VB compatibility functions. Things like SendKeys, AppActivate, etc. Basically, I took a look at the VB docs for global functions and tried to port every single one. I got most of them (though there are a few business functions I missed), and I think that'll be a boon for anyone wanting to port.
I also added a bunch of new graphics-related things. WebCam support (thanks to a user submission and a night of tweaking) so that you can display a cam stream, a Font object (as well as information on whether text is displayable in a given font, etc. I also spend a lot of time on getting better locale information. It changed from being a module which only worked with a small subset of information for the default user locale to being a class which can encompass any locale and provides a TON of information.
So while the release notes may look sparse, there was actually a ton of work put into this release, and I think it shows. Hopefully you like the results!
As usual, if you have comments, suggestions or submissions, please drop me a line!
Uh, write up idiot proof docs, then sell it.
Simple, no?
Congrats on release of v2.4! With all the changes in format and added functionality, I would have thought this would qualify as a 3.0 release :)
I don't know WHAT a 3.0 would be. :-P I suppose this could have qualified, but I've never really had a reasonable versioning road map in mind.
Could always go the road of "WFS 2006r2" :P
That'd push me to update it at least yearly. ;-) I could just name it WFS X and be done with it. :-P
Thanks for including my code, Aaron. Hope someone can benefit from it.
As far as versioning goes, you could always use build names...how about "WFS 2.4: Super Happy Fun Luck RB of Win32 with Much Joy Joy Code?"
Thanks for all the hard work Aaron. The link needs to be fixed, but I figured it out. ;)
Thanks for this, but I downloaded the Zip and it still says 2.3?!?
Is this the correct link on your site. The file says 2.3.rbp last modified on March 2006
@Ant -- the link in my blog post was broken (fixed now), but I think you got the wrong zip. The one which I download says 2.4 and modified on July 2006.
http://www.aaronballman.com/programming/REALbasic/Windows%20Functionality%20Suite.zip