Getting the ball rolling. Which VB6 projects are you working on?

True to the topic of this thread, I'd like to chat about my next coding project : War Dice. A relatively easy app thats played by two players. Player 1 rolls, then player 2 rolls. After three rounds the player with the highest score wins.

For added spice, once I've typed it in, I'm going to try and improve the dice rolling animation, by using someone else's code.

I'm using a book with the code for both the original game, and my improvement, well the programmer of the book's improvement, at least.

I'm working towards a RPG, so the dice code might work with it. Turn based, in case you were wondering. :-)

Sorry for the grammar, but you get my drift anyway : 2 programs in books go into my project as an improvement on the first one, at least.

Also apologies to the OP, but the code is VB.net compliant, and my next discussion of it will be in VB.net forum. So, uncle Bert, so long and thanks for all the fish.

I suppose it might be time for a "Getting the ball rolling. Which VB.NET projects are you working on?" but I'm not going to create that. Someone else will have to.

I can bang projects out fairly quickly now given some of Olaf's help to solve a sticking point or two. I dug out my old steampunk volume control PSD, the design of one of my first Yahoo widgets from approximately 2010-ish. A bit of hacking to the original PSD and I have a VB6 clone of my first creations.

https://www.vbforums.com/images/ieimages/2024/05/1.jpeg

https://www.vbforums.com/images/ieimages/2024/05/15.png

https://www.vbforums.com/images/ieimages/2024/05/2.jpeg

https://www.vbforums.com/images/ieimages/2024/05/3.jpeg

Today I decompile a net program, extract the C # source code to open the project, the compilation failed. Extract VB. Net source code, can not open the project. Then I created a new project and added those source code files to compile successfully. I suspect that there is a traitor inside Microsoft, just like they leaked the source code of win7 and XP.

Maybe that's why not many people use C # all the time.The number of VB. Net users is even smaller, so Microsoft has given him a complete abandonment.

Dodgy practices xiao...

I'm finalizing several components, WordProcessor (for text editing), CommonControls (some basic common controls), RibbonBar and some more Libraries (general functions for forms among other functions) for My Ecclesiastical Manager, which I'm going to create using the MCVVM-C standard architecture. So, I hope.

Ecclesiastical Manager, is that a thing? Is there a real market for this type of software? No criticism intended (my stuff is also decidedly very niche). Are you making good progress? Where do we find out more? Too many questions...

Just largely finished the coding for my Wireless signal widget. I dived into APIs concerning WLAN_CONNECTION_ATTRIBUTES and WLAN_ASSOCIATION_ATTRIBUTES in order to correlate MAC addresses extracted from WlanGetNetworkBssList with the aim of extracting link quality and supplied RSSI values. Gawd blimey, the work required! I gave up and extracted the signal quality using WlanGetAvailableNetworkList via some code suppplied by couttsj, from this forum and in the end I calculated the RSSI value myself. A ten second job rather that a week of mucking around with APIs.

https://www.vbforums.com/images/ieimages/2024/05/17.png

It looks like I'm knocking up a trinket per day but it isn't like that, I've been working hard toward this point for months. I'm just making finishing progress on the code and after that it is the documentation and the boring stuff.

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Originally Posted by yereverluvinuncleber

Ecclesiastical Manager, is that a thing? Is there a real market for this type of software? No criticism intended (my stuff is also decidedly very niche). Are you making good progress? Where do we find out more? Too many questions...

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The ecclesiastical manager is dedicated software for various functions in the church. It is fed with information, for example, registration of members, ministers, participants, visitors, cash control, banks, assets, correspondence editor, chats, control of Bible school classes, sacraments, among other things. After feeding information, it is capable of managing and offering various reports, cost centers, newsletters, financial management, suggestions on asset management, preventive inspections on vehicles, consultation on legislation, among other things related to ecclesiastical administration.

Currently I'm reading about, and getting tooled up for a rotoscope animation. Has anyone created a scrolling video game, as I'd be interested in whether you got the scrolling to as smooth as a Megadrive or not?

There are multiple games created with VB6.
Especially those using DirectX work very smooth

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Originally Posted by Arnoutdv

There are multiple games created with VB6.
Especially those using DirectX work very smooth

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That's encouraging. I'll have to work towards it.

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Originally Posted by Episcopal

The ecclesiastical manager is dedicated software for various functions in the church. It is fed with information, for example, registration of members, ministers, participants, visitors, cash control, banks, assets, correspondence editor, chats, control of Bible school classes, sacraments, among other things. After feeding information, it is capable of managing and offering various reports, cost centers, newsletters, financial management, suggestions on asset management, preventive inspections on vehicles, consultation on legislation, among other things related to ecclesiastical administration.

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Maybe use a face recognition system. With ai automatic recognition, who is the most suitable priest?

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Originally Posted by ArthurDent

That's encouraging. I'll have to work towards it.

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If you search this thread for earlier entries you will find some games development posted by theTrick that will impress you.

Games:
https://www.vbforums.com/showthread....=1#post5531397
https://www.vbforums.com/showthread....=1#post5531937
https://www.vbforums.com/showthread....=1#post5532011

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Originally Posted by Episcopal

The ecclesiastical manager is dedicated software for various functions in the church.

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Fascinating, Is it a commercial product, your own, that is already in the marketplace or are you readying it for release?

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Originally Posted by yereverluvinuncleber

Fascinating, Is it a commercial product, your own, that is already in the marketplace or are you readying it for release?

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I'm in the creation phase, architecture.

Edit: At the moment it would be free in the first versions. Or a free version, and a paid version.

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Originally Posted by xiaoyao

who is the most suitable priest?

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It would definitely be you! If you converted to Christianity.

Making gauges! Pagefile and Virtual Memory.

https://www.vbforums.com/images/ieimages/2024/05/19.png

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Originally Posted by Episcopal

I'm in the creation phase, architecture.

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So, do you have an estimated delivery date and an idea of how much work is involved? It sounds like a rather mammoth undertaking. A medieval gothic GUI sounds as if it might find a home in your project.

I did a couple of mediaeval skins a few years ago...

https://www.vbforums.com/images/ieimages/2024/05/20.png

I never used the first, and you can see why.

https://www.vbforums.com/images/ieimages/2024/05/21.png

The second was better and I might use that again.

You could put some art forward for an RPG. It's very good. I'm going at one but my time on the PC is limited, so it could be a year by the time I've finished it.

I have been asked to do some a few years ago. My problem is that I do what I enjoy rather than doing what the client wants. It doesn't always match up.

So, now I just make what I want to make and I no longer worry whether anyone likes it or not. Therefore, I can't let anyone down. Sad state of affairs but that's the way it is.

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Originally Posted by ArthurDent

so it could be a year by the time I've finished it.

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I restarted in VB6 in 2019 with my first utility, my "enhanced icon settings tool", a replacement for the same that came with Rocketdock, it took me over a year from start to finish working very part time indeed. I did everything incorrectly and had to learn as I went along. I didn't reach a fully working version of my dock until 2022! Still with loads of coding errors and design mistakes but what I learnt! Don't worry about it taking a year. I suggest that many here will take equally long with their 'magnus opus' - I know it should be magnum but I don't like advertising ice creams.

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Originally Posted by yereverluvinuncleber

I restarted in VB6 in 2019 with my first utility, my "enhanced icon settings tool", a replacement for the same that came with Rocketdock, it took me over a year from start to finish working very part time indeed. I did everything incorrectly and had to learn as I went along. I didn't reach a fully working version of my dock until 2022! Still with loads of coding errors and design mistakes but what I learnt! Don't worry about it taking a year. I suggest that many here will take equally long with their 'magnus opus' - I know it should be magnum but I don't like advertising ice creams.

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I'm just having a go at game programming. I don't eat much ice cream, but you could say my Cornetto is done, and now hopefully I can do some rewarding Basic, as I try and make a side ways scroller. I can see why in the Amiga days there is a glut of spaceship sprites, and not that many well animated character sideways scroller. No animation frames. My guess is the ratio is 2:1 spaceship Vs animated sprite scrollers. Am I just fooling myself? Because a spaceship game it's what I feel like doing after spending all evening trying to bloody trim video which has my important frames inside it.

Update . Instead of deleting the "bad" frames, I selected and extracted the "good" ones. That worked as a methodology. My next steps are some tweens to get it looking smooth.

Well. I’ve created my sprite animation, not too jerky, not a thousand frames either. I’m just guessing the frame rate until it looks ‘right’. Has anyone here got a motion capture suit. Like the Smartsuit Pro. I need a code template for the next part, to show a scrolling background with a sprite overlaid onto it. Where should I go from here, uncle Bert?

I think I might have to research some code from this forum.

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Originally Posted by ArthurDent

I think I might have to research some code from this forum.

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https://www.sourcecodester.com/visua...appy-bird.html

OK. Thanks Unc. You're my favourite poster so far. Thanks for spending time on me. Definitely on my next Xmas card list. I'll put VB6 on if I can buy a copy from eBay.

https://www.vbforums.com/images/ieimages/2024/06/6.jpeg

Making progress on my Panzer network gauge. It uses WMI to extract raw performance data. I'm happy with using WMI instead of using APIs. Modern machines are quick enough so that WMI queries have no real impact on a modern system. The sampling rate is modified by a sliding value in any case so it can query as often as or as seldom as the user requires. It uses 0.04% of the CPU on average, peaking to 0.29% when querying WMI but rising to 0.90% when animating the rotating pointer. An interval of once every 10 seconds, I think that is acceptable.

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Originally Posted by Episcopal

I'm in the creation phase, architecture.

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I do wish I could have such a phase. I am a Project Manager by trade and I would always insist on such a phase as part of the plan.

As a techie though and a VB6 hacker I just want to dive in and code. Eventually an architecture shows itself or through guidance from others.

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Originally Posted by yereverluvinuncleber

I do wish I could have such a phase. I am a Project Manager by trade and I would always insist on such a phase as part of the plan.

As a techie though and a VB6 hacker I just want to dive in and code. Eventually an architecture shows itself or through guidance from others.

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How would you define 'hacker'? A beginner programmer? You're not that.

You're not crude either, so you can't be a hacker. 'Hacker' as in a bit 'were' or a bit 'whay'? A little bit Neo from The Matrix? Ha, you can't be, that's me!

I can design graphically using certain tools. I am 'technical' in as much as I like digging into technologies from electronics 60s-80s, mechanics from the same period (cars and bikes) and practical with my hands from lathework to some competent art. I aim to improve my programming skills in two/three language variants. I am a jack of all trades and a master of none. ADHD I think.

My magnus opus programmatically was Video Star. I've got seven GCSEs. Unfortunately I've got schizophrenia, depression and pains. I'm waiting for a cure. I got it just as I was finishing Video Star. I wish now I had written a game not an app, but I decided VB wasn't a game creation package, some way into it. The manuals I read about VB didn't mention games, either. Due to the fact that there was only a physical supply of books, and I didn't have the web, I had nothing at all on game programming. So I made an application, not a game.

Update : I've found some more animated sprite material on YouTube. Due to their being limited supply of these things, my game will feature a SWAT officer shooting stuff as violently as possible, and the game can be classed as cathartic. I've got to research some Amiga games, they developed sideways scrolling shoot-em-ups to a fine art at about that time.

I've had resistance to making a violent game, but I think it makes the experience more exciting with the bullet dodging and aiming that goes on in stuff like Robocop, or The Untouchables etc.

I've been researching chroma keying, recently too with a view to making my own sprites. Plus I've got an XNA book, due, and a Visual Basic game programming book (I was only half right about VB being unsuitable for games!).

As soon as I get my second book, I'll compete the first game introduced in it and try and add something to it. I'm trying to get an eBook reader purchased, but haven't the money at the moment. I've been splurging on socialising and birthdays...he, he.

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Getting the ball rolling. Which VB6 projects are you working on?

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Lately, nothing anyone is helping me with.. Just views and being ignored!


*However, yer project seems pretty cool tho.

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Originally Posted by yereverluvinuncleber

https://www.sourcecodester.com/visua...appy-bird.html

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I've just ran the above game...and the scrolling is jerky and the gameplay pretty broken. The animation isn't smooth either. I'll have to find some different code.

Since the code requires so little change I still think tB projects are of interest here, so quick plug for my new project Memory List Manager. It's a lightweight utility to clear standby and modified memory without loading a full-blown system resources utility. Windows 10 memory management isn't all that great; standby and modified memory will grow to consume all memory, and contrary to Microsoft's claims, this slows down the system (especially opening stuff), and can even cause out of memory errors and system destabilization.

https://www.vbforums.com/images/ieimages/2024/06/8.jpg

There's also a command line option to run the commands without GUI, and a jump list.

https://www.vbforums.com/images/ieimages/2024/06/6.jpg

Code is actually pretty simple; just like

Code:

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    Public Function ClearStandby(Optional bLowPriority As Boolean = False) As NTSTATUS
        Dim nCmd As SYSTEM_MEMORY_LIST_COMMAND
        If bLowPriority Then
            nCmd = MemoryPurgeLowPriorityStandbyList
        Else
            nCmd = MemoryPurgeStandbyList
        End If
        Dim status As NTSTATUS
        SetCursor LoadCursor(0, ByVal IDC_WAIT)
        status = NtSetSystemInformation(SystemMemoryListInformation, nCmd, LenB(nCmd))
        SetCursor LoadCursor(0, ByVal IDC_ARROW)
        Return status
    End Function

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(Notice the only difference from perfect VB6 compatibility is I prefer tB's "Return <value>" syntax instead of FunctionName = <value>.

More info at the GitHub repo.

That is gorgeous, I might have to take a look inside your code and then play with it in TB64, that might be the spur to get me into TB64. I've just been diving into some RAM, pagefile and virtual mem gauges as you can see above.

I hope the various columns in your program have balloon tooltips with a brief explanation of what each of the memory lists are... that would be ever so useful for potential users.

The command line option is an extremely good addition that so many VB6 utils. lack.

(when I say TB64, you understand I can't say TB, too much sputum and coughing involved)

I have just reverted back to my original and very first steampunk widget design that I created as a Konfabulator widget a decade or more ago... I am pulling the various components together into a single usable PSD that can form the basis of a VB6/RC6 program.

https://www.vbforums.com/images/ieimages/2024/06/9.jpeg

Thats is the old Yahoo/Konfabulator widget in .js/XML using a browser context to display the graphics with the javascript acting as the logic glue.

https://www.vbforums.com/images/ieimages/2024/06/8.jpeg

That is me rebuilding a single PSD with all the layers named appropriately for the forthcoming VB6 program. If I can convert the complexity of that visual GUI then I can convert anything to VB6.

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Originally Posted by ArthurDent

My magnus opus programmatically was Video Star. I've got seven GCSEs. Unfortunately I've got schizophrenia, depression and pains. I'm waiting for a cure. I got it just as I was finishing Video Star. I wish now I had written a game not an app, but I decided VB wasn't a game creation package, some way into it. The manuals I read about VB didn't mention games, either. Due to the fact that there was only a physical supply of books, and I didn't have the web, I had nothing at all on game programming. So I made an application, not a game.

Update : I've found some more animated sprite material on YouTube. Due to their being limited supply of these things, my game will feature a SWAT officer shooting stuff as violently as possible, and the game can be classed as cathartic. I've got to research some Amiga games, they developed sideways scrolling shoot-em-ups to a fine art at about that time.

I've had resistance to making a violent game, but I think it makes the experience more exciting with the bullet dodging and aiming that goes on in stuff like Robocop, or The Untouchables etc.

I've been researching chroma keying, recently too with a view to making my own sprites. Plus I've got an XNA book, due, and a Visual Basic game programming book (I was only half right about VB being unsuitable for games!).

As soon as I get my second book, I'll compete the first game introduced in it and try and add something to it. I'm trying to get an eBook reader purchased, but haven't the money at the moment. I've been splurging on socialising and birthdays...he, he.

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If you want to develop a simple game, you might as well use a web page. 2d.js,3d.js
It can run on computers and mobile phones at the same time.

This is the VB6 first-pass equivalent of the original Konfabulator widget. If you compare it to the older version above, there is virtually no difference, the cable is a bit screwed up, I will be addressing that later.

https://www.vbforums.com/images/ieimages/2024/06/8.png

All the controls are present and each has a balloon tooltip on a hover. Not much logic yet, just adding that now. Nevertheless it has a fully operating preferences utility, menus & help images &c. Shown here below, the older Konfab. widget bottom right for comparison.

https://www.vbforums.com/images/ieim...024/06/10.jpeg

I never dreamt I would be able to create such graphically complex programs with VB6. I am so impressed that VB6 is even able to do this, and increasingly impressed by Olaf's Rich Client.