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

CAD and 3D platform is amazing.

I lost focus for a few reasons; but it ended up propagating in the softpedia kinds of shareware sites.

Search

A bunch of the models it creates via AutoCAD >>> SketchUp are at SketchUp 3D Warehouse

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/mod...crapersExample

I have a few CAD apps now getting ready, which was my first focus, that skyscraper phase was a year, but it did tap a lot of older CAD apps.

I fall into the "adding options" "adding functionality" a little too much, lol.

Geometricon

Attachment 183131

Vexstar

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Geometrixxx

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oops

Hi,
I read an article today by Daniel Hindrikes in which the author recommends using the BlazorWebView. This is a wrapper over the WebView2 engine that allows the Chromium component to be used in desktop applications. This seems to be at the top of the Microsoft favourites list at the moment:

https://danielhindrikes.se/index.php...blazorwebview/

Well, I've been using this technology since 2001 with VB6, with the IE control. Later (2011) I used the WebKit included in RC5 in some applications. Here is a screenshot from 2011 (with RC5 & Cairo & WebKit):

Attachment 183186

Today I use the WebView2 component from RC6. You can find an example with source code at:

https://www.vbforums.com/showthread....hlight=WebView

W. Wolf

That is impressive. Nicely formatted system information straight from the system shown in a web browser component I presume?

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the system shown in a web browser component I presume?

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Yes, although this is fake data in the demo. But that's not so important, it's about the user interface. I have just tested it again: If RC5 is installed with the WebKit extension, the demo still works for me. See http://www.ww-a.de/download/extDesktop.zip

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Originally Posted by wwolf

Yes, although this is fake data in the demo. But that's not so important, it's about the user interface.

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So, is the data there formatted using HTML and .js? I am presuming that is some sort of Enterprise Monitoring System you have there? I'd like to know more.

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Originally Posted by geometry777

I lost focus for a few reasons; but it ended up propagating in the softpedia kinds of shareware sites.

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Do you fancy giving us an overview of how your VB6 program interfaces with AutoCad/Sketchup and what it does internally to create those models? Visually the result is very nice but it would be of interest to have a brief description of what it is doing and how. Assuming you have a VB6 GUI with controls, some mathematical construction of 3D objects using vectors of some sort, applying mathematical transformations, then outputting to a known and common data type for the program to pcik up and use.

The 3d generation used a unique concept where a 2d base pattern of polygons, usually at first squares and rectangles, would be the initial design to then "generate" into 3d extrusions and transforms based on those shapes in the SkecthUp app, stepping through the 2d base design shapes real-time. (I used SketchUp Make 2016 at that time, with AutoCAD 2004 to latest for the CAD side)

Multiple cycles and fx could affect one 2d shape many times (making "floors") or multiple 2d "base plan" shapes could have fx run on them as it compounded across all the 2d shapes.

I saw it as focused on "first pass" 2d to 3d design generation that could later be user detailed into finished 3d designs. Though I focused on "skyscrapers" it could be a city generator too. The idea was quick 3d massing concepts whose basis of 2d design could be retained to allow for more 3d design generations later. It is a fast 3d "mock up" tool. Those skyscrapers are knocked out in a couple minutes. So, many 3d designs and concept level tests could be created from one 2d base plan.

At first I thought the visible SketchUp 2016 Object Model could be accessed as easily as AutoCAD's which is just a COM interaction from the VB program (or any others employing the same) to "createobject" or "getobject" to use a running instance of the program and its active document. But, SketchUp is not a "public creatable" "interface", like Acad's is.

So, rather than write VB code externally to run in SketchUp internally, I had to use a hack. I could not "COM-connect" to SketchUp reliably. I could do a couple command sends, but when I sent the hundreds it would "generate" upon the 2d object coordinates sent, it would crash SketchUp. I don't know why SketchUp doesn't just open their object model to VB, they seem to be very protective of the Ruby development side.

So, I had to hack a "sendkeys" from the VB app, to the SketchUp "Ruby Console" which is a text input interface like SketchUp's command line.

I had to then use Ruby to write the code to send the SketchUp transformation commands to run in the command console, as sent sendkeys from VB. I had to time delay buffer the sendkey batches as well, or it could clog up SketchUp---so the app has a delay in seconds input.

Though it was a brute hack, it did create the outcome goal. I could run cycles of compounding fx on a target 2d design to generate 3d designs automatically. I used AutoCAD for the 2d design:

1. Because running the fx generations on SKetchUp 2d designs was another challenge.

2. Plus, I wanted to retain a clean 2d unaffected design, because you can run hundreds of varied fx transforms on one design which all created different skyscraper fx.

3. In that way a 2d design in CAD could be saved as coordinate data to also have an FX Base Plan Library based on text files of these 2d design CAD drawing records. You could save the CAD drawing and the text file "base geometry". Then users could run designs and share designs from SketchUp, without CAD, from the text file data.

Together, CAD drawings and base plan text files, could be collected in libraries since those base plan shapes drive the main 3d massing shapes which are further transformed by more SketchUp-side commands, 3d fx, and materials.

One 2d plan design could be regenerated into 3d objects in many ways.

These model skyscraper designs are from the same 2d base design plan:

Attachment 183203

File too large:
https://i.imgur.com/vuDnbwg.jpeg


https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/mod...crapers20Pack9


The SkyscraperFX app is an FX generating interface between SketchUp and AutoCAD.

Attachment 183204

https://i.imgur.com/sWUqom6.jpg

https://skyscraperfx.wordpress.com/


https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/mod...crapersExample

Other designs can be generated too.

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/mod...gnLevels7Pack4

Attachments don't work well here, still best to host them on imgur and then insert the image manually.

That description was exactly what I wanted and it all makes sense. Really good.

Btw, if you look at a skyscraper model, under the building is the original 2d pattern.

Attachment 183205

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Originally Posted by yereverluvinuncleber

So, is the data there formatted using HTML and .js? I am presuming that is some sort of Enterprise Monitoring System you have there? I'd like to know more.

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Yes, that's HTML, JavaScript, CSS and images, some of which I create myself just-in-time using RC5 (currently RC6). The demo uses JS-Ext from Sencha, albeit in an old version 4.2. In the meantime they have arrived at 7.x.

My application is an ERP system that we use exclusively in our own company. In addition, we offer HTTP(S) interfaces to customers and suppliers, so this HTML mix mode suits me very well. I can use some procedures in both desktop and web and have been doing so in this constellation with VB6 for 20 years. I don't need .Net or Blazor for that. Very few people know how good VB6 still is....

W. Wolf

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Originally Posted by wwolf

Yes, that's HTML, JavaScript, CSS and images, some of which I create myself just-in-time using RC5 (currently RC6) ... Very few people know how good VB6 still is....

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That is just a great use of VB6 and unexpected too...

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Originally Posted by wwolf

Yes, that's HTML, JavaScript, CSS and images, some of which I create myself just-in-time using RC5 (currently RC6). The demo uses JS-Ext from Sencha, albeit in an old version 4.2. In the meantime they have arrived at 7.x.

My application is an ERP system that we use exclusively in our own company. In addition, we offer HTTP(S) interfaces to customers and suppliers, so this HTML mix mode suits me very well. I can use some procedures in both desktop and web and have been doing so in this constellation with VB6 for 20 years. I don't need .Net or Blazor for that. Very few people know how good VB6 still is....

W. Wolf

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Can you please make some demos in CodeBank to demonstrate the techniques you used?

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Originally Posted by DaveDavis

Can you please make some demos in CodeBank to demonstrate the techniques you used?

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I cannot load my ERP as a demo into the codebank. It takes effort to extract parts of it and publish them as meaningful stand-alone projects. I have done this with the holiday planner. Everything you need can be found here:

https://www.vbforums.com/showthread....=1#post5530061

W. Wolf

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Originally Posted by wwolf

I cannot load my ERP as a demo into the codebank. It takes effort to extract parts of it and publish them as meaningful stand-alone projects. I have done this with the holiday planner. Everything you need can be found here:

https://www.vbforums.com/showthread....=1#post5530061

W. Wolf

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This is OK. Thanks.

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Originally Posted by wwolf

I cannot load my ERP as a demo into the codebank. It takes effort to extract parts of it and publish them as meaningful stand-alone projects. I have done this with the holiday planner. Everything you need can be found here:

https://www.vbforums.com/showthread....=1#post5530061

W. Wolf

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A superb and practical application.

A bug a day keeps the madness at bay, that is my mantra at the moment. Not generating a new one but fixing an old one.

I find it amazing how you can fix a relatively easy bug only to find three more improvements that you ought to make whilst you are in there fixing it. My code is often sloppy and I have to return again and again to tidy it up. I consistently fail to explicitly declare vars in functions as ByRef or ByVal. When I DIM local vars I do not set them to initial values &c. I will duplicate code within a procedure when I should really extract and reuse the same code but place it in its own routine, that sort of thing. Enforcing code styles on yourself when it is just a hobbyist project is a test of personality.

I fail that test.

The other thing I lack is impetus or willpower. I am about to implement vbSendMail in my program and for some reason it bores me. How do you make yourself progress beyond an occurrence of coder's block? That's a real question to you.

Hello everyone in the thread. I've been testing out Cairo, with many thanks to the members in here for their help, especially Olaf!
Here are a few, early stage, shrunken images of an avatar maker I'm making using many (MANY!!) stacked and clipped Cairo layers (for an experimental RPG test).
Attachment 183364
The testbed interface so far uses picturebox touchpads for moving X-Y coordinates of things. Like scale, position, mouth corner rotation, lip balance and so on. They only appear if said item is manipulable and are much easier to use than a single slider. So far, it's early stage graphics, like the $5 cheaply drawn horns. It's a mechanical test and I'm delighted with the results. A lot more handiwork needs to be done yet, drawing more noses, hair styles, lips, eye shapes, horns, ears etc. Everything evolves in realtime too, so you can wiggle elven ears freely, make smiling or pouty faces and such.

Attachment 183367
The idea is make the game highly graphical and detail oriented, with the person's avatar fully customizable and every NPC's face randomly created, depending upon the species you're talking with. It's primarily for dialogue and transactions. Game development is still underway, this was just an aside to learn more about Cairo. Currently it's ALL experimental and testing the limits of VB and Cairo, but, in saying that, it's crazy fast on the game map. :)

Attachment 183368

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Originally Posted by -Corso->

Hello everyone in the thread. I've been testing out Cairo, with many thanks to the members in here for their help, especially Olaf!
Attachment 183368

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That's a good advert for both Cairo and for Olaf's help and assistance.

this thread is very cool, in deed it is so, then

One of [redacted]'s application posted in another thread. I don't know much about it so I'm just going to re-post his images and wait to see if he wants to add more information.

It looked impressive enough to warrant posting.

I do not know what it does...

Looks like some kind of sound/music editing application.

I thought it was a lighting rig set up and visualisation program

Hmmm....you could be right.

I believe I finished.....a component for text editor. It has features such as inserting page numbers, headers and footers, with the option to start these on certain pages. It still has a feature to create and edit tables, inserting and deleting rows and columns, before or after, according to the cursor position, and still rotating the table clockwise or counterclockwise ..... among other options and styles of formatting.

Now I'm going to test it personally to see if it has any problems.

Attachment 184719
Some pics of the updated facebuilder. I've been concentrating on this in the last few days, at long last. New hair styles and a few extra bits and pieces. Kinda like how it's turning out. :)
BIG elven ears, surely the most important thing.

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Originally Posted by Episcopal

I believe I finished.....a component for text editor. It has features such as inserting page numbers, headers and footers, with the option to start these on certain pages. It still has a feature to create and edit tables, inserting and deleting rows and columns, before or after, according to the cursor position, and still rotating the table clockwise or counterclockwise ..... among other options and styles of formatting.

Now I'm going to test it personally to see if it has any problems.

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Good job

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Originally Posted by -Corso->

Attachment 184719
Some pics of the updated facebuilder. I've been concentrating on this in the last few days, at long last. New hair styles and a few extra bits and pieces. Kinda like how it's turning out. :)
BIG elven ears, surely the most important thing.

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Very nice

I am unable to work on a particular project for any length of time, due to difficulties at home and a roving mind that cannot entirely focus on a particular task for a long period. As a result I tend to flit from task to task making a tiny little progress on each but also failing to complete anything... It frustrates but I know it is all progress - so I relax into it.

This means I am currently working on the following in VB6:

1. Improving the GUI on my Rocketdock Enhanced Settings Tool. Adding Elroy's balloon tooltips and working on the thumbnails and the formatting of the captions. This was more work than I expected but worth doing but for me, the UI is everything.

https://www.vbforums.com/images/ieimages/2022/04/14.png

2. Adding menu items to my chat tool to allow editing and deletion of individual lines in your local chat.

https://www.vbforums.com/images/ieimages/2022/04/15.png

3. Causing my GDI+ dock to auto re-appear after auto-hiding on a particular application.

https://www.vbforums.com/images/ieimages/2022/04/16.png

4. This last one is not VB6 but using javascript I am fixing a bug in my .js Media Player where the mouseOver font was displayed incorrectly on the play list. All good now. It is playing music on my laptop at this very moment.

https://www.vbforums.com/images/ieimages/2022/04/17.png

To refine an art (program) takes so much work.

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Originally Posted by yereverluvinuncleber

I am unable to work on a particular project for any length of time, due to difficulties at home and a roving mind that cannot entirely focus on a particular task for a long period. As a result I tend to flit from task to task making a tiny little progress on each but also failing to complete anything... It frustrates but I know it is all progress - so I relax into it.

This means I am currently working on the following in VB6:

1. Improving the GUI on my Rocketdock Enhanced Settings Tool. Adding Elroy's balloon tooltips and working on the thumbnails and the formatting of the captions. This was more work than I expected but worth doing but for me, the UI is everything.

https://www.vbforums.com/images/ieimages/2022/04/14.png

2. Adding menu items to my chat tool to allow editing and deletion of individual lines in your local chat.

https://www.vbforums.com/images/ieimages/2022/04/15.png

3. Causing my GDI+ dock to auto re-appear after auto-hiding on a particular application.

https://www.vbforums.com/images/ieimages/2022/04/16.png

4. This last one is not VB6 but using javascript I am fixing a bug in my .js Media Player where the mouseOver font was displayed incorrectly on the play list. All good now. It is playing music on my laptop at this very moment.

https://www.vbforums.com/images/ieimages/2022/04/17.png

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Your software UI makes me feel intimate, comfortable, and has a strong sense of nostalgia. I strongly recommend that you rewrite your software with RC5/RC6 (you can keep the old UI unchanged), in this way, your software will last longer, and it may also extend to the Wine platform. In addition, it may be converted to twinBasic smoothly in the future.

One thing that is especially suitable for you is that RC5/RC6 is a bridge between VB6 and JS, which closely links VB6 and JS, two unrelated languages. It's like putting a self-balancing system and an autopilot system on your retro bike.

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Originally Posted by SearchingDataOnly

Your software UI makes me feel intimate, comfortable, and has a strong sense of nostalgia. I strongly recommend that you rewrite your software with RC5/RC6 (you can keep the old UI unchanged), in this way, your software will last longer, and it may also extend to the Wine platform. In addition, it may be converted to twinBasic smoothly in the future.

One thing that is especially suitable for you is that RC5/RC6 is a bridge between VB6 and JS, which closely links VB6 and JS, two unrelated languages. It's like putting a self-balancing system and an autopilot system on your retro bike.

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I'll take that advice!

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Originally Posted by yereverluvinuncleber

but for me, the UI is everything.

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I know that this is totally subjective, there's no accounting for taste, but I would suggest to completely get rid of the 3D (and that Windows 2000 look too).
Unless that is on purpose, I mean if you want the program to look old on purpose.

Just to be clear what I mean when I say 3D:

Attachment 184728

That 3D look that VB6 has by default (and in default controls) is already too out of fashion.

PS: I hope this honest opinion does good and not bad.

I guess that it indeed is a subjective matter of taste. I personally prefer the 3D look over the flat buttons, textboxes, etc. :)

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Originally Posted by Erwin69

I guess that it indeed is a subjective matter of taste. I personally prefer the 3D look over the flat buttons, textboxes, etc. :)

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I guess most users will perceive it as old.

And yes, it is a matter of taste. I prefer flat or no borders at all.

With style being cyclical, undoubtedly the 3d look will be back at some point, so I just see it as being ahead of the curve at this point.

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Originally Posted by OptionBase1

With style being cyclical, undoubtedly the 3d look will be back at some point, so I just see it as being ahead of the curve at this point.

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Most probably, but also most probably with something different (like the flat now is not the same as the one of Windows 3.1).

But... there is something on favor of flat that I think is objective: it is simpler, there is less complexity, it lacks of unnecessary accessories. The brain needs to process less superfluous things.

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Originally Posted by Eduardo-

I know that this is totally subjective, there's no accounting for taste, but I would suggest to completely get rid of the 3D (and that Windows 2000 look too).
Unless that is on purpose.

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No and Yes.

As in - No I do not plan to get rid of it - and - Yes it is deliberate.

I don't care for the vagaries of design as dictated by any corporate manager's whim for his specific business reasons. If I like like a "look and feel" then I will retain it. It is currently themed specifically to retain that specific look and my intention will be to theme it exactly that way regardless of how Windows wants it to look now or in the future.

When I create a design I want it to be mine and look how I expect it to look. That specific design above can have a unique font applied to it independent of the o/s theme and I supply that font too. The high contrast theme matches the old classic theme regardless of the o/s and the theme it sports, at least that is my intention.

Generally you can take it from me that my designs are created NOT to appeal to the majority and that is the way I like it. IF you like my designs then you are generally in the minority and I am still very content with that. You'll note a commonality in my designs that requires some adjustment to get used to. Most don't.

Your kind suggestion is appreciated however I will not be following it for my own blinkered reasons.