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Thread: [VBDOS] Visual Basic For MSDOS Max power of this

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    [VBDOS] Visual Basic For MSDOS Max power of this

    Hello everyone, I know it's been a long time and the syntax has changed from vb6 to vbdos but I'm just going to ask people to play with what would be really cool, I would like to know the maximum power of VBDos since nowadays we don't find many things about him.

    Example:
    The graph of it can be changed to look like windows 3.11 or 1.0?

    It can import fonts and files to change text?

    it is possible to insert a pcx image in the picture box i have never heard of?

    listview is possible too use it ?

    importing libraries with vbdos has how to import data and libraries dll windows 1.0 ?

    there is some other version of vbdos created by users based on visual basic 2.0 or 3.0 because there were rumors that microsoft was going to release a version 2 of vbdos and gave up , exists another ?

    in addition to the run function there is another one that calls another form or .exe so that it overlaps the other form it called as in windows, giving the call to several forms or .exe ?

    are curiosities that I always had about visual basic 1.0 for msdos regardless of whether it is a pro version or just the common version.

    If there is a digital book or pdf about it I am also interested.
    Last edited by LiwisJames; May 3rd, 2021 at 11:32 AM.

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    Re: [VBDOS] Visual Basic For MSDOS Max power of this

    Well I think you may have some incorrect ideas about VBDos.
    Any forms you create do not look like any version of Windows. They are typical DOS type forms.
    VBDos came out almost 1 year after VB1 and a couple of months before VB2. VB3 came out less than a year after VBDos.
    I personally never used VB1 or 2, never even saw either of those. I had VBDos and VB3 for Windows and was using both on an OS/2 system.

    I don't know what was in the visual part as far as controls go aside from textbox, listbox, buttons and such. I would be surprised if there were a graph or listview.
    For the most part I focused on the code part and didn't really do anything with the visual portion.

    It was a good tool back in the day, very much like Quick Basic 4.5 but with the added support for some simple visual elements and mouse support.
    It also had the ability to build a standalone exe which no windows version has ever been able to do.

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    Re: [VBDOS] Visual Basic For MSDOS Max power of this

    Quote Originally Posted by DataMiser View Post
    Well I think you may have some incorrect ideas about VBDos.
    Any forms you create do not look like any version of Windows. They are typical DOS type forms.
    VBDos came out almost 1 year after VB1 and a couple of months before VB2. VB3 came out less than a year after VBDos.
    I personally never used VB1 or 2, never even saw either of those. I had VBDos and VB3 for Windows and was using both on an OS/2 system.

    I don't know what was in the visual part as far as controls go aside from textbox, listbox, buttons and such. I would be surprised if there were a graph or listview.
    For the most part I focused on the code part and didn't really do anything with the visual portion.

    It was a good tool back in the day, very much like Quick Basic 4.5 but with the added support for some simple visual elements and mouse support.
    It also had the ability to build a standalone exe which no windows version has ever been able to do.
    yes friend exactly that point it was simple and practical, but information on how to use program are lost but there are many things about it that are mysterious that i would like to know, how to insert images in the picture box from MSdos also how to improve the graphic if it is possible deploy dll as in vb3, vb4 etc ... how to call other forms, it does not look like windows but it has similarities with windows 1.0 (beta) because it was vb1 for windows that was edited for msdos and i would like to know fandom about it, but you already answered a lot of curiosities about it thank you very much but I want to know more about codes and resources .

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    Re: [VBDOS] Visual Basic For MSDOS Max power of this

    VBDos was very similar to VB1-6 in the concepts it provided. QB4.5 was Microsoft's implementation of a 'standard' basic and as such you had to create all controls yourself. It sat on top of DOS so none of the o/s APIs that VB so regularly uses, were there.

    However, VBDos introduced controls as objects that had properties and events and the flow of your code started in a Main() module or in a form. As such it was a major migration for a program that was structured in the old start to finish approach, using BASIC methods using GOTOs, GOSUBs capturing keypresses via inkey$ statements &c.

    VBDOS required you to restructure your code completely, adapting your home-built program GUIs to VBDOS forms, all user interaction became code captured by control events. This meant that a successful migration from QB to VBDOS created a DOS program whose structure could be very easily migrated to VB for Windows. That was its greatest contribution to BASIC programming on Windows. I think of it as Microsoft's first BASIC migrator tool.

    I haven't seen it for a while sold on fleabay but it is still the best bet to obtain a copy. Then you can satisfy your own interests and play with it on a suitable DOS machine of course.

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    Re: [VBDOS] Visual Basic For MSDOS Max power of this

    It is considered abandonware - and that might give you a hint as to how to find it.

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    Re: [VBDOS] Visual Basic For MSDOS Max power of this

    Yes brother i run it on virtual box but i can change vbdos gui commons control for mimic windows 1.0 or 3.11 and i can import dlls and new controls as listview and another dlls for environment how i can set PCX file into picturebox control or exists another fandom version vbdos as vb3 for msdos by any user or update .

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    PowerPoster yereverluvinuncleber's Avatar
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    Re: [VBDOS] Visual Basic For MSDOS Max power of this

    Please Liwis, add some grammar to your posts otherwise they become unintelligible and frankly I can't be bothered to answer if you can't be bothered to post properly. Also, I am not your brother...

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    Re: [VBDOS] Visual Basic For MSDOS Max power of this

    Sorry brother just expression of respect in relation to the forum and programming community but then I was asking about the controls if they can be customized and calling dlls for that and adding new controls, how to insert images in picturebox in vb1 etc ..

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    PowerPoster yereverluvinuncleber's Avatar
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    Re: [VBDOS] Visual Basic For MSDOS Max power of this

    No brothers here.

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    Re: [VBDOS] Visual Basic For MSDOS Max power of this

    Okay Sorry.

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    Re: [VBDOS] Visual Basic For MSDOS Max power of this

    Quote Originally Posted by yereverluvinuncleber View Post
    VBDos was very similar to VB1-6 in the concepts it provided. QB4.5 was Microsoft's implementation of a 'standard' basic and as such you had to create all controls yourself. It sat on top of DOS so none of the o/s APIs that VB so regularly uses, were there.

    However, VBDos introduced controls as objects that had properties and events and the flow of your code started in a Main() module or in a form. As such it was a major migration for a program that was structured in the old start to finish approach, using BASIC methods using GOTOs, GOSUBs capturing keypresses via inkey$ statements &c.

    VBDOS required you to restructure your code completely, adapting your home-built program GUIs to VBDOS forms, all user interaction became code captured by control events. This meant that a successful migration from QB to VBDOS created a DOS program whose structure could be very easily migrated to VB for Windows. That was its greatest contribution to BASIC programming on Windows. I think of it as Microsoft's first BASIC migrator tool.

    I haven't seen it for a while sold on fleabay but it is still the best bet to obtain a copy. Then you can satisfy your own interests and play with it on a suitable DOS machine of course.
    hmm I used VBDos for years and never once got the impression that it was compatiable with VB for windows. Any programs I wrote in VBDos would have required major re-write to run under VB for Windows and some of them just flat out would never run under any windows version. They would however compile and run just fine under Quick Basic 4.5. Now granted I did not do much with the forms part, did not seem to be any point in doing so as I had VB3 for Windows programs. I moved away from VBDos when VB5 was released and started using that full time.

    I do still have the install files and the hard copy manuals that came with it.

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    Re: [VBDOS] Visual Basic For MSDOS Max power of this

    Quote Originally Posted by DataMiser View Post
    hmm I used VBDos for years and never once got the impression that it was compatiable with VB for windows. Any programs I wrote in VBDos would have required major re-write to run under VB for Windows and some of them just flat out would never run under any windows version. They would however compile and run just fine under Quick Basic 4.5. Now granted I did not do much with the forms part, did not seem to be any point in doing so as I had VB3 for Windows programs. I moved away from VBDos when VB5 was released and started using that full time.

    I do still have the install files and the hard copy manuals that came with it.
    Vb1.0 can use custom fonts ?

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    Re: [VBDOS] Visual Basic For MSDOS Max power of this

    Quote Originally Posted by LiwisJames View Post
    Vb1.0 can use custom fonts ?
    What? I have no idea, like I said I have never saw VB1 or 2. VBDos does not even mention font in the manual. As near as I remember it just uses the standard ANSI character set and the basic system font used by DOS.

    Just for curiosity I took a look at some of the code I wrote in VBDos back in 1995 and it looked almost alien to me after all these years with VB for windows. Then I tried to run the program and the OS said nope. Apparently even this old Windows 7 box does not want to run 16 bit software.

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    Re: [VBDOS] Visual Basic For MSDOS Max power of this

    I think you will have more possibilities to imitate old Windows appearance with VB6 than with an older VB version. Or at least use VB3. But people here will be able to help more with VB6 anyway, and you should be able to do what you want with it.
    To use an older VB version is asking for trouble IMO, because they were too limited and also few people here can help because they (we) never used them or already forgot how to do things.

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    Re: [VBDOS] Visual Basic For MSDOS Max power of this

    As for dlls I am pretty sure that VBDos does not use them. It makes use of lib files which get linked into the exe. The only external file used is the optional runtime which can also be linked into the main exe to create a standalone exe.

    VBDos is a Dos based program intended to create programs that run in Dos.

    As for ability to mimic Windows 1 or 2. I have never worked with either of them so I really do not know what they actually look like.
    think the only way you are going to be able to make a program that runs on a newer OS look like it is an old version of windows is if you use a newer tool and create your own custom GUI. This of course would be a lot of work for something most people would not want anyway.

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    Re: [VBDOS] Visual Basic For MSDOS Max power of this

    thanks friends, i'm trying to create a mini wordpad of custom text for msdos but from what i saw there is no way to integrate font and using the 256 colors is difficult because i don't have the vbdos color table but thank you all for your help.

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    Re: [VBDOS] Visual Basic For MSDOS Max power of this

    but would it be possible to insert an image at the vbdos mouse cursor?

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    PowerPoster Arnoutdv's Avatar
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    Re: [VBDOS] Visual Basic For MSDOS Max power of this

    Can you describe what your goal is?

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    Re: [VBDOS] Visual Basic For MSDOS Max power of this

    Quote Originally Posted by Arnoutdv View Post
    Can you describe what your goal is?
    I want to create a version of msdos that looks like cmd and is modern even with the limitations of 386 thus creating a msdos appbox that can be run on windows 10 PE that I am doing with NT support where windows can run msdos and 386 apps in a way dynamics .

    https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/...s...%20More%20

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    Re: [VBDOS] Visual Basic For MSDOS Max power of this

    ....

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    Re: [VBDOS] Visual Basic For MSDOS Max power of this

    Quote Originally Posted by LiwisJames View Post
    I want to create a version of msdos that looks like cmd and is modern even with the limitations of 386 thus creating a msdos appbox that can be run on windows 10 PE that I am doing with NT support where windows can run msdos and 386 apps in a way dynamics .

    https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/...s...%20More%20
    Why not use the solution provided in the link?
    Though I don’t understand the part in which you say running W10 on a 386 compilation..

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    Re: [VBDOS] Visual Basic For MSDOS Max power of this

    Quote Originally Posted by Arnoutdv View Post
    Why not use the solution provided in the link?
    Though I don’t understand the part in which you say running W10 on a 386 compilation..
    I'm working on windows 3.11 which is not ready yet and on windows 10 PE 4GB only theories will soon be real

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