Menus

[Walt Decker]

1.  Add status boxes (check boxes)

2.  Check the status of menu items

3.  Dynamically create and delete menu items

4.  Dynamically manipulate menu item properties.

5.  Enable owner-drawn menus

[Brandon Parker]

You can use the Windows API to create and manage regular and popup windows if you want to go that route. You can also use the Windows API to manipulate the LB menus as well. You would have to use use a message trapping DLL for some specific things (ex. right-click for context menus).


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Brandon Parker

[Walt Decker]

You can use the Windows API to create and manage regular and popup windows if you want to go that route.

Yes, Mr. Parker, I can do that. However, it is my understanding that Mr. Gundel wants to encapsulate the API as much as possible.

[Brandon Parker]

Feel free to call me by my first name...Brandon.

LB 5 will predominantly be cross-platform and rely on internal widgets so as to not rely on the underlying operating system's API. I can't speak specifically for Carl but encapsulating the API is not necessarily LB 5's goal, but providing an interface for API's is definitely in the works based on Carl's recent posts.

If this is an LB 5 specific suggestion that is fine. I just wanted to point out that you can make very successful menus in LB4 using the Windows API.


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Brandon Parker

[Carl Gundel]

Jan 4, 2021 15:51:39 GMT -5 Brandon Parker said:

Feel free to call me by my first name...Brandon.

LB 5 will predominantly be cross-platform and rely on internal widgets so as to not rely on the underlying operating system's API. I can't speak specifically for Carl but encapsulating the API is not necessarily LB 5's goal, but providing an interface for API's is definitely in the works based on Carl's recent posts.

If this is an LB 5 specific suggestion that is fine. I just wanted to point out that you can make very successful menus in LB4 using the Windows API.

Yes.  One goal of LB5 is to provide a richer than LB4 graphical user interface so that you will not need to use APIs the majority of the time.  GUIs should be cross platform seamlessly for most anything you need to do.

The LB v5.0.x releases will have the ability to make API calls, but there won't really be native widgets to make those calls against (except the windows themselves).  However, when we get into LB v5.1.x I hope to begin to supply some native widgets.

Of course if you have invested heavily in making API calls to do things and if you find that LB5 doesn't do it for you, you always have the option of using LB4, at least until Microsoft decides to abandon 32-bit app support.  The thing is that a lot of 64-bit apps also call 32-bit APIs, so it'll be interesting to see how that happens.

[Walt Decker]

I am looking forward to checking out LB5x.  What does it currently have that LB4.5 PRO does not have?

[Carl Gundel]

Jan 6, 2021 15:13:21 GMT -5 Walt Decker said:

I am looking forward to checking out LB5x.  What does it currently have that LB4.5 PRO does not have?

See this thread.
    libertybasiccom.proboards.com/thread/1372/new-features-liberty-basic-5