Visual DialogScript version 3.01 Release Notes 03 may 1999 =========================================================================== Welcome to Visual DialogScript! ------------------------------- Thank you for trying Visual DialogScript, the simple program development tool for Microsoft Windows. Please take a few moments to read this file. It contains important information both for new users and upgraders from earlier versions of the product. What is Visual DialogScript? ---------------------------- Visual DialogScript is a programming language and development environment that has been designed to enable you quickly to develop simple dialog-based programs or batch files for Windows 95 with the same ease as you might have written a batch file or a Basic program for DOS. The DialogScript language is easy to learn and similar to, though much more powerful than, a batch language or macro language. Visual DialogScript also includes visual tools: a Dialog Editor for designing dialog boxes visually, and an Icon Editor for creating graphical icons for your programs. There is also a Dialog Wizard which generates the code automatically from your visually designed dialog. Many useful DialogScript programs can be written in a matter of minutes! If you are new to Visual DialogScript, try the short Tutorial, then take a few minutes to read through the User Guide section of the online manual. This explains how the program works and covers basic concepts of the DialogScript programming language. There are also several examples which you can try out by cutting the code from the help file, pasting it into the editor window, and running it. System Requirements ------------------- Visual DialogScript requires the following minimum system specification: - A Pentium 75MHz with 16MB RAM, 2MB hard disk space, color VGA display, mouse or compatible pointing device - Windows 95 or NT 4.0. Specifications for programs created with Visual DialogScript : - Any system running Windows 95 or NT 4.0. Removing Visual DialogScript from your system --------------------------------------------- Visual DialogScript can be removed either by the uninstall applet from the control panel or by the shortcut " Uninstall Visual DialogScript " in its Folder. Registering Visual DialogScript ------------------------------- We hope you like Visual DialogScript and find it useful. However, please be aware that Visual DialogScript is not free or public domain software. You are granted a license giving limited rights to use the software. The conditions of use are described in the License Agreement in the online help. Basically, you are allowed up to 28 days to use the software for the purpose of evaluating it. After that 28 days, or once you begin using it for other purposes, whichever is the shorter, you must purchase a full license for the software. You are violating criminal and intellectual property laws if you do not do so. This version of Visual DialogScript is fully functional. However, while it remains unregistered the software can't compile scripts. This program can be registered through our agents RegNet - The Registration Network. RegNet can be located on the World Wide Web at the following URL: http://www.swregnet.com/ Registration costs $99.00 US. You can register online using your credit card. RegNet offers secure transactions for users of NetScape or Microsoft Internet Explorer 3 or higher. To go to the registration page for Visual DialogScript 3 go to: http://www.reg.net/product.asp?ID=4240 Alternatively, you can send a check or money order (in US dollars drawn on a US bank), made payable to Wintronix, Inc to: RegNet 24303 Walnut Street Suite 200 Newhall, CA 91321 U.S.A. You can also call the toll-free number 1 800 WWW2REG (1 800 999-2734). Callers from outside the US should call (661) 288-1827. Upon registration (allow up to 1 working day for your registration to be processed) you will receive your personal registration key. This will be sent by email if an email address was specified when registering. When you receive your registration key, place it in the program's main directory (e.g: c:\program files\Visual DialogScript). The software will then behave as a fully licensed version. Technical support ----------------- Support for Visual DialogScript is provided via email to: support@dialogscript.com Two levels of support are offered. Free pre- and post-sales support covers Installation problems, bug reports and the provision of workarounds (if possible) where a bug is identified, and simple questions, like "Can you do this using VDS?" An extra-cost support plan is also offered which provides support cover for the following areas: - Help achieving a specific task (we will write sections of script code) - Help debugging a script that won't work - Help writing a script (within the limit of two hours worth of work) - The provision of interim upgrades of the VDS software by email where a bug prevents a script from working or necessitates an inconvenient workaround (other customers must wait for the fixed version to be generally released.) For more information about support, visit the support page on our Web site. Whatever your support problem, please help us to help you by including the following information in your request: - Your name and company (as specified on registration) - The product name and version number (from the About box) - The version of Windows you are using - The sequence of events (or a section of script code) which will enable us to reproduce the problem. Please do NOT send large screendump files as enclosures as your message may be deleted. Known problems -------------- * The Help menu options to connect to our Web site and to register online will only work if your system is set up to automatically associate your Web browser with an Internet URL. Changes in version 3.01 ----------------------- New features: ------------- * Added NOTITLE style for dialog, creates non-movable window with no title bar. * Added two options to the EXITWIN command: LOGOFF - logs the user off the system (the program that issued the command appears to remain running) FORCE - forcibly shuts down Windows without allowing programs to display any "OK to close" messages or similar. General Changes: ---------------- * Corrected bug that prevented .ICO files from being loaded into a BITMAP dialog element. As a by-product of this, it is now possible to include icons in a .DSR and load them by specifying the byte offset where they begin. * DIALOG CLEAR, now actually clears the bitmap instead of hiding it. IDE changes ----------- * Fixed bug that caused default registry key setting from OPTION REGKEY to be reset when stepping through script with debugger. * Fixed bug that caused default INI file section name to be wrong. * More logical operation of the IDE script run/debug controls: - Run and Debug now always start script from line 1. - Continue will continue in the mode (i.e. run or debug) in use when the script was stopped. * Fixed bug where script path was not added to history list when File, New executed. * Fixed bug that allowed compiler to try to create EXE in a non- existant directory if this was specified in the .DSP file. * Added editor context menu: Clear All Bookmarks Dialog Designer changes ----------------------- * Fixed bug that when elements are on top of a GROUP or TAB element and that element is moved, the positions of the other elements were not always updated. Changes in version 3.0 ----------------------- Important note: VDS 3 is a major new version. There are many changes compared to VDS 2. In the interests of improving the language and the features it offers, some changes have been made that will necessitate rewriting parts of existing scripts. The most obvious example of this is the DIALOG syntax and the reversing of the first two parameters of the LIST command. These changes were made to obtain greater consistency in the DialogScript language. Other anomalies, such as the format used for lists of binary values by the REGISTRY command and @REGREAD function, have been corrected. A Script Converter tool is provided which will make most of the mechanical changes needed to get VDS 2 scripts running under VDS 3. Because the script engine has undergone major rewriting there may be more subtle differences such as undocumented features which people have previously exploited that now longer work the same as before. Therefore it is recommended that all scripts, even if they use commands that have not apparently changed, be re-tested thoroughly under the new version. New features: * Added multi dialog support. Complete modification of the DIALOG command have been done. Browse the help file to discover the new syntax. * Added TAB dialog element. * Added GROUP dialog element. * Added MENU dialog element. * Added BITBTN dialog element, a flat Explorer-type button. * Added a lot of new styles for some dialog elements. One of the most expected is the MULTI for the EDIT dialog element (multi lines edit box). check the help file for more informations. * Added 64 Long name variables of unlimited lenght * Added @DLGPOS function to returns the size and position of a given element. * Added @FEXP floating-point function. Returns the value exp(value). * Added @FLN floating-point function. Returns the value ln(value). * Added @LOWER function. The complement of @upper * Added @MOD math function. Returns the value modulo . * Added @MOUSEPOS Returns the X, Y co-ordinates of the mouse pointer, field separated. * Added @TEXT function. Gets the whole text of a string list into a variable. * Added @WINDOW function. Returns the window id of a window related to in a manner specified by the second argument. Changes: * @DATETIME. If no format is specified, the value returned is a floating point. * @DIRDLG. The second argument is now a directory path * @FILEDLG. This function now has an extra (fourth) parameter MULTI. * @ITEM. This function now has an optional second parameter ( @item(i,x) ) allowing you to retrieve an item from a list randomly without having to seek to that item first. * @REGREAD. This function now returns binary key values as a string of numbers separated by fieldsep. * @VOLINFO. This function has two new flags. The Y flag returns a text string describing the file system type (for example, FAT32, NTFS.) The Z flag returns the hard disk serial number. The F and S flags which return the free space and total size of a drive return an incorrect result for volumes larger than 2GB in earlier versions of Windows 95. This is because of a bug in Windows 95. The function has been modified to use a new function present only in Windows 95 OSR2 or later and Windows NT 4.0 so that it reports these values correctly when run on those systems. * BEEP. This command can optionally accept an argument, an integer value corresponding to the constants permitted in the MessageBeep API. * DIRECTORY. A new operation RENAME has been added * LIST. This command has changed in one major respect which is that the order of parameters of this command has been changed. Parameter 1 and parameter 2 are swapped round. * REGISTRY. REGISTRY WRITE now supports an optional fifth parameter, which can be BINARY or DWORD. * TITLE. Minor change. See the help file. * WAIT. The value for the timer interval may now be a floating-point value. * Complete rewrite of the FILE command. Browse the help file to discover the new possibilities. * Removed BREAK (Now it's a functionality from the IDE) There are a lot of others changes in this version. Take a look at the help file to know more about the VDS 3 improvements. Changes in version 2.50 ----------------------- Changes: * Added additional parameters to the LINK command. * Fixed minor problems. Changes in version 2.20 ----------------------- New features: * Added @LOWER function to convert string to lower case. * @EQUAL function now treats numeric strings as numbers, and has new EXACT option for case-sensitive comparisons. * New functions @STRINS and @STRDEL implemented to allow insertion and deletion of characters within strings. * The @INPUT function now has a PASSWORD option which causes the input text to be shown as asterisks. * The LIST command has a new WINLIST option that creates a list of all the main windows in the system. * A new LINK command lets you create Windows 95 shortcuts (32-bit only). * A new L pseudo-attribute lets you find out the target of a shortcut using the @FILE function. * You can now have conditional breakpoints by specifying a function after the BREAK command. * A new OPTION, SCALE, will cause a dialog to scale itself in accordance with the metrics of the user's screen. Changes: * All items in the Tools menu (including the default ones) are now controlled by the tool manager. This means you will need to run SETUP.EXE to create Registry or INI file entries for the included tools. * Fixed problem with window IDs being returned incorrectly from some window functions. * Either or both values in an @EQUAL or @GREATER comparison can now be null without causing a 'Missing parameter' error. Changes in version 2.12 ----------------------- New features: * Added error trapping capabilities. OPTION ERRORTRAP,