DarkGDK benfit and disadvantage - GameCreators Forum

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Chaddica

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Posted: 30th Apr 2008 01:59

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I am just learning about DarkGDK and I used to use Darkbasic about two years ago. Well I am wondering what the advantage of DarkGDK is over Darkbasic. Any input will be greatly appreciated.

P.S. I know a bit about C++ so I won't need a crash coarse on real programming at all.

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jinzai

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Posted: 30th Apr 2008 02:31 Edited at: 30th Apr 2008 02:32

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DarkBASIC is a collection of DLLs that are bound together by the compiler into an application.

GDK is the same code, but in static link libraries, and is already part of the application. The early-binding provides a great increase in speed when calling GDK functions that are the equivalent of DBP functions.

Of course, C++ is just faster in any event.

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Core2uu

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Posted: 30th Apr 2008 02:32

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The answer to your question is here...
http://gdk.thegamecreators.com/?f=darksdkvsdbpro

~~It's not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you.~~

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Chaddica

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Posted: 30th Apr 2008 02:39

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nice! Thanks for the link and info. One last question though. How is text input into a game handled?

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Core2uu

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Posted: 30th Apr 2008 04:48

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I'm sorta confused by your last question but if you want to know how to get text on the screen... It's all in the help file... Start Menu->Programs->the Game Creators->Dark GDK->Documentation->Information...

~~It's not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you.~~

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Chaddica

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Posted: 30th Apr 2008 04:56

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Well what I am trying to figure out is if you can have input boxes for text. As I remember the last time that I used Darkbasic it wasn't supported for any type of text input.

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Core2uu

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Posted: 1st May 2008 03:58

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I haven't done any windows programming on C++... I've only done a bit on VB6, where it's fairly easy to put text boxes on your gui (lol)...

I still don't get what you are saying... Do you want to have a text box in your game where the user can enter some text to do something or other... Because there certainly isn't a dbMakeTextbox command in DGDK... To make textboxes will require you to use the windows library or something like that... IDK, I'm not an expert...

~~It's not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you.~~

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pirogoth

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Posted: 1st May 2008 20:23

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It can certainly be done, but the functionality is not provided for you with the DarkGDK or DarkBasic. You'll have to add the functionality yourself, however there are plenty of resources to accomplish that sort of thing on both this forum and gamedev.net. Google will also provide a lot of resources on the theory behind designing GUI controls. Don't give up!

-Piro

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jason p sage

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Posted: 1st May 2008 21:52

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yeah, there is a dbInput function that sort of works but is limited but might be just fine at first... but I think rolling your own once you get the basics down might be something to place on your TODO list.

http://www.jasonpetersage.com/?PAGE=ironinfantry&SECTION=ironinfantry

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Core2uu

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Posted: 2nd May 2008 00:46

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Just a question about dbInput...

Syntax
void dbInput ( char* szStatement, int iInput )

It says in the help file that dbInput stores the command in the specified variable... Would you substitute int iInput for an unassigned variable? If you did would it then store the string in the variable and would I be able to read it after, say for example if the user typed "yes" then would I be able to call it up after and let the code make judgements based on the input of "no" or "yes" or something like that?

~~It's not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you.~~

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jason p sage

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Posted: 2nd May 2008 01:18

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Personally - I don't know. You will need to experiment.. ALOT.. like.. szStatement might HAVE to be a pointer, or not, or an ADDRESS to your pointer, or not, you might be able to input an integr.. or not... and you might need to use C++ standard atoi for conversion, or not LOL.

Its a pain.. but - if it makes you feel anybetter, I've spent the last week and last weekend just getting my Cascade windows to work in a manner I thought was acceptable.

Now I'm doing same thing for Tiled... but... saw room for a tweak on the cascade stuff.. (almost done) then back to Tiling Vertically and horizontally.. THEN on to controls... So.. Spended a day or two mastering dbInput is par for the course bro, and so is posting something you learn about it .. maybe a snippet on how to use it.. for those who are researching the other gems in GDK.

http://www.jasonpetersage.com/?PAGE=ironinfantry&SECTION=ironinfantry

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Core2uu

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Posted: 2nd May 2008 02:11

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I added in to my to-do-list...
(I actually seriously added it to my to-do-list... not even joking...)

~~It's not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you.~~

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jason p sage

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Posted: 2nd May 2008 02:45

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Cool - BTW - Got those tiled windows going and I was all excited... time to move on to controls... and then I thought... NO... YOU CAN'T! People need to be able to manually SIZE the windows first...

<sigh>... Dragging works.. hopefully I can just leverage that a bit

http://www.jasonpetersage.com/?PAGE=ironinfantry&SECTION=ironinfantry

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Core2uu

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Posted: 2nd May 2008 04:49

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Sounds, like great work you're doing... Can't wait to see it when it's done... That is if you're gonna release it of course because it's your project and totally your decision...

~~It's not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you.~~

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jason p sage

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Posted: 2nd May 2008 05:18

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I'll post progress in DarkGDK OOP thread, as its tied to my OOP lib I released, but may be an actual product only because I think it'd be nice to have my hobby at least cover the cost of the occasional model or software tool I might buy... and you guys know - we usually end up with quite a few over time!

http://www.jasonpetersage.com/?PAGE=ironinfantry&SECTION=ironinfantry

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Lilith

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Posted: 2nd May 2008 05:34 Edited at: 2nd May 2008 05:35

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Quote: "Personally - I don't know. You will need to experiment.. ALOT.. like.. szStatement might HAVE to be a pointer, or not, or an ADDRESS to your pointer, or not, you might be able to input an integr.. "

The problem is that dbInput in the help file doesn't match the prototype in header file. Below is a bit of code I used in one of my OOP modules.

+ Code Snippet

	SetCurrent();
	dbInk (Red, White);				// write in red
	dbText (610, 160, "File: ");	// lay down a prompt
	CopyTo(0);
	dbSync();						// and write it to the screen
	dbInk (Red, White);	
	dbSetCursor (660, 160);			// put the cursor right after the prompt
	strcpy (fileName, dbInput());	// copy the return from the input to our buffer

dbInput returns a pointer to a character string that represents the keystrokes (which are echoed to the screen) entered up to the carriage return. On reflection it looks as if, per another thread, that I need to go back and delete that pointer since it's allocated space rather than static. That also means I'll need to create a temporary pointer to hold the returned address.

Lilith, Night Butterfly
I'm not a programmer but I play one in the office

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Core2uu

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Posted: 2nd May 2008 05:44 Edited at: 2nd May 2008 06:53

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Hmm... I've tried to do some stuff with dbInput but it's lost me so far... I'd like to say I know something about C++ operators but I'm not really very good with it... All I know is if you put dbInput ( ); into your loop you can use the window as a textbox... Oh yeah, and the documentation in the helpfile for dbInput is incorrect... This is what IntelliSense tells me...

+ Code Snippet

char * dbInput ()

... instead of what is in the documentation (

+ Code Snippet

void dbInput ( char* szStatement, int iInput )

)...

EDIT: I don't know how Lilith but SOMEHOW your post magically got above mine (again), so now it seems like I'm an idiot half-repeating what someone else just said in the previous post... But no worries, better you reply than me after all...

~~It's not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you.~~

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Lilith

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Posted: 2nd May 2008 07:05

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It's this predictive program I've been working on.

Quite possibly you had your screen open while I posted my response so you didn't see it post while you were typing your response.

Or it could just be that I'm a fast woman.... NOT!

Lilith, Night Butterfly
I'm not a programmer but I play one in the office

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Core2uu

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Posted: 2nd May 2008 07:13

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Quote: "Quite possibly you had your screen open while I posted my response so you didn't see it post while you were typing your response.
"

Not quite possibly... quite probably...

Quote: "Or it could just be that I'm a fast woman.... NOT!"

That was just plain uncalled for...

~~It's not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you.~~

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Lilith

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Posted: 2nd May 2008 07:36

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No, really! I'm a slow typist, especially with this Superman keyboard my roommate gave me.

Lilith, Night Butterfly
I'm not a programmer but I play one in the office

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Ghthor

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Posted: 2nd May 2008 07:50 Edited at: 2nd May 2008 07:54

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Class for Text input. Allows for the use of backspace. You the programmer can do whatever you want with the stored string. Output it to screen, store it in a permanent variable on enter press, etc.

class _TextInput {
public:
	std::string UserInput;	
	std::string LastInput;
	int InputTotal;
	
	// For Control over amount input
	bool InputOnceFlag;

// For Control over Delay Before Key repeats
	int TimeToAdd;

_TextInput() : InputTotal(0), InputOnceFlag(false)
	{	//LastInput = '\0';

TimeToAdd = 0;		
	}

virtual ~_TextInput() {}

void User_Input_Text() {		
		char* InputBuffer = dbInKey();
		// Check For Backspace
		if(dbScanCode() == 14)			
		{	// Create Eraser
			std::string::iterator eraser = UserInput.end();

// Don't Need this Here, but its nice to free up memory
			// Delete Memory Allocated by dbInKey()
			delete [] InputBuffer;	InputBuffer = 0;

if(InputOnceFlag)
			{	// Check Timer
				if(TimeToAdd <= dbTimer())
				{	// If not begining, decrement back one
					// so eraser isn't at end()  end() = '\0'
					if(eraser != UserInput.begin())
					{	
						eraser--;
						// Erase Last Char in String
						UserInput.erase(eraser);
						// Repeat Rate
						TimeToAdd = dbTimer() + 50;
					}
				}
			}
			else // InputOnceFlag = False
			{
				if(eraser != UserInput.begin())
				{	
					eraser--;
					UserInput.erase(eraser);
					// Set Input Once Flag
					InputOnceFlag = true;
					// Deley until Repeat
					// 1 Sec
					TimeToAdd = dbTimer() + 1000;
				}
			}
		}		
		else if(*InputBuffer != '\0')
		{	
			std::string TestBuffer = InputBuffer;
			// If Same As last Input
			if(LastInput == TestBuffer)
			{	// If it has Already been input once
				if(InputOnceFlag)
				{	// If Its Time to Add this char to the String
					if(TimeToAdd <= dbTimer())
					{	
						InputTotal++;
						UserInput += TestBuffer;
						// Repeat Rate
						TimeToAdd = dbTimer() + 50;
						//LastInput == TestBuffer;
					}
				}
				else // InputOnceFlag == False
				{
					InputTotal++;
					UserInput += TestBuffer;
					// Input Once
					InputOnceFlag = true;
					// Sec's To to Wait till repeating this char in the string
					// 1 sec
					TimeToAdd = dbTimer() + 1000;
				}
			}			
			else // InputBuffer != LastInput
			{	
				InputTotal++;
				UserInput += TestBuffer;
				LastInput = TestBuffer;
				InputOnceFlag = true;
				// Set To to Wait till repeating this char in the string
				// 1 sec
				TimeToAdd = dbTimer() + 1000;
			}
		}
		else // No Key Pressed InputBuffer == '\0'
		{	
			// reset InputOnceFlag
			if(InputOnceFlag == true) InputOnceFlag = false;
			// reset Timer
			if(TimeToAdd != 0) TimeToAdd = 0;
		}
		// Delete Memory Allocated by dbInKey()
		if(InputBuffer != 0)
		{	delete [] InputBuffer; InputBuffer = 0;}
	}

void ClearInputString() {
		UserInput.clear();
		InputTotal = 0;
	}
};

+ Code Snippet

class _TextInput {
public:
	std::string UserInput;	
	std::string LastInput;
	int InputTotal;
	
	// For Control over amount input
	bool InputOnceFlag;

	// For Control over Delay Before Key repeats
	int TimeToAdd;	

	_TextInput() : InputTotal(0), InputOnceFlag(false)
	{	//LastInput = '\0';

		TimeToAdd = 0;		
	}

	virtual ~_TextInput() {}	

	void User_Input_Text() {		
		char* InputBuffer = dbInKey();
		// Check For Backspace
		if(dbScanCode() == 14)			
		{	// Create Eraser
			std::string::iterator eraser = UserInput.end();

			// Don't Need this Here, but its nice to free up memory
			// Delete Memory Allocated by dbInKey()
			delete [] InputBuffer;	InputBuffer = 0;

			if(InputOnceFlag)
			{	// Check Timer
				if(TimeToAdd <= dbTimer())
				{	// If not begining, decrement back one
					// so eraser isn't at end()  end() = '\0'
					if(eraser != UserInput.begin())
					{	
						eraser--;
						// Erase Last Char in String
						UserInput.erase(eraser);
						// Repeat Rate
						TimeToAdd = dbTimer() + 50;
					}
				}
			}
			else // InputOnceFlag = False
			{
				if(eraser != UserInput.begin())
				{	
					eraser--;
					UserInput.erase(eraser);
					// Set Input Once Flag
					InputOnceFlag = true;
					// Deley until Repeat
					// 1 Sec
					TimeToAdd = dbTimer() + 1000;
				}
			}
		}		
		else if(*InputBuffer != '\0')
		{	
			std::string TestBuffer = InputBuffer;
			// If Same As last Input
			if(LastInput == TestBuffer)
			{	// If it has Already been input once
				if(InputOnceFlag)
				{	// If Its Time to Add this char to the String
					if(TimeToAdd <= dbTimer())
					{	
						InputTotal++;
						UserInput += TestBuffer;
						// Repeat Rate
						TimeToAdd = dbTimer() + 50;
						//LastInput == TestBuffer;
					}
				}
				else // InputOnceFlag == False
				{
					InputTotal++;
					UserInput += TestBuffer;
					// Input Once
					InputOnceFlag = true;
					// Sec's To to Wait till repeating this char in the string
					// 1 sec
					TimeToAdd = dbTimer() + 1000;
				}
			}			
			else // InputBuffer != LastInput
			{	
				InputTotal++;
				UserInput += TestBuffer;
				LastInput = TestBuffer;
				InputOnceFlag = true;
				// Set To to Wait till repeating this char in the string
				// 1 sec
				TimeToAdd = dbTimer() + 1000;
			}
		}
		else // No Key Pressed InputBuffer == '\0'
		{	
			// reset InputOnceFlag
			if(InputOnceFlag == true) InputOnceFlag = false;
			// reset Timer
			if(TimeToAdd != 0) TimeToAdd = 0;
		}
		// Delete Memory Allocated by dbInKey()
		if(InputBuffer != 0)
		{	delete [] InputBuffer; InputBuffer = 0;}
	}	

	void ClearInputString() {
		UserInput.clear();
		InputTotal = 0;
	}
};

Taco Justice

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jason p sage

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Posted: 2nd May 2008 13:37

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@GHthor - nice - hope some people latch on to that.

Quote: "Quote: "Or it could just be that I'm a fast woman.... NOT!"

That was hilarious! LOL

Quote: "That was just plain uncalled for..."

Booooo Booooo

http://www.jasonpetersage.com/?PAGE=ironinfantry&SECTION=ironinfantry

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Dark GDK / DarkGDK benfit and disadvantage