i'm sure this issue must have been discussed at some point – though a search on the current and previous fora hasn't yielded anything on it – but has there been any suggestion of offering different themes for BB4W? i know we can change the fonts and syntax colours, but i've never entirely made my peace with the bright white background.
Anyone know anything about this? i for one would love to have some options for this, particularly as it's a standard feature in all decent modern coding environments.
BB4W themes?
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Re: BB4W themes?
Hi 5:4,
I don't recall that coming up. What you may not realize is that BB4W has been out of development for several years and the design is frozen, so I very much doubt if such a feature would ever be added. But the SDL versions are still being developed. As part of the package there are two IDE's that are written in BBC BASIC and the source provided so I would assume that you could customize one of those IDE's to be as you would wish. Take a look as one of those may be closer to what you want.
As BBC BASIC can be saved as a text file with the "bas" extension you could use any other dark themed coding environment of your choice as I am sure it would also be able to save as text. Then you could load that into the BB4W IDE only for test and compilation.
Z
I don't recall that coming up. What you may not realize is that BB4W has been out of development for several years and the design is frozen, so I very much doubt if such a feature would ever be added. But the SDL versions are still being developed. As part of the package there are two IDE's that are written in BBC BASIC and the source provided so I would assume that you could customize one of those IDE's to be as you would wish. Take a look as one of those may be closer to what you want.
As BBC BASIC can be saved as a text file with the "bas" extension you could use any other dark themed coding environment of your choice as I am sure it would also be able to save as text. Then you could load that into the BB4W IDE only for test and compilation.
Z
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Re: BB4W themes?
I think your best option is (assuming you're using windows 10) to apply windows's high contrast theme mode, and in bb4w set the text/syntax colours accordingly.
I have BB4W running on linux via wine with bright text on a dark background. One strange thing, though, is that I had to edit the registry to change the bb4w syntax/text colours, the menu option from bb4w didn't work, it's probably some bug or problem in wine.
I sometimes use the computer at night and have the same sort of requirement, so I modified SDLIDE so that the colors are inverted. I use the unmodified SDLIDE during daylight and my modified version during the night.
Here's a screenshot of how I have it set up: http://dusthillguy.ddns.net/folder/file ... olours.png
PM
I have BB4W running on linux via wine with bright text on a dark background. One strange thing, though, is that I had to edit the registry to change the bb4w syntax/text colours, the menu option from bb4w didn't work, it's probably some bug or problem in wine.
I sometimes use the computer at night and have the same sort of requirement, so I modified SDLIDE so that the colors are inverted. I use the unmodified SDLIDE during daylight and my modified version during the night.
Here's a screenshot of how I have it set up: http://dusthillguy.ddns.net/folder/file ... olours.png
PM
Last edited by p_m21987 on Tue 17 Jul 2018, 19:05, edited 1 time in total.
- 5against4
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- 5against4
- Posts: 21
- Joined: Tue 03 Apr 2018, 11:57
- Location: The Cotswolds
Re: BB4W themes?
No, i didn't realise that; i assumed that it was still being 'actively' managed by Richard Russell. That's a real shame; i've been tempted numerous times to abandon BB4W and switch to something else (such as Python) for my work, but for now i've stuck with it. But knowing it's developmentally defunct doesn't really inspire one to envisage continuing using it for the long term…
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Re: BB4W themes?
Edit: I deleted this post because I felt that it might have been inappropriate. I apologise if any offense was caused.
Last edited by p_m21987 on Tue 31 Jul 2018, 15:38, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: BB4W themes?
You seem to be reading a lot into what I said, so let me clarify what I believe the situation to be. BB4W IS still supported by Richard. Maintenance releases would probably occur if there were a need but there are no plans for any extension or changes to the language or IDE. Version 6.11a is the latest version and was a maintenance update issued exactly a year ago. There will be no 64 bit version of BB4W.
So long as 64 bit Windows versions still support the Win32 API then nothing has changed in the viability of programming using BB4W, nor would it should Richard not be available to continue support as this is a very mature product and as bug free as any software you will ever likely buy.
Richard has been very active developing BBCSDL as you can see by the releases and would like that to continue. He also expressed his willingness to release the source if the right person could be found with the necessary skills etc. to continue the work. I don't think you need jump ship just yet, there is more to come I am sure.
I believe that all this is in public statements on the various boards, but please correct ADMIN if my understanding is incorrect in any way.
Z
So long as 64 bit Windows versions still support the Win32 API then nothing has changed in the viability of programming using BB4W, nor would it should Richard not be available to continue support as this is a very mature product and as bug free as any software you will ever likely buy.
Richard has been very active developing BBCSDL as you can see by the releases and would like that to continue. He also expressed his willingness to release the source if the right person could be found with the necessary skills etc. to continue the work. I don't think you need jump ship just yet, there is more to come I am sure.
I believe that all this is in public statements on the various boards, but please correct ADMIN if my understanding is incorrect in any way.
Z
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Re: BB4W themes?
Edit: I deleted this post because I felt that it might have been inappropriate. I apologise if any offense was caused.
Last edited by p_m21987 on Tue 31 Jul 2018, 15:38, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: BB4W themes?
As I see it, if the current versions of BBC Basic serve peoples needs as of now, its not an issue of longevity of the language. Consider that Intel will be releasing its next generation chips late next year and word is that Mac is working on their own specific chip set. The more I look around, there are possibly thousands of micro controller chips that have their own programming IDE. Even if they serve only a basic purpose. So what ever happens, happens. "All things must pass" is a universal law.
I have been toying around off and on with programming since 1982 (with a gap of around 10 years doing random stuff). I really havent done much out of the hobby bubble. But we have seen a few people really make the forum glow with thier amazing skills. I have seen DDRM and Ric and David Williams create astounding snippets. Michael Hutton I seen a bit but he went silent. I am working on a couple projects, but I have become more casual with everything.. So its up in the air at the moment. But then it is hot and I dont do much on computers during summer.
I have been toying around off and on with programming since 1982 (with a gap of around 10 years doing random stuff). I really havent done much out of the hobby bubble. But we have seen a few people really make the forum glow with thier amazing skills. I have seen DDRM and Ric and David Williams create astounding snippets. Michael Hutton I seen a bit but he went silent. I am working on a couple projects, but I have become more casual with everything.. So its up in the air at the moment. But then it is hot and I dont do much on computers during summer.
Focus is on code subject. Feel free to judge the quality of my work.
Re: BB4W themes?
There may be little point in replying to a post made in 2018, but for some reason neither I nor anybody else seems to have given the answer at the time (probably because the thread degenerated into a discussion about the quality of my support for the language). This very issue arose only today over at the discussion group. To save you looking there (although it should be viewable even by non-members) here is the reply I gave:
It has always been possible to select a dark background for BB4W's IDE editing pane! This has been discussed here before, for example in this thread. The only limitation, if you call it that, is that the window background colour of other applications, e.g. Notepad, will also change (since it is a system-wide setting) but in the context of a 'dark theme' that may well be what you want anyway!
Control over the theme colours through the Windows GUI has been limited in recent versions of Windows so you may not be able to do it as easily as was described in that old thread (from 2008). Nevertheless you can still change them 'permanently' (for the current user) by editing the Registry. The key you want is HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Colors\Window which by default is set to 255 255 255 (i.e. white) but you can change it to any other RGB colour value. Any change will take effect on the next reboot.
If you prefer not to set the background colour permanently in this way, but just for the current session, you can write a BBC BASIC program to do that:
Code: Select all
_COLOR_WINDOW = 5
element% = _COLOR_WINDOW
rgbcol% = &FFFFFF
SYS "SetSysColors", 1, ^element%, ^rgbcol%