August 30, 2005 HUD-1 Main Module Version 0.7 Beta, Build 169
My deepest apologies for not having written sooner. Other projects have kept me away from the HUD-1 program for a long time. But I'm back to it now, full time.
In the last 18 months I have totally re-written the underlying technology of the HUD-1 program, and taken the time to document it. The Form Foundation is a technology that will facilitate the ease of upgrading forms used in dynamic business environments, while ensuring backward compatibility. The Form Foundation is based on three techniques:
1 - A set of controls and containers (forms and applications) for those controls;
2 - Textual descriptions of the properties and code hooks for the controls that are stored in an easy to update format, and;
3 - a body of code that customizes a Form Foundation application that ensures both permanent backward compatibility of data and form processing, and easy updating.
The HUD-1 program is the prototype application that demonstrates the technology. Look for new versions to start rolling out within a few weeks.
February 6th, 2004 HUD-1 Main Module Version 0.7 Beta, Build 169
Finally, a fairly functional version of the Print Preview Screen is ready! There are still some problems, which I will address in the upcoming Version 0.8 Beta of the HUD-1 software.
First is the issue of how fast the form closes. On my system, a 1.5 Ghz P4, it takes 30 seconds. I have not yet timed it on a slower machine. This is far too slow, and I have worked out a way to dynamically add and remove controls, so the next version will be much faster.
Related to the closing speed is how quickly the form responds to scrolling and wheeling. The sheer number of controls on the form (700+) makes it very difficult for the form to respond. Dynamically removing controls as they leave the viewpane will fix that problem, too.
And there are several bits of awkwardness about the appearence of some of the controls. That's just visual definition, and will be repaired as I go along.
I will be working on another project until the end of March (slBas, www.slbas.com) and will return to HUD-1 on April 2nd, 2004.
January 26th, 2004 HUD-1 Main Module Version 0.7 Beta, Build 146
It has been quite a while since I issued a build of HUD-1. I have been engaged in Christmas/New Year's activities, and installing Windows XP on my system while maintaining system continuity. A really tricky thing.
During this time, I have made the Print Preview Form a LOT faster, except in one area: closing. Even on a fast system like mine, it can take up to 10 seconds for the form to close. I will be working on making this process faster. I have mostly finished the code to display the contents of either a file or a form from either the Print Dialog Box or an open HUD-1 form, and to control the Print Dialog Box if it is open.
I have also added a new control to the Form Foundation classes, a Scroll Bar class. It works just like an ordinary Windows Scroll Bar, with the added advantage that its underlying code is based entirely on FoxPro, and inherits all the functionality of the Form foundation Base Class (with a few methods and properties appropriate to a vertical or horizontal scroll bar).
The Print Preview form will now respond to either a scroll bar click or move, or to a mousewheel operation. The only problem that exists so far is that the sheer number of controls in the display area slows down the entire reaction. This will be worked on along with the the problem with closing the form.
The next step is to add double-click capability to each field on the form. This code will bring up the corresponding field on a HUD-1 form, select all the text in that field, and allow the user to edit and correct any errors.
December 13th, 2003 HUD-1 Main Module Version 0.7 Beta, Build 051
I have defined the Print Preview sceen for the entire report. It will now appear on the screen and respond to the mouse wheel. Unfortunately, it is far too slow, so I will be working on ways to speed up the process. The releases should come more quickly now, since most of my time has been spent simply defining the lines of code.
Also, I will be trying something of an experiment: one of the goals of the Form Foundation classes upon which the HUD-1 program is based is to read descriptions of the visual appearance from a FILE rather than a compiled program. The benefit of this is to make updates much faster and easier. If a form can read its interface from a file, the compiled version of the form (and the surrounding program) need only be released once. The database containing a new visual interface can be released as often as necessary without having the re-build the entire environment. As the work progresses on the Print Preview form, I will be moving some of its code to a table, making it easier to update.
November 22nd, 2003 HUD-1 Main Module Version 0.7 Beta, Build 046
The Print Preview form has now been defined to the end of page one of the report. I can anticipate, barring any disasters, that the code and table entries for the print preview form will be completely defined by the end of the year.
November 14th, 2003 HUD-1 Web Site
I have been attempting to add an exciting new dimension to the HUD-1 Web Site - a JabberTalk Chat room! When finished, those who use the GAIM chat client will be able to log in and chat online with the HUD-1 staff! As of today, however, the seb site host was having problems with an upgrade of the script language, so chat does not yet work. Keep tuned......
November 14th, 2003 HUD-1 Main Module Version 0.7 Beta, Build 041
I have completed a small part of the script engine, namely the sections devoted to determining the validity of the expression (is less than, is equal to, etc) in an action. If any expression is built that might have an ambiguous result, the user is warned. However, the calculation will proceed despite such errors.
In other news, I have also started putting together a prototype print preview window. This window can be invoked from the Print Dialog Box's Preview function. Note that it is very important to choose a file to print! The name of the file will not yet be passed to the print preview window, and only a partial report will be displayed in build 41. Also, the scroll bar and buttons do not yet work. However, you can test the functionality of the mouse wheel function. Place the mouse over the report and do a wheelie - you can see the window move up and down! Also, you might notice that the print dialog box minimizes itself. If you click the Print button, the form will close, the print dialog box will restore itself, and printing will begin automatically. The Close button does NOT do this, as this form does not yet know from where it has been called. And, the Refresh button does not work. Other than that, it looks really nice so far.
September 30th, 2003 HUD-1 Main Module Version 0.7 Beta, Build 032
In version of 0.7, I intend to concentrate on the script engine. As the first part of this, I have completed a valuable piece of code to verify that a field is numeric. This code will change the colors of a numeric only field when the user attempts to enter a non-numeric character into the field. This is in two stages: if the user attempts to enter an "e" character (for an exponent), the field's will suddenly turn red over a white background. If the user enters a valid exponential expression after that, the partial error is cleared and the text turns normal. If there is a true error, such as entering an "f" character, the error shows as white text over a red background. This will clear back to normal colors when the erroneous character is replaced by a valid one. The process of error checking is incomplete, and will be finished by the next released build, but for now, is potentially valuable.
September 18th, 2003 HUD-1 Main Module Version 0.6 Beta, Build 335
I have re-issued version 0.6 with one very minor bug - that turns out to "forget" your username/unlock code settings until you start the program once. This fix corrects that omission.
September 17th, 2003 HUD-1 Main Module Version 0.6 Beta, Build 334
The errors from the printer driver and HUD-1's print routine have been corrected, and the error checking has been made far more robust. Now, the parameters of a print job, such as Page Size, are checked for validity as the print job is being built. Another error - in the "p.o.c." right click menu - has been fixed. This was just a typo in the code.
One other change has been made to the Print dialog box. A Browse label was added above the browse button. The user can now press the <Alt>B shortcut key, or click the actual word "Browse," and the browse button will be invoked.
Since the operation of Line 1203 has finally been verified, I am promoting the code to version 7 of the Beta release. I admit that 1203 is really clumsy and will work to optimize its functionality. For now, I will work to write a concise guide to operating line 1203 and perhaps offer some popup windows whenever the user is within the line. Version 7 will also introduce the first (non-visible) code to the Preview form, and finish the Script Builder.
September 13th, 2003 HUD-1 Web Site And HUD-1 Printer Driver
I found a type 380 error being reported by the printer driver. This error was traced to a problem in updating between preferences and the main form, and has been corrected by adding more robust error checking and better communication. I am planning to add a new form to the HUD-1 program: Print Preview. This will be a form that can display the prospective output of the print routine (from either an open form or a file), and allow the user to double-click on a field and edit the data. I'll be issuing a new beta 0.6 version soon with all the bugs corrected. A series of bugs in the web site were corrected: a user with less than IE 5 or Netscape 4.x will now see an error message regarding frames.
August 22nd, 2003 HUD-1 Web Site
The pages and files of the HUD-1 web site, pending the discovery of further errors, have officially been finished. Attention can now be turned towards finishing version 0.6 of HUD-1 Beta.
August 15th, 2003 HUD-1 Web Site
The original beta page has been replaced by new pages and artwork. My thanks to Mr. Mike Driscoll of St. Simons Island, GA, for showing me how to complete the HUD-1 logo at the top of each page.
August 1st, 2003 HUD-1 Main Module version 0.6 build 312
The bug in the Registration Dialog Box that caused a program crash when called from the Remember To Register dialog box has been fixed. Still working on definitive directions for the use of Line 1203.
April 18, 2003 HUD-1 Main Module Version 0.6 build 238 released
Fixed two bugs regarding update - if the file does not exist on the server, the program will display an internal FoxPro 1405 error, which means that the External Execution command to run the setup program has failed. If there is an error, Update will now display the correct error, and quit. Also, if the new file already exists locally, that copy will be deleted before the new copy is downloaded. Added page 10 of the HUD-1 form and several pages about the Preferences Dialog Box to the help file. Added functionality from the HTML ActiveX component into the help file so that some terms can be defined in popups. Added the file "If You Have Trouble With HTML Help" to the program group. If you have any trouble with using HTML help, here's the first thing to do to solve the problem. Again, still need to work on the script engine. Monday for that.
April 15, 2003 HUD-1 Main Module Version 0.6 build 236 released
Increased the speed of the underlying controls by about 5 percent - slightly better performance will be noted. Still need to work on the script engine.
March 28, 2003 HUD-1 Main Module Version 0.6 build 100 released
Added the Remember To Register dialog box. Finished the Registration Dialog Box functionality. Finished the code to require users to register HUD-1. Wrote and added the End User License Agreement. Added the right-click menu for many numeric fields, and made changes to the print modules to account for it. Added Page 7 to the Help File. Remember to read the End User License Agreement. It can be accessed by clicking the Windows Start button and going to Programs | Hud-1 | End User License Agreement. This version has bugs - the round-robin code for various fields in the main form do not act correctly if a right-click menu item has been put into them. Register your software - after a 7 day trial period, the program will close if you fail to do so. Before that period expires, you may click the Accept Button to start the program unregistered.
March 17, 2003 HUD-1 Main Module Version 0.6 build 39 released
Finished and cleared registration dialog box. Field testers will need a username, serial number and unlock code from now on. Contact us for a Hud-1 Beta Registration. Changed the About box to include to Link-To-Web controls, to the HUD-1 site for the HUD-1 program, and to Fastwrite site for the Focus library.
March 12, 2003 HUD-1 Main Module Version 0.6 build 6 released
Line 1203 Borrower and Seller shows up in the report as real numbers (but not added into the total) when the Line 1203 cluster is not enabled. Removed the time-to-print test message box from the main HUD-1 form. Re-sized the Page buttons on the left side of the HUD-1 form. The lower three buttons were visibly the wrong size. This version, 0.6 build 6, is the first I consider to be ready for field testing.