Screen _NewImage(800, 600, 32)

$Color:32



f = _LoadFont("./DejaVuSansMono.ttf", 16, "monospace")

_Font f



'first, let's showcase WHY we need to use QPrint over Print:



a$ = "This_is_a_line_with_underscores"

Print a$

Qlocate 2, 1

Qprint a$, -1

Locate 5, 1

Print "Notice something different with those two statements?"

Print "The first line, which uses PRINT, clips off those underscores to make certain that our height is *EXACTLY* 16 pixels."

Print

Print "QPrint, with uses _UPrintString as its roots, renders above and below the main height as necessary for flourishes and underscores."

Sleep

Cls

_Font 16: _FreeFont f

f = _LoadFont("./DejaVuSansMono.ttf", 24, "monospace")

_Font f









Locate 1, 5 'test positioning of first qprint

For i = 1 To 25

    Qprint Str$(i), -1 'print enough to test screen scrolling

    Sleep 'so we can watch it in action!

Next





'And here we have a test of multi-line string printing

Cls

a$ = "This is a really long line of rambling text that represents nothing more than an attempt to write so much junk on a single line that we end up having to split this text and move it down onto multiple lines, so that we don't lose what we're printing beyond the bounds of the screen.  Nothing here really, and if you read all of this, you're a good man(tm)!"

For i = 1 To 5

    Qprint a$, -1

    Sleep 'so we can watch it in action!

Next





Sub Qprint (text$, newline)

    'Note that this does NOT print unicode or utf-8 formated strings.

    'That functionality has to be expanded in a future update.

    'This only prints ASCII characters, but it does so by making use of the _UPrint commands,

    'so that font clipping and such doesn't occur and make various fonts illegible.



    OriginalX = Pos(1)

    OriginalY = CsrLin

    CurrentX = (OriginalX - 1) * _FontWidth

    CurrentY = (OriginalY - 1) * _UFontHeight

    temp$ = text$

    Do

        finished = 0

        MaxX = _Width - CurrentX



        TextWidth = _UPrintWidth(temp$)

        If TextWidth < MaxX Then 'there's enough room to print on the current line

            _UPrintString (CurrentX, CurrentY), temp$

            CurrentX = CurrentX + _UPrintWidth(temp$)

            finished = -1

        Else 'we need to print what we can and continue to the next line

            lastchar = QFindMaxPos(temp$, MaxX)

            _UPrintString (CurrentX, CurrentY), Left$(temp$, lastchar)

            temp$ = Mid$(temp$, lastchar + 1)

            MaxX = _Width

            GoSub scrollup

            CurrentX = 0

            CurrentY = CurrentY + _UFontHeight

            finished = 0

        End If

        GoSub scrollup

    Loop Until finished

    If newline Then CurrentY = CurrentY + _UFontHeight: CurrentX = 0





    GoSub scrollup



    Exit Sub

    scrollup:

    If CurrentY > _Height - _UFontHeight Then

        'scroll up routine:

        $Checking:Off

        Dim m As _MEM

        m = _MemImage(0)

        screenw = _UFontHeight * _Width * _PixelSize

        t$ = Space$(m.SIZE - screenw)

        _MemGet m, m.OFFSET + screenw, t$

        Cls , _BackgroundColor(_Dest)

        _MemPut m, m.OFFSET, t$

        _MemFree m

        $Checking:On

        'end of scrolling routine

        CurrentY = CurrentY - _UFontHeight

    End If

    Qlocate Int(CurrentY / _UFontHeight) + 1, Int(CurrentX / _FontWidth) + 1

    Return

End Sub



Function QFindMaxPos (text$, w)

    'Quick Find Max Position

    'This routine quickly finds which position fits within a given width of a string

    'This works on a binary search method to determine max length and character position,

    'So for long strings or large screens, it can find the proper position much quicker than just searching

    'and comparing lengths from left to right, or right to left.



    min = 0

    max = Len(text$)

    If _FontWidth Then 'monospaced font

        max = Int(w / _FontWidth) + 1 'the most possible characters that can fit on a line

    Else

        If max > w Then max = w 'most possible would be 1 character per pixel!

    End If

    If _UPrintWidth(Left$(text$, max)) < w Then QFindMaxPos = max: Exit Function

    Do

        test = Int((max - min) / 2) + min

        p = _UPrintWidth(Left$(text$, test))

        If p = oldp Then Exit Do

        Select Case p

            Case Is < w

                min = test

            Case Is > w: max = test

            Case Is = w: Exit Do

        End Select

        oldp = p

    Loop

    QFindMaxPos = test

End Function





Sub Qlocate (x, y)

    'a replacement to error check to make certain that we stay within the proper screen coordinates

    'while using the new _uprintstring command

    CurrentX = (y) * _FontWidth

    CurrentY = (x) * _UFontHeight

    If CurrentX > _Width Then Error 5: Exit Sub

    If CurrentY > _Height Then Error 5: Exit Sub

    Locate x, y

End Sub

Out of curiosity, anyone else participating in the Jam for All BASIC Dialects (#5) that's going on through December?

https://itch.io/jam/jam-for-all-basic-dialects-5

Screen _NewImage(640, 480, 32)

Randomize Timer

f = _LoadFont("times.ttf", 20)

_Font f



Do

    Cls

    text$ = ""

    For i = 1 To 75

        text$ = text$ + Chr$(Rnd * 60 + 64) 'build a random string for various lengths when testing

    Next



    temp$ = Left$(text$, QFindMaxPos(text$, _Width))

    _UPrintString (0, 0), temp$

    'The next line shows how long our text would be, if we printed the next character.

    Locate 2, 1: Print _UPrintWidth(temp$), _UPrintWidth(Left$(text$, Len(temp$) + 1))

    Do

        k = _KeyHit

        If k = 27 Then System

        _Limit 10

    Loop Until k > 0

Loop









Function QFindMaxPos (text$, w)

    'Quick Find Max Position

    'This routine quickly finds which position fits within a given width of a string

    'This works on a binary search method to determine max length and character position,

    'So for long strings or large screens, it can find the proper position much quicker than just searching

    'and comparing lengths from left to right, or right to left.



    min = 0

    max = Len(text$)

    If _FontWidth Then 'monospaced font

        max = Int(w / _FontWidth) + 1 'the most possible characters that can fit on a line

    Else

        If max > w Then max = w 'most possible would be 1 character per pixel!

    End If

    If _UPrintWidth(Left$(text$, max)) < w Then QFindMaxPos = max: Exit Function

    Do

        test = Int((max - min) / 2) + min

        p = _UPrintWidth(Left$(text$, test))

        If p = oldp Then Exit Do

        Select Case p

            Case Is < w

                min = test

            Case Is > w: max = test

            Case Is = w: Exit Do

        End Select

        oldp = p

    Loop

    QFindMaxPos = test

End Function

If your curiosity bug bites, here is a link to an open source version of BASIC with an included multi-value database.  It is the open source version of OpenQM called ScarletDME (SDME for short).  It was released as an open source 32 version in 2007 and has been updated over the years to 64 bit by some dedicated programmers.  It is related to Pick like databases such as Universe, Unidata and D3.

It is multi-user and runs on current linux distros such as Debian 12, Ubuntu 23.10 and Fedora 39.  The BASIC included will be very familar to any Quick Basic lover. And, it manages a database without the use of SQL.

The website is https://www.sdme64.com.

Typing Print val("3*3") returns 3.
I would expect it to return 9. I don't see anything to indicate differently.

Discovered "fantasy computers" recently and this might be of interest to other retro programming fans if you aren't too busy with QB64. Runs on probably all the platforms you'd want.

Tic-80 Site / Reference Manual

• LowRes NX is a similar setup, though using a dialect of BASIC!
  

In this post is an interesting drive display utility which lists drive volumes and serial numbers using a shell to vol:

Attached Files

  checkdrive.bas (Size: 1.9 KB / Downloads: 35)

I would like to bring it to the attention of those who make games. Even with a 2D game, it's worth considering what you want to show. The image update. Until now I never dealt with it, I always used a value. A value that is good for the speed of my current computer. In my last game, I was shocked at how important this is to the perfection of the display.

It also means a lot if someone makes a 2D game!

Something moves on the screen. This will have a path, a process. How many parts this process is divided into and how many times it is mapped determines the quality of the animation.

It is worth taking this into account before making the game! It can also be built in afterwards.

Delta timing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_timing

I created an example program to show in which cases it is necessary to multiply with 'deltatime' or to use it as a power exponent.

In the main cycle, the value of _LIMIT can be changed so that the animation speed is constant.

If you are making a game, I recommend that you include it so that the program can be set to any image update later.

Umm...  I had a topic here already on this subject, with the code I'd originally posted being (Windows-Only).  I went back to modify that time as I was posting code which would turn my Windows-Only comment into a thing of the past, and... umm...  some mod.... *whistles innocently*... who may, or may not have been me...  *whistles a little more*...  completely ended up destroying that whole topic, rather than just renaming it!!

*Whistles Innocently a whole lot!*

But, since these things happen, and nobody will cop up to deleting and obliterating my old topic...  *hum humm deee hummm* ,,, then I guess I'll just start a new one, so I can share the new code which works on all OSes.

_ControlChr Off



a$ = "Hello World"

Print "Original: "; a$



a1$ = To64$(a$)

Print "Encrypted: "; a1$



b$ = From64$(a1$)

Print "Restored: "; b$





$If BASE64 = UNDEFINED Then

    $Let BASE64 = TRUE

    $If WIN Then

        Declare Dynamic Library "Crypt32"

            Function CryptBinaryToStringA& (Compressed$, Byval numElements&, Byval format&, Byval buffer As _Offset, length&)

            Function CryptStringToBinaryA& (s$, Byval length&, Byval flags&, Byval r As _Offset, ret_length&, skip&, flag2&)

        End Declare



        Function To64$ (original$)

            If CryptBinaryToStringA(original$, Len(original$), &H40000001&, 0, l&) Then temp$ = Space$(l&) Else Exit Function

            If CryptBinaryToStringA(original$, Len(original$), &H40000001&, _Offset(temp$), l&) Then To64$ = temp$

        End Function



        Function From64$ (base64$)

            If CryptStringToBinaryA(base64$, Len(base64$), 6&, 0, l&, 0&, 0&) Then temp$ = Space$(l&) Else Exit Function

            If CryptStringToBinaryA(base64$, Len(base64$), 6&, _Offset(temp$), l&, 0&, 0&) Then From64$ = temp$

        End Function

    $Else

            'Note that these two versions were shamelessly stolen from A740g and taken directly from his work.

            'Orignial code and library can be found on the forums here: https://qb64phoenix.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=2184





            ' Converts a normal string or binary data to a base64 string

            Function To64$ (s As String)

            Const BASE64_CHARACTERS = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/"



            Dim srcSize As _Unsigned Long: srcSize = Len(s)

            Dim srcSize3rem As _Unsigned Long: srcSize3rem = srcSize Mod 3

            Dim srcSize3mul As _Unsigned Long: srcSize3mul = srcSize - srcSize3rem

            Dim buffer As String: buffer = Space$(((srcSize + 2) \ 3) * 4) ' preallocate complete buffer

            Dim j As _Unsigned Long: j = 1



            Dim i As _Unsigned Long: For i = 1 To srcSize3mul Step 3

            Dim char1 As _Unsigned _Byte: char1 = Asc(s, i)

            Dim char2 As _Unsigned _Byte: char2 = Asc(s, i + 1)

            Dim char3 As _Unsigned _Byte: char3 = Asc(s, i + 2)



            Asc(buffer, j) = Asc(BASE64_CHARACTERS, 1 + (_ShR(char1, 2)))

            j = j + 1

            Asc(buffer, j) = Asc(BASE64_CHARACTERS, 1 + (_ShL((char1 And 3), 4) Or _ShR(char2, 4)))

            j = j + 1

            Asc(buffer, j) = Asc(BASE64_CHARACTERS, 1 + (_ShL((char2 And 15), 2) Or _ShR(char3, 6)))

            j = j + 1

            Asc(buffer, j) = Asc(BASE64_CHARACTERS, 1 + (char3 And 63))

            j = j + 1

            Next i



            ' Add padding

            If srcSize3rem > 0 Then

            char1 = Asc(s, i)



            Asc(buffer, j) = Asc(BASE64_CHARACTERS, 1 + (_ShR(char1, 2)))

            j = j + 1



            If srcSize3rem = 1 Then

            Asc(buffer, j) = Asc(BASE64_CHARACTERS, 1 + (_ShL(char1 And 3, 4)))

            j = j + 1

            Asc(buffer, j) = 61 ' "="

            j = j + 1

            Asc(buffer, j) = 61 ' "="

            Else ' srcSize3rem = 2

            char2 = Asc(s, i + 1)



            Asc(buffer, j) = Asc(BASE64_CHARACTERS, 1 + (_ShL((char1 And 3), 4) Or _ShR(char2, 4)))

            j = j + 1

            Asc(buffer, j) = Asc(BASE64_CHARACTERS, 1 + (_ShL(char2 And 15, 2)))

            j = j + 1

            Asc(buffer, j) = 61 ' "="

            End If

            End If



            To64$ = buffer

            End Function



            ' Converts a base64 string to a normal string or binary data

            Function From64$ (s As String)

            Dim srcSize As _Unsigned Long: srcSize = Len(s)

            Dim buffer As String: buffer = Space$((srcSize \ 4) * 3) ' preallocate complete buffer

            Dim j As _Unsigned Long: j = 1

            Dim As _Unsigned _Byte index, char1, char2, char3, char4



            Dim i As _Unsigned Long: For i = 1 To srcSize Step 4

            index = Asc(s, i): GoSub find_index: char1 = index

            index = Asc(s, i + 1): GoSub find_index: char2 = index

            index = Asc(s, i + 2): GoSub find_index: char3 = index

            index = Asc(s, i + 3): GoSub find_index: char4 = index



            Asc(buffer, j) = _ShL(char1, 2) Or _ShR(char2, 4)

            j = j + 1

            Asc(buffer, j) = _ShL(char2 And 15, 4) Or _ShR(char3, 2)

            j = j + 1

            Asc(buffer, j) = _ShL(char3 And 3, 6) Or char4

            j = j + 1

            Next i



            ' Remove padding

            If Right$(s, 2) = "==" Then

            buffer = Left$(buffer, Len(buffer) - 2)

            ElseIf Right$(s, 1) = "=" Then

            buffer = Left$(buffer, Len(buffer) - 1)

            End If



            From64$ = buffer

            Exit Function



            find_index:

            If index >= 65 And index <= 90 Then

            index = index - 65

            ElseIf index >= 97 And index <= 122 Then

            index = index - 97 + 26

            ElseIf index >= 48 And index <= 57 Then

            index = index - 48 + 52

            ElseIf index = 43 Then

            index = 62

            ElseIf index = 47 Then

            index = 63

            End If

            Return

            End Function

    $End If 

$End If 

Good morning everyone, 

I would like to try using the C language support to integrate certain functions that do not exist or are difficult to access in QB64.

Apart from the wiki, I have not found a proper guide that can help me understand how to do it, and the examples I have found have not been very helpful.

Can you help me with this?

Even Python, which is currently very popular, would be fantastic if it were implemented in QB64… but I realize I'm asking for too much.
Besides, I don't like Python but I have to acknowledge that it has an incredible amount of libraries.

Thank you!