STYX is a plug-in for DarkBASIC Professional. It contains over 200 new commands allowing you to integrate your DarkBASIC Professional game and applications with common Microsoft technologies - .NET, ActiveX and COM. Not only this but it also provides for extra handling of Strings, Number operations, Windows (and Window shaping), Splash screens, MIDI support, XML support, Direct Memory Access, integration of Flash movies, INI file handling and Intervals (code running on interrupts).
COM, ActiveX, .NET
Commands in this section allow you to load COM, ActiveX or .NET DLLs (and one of their classes). One loaded you can create new instances, call COM functions, check for the existence of COM classes, register DLLs and set/get values.
Dialogs
Open up standard Windows dialogs with a single call. Dialogs supported include: Color Picker, Folder Selection, Open File, Save File and Message Boxes. Full control over the properties of each dialog are included.
File Names and File Paths
A selection of commands to make working with files easier. Commands such as: Add/Remove Backslash, Change File Extensions, Expand Filename (turn the relative file name into a fully qualified path name by merging in the current drive and directory), Extraction commands to obtain the Drive, Extension, File Name and Path. There are also commands for Temp file handling, including the ability to create Temp Files that live in the Windows Temp folder.
Flash Movies
A set of commands to allow for the loading and playing of Flash movies within DarkBASIC Professional. You can load and position Flash files (up to 256 of them), resize them, rewind them, fast forward, set the frame rate, pass vars into the Flash movie, set the background colour, find out the width, height and other attributes, and finally delete them from memory. If you've ever wanted to use Flash to create a smart looking intro sequence or main menu to your game, now you can!
INI Files
INI files are great for storing local settings without messing with the users Registry. These commands help you manage ini files quickly and easily. You can open them, read data from them, write to them, erase them, check for existing sections, count the values and perform validation and setting of data.
Intervals, Callbacks, References
If you've ever wanted to be able to call a function on an interval basis (i.e. once every few seconds during your main game loop) then you can now do this with Styx. It allows you to create, start and stop intervals - you get to decide which functions are called, and how often, when you start the interval running. Callbacks allow you to create functions in DarkBASIC Professional that can be called from external DLLs or the Windows API.
Runtime Error Handling and Anti-Aliasing
Handle a wide range of runtime errors in your DarkBASIC Professional application. So you can prevent the program from terminating if you load corrupted media files for example. The latest version of Styx allows you to control the anti-alias settings of your 3D scenes, too.
Memory Access
You'd be amazed how many old-skool programmers ask us why DarkBASIC Professional doesn't have PEEK and POKE commands! Styx now provides that. You can PEEK and POKE directly into memory to your hearts content. It features correct handling of all data types including bytes, floats, longs, strings, words, double floats and double ints. You can also set the save mode of the memory, allowing for protection against crashes and over-writes.
MIDI Out
Check for MIDI devices connected to your PC, then open a channel to them and send MIDI messages and notes..
Number Operations
Number and Math related commands include: Even (check if the given value is even or not), High Byte Order commands (to return high byte values) for Bytes, Words and Longs. Low Order Byte commands to return Low order values from Bytes, Words and Longs. Make Double Integer to create double int values (by combining two DWords). Also included as MAX, MIN and ODD commands to return their respective values (MAX tells you which value is highest, etc). The latest version includes a set of bit manipulating commands as well. Additionally you'll find an expression evaluator that resolves numerical expressions during run time.
String Operations
Styx provides various string commands such as TRIM, LTRIM, RTRIM, SPLIT, REPLACE, INSTR, INSERT, DELETE, COPY and COMPARE. A powerful and customizable tokenizer helps you to analyse strings.
Window Commands
This section offers various controls over how your Windows look and act. If you run your DBPro game in a Window (rather than full-screen) then you can use the CENTER command to center the window in the middle of the users desktop. FIND DBPRO WINDOW will return a handle to the DBPro window (or any window) requested. You can retrieve window properties including: handle, height, width, moved, resized, state, x, y, client height, client width and active state. You can flash windows, send them to the back or front, force a window to be 'always on-top' (even when deactivated) and send a window to sleep.
Window Shaper and Splash Screen
These commands display a splash screen with an optional progress bar. You can define a background image with or without colour key (for shaping the window), set the transparency of the splash window, control the progress bar, allow the splash to be dragged (or not) and check if the user is within the drag zone.
XML Files
The final section of STYX allows for XML file handling. You can create a new XML file in memory or load one, and then add/remove nodes and set node attributes and values. You can set nodes to root, parent or child status and iterate through the nodes. The resulting changes can be saved back again.
| Styx | ||||||||||
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Add over 200 commands to DarkBASIC Professional.
Styx is distributed electronically. |
| Ultimate Expansion Pack 2008 | |||||||||||||||
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Save 30% - This pack contains 12 great DarkBASIC Professional extensions:
All items in this pack are distributed electronically. |
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