Real Basic: The Definitive Guide

by Neuburg, Matt

• ISBN13: 9781565926578
• ISBN10: 1565926579
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-10-01
• Publisher: Oreilly & Associates Inc

Summary

REALbasic is a very inexpensive program that allows users to design full-fledged applications. Simply put, it is like having Visual Basic on the Mac. It is an application for writing applications that are astonishingly small and fast. REALbasic uses a simple interface and an object- and event-oriented language; this makes development, maintenance, and alteration of projects very easy. There is no other program like this for the Mac. If you want to write a Mac application, you have little choice of application frameworks, and REALbasic is the only one with visual design, object orientation, and an easy language.With the Macintosh's popularity on the rise and REALbasic, which presently only runs on Mac, with plans to make Windows applications, the interested audience is wider than the platform implies. Presently there are no ordered instructional books for REALbasic."REALbasic: The Definitive Guide gives people the information they can't get from the documentation alone and provides new users with the details they need to grasp the program's essential concepts. This book takes the reader from zero knowledge of programming to the ability to program every aspect of REALbasic. The book is divided into three main sections:Fundamentals: a detailed and comprehensive summary of the language that quickly shows you how to think about programming and accomplish your goals in less timeUser Interface: how to create a complete application using the rich classes and pre-defined tools that make life so much easier for the REALbasic programmer.Reaching Out: comprehensive coverage of Internet communications, databases, multimedia, game programming and more!This book covers REALbasic 1 andREALbasic 2. Version 2 adds an internal database, an interface to SQL servers, and the ability to compile for Windows and Java. "REALbasic: The Definitive Guide is poised to become an essential reference for the expanding legion of developers who are discovering the power and flexibility of this program.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. xiii
Fundamentals	p. 1
The Workspace	p. 3
The Project Window	p. 3
Editing Windows	p. 7
Adding Functionality	p. 12
How the Three Editors Relate	p. 16
Testing Without Building	p. 20
Shortcuts	p. 21
The Basic Language	p. 23
Lines and Commands	p. 24
Variables and Constants	p. 25
Subroutines	p. 29
Regulating Flow	p. 39
Arrays	p. 46
Recursion	p. 50
Comments	p. 53
Objects, Classes, and Instances	p. 54
Messages and Dot Notation	p. 55
Object Design Philosophy	p. 57
Classes and Instances	p. 60
Anatomy of a Class	p. 65
An Instance Is Born	p. 68
Referring to Instances	p. 70
The Truth About Controls	p. 79
Control Clones and Control Arrays	p. 80
Being Careful with Instance References	p. 85
Destruction of Instances	p. 92
Subclasses	p. 95
New Classes and Inheritance	p. 95
Casting	p. 98
Overriding	p. 101
Class Interfaces	p. 105
Events and New Events	p. 109
The Class Hierarchy	p. 115
Global Members	p. 117
Further Class Features	p. 121
Example Classes	p. 127
Datatypes	p. 132
Booleans	p. 132
Strings	p. 135
Numbers	p. 143
Variants	p. 148
Collections	p. 150
Dates	p. 151
Colors	p. 155
Memoryblocks	p. 158
Threads	p. 162
Menus	p. 170
Editing Menus	p. 170
Default Menu Items	p. 175
The Menu-Enabling Moment	p. 177
Menu Item Functionality	p. 179
Dynamic Menus	p. 182
The Architecture of an Application	p. 187
Three Pillars of Zen	p. 188
The Application Subclass	p. 196
Order of Events	p. 197
Debugging and Building	p. 201
Compile Errors	p. 201
Exceptions	p. 206
The Debugger	p. 213
Building	p. 218
User Interface	p. 227
Windows	p. 229
Applet and Dialog Subclasses	p. 230
Window Types	p. 231
Opening and Closing, Showing and Hiding	p. 234
Title, Position, and Size	p. 242
Events	p. 244
Drawing in a Window	p. 248
Abstract Control Classes	p. 250
Lifetime Events	p. 252
Appearance	p. 253
Position and Dimensions	p. 254
Mouse Movement Events	p. 255
Redrawing	p. 257
Canvases	p. 259
Canvas Events, Properties, and Methods	p. 260
Picture Class	p. 261
Graphics Class	p. 264
Backdrop Property	p. 269
Fun With Graphics Properties	p. 273
Canvas Graphics Property	p. 282
Transparency and Icons	p. 289
Speed	p. 293
Interaction with Other Objects	p. 295
Buttons and StaticTexts	p. 302
PushButton	p. 303
BevelButton	p. 305
Placard	p. 308
LittleArrows	p. 309
CheckBox	p. 310
RadioButton and GroupBox	p. 311
DisclosureTriangle	p. 315
StaticText	p. 315
Custom Buttons	p. 316
EditFields	p. 322
Types of EditField	p. 322
EditField Events, Properties, and Methods	p. 323
The Focus	p. 329
Manipulating Text and Styles	p. 336
Reacting to User Input	p. 342
Drawing Styled Text	p. 346
Miscellaneous Tips	p. 348
ListBoxes	p. 349
ListBox Features	p. 349
ListBox Events, Properties, and Methods	p. 351
Basic ListBox Techniques	p. 358
The Selection	p. 362
Hierarchical ListBoxes	p. 363
Other ListBox Features	p. 373
ProgressBars, Sliders, and Scrollbars	p. 376
ProgressBar	p. 377
Slider	p. 378
Scrollbar	p. 380
Shapes and Decorations	p. 387
Line	p. 388
Shapes	p. 388
Separator	p. 389
ImageWell	p. 389
ChasingArrows	p. 390
PopupArrow	p. 390
Menus in Windows	p. 391
PopupMenu	p. 391
BevelButton	p. 397
ContextualMenu	p. 399
Alternatives	p. 402
TabPanels	p. 405
Preparation	p. 406
Properties and Events	p. 406
Usage	p. 407
Keyboard	p. 409
Keyboard Communication	p. 409
Keyboard Object	p. 410
UserCancelled	p. 416
Mouse and Cursor	p. 417
Mouse Communication	p. 417
Polling the Mouse	p. 420
Balloon Help	p. 420
Cursor	p. 421
Reaching Out	p. 429
Files	p. 431
Getting a FolderItem	p. 431
File Types	p. 437
File Properties	p. 439
File Actions	p. 441
Navigating the Folder Hierarchy	p. 442
Aliases and AppleScripts	p. 444
Arbitrary Data: Binary Streams	p. 446
Sequential Data: Text Streams	p. 452
Resources	p. 458
Predefined Data Formats	p. 464
Databases	p. 469
Database Files and Classes	p. 469
Schemas	p. 476
DatabaseQuery Control	p. 477
Other Data Sources	p. 478
Clipboard	p. 481
Clipboard Class	p. 482
Usage	p. 482
Drag-and-Drop	p. 486
Beginning a Drag	p. 487
Receiving a Drop	p. 491
Finder Drop	p. 494
Internal Drag-and-Drop	p. 495
Limitations and Workarounds	p. 498
Time	p. 501
Ticks and Microseconds	p. 501
Timers	p. 502
Yielding Time	p. 507
Sound	p. 510
Beep	p. 510
Sound Object	p. 510
MIDI Notes	p. 512
Movies	p. 519
Movie Class	p. 520
MoviePlayer	p. 521
Movie Usage and Limitations	p. 525
Making Movies	p. 527
Analyzing Movies	p. 530
Game Animation	p. 533
Configuring the SpriteSurface	p. 534
Basic Sprite Control	p. 537
Improving the Classes	p. 541
Intelligent Sprite Behavior	p. 544
Responding to Keys	p. 546
Collisions	p. 548
Soundtracks	p. 551
Printing	p. 555
Printer Specifications	p. 555
The Printer Graphics Object	p. 556
Measurement Problems	p. 558
Resolution Problems	p. 558
Printing Text	p. 560
TCP/IP Communications	p. 566
Socket Properties, Methods, and Events	p. 567
Client	p. 569
Server	p. 584
Apple Events and AppleScript	p. 591
Sending Apple Events	p. 592
Receiving Apple Events	p. 598
Apple Event Classes, Properties, and Methods	p. 603
Apple Event Inadequacies	p. 608
AppleScripts	p. 610
Language Extensions	p. 612
XCMDs	p. 613
Shared Libraries	p. 615
Direct Library Calls	p. 627
Plug-ins	p. 634
Version Differences	p. 641
Index	p. 649
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.