Examples to demonstrate timerlib & eventlib

[guest]

I think I'm right in saying that currently none of the example programs supplied with BBCSDL demonstrates the use of the timerlib or eventlib libraries. Has anybody got a program that uses one or both of these libraries that might be a suitable candidate?

[guest]

Has anybody got a program that uses one or both of these libraries that might be a suitable candidate?

I'm still very keen to distribute examples of the use of these libraries with BBCSDL. Someone must have used them to do something interesting! The 'multitouch' demo uses eventlib, but since that's only of use with a touchscreen it's not really suitable. At least will somebody please engage with the discussion so I know I'm not talking to myself?

[KenDown]

I only use BB4W and the only one of the two available there is timerlib - but as I have never needed such speed and accuracy, I haven't ever used it. I suspect that is why no one has responded to your posts.

[RichardRussell]

I only use BB4W and the only one of the two available there is timerlib

I'm confident EVENTLIB.BBC is supplied with BBC BASIC for Windows; I believe it was first included with version 6.00a. There's an old thread related to the library here.

[KenDown]

You are, of course, correct. I merely looked up "libraries" in the BB4W help where not only are the libraries not listed in alphabetical order (which does make things a trifle confusing) but so far as I can see, EVENTLIB does not appear. This morning I opened up the BB4W directory and sure enough, there is EVENTLIB.

Is there any particular reason why EVENTLIB is not listed among the libraries? The usual list of functions and procedures with an indication of their parameters and uses would be very helpful.

[RichardRussell]

Is there any particular reason why EVENTLIB is not listed among the libraries?

Not sure, after all this time; I probably thought it was self-explanatory (in conjunction with the Using the EVENTLIB library wiki article). The existing CHM Help manual is pushing on the limits of what HTML Help Workshop can manage without crashing; I remember that I had to do a major space-deletion exercise even to get it to compile, so I may well have worried that adding a description of another library would break it.

In general, the documentation supplied with BB4W isn't, and never could be, comprehensive. It has to be used in conjunction with the Wiki and other reference sources (such as MSDN). The Libraries article at the Wiki lists the supplied libraries and you can see there that EVENTLIB isn't the only one which isn't documented in the main manual; CLASSLIB and SORTSALIB are in the same category. CLASSLIB is documented in the Wiki but SORTSALIB isn't documented anywhere except in its own source code (and its author has long since switched to using Pure BASIC rather than BBC BASIC).

[KenDown]

Ok, thanks. I just wondered.

And, as I've not had to use the other two libraries you mention, I've not noticed their absence from the Help file.

[RichardRussell]

And, as I've not had to use the other two libraries you mention, I've not noticed their absence from the Help file.

I don't think one ever "has to" use CLASSLIB: the decision to adopt Object Oriented Programming (OOP) techniques is, mercifully, voluntary! On that subject, I've not ported CLASSLIB to BBCSDL (it would be trivial for the 32-bit editions but not for 64-bit editions, which would require substantial changes to the library). Nobody has commented on that omission, so I'd be interested to know what the degree of interest is in having it available.