Well very strange, i never get YOUR e-mail but i get every others e-mail.
Well, here it is again, with headers; I assume you won't mind, as you haven't received it via email, and are happy to accuse me in public of not providing support to you:
From: "James L Boyd" <support@...;
To: "Moffa Roger" <roger.moffa@...;
References: <000801c3d475$5ac61920$4a8784d5@...;
Subject: Re: Newbie with BlitzBasic 3D: incomplete (or bad maked) manual ?
Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2004 00:01:43 -0000
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Moffa Roger <roger.moffa@...; wrote:
> What i have not find in the manual is how to acces to the API of
> windows or how to get the Handle/HandleDC with BB.
There is no direct Win32 API access in Blitz 3D; it's aimed first and
foremost at making 2D and 3D games development very easy, and operates
mostly as a 'black box' programming environment, ie. it is not intended to
provide low-level hardware/OS access.
> I have all ready programmed for a long time, so i am a newbie only in
> BB.
> I am not aggressive and just want to explain what i don't like and
> how to find a good solution.
> I think that a good Manual MUST explain this kind of OS
> interface/External library because it is used a lot in general
> programming.
Again, Blitz 3D is not a 'general programming' language. There is a
'userlibs' interface that provides very basic access to 3rd party DLLs, and
this is documented on the Specs & Utils page
(http://www.blitzbasic.com/sdkspecs/sdkspecs.php) as it is not a core part
of Blitz 3D. Although it can access much of the OS API, it is geared towards
custom DLLs, so you cannot do everything in the Win32 APIs (and it is not at
all straightforward to do so, this not being a primary function of Blitz
3D); the primary use for this interface is for custom DLLs written
especially for interfacing with Blitz programs.
> An auto-help (for example like AmosBasic(Amiga) where just clicking
> the keyword in the source give the explanation/parameters)
> will be a good help or at last a search system like helpfile for
> Delphi or Builder C++.
Press F1 when the edit cursor is on a command to bring up the quick-help
text (in the status bar at the bottom of the IDE), and press again for the
full help text on the command.
> .lib , .decls and others keywords/commands (?) or compiler directive
> (?) not found or explained in the manual !!!
Please see the document referenced above; this is a very basic interface
intended mainly for custom DLLs, and not a core part of the Blitz command
set, so is not documented with the 'normal' commands.
> The BlitzBasic seem to be a good tool for programming, but Basic is a
> programming language that MUST be simple AND easy to use !
> If YOU don't give the FULL documentation about your program, wich
> will do it ? because you are the creator of this software !!!
> If YOU don't give the FULL documentation, then it is the user
> (registered !) that will loose time searching something that he
> cannot know about.
Full documentation is provided -- Blitz is a games-oriented language and its
games programming commands are all documented. Extraneous and low-level
technical information is contained on the Specs & Utils site.
See ya,
--
James L Boyd,
Connected from Fife, Scotland.
Death to the Pixies!
--
I'm sure you'll agree I was both polite, despite your tone -- I regularly deal with people who have a much lesser grasp of English than yourself without this sort of problem -- and informative.
Assuming you accept that the above headers are un-edited and truthful, I think you'll agree that I replied fairly promptly; a response within a couple of days is much better than I've experienced with other product support, at least.