PB worth 45 price of VB for simple projects?

[s***@gmail.com]

I have a simple project that will have the user interacting with some
simple forms in Windows, talk to a MySQL or other OBDC database, and
perhaps have some very simple network conversations (perhaps no more
than sending e-mail).

I have lots of experience in other languages that are not available in
Windows, so I'm going to have to learn something new and I'd prefer
it'd be simple to learn/use. So the options appear to be...

- VisualBASIC Standard 2003. About $100 or a little less.

- PowerBASIC for Windows ($199) + PowerBASIC forms (I think? $99) +
SQLTools ($99) is about $400. Annoyingly, it seems that SQLTools
standard doesn't allow for transactions (i.e., BEGIN/COMMIT/ROLLBACK)
so I'd need the pro...makes it about $500.

- Delphi - pretty expensive

- A couple other BASICs I haven't looked at yet.

Now, PowerBASIC might be the better tool, but really...a 500% premium?
-AF

[Michael Mattias]

Post by s***@gmail.com
I have a simple project that will have the user interacting with some
simple forms in Windows, talk to a MySQL or other OBDC database, and
perhaps have some very simple network conversations (perhaps no more
than sending e-mail).
..
Now, PowerBASIC might be the better tool, but really...a 500% premium?

I don't think you are comparing apples for apples... nor should you.

- I "believe" VB standard has some limitations on what you can create for
re-distribution... which may or may not be an issue in your case

- PB Forms is an optional tool. You can create dialogs using PB with the
included 'dialog editor' (crude but effective).

- Sql Tools, either standard or pro, is an optional tool. (You can do all
the database access you want using either the COM interface or the ODBC API,
both of which are no extra charge).

That said, it is a lot easier to actually get a simple user interface
designed and coded with VB than with PB; the cost is some restriction on
multithreading, a much larger (and in my opinion, much clumsier) runtime
requirement, and a couple other minor things... which may or may not impact
your choice of tools. PB also requires you have access to a Windows API
reference and that you learn how to use it, as there are any number of
things for which there is no "native" function (especially true if using the
"DDT" syntax to create screens.. and PB Forms creates "all-DDT" code)

If you want to see what can be done with PB and what it takes to do those
things, you should probably browse the PB Peer Support Forum at
http://www.powerbasic.com, hit the "Support" links till you get there. The
"source code" forum may be your best bet.

I believe there are also numerous VB sites and Usenet groups you can check
out and/or ask questions in.

Either development tool could be right for you.

--
Michael Mattias
Tal Systems, Inc.
Racine WI
***@talsystems.com

[Auric__]

Post by Michael Mattias
PB also
requires you have access to a Windows API reference and that you
learn how to use it, as there are any number of things for which
there is no "native" function (especially true if using the "DDT"
syntax to create screens.. and PB Forms creates "all-DDT" code)

Here's an extensive API reference site:
http://www.allapi.net/

It's geared toward VB & VB.Net users, but just #include win32api.inc
instead of copying code from the site. (You *could* just cut-n-paste
from the website, but VB6 & earlier don't have things like dwords and
asciiz.)

Post by Michael Mattias
I believe there are also numerous VB sites and Usenet groups you
can check out and/or ask questions in.

If you ask a .Net question in a non-.Net group, you'll get the cold
shoulder. Ask here:
news:microsoft.public.dotnet.languages.vb

Post by Michael Mattias
Either development tool could be right for you.

Agreed. My preferred tool is PB, but I often fall back on VB6 for
various reasons (notable ease of designing the UI), not to mention
other languages for specific purposes.

[John]

Post by s***@gmail.com
I have a simple project that will have the user interacting with some
simple forms in Windows, talk to a MySQL or other OBDC database, and
perhaps have some very simple network conversations (perhaps no more
than sending e-mail).
I have lots of experience in other languages that are not available in
Windows, so I'm going to have to learn something new and I'd prefer
it'd be simple to learn/use. So the options appear to be...
- VisualBASIC Standard 2003. About $100 or a little less.
- PowerBASIC for Windows ($199) + PowerBASIC forms (I think? $99) +
SQLTools ($99) is about $400. Annoyingly, it seems that SQLTools
standard doesn't allow for transactions (i.e., BEGIN/COMMIT/ROLLBACK)
so I'd need the pro...makes it about $500.
- Delphi - pretty expensive
- A couple other BASICs I haven't looked at yet.
Now, PowerBASIC might be the better tool, but really...a 500% premium?
-AF

Also look at NSBasic Desktop - it creates stand-alone exe's and can
use most standard Windows DLL's and OCX's.


http://www.nsbasic.com/desktop