h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I don't know if you've got this bug listed or I'm just ignoring it, but whenever I minimise the GuideDog screen and try to restore it, it shuts down...

Eeeek! Thanks. I thought I'd fixed that once already (can you say "regression bug"? I knew you could).

Fortunately easy to fix, so I'll get that in the next drop.

'kay . Once I figured that out and avoided doing it, I realised it was really cool! I'm having too much fun making up a sample page...

Turns out I fixed the bug, but in a different project that I'm working on. At least I'm consistent in the mistakes that I make.

Do let me know when you get a page posted using Guide Dog...I want to have some proof that someone other than me is finding it useful

I just posted version 0.5.0 at http://www.larkfarm.com/downloads.htm#GuideDog

Minor fixes for the most part. The big news, though, is that the source code is now available and you're free to redistribute it (standard GPL applies).

I'd be happy to have some collaborators on this project, if anyone wants to get started hacking.

Change log for this version:

0.5.0 December 5, 1999
- Added splash screen
- Placed code under GPL license, released source code
- Fixed bug that caused the program to abort if the main editing form was minimized
- Added better error handling throughout
- Fixed the Insert | Bozo menu item (the URL being inserted was wrong).
- Modified the Insert Link dialog boxes to minimize the chance of overtyping
the prompting information.

Okay... i've had a plod around, and i've fixed two bugs with one minor alteration...
You can now have bold/italics/underline at the same time, AND when you press them a second time, they'd revert back to normal text...
Unfortunately, due to my unfamiliarity with VB 6, and it saying read only everywhere... i'll just post the code in here, and let you change it...

Okay.... a bit of the old mnuformat bold was:

Else
.SelBold = True
.SelItalic = False
.SelUnderline = False
.SelColor = RGB(0, 0, 0)
.SelFontSize = 12


but if you change it to...

Else
.SelBold = Not .SelBold
.SelColor = RGB(0, 0, 0)
.SelFontSize = 12

It'll work. I think...

Likewise with the italics and underline... It worked when i tried it, anyways...

Ah, the files are R/O because they're in source code control at this end,that's all. Just change them to R/W using Explorer.

I'll take a look at your fix but I don't think it will have the desired effect. That is, things will display properly on the screen but I don't believe they'll translate properly to GuideML. There's a state machine that translates the screen display (RTF) to GuideML, and that will need to be patched up as well. I know pretty well what needs to be done, it's just a lot of grunt work that I don't feel like undertaking tonight

On the other hand perhaps the state machine is smarter than I thought and this will work. I'll let you know.

You can already un-bold, btw...just format as Body text.

Hello, just thought I'd say hi. I'm currently studying VB6 and it's nice to find some other programmers that aren't geeks

As I write this I'm down loading the executable and code, it'll do me good to see a project in the making

Is the bozo pic like the similes with a : - ) format in the forums? Or just a picture to link to?

OK I'm running GuideDog now, I thought it was a WYSIWYG program like frontpage, mine is just hiding half the code but still showing all the links, is that what is is supposed to do?

Oooo pretty text! I love the headers etc

I've now got some suggestions:

Background colour: urm, maybe in a separate menu with...
Background sound: Wav file or midi (like feny's page )
Text colour: Another button like header or body?
Preview: OK probable a b&*tard to code but it would be invaluable if you got the background and text colour working (to stop colour clashes!)

ReapeR

Hmmm...and here I thought I *was* a geek. Anyhow, feel free to learn from the code...you may learn some of my bad habits, but that's a chance you take. At least I do this sort of thing for a living, which I suppose means that I can at least con clients.

Yeah, the bozo is sort of like the smilies, but as far as I know there's no way to type it into the forums yet. I picked that up somewhere over on Bruce's GuideML Clinic, I believe.

It's not quite WYSIWYG...more like WYSI-similar-to-what-you'll-get. There are some technical limitations to the tools I'm using at the moment. Basically, all of the information is stored right there in front of you in the formatting -- it keeps track of what's bold, linked, etc. just by changing font/size/color (well, there are some arrays in the background that deal with stuff you can't see, like hyperlinks). Then to convert to GuideML, it walks through all the characters one by one and uses a state machine to generate the output.

To do it right, a la Front Page, would probably require writing the whole thing in C++ with MFC and making it a great deal more complex...and I'd never ship anything. So, it seemed worth the compromise.

I'll tuck your suggestions away on the Todo list...you never know (or if you get far enough with your VB studies you can code some of them yourself!)

BTW you presumably noticed there's a bunch of other VB source on my downloads page, help yourself.

All of that just went flying over my head at an excruciatingly high speed... . I just popped in to tell you that I finished a little sample page... I noticed that after using a box, the font doesn't return to the white Arial text of the body previous to that point... Although that may be what's said in that stuff that looks amazingly similar to Greek up there. Anyhow, it's at http://www.h2g2.com/A221806

Ah, just checked out your sample page, looks like you had some fun.

As to the text-after-box business, that's an H2G2 bug, I don't think there's anything I can do about it. I believe Bruce mentioned somewhere around the GuideML clinic that there might be plans afoot to fix it some time before the sun burns out, but I don't know for sure.

Is this a bozo? ? it's 8 - ) .

Naw, the bozo is different. See the GuideML FAQ at http://www.h2g2.com/A187355

Thanks!

I noticed the word "yet" in a parenthetical where you were talking about transporting the program to another OS... Any chance of a MacOS version existing before I have to pay a shareware fee? I realize it's probably a tall order to change OS and everything, so there's no rush, but I'd be willing to jump on some sort of waiting list

~Irving

Well, since I've GPL'd the code, I wouldn't worry about a shareware fee.

BUT...the chances of a Mac version are extremely low indeed. The main hurdles are that I don't own a Mac, and haven't done any work on that OS for a long, long time.

If some good fairy were to donate a current Mac, I'd be happy to take a shot at it. Better, probably, would be for someone else to develop a parallel program for the Mac. Truthfully, I doubt that the code could really be ported...probably require a complete rewrite from the ground up, since VB doesn't exist (and won't exist) for the Mac.

Sorry not to have better news.

That's alright, I knew it was a long shot. If I was a programmer I'd try it myself.

~Irving

There was an attempt to get TDV to make a Java offline one (for all platforms - platform compatiblity is a big thing at TDV because DNA likes AppleMacs)

I'd be happy to have TDV release something that makes Guide Dog obsolete (though personally, as a platform I think Java is a good coaster). However, they appear to be so overloaded that it seemed like writing my own was a much better idea than waiting. Pity, though; it's an obvious part of the service that they should be offering.