New CVF book 'Developing Windows Applications' - 35% off

[Steven_L_Intel1]

For the past year, CVF users have been told that a new book on developing WIndows applications using Visual Fortran was in the works. This book: "Compaq Visual Fortran: A Guide to Creating Windows Applications" by Dr. Norman Lawrence, is scheduled for publication in late December by Digital Press, an imprint of Butterworth-Heinemann.

Quoting from the publisher's blurb: "The book teaches CVF programming progressively, beginning with simple tasks and building up to writing professional-level Win32 applications. Readers will master the powerful new CVF graphical user interface and will learn the intricacies of Windows development from a CVF perspective. Master QuickWin, the Win32 APIs including multiple document interfaces, Open GL with 3D and interactive graphics, DLLs, multi-threading applications, and COM and automation objects."

Many of us on the CVF engineering team have reviewed this book, and I think that it will be what many CVF users have been looking for.

The book's suggested retail price will be $44.95, but Digital Press is offering 35% off for orders before January 31, 2002. For information on the book, or to order, see http://www.bh.com/compaqbookstore

Steve

[Steven_L_Intel1]

Norman Lawrence wrote me to say that the publisher's blurb I quoted from (from the Digital Press web site) is in error, and that the sentence that lists topics the book covers should end at "interactive graphics".

Steve

[durisinm]

Does that mean the book will NOT cover the topics " DLLs, multi-threading applications, and COM and automation objects"? If so, that's too bad. I already pre-ordered the book. The last few topics would've been great to have included in it, but it should still be a good reference.

Mike

[Steven_L_Intel1]

Yes, that's what it means. I didn't realize that when I posted my message - sorry. (I have reviewed sections of the book, but not the whole book.)

Steve

[Steven_L_Intel1]

I now have an advance copy of this book - I think folks here will like it. It should start shipping to booksellers next week. You can also order it from amazon.com.

Steve

[sumitm]

Hi All,

I have had the book for a week now and I think it would help me a lot with graphic applications etc. Simple things like running a html file from the help menu, adding version information, loading text information as string resources and many other things are explained well with examples for novices like me to spruce up our applications. Wish it had some chapters on COM automation and some examples on using AVISGRID control. The support here in this forum is good but it is hard to get one liner codes like

 iret=WinExec('Explorer.exe help.htm'C,SW_Maximize)

which really gets one going.
Anyways, did anyone have luck downloading the code from:
http://www.bh.com/companions/1555582494/
I think there should be some password etc to get there but I just cannot access that page. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Sumit

[Steven_L_Intel1]

Looks as if the download page isn't there yet - I'll send mail to DP asking about it.

Steve

[davidgraham]

Is this book available yet?
The web site says "not available yet".
I have regestered to be told when it is available but no word yet.
It will soon be 31st Jan and I will have missed the chance for 35% discount.
Regards,
David

[durisinm]

I ordered the book from the BH Web site in early December, and it shipped on December 21.

Mike

[Steven_L_Intel1]

Yes, the book is shipping - we received a bunch of copies here and other users have reported receiving their copies. You didn't need to wait to order.

Steve

[Intel_C_Intel]

Dear Steve,

The publishers are still working to make the website available for readers to download the programs asociated with the CVF book. My guess is the the site will be operational after Friday 11 Jan. I will let you know if I learn anything to the contrary. Meanwhile if a reader wanted one or two programs before that date, I could e-mail them a copy.

regards

Norman

[david_jones]

I have just found that the book can now be ordered for the UK from the above web-site, whereas until yesterday it was showing 'not yet available'.

[Steven_L_Intel1]

amazon.co.uk also offers the book.

Steve

[Intel_C_Intel]

Ordered from www.bh.com on Thursday - received in Wales (not noted for express mail) on Saturday! My initial comment is that it would have benefitted from being accompanied by a CD for the source code - downloading it is a pain in Wales(not noted for express downloads).

Bear of little brain

[Intel_C_Intel]

Dear Steve

The companion website for the book is now live and can be accessed using the instructions at the front of the book. Please let me know if you experience any problems with the downloaded material.

regards

Norman

[Steven_L_Intel1]

Thanks, Norman. I checked it out and it looks good.

Steve

[durisinm]

I suggest that Norman get an option to allow people to download all the files at once. I had to download each file separately, and it was a bit of a pain.

It's possible that such an option already exists, but I didn't see it if it does.

Mike

[helmut_mann]

I think it is a very good book showing the first steps for beginners. It is a pity that the more advanced chapters "DLLs, multi-threading applications, and COM and automation objects" were dropped from the final edition. The book was first announced for the beginning of July (I preordered it aleady in June), and finishing these chapters would probably have delayed the release another 6 months. That is why they should come as soon as possible in a second volume.
I had no problems downloading the sample files although it would be more comfortable to have them combined in one large zipfile.

[david_jones]

The present book is not without its own little problems, so perhaps the author can be encouraged to provide an erratum page somewhere. I don't have the book handy, but ISTR taht at at least one point he writes about variables whose names seem to have been changed in the final code and one of the tables (of accelerator codes) for an example has several errors. More importantly there seems to be trouble with one of the examples when running on Win98, but which works OK on Win2000 ... this is the PrintScribe2 example ... I found I needed to put in something to force a call to EndPage for the last or only page, otherwise nothing was printed. Again for this example under Win98 there is trouble when bringing up either of the print dialog boxes for a second time, which seems to be resolvable by reinitialising at least part of the print structure (again there is no problem under Win2000). It would be nice to have an improved version of this example from someone who knows what there doing, which certainly wouldn't be me, as the interlinking of the two print structures isn't something I can begin to understand.

David Jones

[Steven_L_Intel1]

I haven't looked at the example in question, but I do know that one has to call SelectObject on the font at the start of each page on Windows 95. I didn't think this was needed on Windows 98. You may want to cross-reference with the FORPRINT sample on the CVF kit.

Steve

[david_jones]

The FORPRINT sample is neatly structured so that a final call to EndPage is always made. My remaining difficulty isn't directly helped in that the book's example conatins routes to calling both pagesetupdlg and pagedlg (FORPRINT uses only the second) and it is the interaction between the two related structures that I don't understand ... what parts can be re-initialised without losing the information selected by the previous call to either the same or the other dialogue? This isn't particularly important for me as I may prefer the single dialogue approach anyway, given that the facilities of the other are available as a sub-dialogue, but it would be good if the book's examples could provide a solid basis from which to start new programs. BTW my Win98 case didn't need the SelectObject for the font.

David Jones