bB Code Editor - IDE with sprite/playfield editor & sprite animation tool

[+Atarius Maximus]

This is a code editor application I wrote with some specific features added for batari Basic.

 

Feature List:

 

A Sprite Animation tool

Multisprite Kernel Playfield Editor

Standard Kernel Playfield Editor

Colored Editing - Changes specific keywords to a different color for ease of editing.

Line Numbering - in Binary, decimal, octal or hex.

Undo/Redo Feature

Multiple document, tabbed interface for document windows.

 

It should be compatible with any version of Win9x/NT. The setup package is too big to attach to this post (it's around 7MB),

but you can download it on my website here: http://www.bjars.com/bbeditor/bbeditor1.2.zip.

 

Comments & suggestions for improvement are welcome!

 

Steve

Edited February 26, 2007 by Atarius Maximus

[Kroko]

Hi Steve,

 

The GUI looks really great ! What programming language did you use ?

[+Atarius Maximus]

Hi Steve,

 

The GUI looks really great ! What programming language did you use ?

 

It was done in Visual Basic 6.0. It's a little outdated, but it's the only programming environment I really know how to use.

 

Edit: Just fixed a bug in the sprite editors. New version uploaded.

 

Steve

Edited June 23, 2006 by Atarius Maximus

[+batari]

Hi Steve,

 

The GUI looks really great ! What programming language did you use ?

 

It was done in Visual Basic 6.0. It's a little outdated, but it's the only programming environment I really know how to use.

 

Edit: Just fixed a bug in the sprite editors. New version uploaded.

 

Steve

Looks great! I'm not on a PC at the moment, so I'll have to play with it tomorrow.

[djmips]

Can't install this on my windows XP system for some reason.

 

But it seems pretty darn cool. I like the idea of the graphic editors.

[+Atarius Maximus]

Can't install this on my windows XP system for some reason.

 

Did you have a problem with wininet.dll? I had an issue with my XP Laptop at home with that file, setup refused to run until I updated it. This file really isn't needed, as the web browser component I had included in the application isn't being used. I created a new setup package that doesn't include that file: http://www.bjars.com/bbeditor/bbeditorxp.zip. You could also try running the bbeditor.exe file from the zip file without running the setup package. If the app complains about missing an OCX or DLL file, you can manually register them from a command prompt by typing 'regsvr32 ocxfilename.ocx'.

 

Steve

Edited June 23, 2006 by Atarius Maximus

[+Random Terrain]

Any more people use it with XP? Any problems? It won't be long before I'll be jumping back in for some more fun.

[gambler172]

Any more people use it with XP? Any problems? It won't be long before I'll be jumping back in for some more fun.

Hi

It works great on my PC with Windows XP.No problems at all.

greetings Gambler172

[+Random Terrain]

It works great on my PC with Windows XP.No problems at all.

Thanks. I'll download it tonight.

[+Atarius Maximus]

In order to make this more of a true IDE for batari Basic, I have created a new version that will allow you to compile binary files and launch your games in Stella from within the bBEditor application. The feature works, but it still needs a little polish. You will have to manually specify the paths to bB and Stella each time you lanch the program, I'll implement a "save settings" feature in the future. There is also no message to indicate that the bB compliation was successful, you just click on the button and the bin file is created in the working directory - I'll change that too when I can. To use this new functionality, click on "Compile & Run" on the Menu bar.

 

You can download the updated package here: http:\\www.bjars.com\bbeditor\bbeditor1.2.zip

 

Steve

Edited February 26, 2007 by Atarius Maximus

[SeaGtGruff]

In order to make this more of a true IDE for batari Basic, I have created a new version that will allow you to compile binary files and launch your games in Stella from within the bBEditor application.

Thank you, Steve!

 

Michael

[+Atarius Maximus]

Thank you, Steve!

 

Michael

 

You're Welcome!

 

I've finally finsihed up on improving the Compile & Run functionality. You can now view the ouput of the compile command, and you can also save default settings that can be loaded up each time you launch the program. There were also several more minor changes made to other parts of the program. It all seems to work very well now. I guess I'll start looking at the new version of bB and see if anything new can be added, and if I need to make any changes to the existing sprite & playfield editors. Suggestions are welcome!

 

The updated package (v1.2) can be downloaded here: http://www.bjars.com/bbeditor/bbeditor1.2.zip.

 

Quick Edit: Another quick update to address an error handling problem - the app would crash if you attempted to view the command output with an invalid working directory specified. It's been fixed.

 

Steve

Edited February 26, 2007 by Atarius Maximus

[JLsoft]

A bBASIC 1.0 change that could make a nice addition to your editor would be for handling multi-colored Players (and/or more animation frames)

 

I've always been a fan of how http://alienbill.com/2600/playerpalnext.html handles this sort of thing, even though coloring breaks when you copy/paste/clear the drawing area

[+Random Terrain]

Cool. I hope you can figure out how to update your sprite & playfield editors to match the new abilities of bB. If I was a gambler, I'd bet money that you can find a way.

 

Here are my suggestions since you asked:

 

The playfield editor will probably need two small text boxes to the left of each row where we can type in height and color, plus a little 'OK' button right after the text boxes, and after clicking that button, the row in the editor would adjust in height and color (and the editor would remember the color for that row whenever we place further playfield pixels in that row). So each row would have two small text boxes and an 'OK' button. Seems like that would be most important. If people wanted to use fewer rows, they would just start at the top and quit at the row they wanted to end at.

 

The sprite editor would probably be similar, except there would be one small text box to the left instead of two. And depending on how sophisticated the editor is, the color could adjust for a row automatically when someone types in a number, or each row could have an 'OK' button too if that would be easier to implement.

 

Hopefully those little text boxes in both editors could handle decimal numbers and hex numbers.

 

Although I probably won't be using the Multisprite Kernel, if you had the time, for people who plan on using it, you could also add a playfield editor that had one half of the playfield mirrored, so when a person adds playfield pixels on one side, it's immediately mirrored on the other.

 

Thanks.

[+Atarius Maximus]

Cool. I hope you can figure out how to update your sprite & playfield editors to match the new abilities of bB. If I was a gambler, I'd bet money that you can find a way.

 

Here are my suggestions since you asked:

 

The playfield editor will probably need two small text boxes to the left of each row where we can type in height and color, plus a little 'OK' button right after the text boxes, and after clicking that button, the row in the editor would adjust in height and color (and the editor would remember the color for that row whenever we place further playfield pixels in that row). So each row would have two small text boxes and an 'OK' button. Seems like that would be most important. If people wanted to use fewer rows, they would just start at the top and quit at the row they wanted to end at.

 

The sprite editor would probably be similar, except there would be one small text box to the left instead of two. And depending on how sophisticated the editor is, the color could adjust for a row automatically when someone types in a number, or each row could have an 'OK' button too if that would be easier to implement.

 

Hopefully those little text boxes in both editors could handle decimal numbers and hex numbers.

 

Although I probably won't be using the Multisprite Kernel, if you had the time, for people who plan on using it, you could also add a playfield editor that had one half of the playfield mirrored, so when a person adds playfield pixels on one side, it's immediately mirrored on the other.

 

Thanks.

 

Thanks for the suggestions, RT (and JLsoft, too). It is certainly possible to add all of the improvements that were suggested - I've just got to take the time to add them in. I can work on it during my lunch breaks (like I did today), and maybe get some of those things added in the next few weeks.

 

Steve

[Gorf]

I just dl this and did not see it mentioned, so if not already, why not the ability to launch stella or your favorite emu from within?

 

 

Even though I have not looked yet...great job!

[+Atarius Maximus]

I just dl this and did not see it mentioned, so if not already, why not the ability to launch stella or your favorite emu from within?

 

 

Even though I have not looked yet...great job!

 

You can do that now, there's a "Compile and Run" menu option. Just type in the path to your favorite editor along with the executable filename. Stella is in there by default, but z26 or any other should work fine. I personally use this alot for the sprite and playfield editors - it's a big time saver. I'm spending most of my time working on game projects now rather than working on this IDE, the games are more fun to work on.

 

Steve

[Gorf]

It looks good but I cant properly install it with the setup. I can run the exe it seems but i never finds anything. When I run set up it tells me I have outdated files , then it asks if I want setup to add them and I said yes.

I restarted and same thing. any thoughts? Im using 2000.

Edited April 16, 2007 by Gorf

[+Atarius Maximus]

It looks good but I cant properly install it with the setup. I can run the exe it seems but i never finds anything. When I run set up it tells me I have outdated files , then it asks if I want setup to add them and I said yes.

I restarted and same thing. any thoughts? Im using 2000.

 

It's likely due to the fact that the application was written in Visual Basic 6.0 which was new in 1998 -- there are probably dll files that the install is attempting to install that are oudated, and Windows 2000 won't allow you to overwrite them. The fix would probably be to make a note of the files that it can't overwrite, and manually register them. This can be done from the windows command prompt, with the command "regsrv32 dllfilename.dll". If you'd like to give me more specific details about your install problem in a PM, I'd be happy to help you. I probably should learn a more modern programming environment...I've got a copy of .Net, but I don't really know how to use it.

 

Steve

[SeaGtGruff]

It's likely due to the fact that the application was written in Visual Basic 6.0 which was new in 1998 -- there are probably dll files that the install is attempting to install that are oudated, and Windows 2000 won't allow you to overwrite them. The fix would probably be to make a note of the files that it can't overwrite, and manually register them. This can be done from the windows command prompt, with the command "regsrv32 dllfilename.dll". If you'd like to give me more specific details about your install problem in a PM, I'd be happy to help you. I probably should learn a more modern programming environment...I've got a copy of .Net, but I don't really know how to use it.

Funny, I didn't have any trouble installing it on my XP system.

 

Michael

[+Atarius Maximus]

It's likely due to the fact that the application was written in Visual Basic 6.0 which was new in 1998 -- there are probably dll files that the install is attempting to install that are oudated, and Windows 2000 won't allow you to overwrite them. The fix would probably be to make a note of the files that it can't overwrite, and manually register them. This can be done from the windows command prompt, with the command "regsrv32 dllfilename.dll". If you'd like to give me more specific details about your install problem in a PM, I'd be happy to help you. I probably should learn a more modern programming environment...I've got a copy of .Net, but I don't really know how to use it.

Funny, I didn't have any trouble installing it on my XP system.

 

Michael

 

Yeah, I've had a few people email me with some install issues, but for the most part it installs fine. I had an install issue with my work-issued XP laptop that I talked about earlier in this thread, and I solved it by manually registering a dll file. I'm not sure why it doesn't work for everybody. I don't program in VB for a living, it's always just been a hobby.

 

Steve

[lord_mike]

There is a problem with the standard kernel playfield editor... while the code generated with pfpixel commands is correct, the code generated for the playfield command is all messed up... It's not just me, if you look at the pictures of the editor on the website, you'll see that the code is messed up there, too...

 

Otherwise, I really like it! It has a few rough edges... but, otherwise, a very nice developmental tool!

 

Thanks,

 

Mike

[Gorf]

It looks good but I cant properly install it with the setup. I can run the exe it seems but i never finds anything. When I run set up it tells me I have outdated files , then it asks if I want setup to add them and I said yes.

I restarted and same thing. any thoughts? Im using 2000.

 

It's likely due to the fact that the application was written in Visual Basic 6.0 which was new in 1998 -- there are probably dll files that the install is attempting to install that are oudated, and Windows 2000 won't allow you to overwrite them. The fix would probably be to make a note of the files that it can't overwrite, and manually register them. This can be done from the windows command prompt, with the command "regsrv32 dllfilename.dll". If you'd like to give me more specific details about your install problem in a PM, I'd be happy to help you. I probably should learn a more modern programming environment...I've got a copy of .Net, but I don't really know how to use it.

 

Steve

 

hehe....its been a while since I've been here, but I'll give that a whirl when I find a moment...thanks!