History 2000

1.6.7.7 (01/12/2000) :

• When you use virtual field for button, the button title is set to blank when you are in range/locate mode ; you a have similar problem with subtask without record. The get._set_button('LOCATE') change the behavior, so that when Magic set the title to blank it is ignored.
• You can now set the message box title for the Warning, Error and Asterisk prefix.
• str_count : A function that retrieve the number of occurrence of a string in another string.

1.6.7.8 (01/25/2000) :

• I have enhanced the stop_input call (that ignores all mouse clicks and keyboard input, except the escape key), now it accepts the mouse clicks in the main Magic window, allowing the user to minimize,restore,resize,... it. Look at this technote for a Magic-only solution, that is quite similar.
• The get_io_date sometimes returns 1601/01/01 as creation date, it now returns the last write date like in Windows explorer.
• Enhanced demo for dir functions.
• I have added a technote about the Magic "Exit" Operation.

1.7.0.0 (02/15/2000) :

• New MFGET.DLL, a Magic extension for Citrix Servers (Winframe and Metaframe). I don't know if it also works for Windows NT Terminal Server without Citrix extensions (it provides the same function, but I'm not sure it's in the same DLL).
  • Retrieve client configuration : name, network address (INET or IPX), domain name, resolution of the client window.
  • Retrieve a winstation handle from a user name, a client name, or a winstation name.
  • Send a standard message box on another winstation, with options for waiting for an answer.
  Existing GET.DLL functions may be also affected under Citrix, such as get_username. And you may find particularly useful some GET.DLL functions under Citrix : caret enhancement (size and color, so it will be more visible as Citrix remove the blinking for performance reasons) for instance.
• The _set_prn_buffize function can alter the default return buffer size (5000) for the get_printers function, so this function can also work on NT Terminal Server and Metaframe, where printers can be over 50. get_printers now use all the 5000 buffer size, so it can return more printers than in previous version.
• The complete path of GET.DLL and last modification date are the title of the "about" box.

1.7.5.0 (03/22/2000) :

• New NTGET.DLL, a Magic extension for Windows NT. It provides functions that doesn't exist under Windows 9#, such as :
  • send_message to send message to another user.
  • get_domain to retrieve the Domain name.
  • retrieve the complete user name from a login user.
  • set the numlock state.
• New 2d style for buttons (look like a normal text).
• New CR style, it look like the cr (color button) but you can set the title. Syntax is CR:{text color}(background color)title.
• str_translate translates a string into another one using 2 strings that associate characters to the translated character.
• Get the Day Of Week (the one I wanted, from 1 monday to 7 sunday).
• New color identifiers are supported, the same than Magic (for "button face", "windows color", ..., excepted the "transparent color") that begin by FF. Look at the dialog box demo for a list.
• Corrected bugs : disk_copy function did not release resources ; str_token_insert didn't use the separator parameter, it always used "," ; the optional cursors were not set in zoom buttons ; the function that evaluate a mathematical expression didn't work for custom thousand/decimal separators (it actually worked only if they where ",." or ".,", so it worked in most cases !).
• The choose_color dialog now lets you choose all possible colors.
• A function to retrieve version information of an exe or a dll.
• I have started to reorganize the help file.

1.7.5.5 (05/24/2000) :

Web site news

• MagTris is a Tetris clone, written in Magic only !
• A new magic program (in the repository tab) lets you detect task not called in programs.
• A Technote explains how to import a tabulation-delimited file, and another about command line arguments.

GET.DLL package news

• Get the printer left and top margins, this values can be used for precise printing in graphic mode over pre-printed forms .
• Set a network printer from "work offline" to online .
• Better help file, it is now organized by categories.
• Transform a date to a 20x20 bitmap file (.bmp). This bitmap file can be used in the toolbar for launching a calendar (you can use my Magic-coded calendar).
• You can now set a different caret for edit fields in query mode and modify mode.
• Dynamic image buttons, as well as the button image creation tool now also accept bitmaps (.bmp) in addition to .ico files. The bitmap is a two states bitmap : the first part is the enabled bitmap and the second part is the disabled bitmap. You must prefix the file name by !. This format is used by Delphi, you just need to modify the background color of Delphi supplied bitmaps to gray.
• Auto drop down of combo boxes (there is a limitation, if the first field of the task is a combo, it doesn't work !)
• Xor function. All those UDP now also exist in a UDF version.
• The help function now accept "Finder" as parameter (it launches the Help Topics dialog box).
• The get_tick function now returns correctly the number of milliseconds, instead of the number of seconds since Windows has started.
• I introduced a new bug in the previous version of the disk_copy function, it should work now. The mfget.dll in the previous release was not correctly compiled. The function that saves as bitmap now works better (in 16 bits color mode for instance, but still does not work in 16 colors mode !).
• The CSV line functions has been corrected. I misunderstood the CSV specification : to place a quote " in a string, it is not preceded by a \, but it is repeated "". A new function _set_csv_dbl can set a repeated character. This new behavior is only in CSV wrappers, as I wanted to keep backward compatibility of call to functions (?token?) .
• There where bugs in the str_replace, str_remove and str_count functions : if the string to be replaced was "", ie an empty string, the functions crashed. The " string also provoked a crash.
• New version of the installation program : it will recall you for the next installation the folder you have chosen.
• The setup is separated in two files : the first (that always change), is the GET.DLL package, and the second is the collection of .ico, .ani and .avi files that was previously part of the GET.DLL package. I have added in this collection some 20x20 bitmaps for the toolbar.

1.8.0.3 (07/17/2000) :

• New DDE sample (with Excel).
• Go to the specified (based on name) position in a pulldown menu. For contextual menus, you can use my implementation of kbput. .
• Get.kbput is a mostly compatible KBPUT (it doesn't accept actions). Get.kbput enhances KBPUT by providing more constants ('Alt+Letter', Windows key, ...), and it works with contextual menus for instance. It calls the get.press_key function. .
• New bitmap attribution on menu, based on name instead of position.
• Get.ins_mode set the insertion mode to INS (insert) or OVR (overwrite) .
• Get various printer informations : comment, location, port, orientation,...
• Two functions have a changed behavior, so they are not strictly compatible with previous versions (if it changes something for you, I'll add an option to get previous behavior) :
  • Get.eval_exp now has the same behavior than Magic : when a divide by 0 is found, it is interpreted as 0 and does not issue an error . The eval_option function can back the old behavior.
  • Get.iniput behavior has been modified to match the Magic INIPUT behavior : when the value is blank (''), the variable is deleted from the .ini .
• Get.iniget didn't return the last section of the section list .
• Get.rm_blank remove blank lines in a text file .
• Get.temp_file create an empty temporary file. You will be sure that its name is unique, and that this file will be deleted on the next reboot.
• I introduced a bug if no bitmap was specified for caret change. .
• Change display resolution .
• Command line interface (for DOS or 16 bits Magic) to the Windows phone applet : phone "phone number" "name". .
• Find a top window handle by Class name or partial Class name.
• FindExp now works for Magic V8, the correct .exe is installed (Note that Team Development must be disabled).
• Phone.exe is a command line interface (ie it can be used from Magic DOS or Magic 6 under Windows 9#/NT) to Windows dialer.
• I have made a function (OutputMonitor) to send a User Message to the Monitor, so I can interact with the Monitor from GET.DLL.
• Set the screen resolution (screen_resolution). .
• New implementation of the bmp save function, that seems to work on all resolutions, although Magic does not support well 16 bits bmp files (but toolbar does work on 16 bits).
• Only the Magic specific structures are now 1 byte aligned, other structures are aligned to the compiler default alignment.
• I now also provide the DLLs compiled with Borland C/C++. They are statically linked to Borland C standard library, LCC-Win32 links dynamically to Microsoft crtdll.dll.
• The contact form now works.

1.9.0.0 (09/04/2000) :

• New web address : http://www.mggen.com/, although this site is still hosted at geocities (Easier to remember, isn't it ?), and new email : dominique@mggen.com.
• New operators and functions in get.eval_exp function (Modifications of Manoel Frederico da Silva) : % (Percent), @ (Percent + 1), > (MAX), < (min), and int (integer part), frac (fractional part).
• New DLL : Play a phone number using sound card (phoneget.dial_play).
• Another new DLL : mailget.send sends an email.
• Eject a CD-ROM, Zip disk, ... (get.eject_disk).
• ntget.get_groups and ntget.get_user_groups return user groups. This lets you use NT groups instead of Magic rights.
• Better behavior for zoom buttons : it can now issues an 'F5' key instead of a double-click, so it works better in selection tasks (look for get._set_zoom_key) .
• Stop mouse input (get.stop_mouse and get.allow_mouse) .
• New button style 'fc:', to get the focus look in normal mode .
• Bug in NETGET.DLL : FTP functions (put/get) used cache for binary transfers .
• Return a line by number from a file (get.get_line) .
• get.rm_blank now considers a line as blank if it contains space, tabulation, new line, carriage return, form feed or escape character (the latter is new). This setting can be altered with get._set_blank_chars function .
• get.menu_separator lets you remove menu separators useless because the user doesn't have all Magic rights.
• The auto-drop of combo boxes now works well in all cases .
• Get.set_file_attributes lets you changes files attributes (you can hide a file for instance) .
• Change the default Windows sound, the one used by verify on computers with sound card (setting in the registry).
• Setup installation now verify if GET.DLL is loaded. I now use My Inno Setup Extensions.

1.9.5.0 (11/02/2000) :

• Print Cross Reference Results by reading the screen (All Magic cross references, Magic V7 and Magic V8). It's a shareware, so it's a separate download.
• 'netget.get_url' now supports proxy servers. You can specify user and password, if they don't work, a dialog box is displayed. Proxy server information comes from Internet Explorer Settings. It now returns an error if the destination URL is not found, instead of returning a file with the message error.
• Retrieve image width and height with minimal I/O : these value are usefully to set the highly recommended WIDTH and HEIGHT options of the IMG tag. .
• Change the background of edit controls on focus ('get.edit_color'). This lets you get V6 behavior (white background in query mode on focus) in V7 for instance, or make the focus easier to find with a flashy color.
• You can now precise the recipient name (not just only the address), the format is "Display Name"<address> for 'mailget.send' ; you can also put only the name if it is in the address book. I have also tested it with MS Exchange (some adjustments to make it work !). 'Mailget.address' can retrieve an address from a recipient name (it looks in the address book). The demo informs you if your mail package has changed the working folder.
• The table sliders aren't anymore active in development. You can change default icons ('get._set_slider').
• MGproc.GetMagicProcAddress is an equivalent of the Windows API GetProcAddress, so non Magic developers can use a Magic DLL, where the export table is a proprietary function (MAGIC_BIND). I use this function code in The Magic Cross Reference Printing tool to call the hotfudge.bmp2jpg function from this C program.
• Status bar subclassing (that lets you put status bar messages in a dialog box and enhance status bar look) lets you trap Magic error messages : set a hot key ([Settings]HotKey in status.eng) and make a CTL Event that launches the 'get.get_status_error' procedure. You can alternatively set as [Settings]HotKey "exit", so it exits from Magic and appends the error message in the [Settings]Filename file. The 'Type' setting didn't work (the bug is corrected). .
• 'gf;' button style use bold font when mouse is over the button. Some style have been modified to let you combine more styles together.
• 'get.load_colors' loads a Magic color table (crl_std.eng), so you can use colors from the Magic color table in GET.DLL.
• 'get.shortcut' create a shortcut (.lnk).
• 'get.wordwrap' take a string and returns a Magic list of wrapped lines, useful to print a memo in Magic V7. (You can also look at the Magic parser at Hotfudge site)
• 'get._set_button('NOFOCUS')' doesn't change at all normal buttons in Magic. In previous versions, the button subclassing was always adding a black border on focus, but this was annoying for smaller buttons were text didn't appear.