Installing and Running the SDK

Buying the SDK

The SDK is a commercial product by Advocet. Go to their Web-Page and get more information.
They shipped the SDK to me within seven days. The SDK includes

• a devoper IDE,
• a debugger and simulator for Avigo programs,
• documentation of the Avigo API and the tools.

Installing

I had no problems installing the SDK from the CD-ROM. However, neither the IDE,
nor the simulator runs on NT. The IDE claims about an incorrect DLL, and the simulator about lacking VESA support.
Advocet should be able to fix both. However, you can use the SDK on Windows NT quite comofortably as described
below.

I had a problem on another Windows 95b machine. The installation complained about
not being able to replace a MFC library and refuses to let me skip that replacement. So I had to close several
running programs (screen manager etc.) before I could go on. Installation on Windows can be a nightmare!

One more problem occured on another Windows 95 machine (with a ATI XPression graphics
card). The Simulator mouse destroys the screen picture there. This is probably due to false Vesa drivers.

Maybe it is a good idea to include the p100sdk\bin directory into the path. There
is a setenv batch file in p100sdk that sets some environment variables and extends the path (in a very amateurish
way). However, I did not need any of this.

Testing

The first thing to do is to start the IDE and open the help. You will see a tutorial
section. Follow the instructions. You need to open a new directory and copy the tutorial files, then set up your
project and test it. At one point you need to run a batch file in a DOS window, because a bitmap needs to be converted
into bin format. Just do it. I did set the environment with p100sdk\setenv.bat before, but that may not be necessary.

You may want to try a
simple program, which was the first one I wrote. Got it after a few hours
of reading around in the documentation and the tutorial example, and after a considerable bit of trial and error.
Too bad that the debug program shows no variable contents. I find most debuggers useless and help myself with variable
dumps.

Bugs and Problems

I met a few bugs.

The compiler is somewhat sloppy with checking of code correctness. It will accept
code, which cannot be accessed, or labels, which are never used. Thus forgetting the case keyword in a switch statement
will be accepted, but not work. Furthermore, there are things like

<font face="Arial, Helvetica">counter++:</font>

with a “:” instead of a “;”. This is accepted as a label.
So be careful. Of course, this is not really a bug.

Sometimes, code won’t recompile with strange error messages. Try rebooting the
system. Then try deleteing all object files and the *.lin files. If this does not help, try deleteing everything
but your sources and bitmap files, and set up a new project.

Imported files might not compile, if you have the wrong line separators. To get
that right, copy the files to the clipboard and import them into notepad. This editor seems to fix that problem.
I met it only once, when I copied and pasted the file directly from the browser to the IDE.

It is annoying that the code window goes to the beginning of the file at each
compiler run. You can use bookmarks to find back to specific points. During compilation the file window will be
distorted. Don’t worry. It seems that auto-indent is not functioning properly too. I found no way to help this.

Not Using the IDE

After all, it might be a good idea to use another editor (like my favourite UltraEdit)
and call the compiler from it. This is possible by writing a batch file with the following content

<font face="Arial, Helvetica">path=c:\p100sdk\bin<br />call make -f </font><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica">Project</font></i><font face="Arial, Helvetica">.mak</font>

where Project
is the name of your project. Then call that command from your editor, which should be able to catch the compiler
output. This assumes that the IDE has set up the flash files, the make files and several project settings. The
simulator can be started with

<font face="Arial, Helvetica">c:\p100sdk\bin\falcon</font>

in the directory of your project. Since this does not work on Windows NT, you
might want to use the great Freeware
Simulator. Thanks to Gerard Vermeugen for this masterpiece! You can use
his simulator for development in the following way. You first open the simulator by typing avsim and after setting
up the Avigo, go to the system setup page and switch off the display of the startup graphics. Then exit the simulator
and copy the RAM file

<font face="Arial, Helvetica">copy avsim.sav avsim.bak</font>

Create a batch file, which copies the RAM file back before it starts the simulator.
E.g.

<font face="Arial, Helvetica">copy avsim.bak avsim.sav<br />start avsim</font>

This will give you a fresh simulator. You may install an application with the
menu. The menu even contains a list of recenty installed applications. It’s a very good piece of software. I haven’t
yet found a bug.

/* you have to include all those header files

*/
#include “p100plib.h”
#include “ressdk.h”
#include “math.h”
#include “packet.h”

/* you have to decleare a static string for the window
title
*/
unsigned char test_title[] = “Test Title”;

/* you have to declere the event handlers BANKED and extern
*/
extern BANKED void test_draw (VOID_PTR view);
extern BANKED void test_handle_event (VOID_PTR view,

unsigned short *evType, unsigned char x, unsigned char y);
/* define the command constants (belongs to a header file)
*/
#define cmdNew 1000

/* define the main menu structure
*/
const MENUITEM MainMenu[] =
{ {“New Numbers”, cmdNew, 0},

{“Exit”, cmCancel, 0},
{”\0”, 0, 0}
};
/* those are the routines to generate Lotto numbers
*/

#define Ntotal 49
#define Nchosen 6
int Numbers[Ntotal];
void init_numbers ()

/* initialize the first 6 as chosen
*/
{ int i;
for (i=0; i<Ntotal; i++) Numbers[i]=0;
for (i=0; i<Nchosen; i++) Numbers[i]=1;

}
void mix_numbers ()
/* randomly mix them (thanks to the random() function)
*/
{ int i,j,h;

for (i=Ntotal-1; i>0; i—)
{ j=random(i+1);
if (j!=i)
{ h=Numbers[j]; Numbers[j]=Numbers[i]; Numbers[i]=h;

}
}
}
/* this is the definition of the drawing routine,
which is inserted for the main window with the

help of the BankedAssign() function.
*/
void test_draw (VOID_PTR view)
{ /* the pointer is really a point to a DESKBOX */

PDESKBOX *dsk;
dsk=(PDESKBOX *)view;
int i,y; /* C++ like (variables need not be at function start) */
PDESKBOX_draw(view); /* default, clears the view */

SetFontType (PRPFONT14B); /* biggest font available */
unsigned char s²⁵⁶; /* for forming the string */
y=dsk->top+40; /* the row of the first string */
for (i=0; i<Ntotal; i++) /* draw all chosen numbers */
if (Numbers[i])
{ /* convert to string and draw */
NumericToStr((double)(i+1),s,DTINTEGER);

WriteString(dsk->left+20,y,s,0);
y+=20; /* increment row */
}
}
/* the event handler for the menu commands and for
the main window
*/
void test_handle_event (VOID_PTR view,
unsigned short *evType, unsigned char x, unsigned char y)

{ /* convert view to deskbox */
PDESKBOX *dsk;
dsk=(PDESKBOX *)view;
/* call default handler (don’t know why) */

PDESKBOX_handleEvent(view,evType,x,y);
/* switch events */
if (*evType==evCommand)
{ switch (TOWORD)

{ case cmdNew : /* user wants other numbers */
ClearEvent(evType);
/* event taken */
mix_numbers(); /* shuffle */
dsk->draw(view);
/* redraw window */
break;

}
}
}
short main (void)
{

/* pointer to the main window (properly destroy it at end) */
PDESKBOX *dsk;
/* init our Lotto numbers */
init_numbers();
randomize();

mix_numbers();
/* create a window covering all of the screen
with a menu, a title and a close box */
dsk = (PDESKBOX *)CreateDeskBox(‘A’,0,0,159,239,
MK_FAR_PTR(test_title),MK_FAR_PTR(MainMenu),0,
bafClose|bafDotTitle);
dsk->options &= ~ofFindable; /* no find in this application */
/* assign the event handlers to this window */
BankedAssign(dsk->handleEvent,test_handle_event);
BankedAssign(dsk->draw,test_draw);
/* seems to generate the main event loop */
ExecView ((PGROUP *) dsk);
/* destroy the window */
Destroy ((VOID_PTR) dsk);
return 0;
}

init_numbers();
randomize();

mix_numbers();

dsk = (PDESKBOX *)CreateDeskBox(‘A’,0,0,159,239,
MK_FAR_PTR(test_title),MK_FAR_PTR(MainMenu),0,
bafClose|bafDotTitle);
dsk->options &= ~ofFindable; /* no find in this application */

extern BANKED void test_draw (VOID_PTR view);

extern BANKED void test_handle_event (VOID_PTR view,
unsigned short *evType, unsigned char x, unsigned char y);
After this preperation, we are ready for the event loop. The event loop is entered with
ExecView ((PGROUP *) dsk);

The test_handle_event routine is very similar.
void test_handle_event (VOID_PTR view,
unsigned short *evType, unsigned char x, unsigned char y)
{ /* convert view to deskbox */
PDESKBOX *dsk;
dsk=(PDESKBOX *)view;
/* call default handler (don’t know why) */
PDESKBOX_handleEvent(view,evType,x,y);
/* switch events */

if (*evType==evCommand)
{ switch (TOWORD)
{ case cmdNew : /* user wants other numbers */
ClearEvent(evType);
/* event taken */
mix_numbers(); /* shuffle */
dsk->draw(view);

/* redraw window */
break;
}
}
}

It calls the default event handler by a reason beyond me. Then it
checks for the correct event type. Events are declared invalid by the
ClearEvent routine. This feature is the reason events are passed by a
pointer. The event number is hidden in the x and y parameters, which
might also serve to describe pen events. We simply mix our random
numbers and repaint the DeskBox with its drawing routine.

Screen Layout

The screen layout consists of several elements. Here is a list from the code

/* Generate six number labels at the top */
for (i=0; i<6; i++)
{INumbers[i]=(PNUMBERFIELD *)CreateNumberField(
id++,
5+25*i, row,
(unsigned
char *)(Numbers+i),
DTINTEGER,
MK_FAR_PTR(“Input Number”));
INumbers[i]->right=25+25*i;

LoadBank(&(dsk->insert));
dsk->insertVOID_PTR)dsk,INumbers[i]);
}

/* Generate a target label centered below */
row+=20;
ITarget=(PNUMBERFIELD *)CreateNumberField(

id++, 65, row,
(unsigned char *)(&Target),
DTINTEGER, MK_FAR_PTR(“Input Target”;
ITarget->right=95;

LoadBank(&(dsk->insert));
dsk->insertVOID_PTR)dsk,ITarget);

void solution_draw ()
/* redraw the solution strings */
{ int i;
for (i=0; i<5; i++)
{ PVIEW *p;
p=(PVIEW *)Output[i];
FillRect(p->left,p->top,
p->right,p->bottom,

DRAW_WHITE);
PLABEL_draw((VOID_PTR)Output[i]);
}
}
void clearSolution ()

/* clear the solution area and redraw it */
{ clear();
solution_draw();
}

void available_draw ()

/* redraw the available nubmers */
{ PLISTER_draw((VOID_PTR)List);
}
void numbers_draw ()

/* redraw the numbers */
{ int i;
for (i=0; i<6; i++)

PNUMBERFIELD_draw((VOID_PTR)INumbers[i]);
}
void target_draw ()

/* redraw the target number */
{ PNUMBERFIELD_draw((VOID_PTR)ITarget);
}

Solving the problem

Problems I met