Rick's b.log - entry 2024/07/14

SeaShell

I spent this weekend fixing up the application to be a proper Wimp application with a little UI in case such a thing may be of use to others...

To use, start the application and drag a Template file to the icon. There must be a window called "info" that is used with the iconbar menu.

Fill in the AppName. This should be the name as you would register it (like Paint, Edit, NetSurf, etc) without the initial '!'.
Then give the app a description.
Fill in your name as the creator.
The email is optional and can be left blank if you don't want to embed your email address in the code. It's a free-form field so you could maybe put in a URL instead if you like.

Select the window to open when Select is clicked on the iconbar icon. If there is a window called "main" then this is automatically selected.
Ditto clicking Adjust.
You can, of course, choose "- none -" for one or both.

Finally choose whether you would like terse output (omits most of the comments), to create a debug image, or if you wish to use a centralised redraw handler instead of routines for each window.

At this time, only DeskLib is supported.

Once all of that has been done, drag the anacronistic "App" icon to where you would like your application to be created.

The application will be built. If any of the windows need to be manually redrawn, you will either have per-window redraw routines or a centralised redraw routine depending on your choice. The default handler supplied will draw a cross-hatch on the window.
With the exception of the "info" window that is treated a little differently: Every window will be given a mouse click handler. If a window has writeable icons, it'll also get a keypress handler. Finally, every window will have a "draw" routine. This is intended to be called just prior to opening the window in order to ensure that the window is up to date.
Don't mix up "draw" with "redraw" - draw is for setting the icons and whatever prior to showing the window, while redraw is for actually redrawing the window if it cannot be handled by the Wimp.

You can then run the MakeFile in whatever manner you prefer in order to build the application. There may be a few warnings of unused functions (the "draw" ones). The software is intended to be built using the ROOL DDE.

When you run the application, it should offer basic functionality. It will put an icon on the iconbar. There will be an iconbar menu with Info and Quit entries, which do what you would expect. Clicking Select and Adjust on the icon will open the windows that you have specified to open (if you have done so) along with a cross-hatch pattern appearing on windows that need redraw. Clicking something will report what icon was clicked on (or -1 for the window background). Pressing certain keys (that are not automatically handled by the Wimp) will report the icon and keypress value.

It is intended to create a basic application shell.

You will also need DeskLib, the code generated should be generic enough that it will work with any suitable version of DeskLib (note - needs to be ALF, not ELF, unless you wish to mess with the MakeFile to use GCC instead of the DDE).
The MakeFile assumes that the library is called "DeskLib32" to separate it from earlier 26 bit versions. Rename the library or (easier!) edit the MakeFile if this is not the case for you.

You can grab a copy of my version of DeskLib v2.30/RM32 from here:

• dl230rm_20200511.zip DeskLib install (243.76 KiB)
• dl230rm_src_20200511.zip DeskLib source (862.88 KiB)

Trump's assassination

This isn't to say that I think Trump should get a bullet in the brain. There's a tiny part of me that hopes that justice finally catches up with him and he spends his final days looking out between solid metal bars. While it's extremely easy to point at Trump as all that is wrong with the United States, he alone is impotent. He has many many enablers that make him what he is. So getting rid of Trump wouldn't fix the problem as somebody else would just step up. The rot goes far deeper.

Time for Biden to leave

You see, this is the problem that the UK had when the rather hated Jeremy Corbyn was leading the Labour party. It was basically handing the election to the Tories. You can talk about smear campaigns all you like, but if enough of the electorate thinks the guy in charge is unfit to run the country, he won't get elected.

The Democrats need to realise that this is no ordinary election. If Trump gets his desired second term, it could be a political bloodbath. He's made enough threats, and things are falling into place for him to easily make good on those threats. It falls to the Democrats to NOT screw this up. Keeping Biden around past his sell by date? That's basically handing the election to Trump. I have nothing against Biden, and I'd rather have him in charge than Trump, but what's happening is far far bigger than Biden.
It is going to be an existential crisis for the United States and all that it stands for. If you think I'm exaggerating, just ask yourself how many places now a woman is no longer free to terminate an unwanted pregnancy at any time; based upon a twisted interpretation of an ancient text written by misogynistic crack-heads who stole half the story from the Greeks (who just translated the Septuagint from the Jewish Tanakh) and plucked the rest out of their arses.

One final thought

And you think the forthcoming election is going to make any sense whatsoever? Good luck with that. Social media is happily giving a platform for the biggest most unsociable bastards in the world to shout their bollocks and, worse, there are far too mant people actually believing this rubbish.
But, then, you know the ruse. Repeat a lie often enough, if it isn't strongly refuted each and every time, it eventually becomes a truth.

Yeah, America is screwed.

Your comments:

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David Pilling, 14th July 2024, 22:42

Corbyn got more votes than Starmer... OK you measure hatred by how many vote for the other chap.  Multiverse, we are now in the universe where Biden competes with Trump in the election. The Physics is terrifying, one flap of a butterflies wing and we'd be in the universe were Biden competes with a.n.other.  There's evidence the snipers watched the shooter for some time - someone will have to answer why they did nothing. Had the shooter killed Trump he would not have survived to explain why he acted. Just like Lee Harvey Oswald.

C Ferris, 15th July 2024, 11:43

I wonder if the army snipers though that the lad on the roof had some kind of fancy camera.

jgh, 16th July 2024, 03:38

The issue for the security bods is they have very very little leaway to shoot somebody before the somebody has made any action. You can't shoot somebody for "we think you're going to shoot the President", their leaway is "you've attempted to shoot the President, BANG! BANG!"    As DP says, it's very Lee Harvey Osward that the shooter was shot before he could be interrogated.

C Ferris, 16th July 2024, 10:05

Must be very difficult for the Army blokes - just as well toy guns are used - some of the sniper rifles have a accurate range measured in miles.    The old Sharp's rifle had a accurate range of about a mile.

C Ferris, 16th July 2024, 10:10

I wonder if there any dart type amo - that you could use earlier.    Home here they put snipers up church roofs etc.

Rick, 16th July 2024, 15:15

The range of the gun isn't the important part. It's being skilled enough to make a successful hit from a distance, taking into count the wind, gravity, and the curvature of the earth (yes, really).    I think when somebody is taking pot shots at the man who is likely to be the next president (god help us all), the security guys don't give a crap about the why, they just want to neutralise the threat.    All I can say is thank that same god that he was a republican, or this would have turned into an even bigger circus than it currently is.    JGH - speaking of leeway, he ISN'T the president. Was, and may well be, but right now is not.

C Ferris, 16th July 2024, 16:12

Some people are born good shots - plus with practice.    Strange that the Kennedy shooters army report said that he wasn't very good!

C Ferris, 16th July 2024, 16:18

I know someone who goes long range (1Mile?) shooting in the USA - I gather he does quite well.

SteveP, 17th July 2024, 22:07

Most curious. I looked at the phone video of Crookes on the side of the pitched roof most distant from Trump  I looked at photos of the location of his body afterward.    Can anyone explain how someone on one side of a pitched roof shoots at someone on the opposite side while they are both below the top of the piched roof?

Rick, 21st July 2024, 20:53

FINALLY Joe got the message and is stepping down.    Now the Democrats can begin to try to Make America Sane Again. The first step - pick somebody who actually stands a chance of winning against Trump. Remember, no infighting and dithering. Just take a lesson from Britain's Tory party. Your "enemy" is not each other, it's the Republicans, who are ever more demented than at any time in living memory. For the sake of your country and all that it stands for, don't let that narcissistic demagogue get back into The White House...

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