1. Obtaining, Toolboxes, Prices and Infos about PowerBASIC

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1.1. The Current Versions of PowerBASIC

1.2. The Original Distributors of PowerBASIC

            PowerBASIC, Inc.
            1978 Tamiami Trail S.#200
            Venice, FL  34293

            Ordering      : +1 (800) 780-7707
            Service       : +1 (941) 408-8700
            Fax           : +1 (941) 408-8820

            World Wide Web                : www.powerbasic.com
            List of InterNet Sites        : info@powerbasic.com
            Ordering                      : order@powerbasic.com
            Sales and Marketing           : sales@powerbasic.com
            Technical Support             : support@powerbasic.com
            Suggestions for future
            PowerBASIC Versions           : suggest@powerbasic.com

1.3. German Speaking Area

            Kirschbaum Software GmbH
            Kronau 15
            83550 Emmering
            GERMANY
            Phone: +49-8067-9038-0
            Fax  : +49-8067-903898

            PB/DLL      - PowerBASIC DLL-Compiler for Windows
            PowerGRAPH  - for graphical Menu systems (PCX, Fonts, etc.)
            PowerISAM   - Databases (also available in English from PowerBASIC Inc.)
            PowerTOOLS  - SAA-Shell, Helpsystem, helpfull Routines
            PB/xtra     - Collection of Shareware programs and Source code

1.4. German PowerBASIC Prices

            Complete Version: 199,-DM
            Complete Version 3.5 for Students, Pupils: 150,-DM
            Update from VOBIS-Basisversion 2.10f to V3.5: 149,-DM
            Update from V2.10 to V3.5: 149,-DM
            Update from a  3.x-Version to V3.5: 36,80DM

1.5. Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland

            Berggreen Service
            Lodsgaarden A 111
            DK-2791 Dragoer
            DENMARK
            info@berggreen.dk
            http://www.berggreen.dk

1.6. New in Version 3.1 of PowerBASIC

• Userdefined Type- and Union-Variables can be compared directly.
• Constants in Binary, Hex or Octal Format (&B, &H, &O) can be set to a specific Datatype, by simply adding the correct Identifier.

        Examples:
                A?? = &HFFFF??   '= 65535
                B%  = &HFFFF%    '= -1
  

• Constants (%Test) can have a 64-Bit Range (signed) from this PowerBASIC Version on.

        Examples:
                %MaxNumber = 500000
                %Konst1    = &HFFFF   '= -1 (Integer)
                %Konst2    = &H0FFFF  '= 65535 (Long)
  

  When using Binary, Hexdecimal or Octal Numbers, adding a proceeding Zero defines whether the calculated Value is signed or not.
• BIN$, HEX$ and OCT$ can now calculate Values up to 32Bit Long- Integer.
• From Version 3.1 on you can give alternative Names to SUBs or FUNCTIONs, with which you can call these Subroutines from within OBJ-Routines (compiled with Assembler or C).

        Example:
                SUB MySub ALIAS "_my_sub" (Var1%,Var2$) PUBLIC
                   PRINT "Hello", Var1%, Var2$
                END SUB
  

• The keyword ANY in a definiton of a Procedure allows the passing of a parameter of any type. The parameter is then passed by REFERENCE as a 32Bit Address. To let the Programm know what kind of type it is you should pass a Type identification as the first parameter to the Procedure. When this Procedure is coded in PowerBASIC, the Inline- Assembler must be used to pass on the parameters.

        Example:
                i% = 11
                CALL TestAny(0,i%)      'the free parameters must be Variables
                s$ = "Hello"
                CALL TestAny(1,s$)
  
                SUB TestAny(ParamType AS INTEGER, ANY)
                    DIM Int.Param    AS INTEGER
                    DIM String.Param AS STRING
                    SELECT CASE ParamType
                        CASE 0                  'Integer
                            ! les bx, [bp+6]    :Load Offset of Var. in BX
                            ! mov ax, es:[bx]   ;Load Value of Var. in AX
                            ! mov Int.Param, ax ;Load Varibale to AX
                            PRINT Int.Param
                        CASE 1                  'String
                                                ;Load Offset of Stringmarker
                            ! les bx, [bp+6]    ;into BX
                            ! mov ax, es:[bx]   ;Load Stringmarker into AX
                            ! mov String.Param,AX
                            PRINT String.Param
                    END SELECT
                END SUB
  

• The Return value of FUNCTIONs written with the Inline-Assembler can now be set without using a temporary Variable. The Keyword FUNCTION is used for this.

        Example:
                PRINT AsmTest(2)
                FUNCTION AsmTest(BYVAL int.param AS INTEGER) AS INTEGER
                        ! mov ax, int.param
                        ! inc ax
                        ! mov FUNCTION, ax  ;the Value will be returned
                END FUNCTION
  

  (Also see chapter 'Hints with the Inline-Assembler')
• The use of FUNCTION instead of the Functionname is also possible with FUNCTIONs coded in BASIC.

        Example:
                PRINT FuTest(2)
                FUNCTION FuTest(BYVAL int.param AS INTEGER) AS INTEGER
                       FUNCTION = int.param + 1
                END FUNCTION
  

• The Function FRE() was extended:
  FRE(-3) returns the free Space on the Stack
  FRE(-4) returns the maximum Length available for dynamic Strings, set using $STRING
  FRE(-5) returns the Number of used Stringsegments
  FRE(-6) returns the Number of unused Blcoks in the current Stringsegment
  FRE(-7) returns the amount of unused Memory in the current Stringsegment
  

1.7. New in Version 3.2 of PowerBASIC

• Data Pointers
• Code Pointers
  Following Jumps can now be executed directly in BASIC: "CALL DWORD x", "GOTO DWORD x" ans "GOSUB DWORD x". In this case "x" is the 32Bit Pointer to a SUB/Function or the Label. (There is a DIR$- Demo to the new Pointer- Functions.)
• 32-Bit implementation of: STRPTR32, VARPTR32 und CODEPTR32
• Pointer to Structures can now be passed on to a SUB/FUNCTION using the "BYVAL" Keyword.

        Example:
                DECLARE SUB MySUB(x AS INTEGER)
                DIM z AS INTEGER PTR
                z = &HB8000000
                CALL MySUB(BYVAL z)
  

• 16550 UART Support
• The LEN() Function now also returns the length of User-defined Structures.
• Labels ans Variables can now contain the so-calles Underlines '_' so that they can be kept appart easier.

1.8. New in Version 3.5 of PowerBASIC

• some important Bugfixes
• ASCIIZ strings: Dim xyz as Asciiz * 100.
• Arrays as User Type Members, may have one or two static dimensions.
• & operator is recognized for string concatenation.
• STRING PTR is now legal as a Type/Union member.
• $ELSEIF metastatement.
• ASC(x$,n) function and statement offer an optional starting position.
• REDIM PRESERVE of the outer bound of dynamic and huge arrays only.
• RND() is a legal substitute for RND.
• RND(x,y) returns a LONG INTEGER in the range of x -> y.
• TRIM$() is a combination of LTRIM$() and RTRIM$().
• Indexed pointers: @xyz[2]
• DIM VIRTUAL x(1000000) arrays in ems memory, may not be dynamic strings nor used as a ByRef parameter.
• HUGE and VIRTUAL Arrays may use LONG INTEGER indexes. With this expansion, you may see a slight increase in the size of some code generation. When a segment is now very close to the 64k limit, it may require that $SEGMENT metastatements be moved.
• ERRCLEAR statement resets the error flag to nul.
• ERRCLEAR function returns ERR, then resets the error flag to nul.
• ERRCLEAR is a synonym for the old function Errtest.
• CVI(x$[,n]), CVL... offer an optional starting position in the string
  • CVL(x$,3) would extract the 3rd through 6th bytes of x$, and convert the 4 bytes to the corresponding long integer value. In this case, x$ must be at least 6 bytes long.
• SIZEOF(var) function returns the physical size of a variable,
  • particularly useful for determining the maximum length of a fixed- length string, ASCIIZ string, or user-defined type.
  • It always returns 2 for a dynamic string.
• STDIN x, y$ reads up to x characters from the standard input device (which may be redirected), and assigns them to the string variable specified. If less than x characters are ready immediately, then a string shorter than x bytes is returned.
• STDIN LINE, y$ reads one line of text from the standard input device (which may be redirected), and assigns them to the string variable specified. When enf-of-file is reached, a one-byte string consisting of a CHR$(26) is returned.
• STDOUT x$ [;] outputs the string expression x$ to the standard output device (which may be redirected), followed by a cr/lf. If an optional trailing semi-colon is included, then the cr/lf is suppressed.
• SETEOF #1 statement has been added to truncate an open file to its current position.
• FRE(-11) returns the number of unallocated bytes of EMS memory.

1.9. PowerBASIC 4.0 - The next Generation / Wishlist

• XMS Support for VIRTUAL Arrays
• SORT ARRAY Support fuer VIRTUAL Arrays
• 32bit Inline-Assembler
• Syntax Highlighting within the IDE
• A better IDE