June 1, 2007
Copyright 2007 NS BASIC Corporation
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NS Basic/Palm 6.0 Release Notes June 1, 2007 Copyright 2007 NS BASIC Corporation |
NS Basic/Palm 6.0 is a major new release of NS Basic with some great new features: faster compiles, new Treo features such as Navigation and addition API functions and modal forms.
We've also added some other enhancements and some bug fixes.
NS Basic/Palm is a complete development environment for Palm OS devices. NS Basic/Palm 6.0 creates programs for all Palm OS devices running Palm OS 3.1 or later, including Palm OS 5.x. It runs on Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP. Using Virtual PC, it will run on Mac OS. It will run on Linux using Win4Lin and VMWare.
Version 6.x is upwardly compatible with all earlier versions of NS Basic/Palm. Programs written in those versions will be able to run in the new version without change. However, projects saved in 6.0 cannot be opened in earlier versions. The new Runtime will also work with your older compiled projects.
NS Basic/Palm is a commercial software product, licensed subject to the License Agreement that must be must be agreed to before installation. The Agreement also appears in the NS Basic/Palm Handbook.
This document contains what you need to know to install and run NS Basic/Palm.
Please visit our web site for the latest version of this document. You'll see the latest installation notes and updated news.
You can install NS Basic/Palm directly from this document if you are installing from the release CD. If you have an earlier version installed, the installer will automatically uninstall the old version. The link immediately below to NSBasic_Palm.exe will only work if you are running this from the installer CD and your browser allows this. Otherwise, navigate to the CD and run the installer directly from there.
* If you are not able to install directly from this document, click on the file named NSBasic_Palm.exe. If you are using the FireFox browser, this will be the case.
If you have problems with the installation, see Tech Note 01.
Important: The Simulator, the ROM images and the associated files are licensed from PalmSource. When you install NS Basic, you agree to an End User License Agreement with PalmSource that has the terms of the license. A copy of the Agreement is in the \Program File\NSBasic folder.
POSE - Palm OS Emulator
POSE is a desktop emulator for Palm OS 3 and 4 devices. NS Basic installs a copy of POSE with the ROM of a color Palm III running Palm OS 4.1. If you would like emulate a different device, you will need to get the appropriate ROM image from the manufacturer of your device.
You may be able to get a ROM image from your device. Using ROM Transfer.prc (in the Download folder), you can upload ROM images from most devices to the desktop. You can then use the transferred ROM file with POSE.
Each device has their own version of the ROM, sometimes with special features that are only on that device. The manufacturers sometimes, but not in all cases, have a special version of POSE that must be used.
The configuration of the Emulator is saved in the file \WINNT\Palm Emulator.ini.
If you want to get a copy of Palm's ROM or get the complete POSE documentation and files, go to http://www.palmos.com/dev/tools/emulator/. For more information on using POSE, see Tech Note 20.
Simulator
The Palm OS Simulator is Palm OS 5 running native on a Windows machine. It comes complete with a Palm OS 5 ROM, so there is no need to download or upload a ROM image. The Simulator puts a Palm OS 5 device on your desktop to run your programs. You can control it from within NS Basic in exactly the same manner as POSE.
The first time you run it, it will ask you to accept a license agreement. After doing so, shut down the Simulator and restart it. You may get error messages when doing so: you may ignore them.
Some manufacturers have special versions of the Simulator to emulate specific devices: for example, Palm has a Tungsten T3 version. You can download this (after executing appropriate license agreements) from the Palm website. You can use it with NS Basic by changing the pathname to the Simulator in Tool...Options.
You can download the full Simulator from http://www.palmos.com/dev/tools/simulator/. This also includes full documentation on using the Simulator. While the documentation says otherwise, we find the Simulator only works well on Windows 2000 and XP.
Enhancements and Fixes in 6.1.0
Enhancements and Fixes in 6.0.3
Enhancements and Fixes in 6.0.2
Enhancements and Fixes in 6.0.1
Enhancements and Fixes in 6.0.0
Starting with the Treo, Palm added Navigation features to many of its devices. Using the 5 way control, a user can tab from field to field on a form. NS Basic/Palm allows you to control how this tabbing works.
Navigation is controlled by properties of the form and of objects that support navigation. Don't worry about running programs on devices without navigation: the navigation info is simply ignored.
If you do not set up any Navigation information, it will still work. The default tab order is used, where the left and right five way buttons move through the objects in the order that they are created. You can change this order by right clicking on the form name in the Project Explorer.
Interaction Mode vs. Navigation Mode
More complex objects need to "take over" the scroll keys in order to interact with them. For example, a text field needs to allocate all four scroll keys to move the cursor. Similarly, a pop-up list needs to use up and down to change the selection in the list. This conflicts with the requirement of using the scroll keys to navigate between objects. As a result, these complex objects need to have an interaction mode, where they can take over control of the keys. The opposite of interaction mode is navigation mode, where scroll keys navigate between objects. On a system with one-handed navigation, pressing "center" toggles between interaction mode and navigation mode. Finally, a subset of interaction mode is edit mode, which refers specifically to text fields.
Object Focus Mode vs. Application Focus Mode
Interaction mode and Navigation mode are Palm.com concepts. Access (formerly PalmSource, Inc) has defined application focus mode and object focus mode. Application focus mode refers to applications that do not have keyboard navigation enabled. In this state, up and down act as page up and page down in the traditional method that Palm OS implemented in its original form. Object focus mode refers to the state where individual objects on the screen can receive focus, essentially what "navigation mode" refers to above. Applications may or may not be able to toggle between application focus and object focus modes.
Form Navigation Properties
Object Navigation Properties
Additional Notes on Navigation
Grafitti Shift Indicator and Bitmap cannot be navigated to. Label and Scrollbar are always skipped. If you navigate to slider, the arrows on the five way control the slider and do not tab.
See the NavDemo.prj sample for more information.
Modal forms do not have to be full screen - in fact, they should be no taller than necessary. Since they have a border, they look best if they are positioned 4 pixels from the left with a width of 154. They are usually positioned at the bottom of a screen. There is usually a Done button to close the form.
To make a form modal, set its Modal property to True. Enter whatever tips you want to show in the Tips property.
See the ModalForms.prj sample for more.
Read more about modal forms on Palmsource's website here: http://www.palmos.com/dev/support/docs/ui/UI_Forms.html
PDB Creator Pro features: