Clarification on BoxUpdates Function

Keywords:    boxupdates

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Question:

I stripped my 48k program down to 4k, so it may look a little strange. When you run the program, click on the Sort button. This brings up the Sort box (and since the code is gone, immediately destroys it). The next time you click on the Sort button, BoxUpdates for the main box is set to 2, and the Sort and exit buttons will not display. (Unless you bring another window in front, resize the window, drag it off the screen then back, etc.)

The code's somewhat messy but even so it demonstrates an apparent update problem.

;Check the SortJobs routine for the BoxUpdates(1,?) line.
; Try clicking on the Sort Jobs button with the ? set to 1 and set to 2 (or 3).
; Automated it to cycle between 1,1, (1,2), and (1,3) every time you click Sort
errormode(@notify)

:Startup
Gosub InitVars
Gosub LoadBox
Gosub MakeSortedList
Gosub UpdateBox


:MainLoop
While @True
  Gosub CheckButtons
  if UpdateBoxes
    Gosub UpdateBox
    UpdateBoxes = @False
  endif
endwhile
exit



;*******
:LoadBox
;*******
MaxButtons = 2
x1 = 50
x2 = 740
y1 = 50
y2 = 740
BoxesUp("%x1%,%y1%, %x2%, %y2%", @normal)
BoxCaption(1, "%ThisProgName% - loading")
xdiff = x2 - x1
ydiff = y2 - y1
tag1 = "TAG1"
for loop = 1 to MaxButtons
   bd%loop%=loop
next loop
Gosub ResetBoxes
Return

;************
:CheckButtons
;************
;Only 1 button can be pushed at any one time
bpushed = 0
for loop = 1 to MaxButtons
   If BoxButtonStat(1,loop) Then bpushed = loop
next loop
Select bpushed
  case 0   ;No button pushed
     break
  case bd1  ;Sort - open sort box...
     Gosub SortJobs
     break
  case MaxButtons  ;Exit
     query = AskYesNo("Exiting...", "Are you sure you want to quit?")
     if query == @Yes
       exit
     endif
     break
endSelect

Return

;****************
:CheckSortButtons
;****************
     Gosub MakeSortedList
Return

;**************
:MakeSortedList
;**************
sortedList = ""
UpdateBoxes = @True
Return


;********
:InitVars
;********
ThisProgName = "Box Bugs"
SortedList = ""
UpdateBoxes = @True
UpdateBug = 1

Return


;*********
:UpdateBox
;*********
BoxCaption(1, ThisProgName)
BoxDataClear(3, tag1)
BoxDataTag(3, tag1)
BoxUpdates(3,0) ;Delay drawing until end

BoxUpdates(3,2)
Return


;********
:SortJobs
;********
BoxNew(2, "10,10,1000,1000", 2)

;***************
;Confirmed bug
;  Boxes don't open in front the way they are supposed to do, if you use them as I
; have been.
;***************
;Trying open box 3 to display box 2. just might work. Does, mostly
; must kill the buttons on box 1
; must redraw box 1 and 3, reset their text settings, when I'm done with box "2"
BoxNew(3, "10,55,950,600", 1)
BoxDataTag(3, tag1)
BoxUpdates(1, 0)
for a = 1 to MaxButtons
   BoxButtonKill(1, a)
next a
;*************************** following line shows apparent box bug #2.
;If updates is set to 2 or 3, update doesn't take place until screen is covered by
; a separate window. (shows up when window moved off screen, or is resized also)
BoxUpdates(1, updateBug)
if UpdateBug == 1
  Display(2, "Sort and Exit button should come back normally", "")
  UpdateBug = 2
else
  if UpdateBug == 2
    Display(2, "Update set to 2", "Sort and Exit button don't come back until windows tells winbatch to redraw")
    UpdateBug = 3
  else
    Display(2, "Update set to 3", "Sort and Exit button don't come back until windows tells winbatch to redraw")
    UpdateBug = 1
  endif
endif
;***************

BoxUpdates(2,0)
BoxCaption(2, "Sort jobs by...")
BoxUpdates(2,1)
BoxDestroy(2)
Gosub ResetBoxes  ;to get around a bug in WinBatch
Return


;**********
:ResetBoxes
;**********
BoxNew(3, "7,55,993,600", 1)

Black = "0,0,0"
White = "255,255,255"
BoxColor(1, White, 1)
BoxPen(1, Black, 2)
BoxDrawRect(1, "0,0, 1000,1000", 1)
bx1 = 55
bx2 = 135
by1 = 10
by2 = 50
BoxTextColor(1, White)

BoxButtonDraw(1, bd1, "Sort Jobs...", "300,680, 550,730")

BoxButtonDraw(1, bd%MaxButtons%, "Exit", "800,890, 950,990")
BoxDataTag(3, tag1)
Return

Answer:

I added message boxes just below all your BoxUpdates and wrote down the results.

1. BoxUpdates 0 and 1 are "states" (enabler drawing/disable drawing) whileas 2 and 3 are "commands" (do something NOW).

2. Box 1, which has the buttons in it, had the update state still disabled, even though you requested a redraw (2), i think it was before the buttons get activated.

3. Set all the BoxUpdate states back to 1 before you expect good results.

4. That means, for BoxUpdates, you would have to use 2 or 3 each time you drew something new to a box if you wanted that type of drawing.

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Article ID:   W12758

Filename:   Clarification on BoxUpdates Function.txt