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This is part 2 of our tutorial on creating Third Party Command DLLs for DarkBASIC Professional with PureBasic.
3. How to make a simple DarkBASIC Professional command
In this part, each sample will be detailled from procedure creation to string table editing. I recommend to use a software like ResourceHacker to add your string table and them modify them to fit your needs. I also recommand to use Windowed mode for this tutorial because to show the use of commands, we use MessageRequester from PureBasic and the windowed mode is the best one to make them displayed properly.
3.1. Create a command that needs no parameter.
Your command will be really simple. It will be defined like this:
ProcedureCDLL SimpleProcedure()
MessageRequester( "Simple Requester" , "TEST" )
EndProcedure
;
It needs no parameter and does not send back any parameters either. Now that your simple procedure is created, compile your program (create exe). Open Resource Hacker and open your DLL with it. Add a new string table ( You can add the string table given with the tutorial (Download: Resource1.res). You'll get something like this:
Your DLL's string table will always look like this one. To create a simple command that need no parameter and that send back no parameter, you'll have this:
command_number, "your DarkBasic Professional command name%0%yourdllprocedure%"
Its quite simple, if we follow this we'll have:
1, "Simple Requester%0%SimpleProcedure%"
Once we've modified the string table to fit to this, we COMPILE SCRIPT and then save the changes in the DLL.
Now, we can copy our DLL inside Compiler\Plugins-User folder and test our command "Simple Requester" in DarkBasic Professional by launching your DarkBasic Professional program.
3.2 Create a command that uses an INTEGER as a parameter
Your command will be simple enough. It will be defined like this one:
ProcedureCDLL SimpleIntegerAsking( mydata.l )
MessageRequester( "Simple Requester" , Str( mydata ) )
EndProcedure
;
As you can see, we ask for an integer value called <mydata>. To be sure we receive the data correctly, we'll show it in the requester. Now that your second procedure is created, compile your program to update the DLL. Ppen Resource Hacker and open your DLL with it. We'll now add String table for the second command. You'll get something like this:
As you can see we defined the second command like this:
2, "Simple Integer Asking%L%SimpleIntegerAsking%"
The change is that where the "0" take place, you now have a "L". In fact, the "0" mean no parameter. L mean long parameter. So we tell to DarkBasic Professional that we need a Long ( = Integer ) parameter. Inside DarkBasic Professional, the command will be used this way:
Simple Command Asking 512
Don't forget to copy your updated DLL in Compiler\plugins-user folder before you try it.
3.3 Create a command that need a FLOAT as parameter
Your command will be like the other one, but with small change. It will be defined like this one:
ProcedureCDLL SimpleFloatAsking( mydata.l )
myfloat.f = PeekF( @mydata )
MessageRequester( "Simple Requester" , StrF( myfloat ) )
EndProcedure
;
As you can see, we ask for an integer value called <mydata>. DarkBasic Professional does not send directly float. It send a DWord that we must cast to float using myfloat.f = PeekF( @mydata ). Now that your third procedure is created, compile your program to update the DLL. Open Resource Hacker and open your DLL with it.
We'll now add String table for the second command. You'll get something like this:
this is the third command and, as you can see, we use "F" instead of "0" or "L". It's simply to tell to DarkBasic Professional that we ask for a float number. Copy your new DLL to Compiler\Plugins-user and then try this in DarkBasic Professional:
Simple Command Asking 1024.512
3.4 Create a command that need a STRING as parameter
It's a bit complex to ask for a string. It use the same scheme as 3.3, asking for a Long that is the pointer to the string and taking it in a variable. It will be defined like this one:
ProcedureCDLL SimpleStringAsking( title.l )
mystring.s = PeekS( title );
MessageRequester( "Simple Requester" , mystring )
EndProcedure
We put the content at *title inside <mystring>. Now, in the string table, we must define our new command as follows:
Like the other commands, we put command_number, "command name%S%dllprocedure%" but we replaced the "0" , "L" , "F" with "S" to tell to DarkBasic Professional that we want a STRING for our command. Compile your new DLL, put in the new String Table with Resource Hacker and copy it to Compiler\Plugins-use. Try your new command into DarkBasic Professional:
Simple Command Asking "Test String"
3.5 Conclusions
You can mix all kind of parameters. For example, if you want to create a command that ask for an INTEGER a FLOAT and a STRING, you can do this:
ProcedureCDLL MixAll3Datas( title.l , myinteger.l , myflt.l )
mystring.s = PeekS( title );
myfloat.f = PeekF( @myflt )
MessageRequester( mystring , "Integer : "+Str(myinteger)+" / Float : "+StrF(myfloat) )
EndProcedure
Building a command like this one will require to tell to DarkBasic Professional each parameter we want and, in order we need a string ( S ), an integer ( L ) and a float number ( F ) so the string table will use this to define our command:
5, "Mix All Datas%SLF%MixAll3Datas%"
Like the picture shows:
We can ask for many integers, floats and strings in one single command.
In the next issue of the Newsletter we will show you exactly how to create a DarkBASIC Professional function that sends back integers, floats and strings.
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