PPL - good literature or web pages

[Vever]

Hi,
I'm absolute newbie to programming but I need some special applications for my PDA and I'd like to program them so I have to learn any language for PDA. I've found PPL very interesting. Is there any literature or web pages you could recommend me?
THX.
Vever

[PointOfLight]

Here are a couple of places to start. There is not a ton of information there yet, but it will be growing on a regular basis.

Tech Notes
http://www.arianesoft.ca/page.php?25

Tutorials
http://www.arianesoft.ca/page.php?27

Also, download it and check out the help file. There is a lot of information contained within that. Finally, feel free to ask more specific questions here.

[Vever]

THX.
Do you know about any good pages concerning object-oriented programming? I'm not familiar with it but it is said to be powerful and I'd like to learn how to use it.

[PointOfLight]

For that I would suggest simply doing a Google search on "Object Oriented Programming". I'm sure there are many beginners' guides out there on the web.

[plinydogg]

Does anyone have any info on what controls do what (e.g., is an "edit" box the functional equivalent of a "textbox")? What are the properties for a given control? Some are self explanatory (e.g., &name) while others are not (e.g., WS_EX_DLGMODALFRAME). How do you perform basic stuff like changing the text in an edit box, etc.?

Sorry if this is a stupid question.

[kornalius]

plinydogg: The question is far from stupid. Your best source is the MicroSoft Developer Network (www.msdn.com). Go there and type WS_EX_DLGMODALFRAME in the search box. That is really how I do it myself. There is shortcut in the PIDE Help menu to it. You can also just press CTRL+F1 in the PIDE source code to look directly in the MSDN web site.

I will implement the F1 key on the Styles in the PIDE form editor. It's a good idea and will bring a nice advancement to PPL.

[plinydogg]

Thanks for the tip!

[MagNet]

Try the old PPL webpage ppl.arwen.com
http://ppl.arwen.com/FAQ
http://ppl.arwen.com/Tutorials
http://ppl.arwen.com/Features/Examples/

Some of the commands may be outdated (like SpriteSpeed, but I don't think this one is used in any of the tuts anyway, now it's SpriteVel), the language didn't change much from the betas tho.

[plinydogg]

Thanks MagNet. Some of those tutorials contain very useful info! But what I'm really looking for is a systematic treatment of what available properties there are, etc.

What I'm trying to say is that I'm not comfortable programming something without knowing what it is I'm doing. For example, when I write this:

WndProc (hWnd$, Msg$, wParam$, lParam$)

I don't just want it to work. I need to know what each of those parameters is and what they do! And, while we're at it, I want to know when I need to include a WndProc procedure, etc.

I've taken a look at the MSDN site that Kornalius suggested and have begun compiling a list of the various properties, styles, etc. and their explanations which I plan to make available here when finished, if ever.

[kornalius]

In v1.02 you will be able to just press CTRL+F1 on a control in the PIDE and the appropriate MSDN page will be called. This will give you the styles, messages etc... All you need to know about a specific control.

[MagNet]

That's pretty cool.