Hello everyone,
I am pleased to announce that
Volume 6: The Graphical User Interface is now available. Currently it is only available directly from the publisher, however, by mid-week next week it should be available via Amazon.com and other outlets, so continue to watch for updates on the URL above.
The book has two parts. The first describes most of the internals of the GUI system, but to a newcomer, and most anyone else (smile), this might be confusing, though continue to read on and I will explain. The second part shows how to use these internals to create windows, objects, fonts, images, progress bars, and other items.
To help with the (could be) confusing first part, along with the items in the second part is the source code. The source code is the key to the book. One without the other, each would be confusing, but with both, after a little bit of familiarization, you will start to understand the code quite quickly and then be able to create objects yourself.
I have been asked many questions about what this project will be, and I wish to address the most important ones here.
Q. "Does the GUI rely upon a third part graphics library?"
A. No. Absolutely not. The source code included on the CD-ROM shows how to draw to the screen, creating images, windows, text, and all components of the system. No other software is needed.
Q. "Does the GUI rely on any underlining OS?"
A. No. However, the GUI demo included on the CD-ROM does use DOS and a DPMI to allocate memory, read and write to the file system, and call the BIOS video services. However, these are common to any operating system and can easily be modified to work with your OS.
Q. "Does the GUI rely on the underlining hardware?"
A. No. The GUI code is written in C and is completely portable except for the writing to memory and calling the BIOS services. However, the writing to memory code is documented and easily modified. It currently uses the DPMI services and DJGPP which is well documented. The calling of the BIOS is also well documented within DJGPP.
The CDROM is not available at the time of the purchase of the book. However, once you receive the book, with a simple verification of proof of purchase, I will be more than happy to send you the ISO image via an email attachment. Please see the URL above for instructions on proof of purchase.
As with all my other work, I support it 100%. If you have any questions, feel free to post here or contact me directly via the email address found at the URL above. I welcome all comments, good and bad, for with bad comments, I try to improve my work.
Thank you to all for your support,
Ben
http://www.fysnet.net/the_graphical_user_interface.htm