[futurebasic] [FB][FB^3] Converting FBII to FB^3 Projects - Shareware utility

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From: Robin <robinc@...>
Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2000 10:50:27 +1000
(Sorry if this has appeared before... I'm pretty sure nothing has escaped
from our network to the FB list in the last week...)

My experience with converting from FBII to FB^3 is that while the inbuilt
conversion is useful, there are a lot of routine things that have to be done
by hand. I don't know about everyone else, but in my case this was taking
many hours for a single project.

I have now automated all the routine things I've needed and am offering it
as shareware, "FBII^3 Converter", for the (ridiculously low!) price of A$25
(about US$16-$17 at current exchange rates).

All its features are user-selectable options and are:

1. Strip all leading spaces. FB^3 already does this, but only when importing
whole projects. Also, it helps ensure correct parsing of lines by the
program.

2. Remove any extra spaces between LOCAL, FN, and the function name (this
helps ensure correct parsing, and also that the functions will appear in the
FB^3 Editor function popup menu)

3. Remove any DIM'd addresses pertaining to XREF and XREF@ "arrays"

4. Remove any DIM'd function parameters

5. Convert DIM to DIM @ for any variables that are referred to by address

6. Convert any bad err = FN toolbox(...) to CALL FN toolbox(...): err = FN
MEMERROR (for the calls specified in the instructions)

7. Mark with an easily-searced REM any calls to functions with >8 parameters
in which the values used are known to cause problems (complex expressions
after the 8th item, strings or double-precision reals in any item). This
means you only have to search for the REM, not search for every occurrence
of every function call to >8 parm functions to check for invalid items).

8. Protect function variables from being overwritten when calling functions
with >10 parameters (see my earlier bug report on this nasty one!)

FBII^3 Converter converts only text files that have either an FBII or FB^3
creator signature;  you can set it to convert all such files, or files with
particular extensions (any mixture of .MAIN, .HEAD and .INCL).

For anyone converting a large project affected by the above, this program
will save a lot of time and is more than worth the shareware fee ;-)

Unregistered programs will convert only the file selected. Registered copies
will automatically convert all valid files in the same folder. Also, if you
register you can get the source code so you can add your own conversion
routines if you have any special need.

FBII^3 Converter can be downloaded as a bin-hexed Stuffit file via:
http://www.thoughtware.com.au/software/

-- 
Robin
====================================================
Genesearch Pty Ltd
E-mail: robinc@...
WWW:    http://www.genesearch.com.au
====================================================