ANNOUNCING! The availability of Function Junction III - the long awaited
"sequel" to the best-selling Function Junction II.
What is it?
-----------
Function Junction III (hereafter to be called FnJnIII) is a collection of
16 useful, semi-useful, and useless FutureBasic functions, in the grand
tradition of Ariel Publishing's FnJnII. (FnJnIII is _not_ a product of
Ariel Publishing, however. "Leftover" copyrights and comments within the
code notwithstanding, Ariel effectively closed their doors before this
product was finished, the rights reverted to me, and thence to Staz
Software. More on this later.)
How much?
---------
Since Staz Software's "expansion modules" for FBII are sold at the
ridiculously low price of $29.50, I suppose we can't claim FnJnIII is
worth more than that... so, FOR FnJnII OWNERS ONLY, the FnJnIII price is
hereby declared to be $29.50! :-)
If you _don't_ own FnJnII, a "special bundle" will be available shortly,
which will include both products, hopefully for the same $69.95 that
FnJnII alone sold for a year ago. (Negotiations continue...) If you
absolutely can't live without FnJnIII today, and you _don't_ have FnJnII,
I'll send you a "special" version that doesn't include any code from
FnJnII - you'll only get 13 or 14 modules - at the same $29.50 price. If
you later want FnJnII as well, when I can sell it, I'll do so at the
"difference" of $40.45. If Staz gets FnJnII up on his site, and you buy
it there for $69.95, I'll refund your $29.50. In either case, when you
have FnJnII, I'll send you the full version of III.
My daughter just advised me that I'd accept "Glory" the Beanie Baby as
payment as well...
What version of FB does it run under?
-------------------------------------
Definitely FBII V2.3. Probably earlier versions as well, but I don't have
any around, so I can't guarantee it. (If you haven't upgraded, maybe
this'll give you a reason to do so... but if FnJnIII doesn't work, and
for some reason you can't upgrade your FB, see "refunds" below.)
AND... All but one of the 16 modules compile and run cleanly under FB^3
"lite" Beta 13/14! This doesn't mean two separate copies of each
module... it means that we've put all the necessary "if" stuff in there
so that _one_ copy of the source will work in both places!
What are the modules?
---------------------
CrunchArray - Remove entries from the _front_ of an array (the first
positions) and "slide" everything else down to fill in
quickly without a painful loop.
GetNetPrinterInfo - What network printer is selected in the Chooser? What
kind is it, and what's the name of it?
InArray - Is some value tucked away in an array? Similar to an
INDEX array's search ability, but on a "plain" array.
InsertString - Stick "Spain" in the middle of "The rain in falls..."
IsAlpha - Was what the user typed in alpha? Completely? You can
tell.
And allow or disallow punctuation while you're at it.
isFontThere - Does this Mac have Geneva? Utopia? San Francisco?
IsInStr - Is a search string somewhere in your app's STR#
resources?
IsNumeric - Was what the user typed in numeric? Even if they used
strange
notations, you can tell...
LaserWrites - The Animated, GWorld-using, "FnJnIII Introduction"
source!
(Personally, watching this intro run is worth the
$29.50...)
MonCheck - The "BIGGIE" of this collection... Now you can support
multiple monitors relatively painlessly, even
deciding WHICH
monitor your app should run on!
Plurals - This came from an adventure game I tried (not written
in FB,
and not by one of our FB list members) that told me
"you have
zero knife". Later it said "you have two knife". So I
wrote a
routine that gets it "right" 99% of the time...
PrintWindow - Any window. Graphics, text... not scrolling stuff,
but "what's
on the screen now" - like a snapshot function.
Soundex - A great way to "index" names and such; especially
valuable for
poor spellers - "Michael" and "Micheal" both come out
the same.
StrSwap - Replace a set of characters in a string with another
set. The
"poor man's FN MUNGER".
ZapArray - I know this array has a "12" in it, and I want to get
rid of
the 12, but I don't want to leave an unsightly
hole... Like
FnJnII's Zap function, but on arrays instead of
string variables.
checkSysFonts - (unsupported) You can use "IsFontThere" ten times, if
you need
to be sure your user has the ten fonts you require to
run, or
you can call checkSysFonts once. NOT fully debugged,
but it works
fine on my Macs.
What if they don't work, or I don't like them?
----------------------------------------------
I'll give you your $29.50 back.
What if I don't think they're worth $29.50?
-------------------------------------------
I'll give you your $29.50 back.
What if they blow up my computer?
---------------------------------
I'll give you your $29.50 back. Seriously, this is source code... if you
make changes to it, and compile it, it _can_ crash your system. All I can
promise is that it ran on mine when it left my hands headed for yours,
and I can't be responsible for what happens after that. Not for $29.50.
Only 16 modules, one "unsupported", while another won't run in FB^3?
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Look, what do you want for $29.50?!? Actually, there are 18 modules, but
I'm not shipping two of them right now because I'm not happy with them.
One is the "side-scrolling game" some of you recall me working on (the
balloons being bent...) quite some time ago, that I flat never have had
time to finish, much less debug. Another is a demo of edit field
manipulation, including printing styled multi-page text, etc. As soon as
I get these "done" enough to allow out of their cage, I'll send them to
all registered owners of FnJnIII. But as busy as I am, I can't promise
when (or even if) that'll be. A couple of years ago, when I started
these, I had some time to spend on this stuff; since then, time has been
a scarce commodity. I only recently found the time to get them "up to
FB^3" level.
I'm always accepting donations of code to add to the package, though! :-)
I might even work out a trade... FnJnIII free for the right to include
your previously-unpublished utility routine...
Can I use these routines in my programs I sell?
-----------------------------------------------
Sure! Otherwise, what's the point?!? All I ask is that you not resell
these as SOURCE! (Or give them away, or post them on a web site
somewhere, etc.) You don't even have to put anything in your Credits box.
(My last Credits box looked like a movie trailer, I had so much help...)
Okay, I'm sold, how do I get them???
------------------------------------
First, email me (privately, not on-list) and tell me you want them. I can
at this time _only_ accept checks, although I'll be responsible for any
non-US-dollars conversions necessary (assuming you don't try to convince
me that 10 Russian Rubles is $29.50...) I'll email back instructions for
getting the password-encrypted SEA file (or the file itself, if you
prefer), and an address you can send the check to. If I know you (through
the list, or whatever) I'll also include the password in the return email
- trusting that the check will really arrive... If I've never heard of
you before, I'll email you the password as soon as the check is in my
hand. If it bounces, I'll send Guido The Virtual Splatter after you. (He
used to be a bouncer, but he throws so hard nobody bounced...)
Who gets the money?
-------------------
AHA! The important part! :-) Well, assuming that I sell more than two
copies of this thing, Staz does. I'll take out enough to cover reasonable
expenses; trips to the bank to deposit checks, postage for mailing Staz a
check every month or so, floppies for snail-mailing out copies to the
webless/emailless (how did they get this announcement?) or whatever. All
the rest goes to Staz Software. He can use it for buying Spotz food, or
paying the light bill, or working on FB^3 - whatever he wishes. If you
aren't comfortable writing the check payable to me, and would prefer to
make it out to "Staz Software", that's cool, I'll forward it along - I
just need enough folks to make them out to me, to cover any refunds I
have to make!
Why isn't it on Staz' site then, instead of this kludge?
--------------------------------------------------------
I originally wrote this code for Ariel Publishing, before Ross was forced
to move on to other things. I then "donated" the code to Staz. Ross
donated FnJnII to Staz. But Staz has been too busy with other projects to
turn FnJnWhatever into floppies or CDs, with manuals and such, and that's
what Staz Software sells. Staz doesn't "do" electronic distribution, with
skimpy or nonexistent documentation. So rather than waiting for Staz to
find the time to get all of that done, I've volunteered (again; it's a
failing, I know) to update the code to work with FB^3, and handle the
distribution. It's not like I had anything _else_ to do... :-)
THANK YOU!
And please remember to email _ME_ with any questions or comments, not the
list...
Bill
<mailto:BMichael@...>