Author Topic: MasmBasic  (Read 439800 times)

jj2007

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Extracting data tables from Wikipedia
« Reply #285 on: October 14, 2015, 12:45:00 PM »
Once upon a time, MSIE had a function that allowed to extract a table to Excel (the only reason I ever used Explorer instead of Firefox). That seems to have stopped working a long time ago, so I wrote a little proggie (70 lines) that does the job.

It is not for general use, though; some manual adjustment will be needed to download other tables. Here is the main loop that generates the string array (full code & exe attached, requires MB of 14 October 2015)

GetElements:
  .While ct<maxcountries      ; xs mode: use in loop, exclude left and right search strings
      Let t$(ct, Rank)=Extract$(esi, '<td>', '</td>', xsLoop or xsExcL or xsExcR)
      Let t$(ct, Country)=Extract$(esi, 'title="', Chr$(34, 62), xsLoop or xsExcL or xsExcR)
      Let t$(ct, Int$)=Extract$(esi, '<td>', '</td>', xsLoop or xsExcL or xsExcR)
      inc ct
  .Endw


So if you are feeling strong in HTML, press Ctrl U in FF or MSIE and try to guess which left and right matches are suitable for extracting the table :P

P.S.: Download of the library appears to be disturbed today. I managed once to download and install with MSIE, but very, very slowly. FF downloads at under 3kB/s, and doesn't complete. Is it just my line, or have the Aussies been cut off from the Internet once more? The forum is also really slow today.

bsdsource

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Re: MasmBasic
« Reply #286 on: October 15, 2015, 01:52:02 AM »
I was attempting to install your masmbasic library but the install screen is too large for my laptop screen. The max resolution for my laptop is 1366 x 768. I'm unable to see any buttons at the bottom of the screen to press to install masmbasic. Here is a screenshot:



 Just used my desktop to install your library and copied the files onto my laptop. Couple things I noticed.

- The ReadMeMasmBasic.txt shows the download location for JWasm at "http://www.japheth.de/JWasm.html#jwdownload" which seems to be an invalid location now.

- After replacing ml.exe with Jwasm.exe I received  an error when attempting to assemble my program. Example of code where I encountered and error below:

Code: [Select]
.if eax == 1
     do this
.elseif
     do this
.endif

Now my .elseif should have been an .else in the first place but just wanted to let you know since it appears you wanted Jwasm to be a backwards compatible with microsofts ml.exe. Jwasm was just letting me know about my poor programming which microsofts ml.exe didn't care about.

Also just FYI. I'm sure you already know but Avast is throwing some fits about your installer.
« Last Edit: October 15, 2015, 03:20:34 AM by azdps »

jj2007

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Re: MasmBasic
« Reply #287 on: October 16, 2015, 11:14:32 AM »
I was attempting to install your masmbasic library but the install screen is too large for my laptop screen.

Thanks a lot for your feedback, azdps. The installer should be OK with version 16 October.

Quote
- The ReadMeMasmBasic.txt shows the download location for JWasm at "http://www.japheth.de/JWasm.html#jwdownload" which seems to be an invalid location now.

- After replacing ml.exe with Jwasm.exe I received an error

That ReadMe is obsolete and will disappear soon. Re JWasm, just hit F6 when you see the manual, RichMasm will install JWasm. If Avast allows it, of course :bgrin:

And indeed, JWasm is occasionally a bit stricter than ML, but that's a feature IMHO. You may try also Nidud's AsmC, it's incredibly fast and seems to work fine now.

Version 16 October 2015: Fixed a few minor glitches in RichMasm, and re-installed the possibility to concatenate FileRead$() as in the snippet below.

include \masm32\MasmBasic\MasmBasic.inc      ; download
  Init
  StringToArray FileRead$("\Masm32\include\Windows.inc")+FileRead$("http://masm32.com/board/index.php?action=help")+FileRead$("\Masm32\include\WinExtra.inc"), x$()
  push eax
  For_ ecx=0 To eax-1
      .if Instr_(x$(ecx), "<head>", 1)
            PrintLine "...", CrLf$, Str$(ecx), Tb$, "[", Left$(x$(ecx), 70), " ...]"      ; print one line of the embedded HTML code
      .endif
      mov edx, stack
      sub edx, 4
      .if ecx<5 || ecx>=edx      ; print first 5 and last 4 strings
            .if Zero?
                  PrintLine "..."
            .endif
            PrintLine Str$(ecx), Tb$, x$(ecx)
      .endif
  Next

  pop edx
  pop edx
  Store "ThreeFiles.txt", x$()      ; write all strings to disk
  ShEx "ThreeFiles.txt"      ; show the result in Notepad
EndOfCode

bsdsource

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Re: MasmBasic
« Reply #288 on: October 17, 2015, 03:56:53 PM »
jj2007 when testing the newest installer from the SetupMasmBasic17Oct15.zip the buttons now show at the bottom so it will install now. Just for testing purposes I pressed on the Masm32 Forum button and the program crashes and an error message box displays indicating the following: Setup.exe has stopped working. A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Please close the program. I get the crash as well when clicking on close at the top right corner. The install button works without any issues.

I'm using Windows 8.1 32bit. Haven't tested it on my desktop which is running Windows 7 yet.

jj2007

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Re: MasmBasic
« Reply #289 on: October 18, 2015, 04:38:33 AM »
Thanks, azdps, for this information. It is indeed a bug, and I am trying to fix it right now.

EDIT: Fixed in version 19 October, please download and reinstall.

Extract$() has now a wildcard option:
Let t$(ct, subject)=Extract$(esi, Chr$('class="subject"*"', 62), '</a>', xsWildcard)

Useful if you want to extract e.g. The Campus from
<a class="subject" href="http://masm32.com/board/index.php?board=1.0" name="b1">The Campus</a>

With the attached example, this output can be obtained:
Code: [Select]
The Campus                  Today at 07:48:01 AM             Re: Calling an EXEs export functions
The Workshop                Today at 07:56:53 AM             Re: MasmBasic
The Laboratory              Today at 07:02:35 AM             Re: GetCpuFrequency Tests
The Soap Box                Today at 11:45:25 AM             Re: What base jumpers do when they grow up. :)
The Colosseum               Today at 11:50:13 AM             Re: Microsoft 'Accident' Forces Windows 10 Onto Windows 7, Windows
« Last Edit: October 19, 2015, 09:40:02 AM by jj2007 »

jj2007

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Bug warning for MasmBasic before 20 Oct 2015
« Reply #290 on: October 20, 2015, 01:59:37 PM »
Please reinstall MasmBasic (safe, doesn't overwrite any user sources). This bug affects all versions before today:

include \masm32\MasmBasic\MasmBasic.inc      ; download the good version
  Init
  Let edi="LMR"
  Let esi=Mid$(edi, 2, 1)+Str$(0)+Mid$(edi, 2, 1)      ; M0M, OK
  PrintLine "[", esi, "]"      ; Mid$+Str$+Mid$ ok
  Let esi=Mid$(edi, 2, 1)+"/"+Mid$(edi, 2, 1)      ; crappy result
  PrintLine "[", esi, "]"      ; 2xMid$ etc failed miserably before 20.10.2015
  Exit
end start


In short, using Left$, Mid$ or Right$ twice with the same string as in Let My$=Left$(some$, somect)+Left$(some$, somect) caused trouble.

Sorry for the inconvenience. To compensate, I've improved the "Tiny GUI demo" that appears in menu File/New Masm source (34 lines of code, sizable window):

jj2007

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Simple graphics
« Reply #291 on: October 23, 2015, 07:41:00 PM »
MasmBasic update of 23 October 2015 features major changes under the hood:
Code: [Select]
include \masm32\MasmBasic\Res\MbGui.asm ; OPT_Icon Plot
  Dim MySinus() As REAL8
  For_ ct=-400 To 400
SetFloat MySinus(ct+400)=Sinus(ct) ; *** a GUI demo in 24 lines of code ***
  Next
Event Paint
  ArrayPlot hWnd, RgbCol(192, 222, 255) ; init & set background
  ArrayPlot MySinus(), 0, lines=5, 00100204h ; draw the array
  ArrayPlot exit, "Playing with Sinus() plots" ; finish with a title
  For_ ct=20 To GuiWidth-20 Step 10
GuiLine 50.0, 3.0+25, ct, 99.0, RgbCol(255, 160, 160) ; the 'pink pyramid'
void Cosinus(ct) ; load cos(ct) into ST(0)
fimul GuiHeight
fiadd GuiHeight ; center
fmul FP4(0.4)
SetInt ecx ; convert result to integer
GuiText ct+30, ecx+60, Str$(ct), bcol RgbCol(192, 222, 255)
GuiCircle ct, ecx+70, 1.5, b Rand(0ffffffh), p RgbCol(80, 80, 80)
  Next
  GuiEllipse 32.0+9, 10.0+35, 7.0, 8.0, b RgbCol(255, 128, 128) ; RGB for n00bs
  GuiEllipse 60.0-9, 10.0+35, 7.0, 8.0, b 0FF2020h, p 808080h ; BGR for experts
  GuiTextBox 50.0-70, 40.0, 140, 96, Str$("Painting took %i ms. This is just a simple text box, you can do the same in other programming languages", GuiMs), bcol RgbCol(255, 255, 192)
  GuiCircle 50.0, 40.0+50, 12.0, p 0, b none ; none = hollow brush
EndOfCode

The window is sizable and flicker-free. The template is available via RichMasm's File/New Masm source list of templates, it's the "more" link behind "Tiny GUI demo".

RichMasm has now a full word search option, for distinguishing e.g. between edi and immediate. In the upper right corner, the FW check box switches it on (in case the toolbar is not wide enough to see the FW, press Ctrl G, type tbw=150 and hit Enter).

jj2007

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Re: MasmBasic
« Reply #292 on: October 30, 2015, 12:54:53 PM »
Update 30 October 2015 features minor improvements, inter alia the recognition of quoted strings like "123" and '123' as valid number formats, see StringToArray in \Masm32\MasmBasic\MbGuide.rtf:

      ; convert string to a numerical array:
      include \masm32\MasmBasic\MasmBasic.inc
      SetGlobals a1$="123 27.5 28.49 -56.78 '20h' 0x40 11111b/123456789"      ; string with a wild mix of number formats
      Init
      Dim MyDw() As DWORD
      For_ ecx=0 To Fn(StringToArray a1$, MyDw())-1      ; strings to dwords conversion
            PrintLine Str$("MyDw(%i)=", ecx), Str$(MyDw(ecx))
      Next

      EndOfCode


Output:
Code: [Select]
MyDw(0)=123
MyDw(1)=28
MyDw(2)=28
MyDw(3)=-57
MyDw(4)=32
MyDw(5)=64
MyDw(6)=31
MyDw(7)=123456789

Notes:
- StringToArray returns #elements in eax; in For_ ... Next loops, you may use Fn(...)-1 as shown above
- numeric arrays must be declared (BYTE ... QWORD, REAL4/8/10), but there is no need to Dim a string array before

jj2007

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Re: MasmBasic
« Reply #293 on: November 06, 2015, 12:23:31 PM »
Update 6 November changes the display of file timestamps (more). Files that were modified during Daylight Saving Time now show the correct time, identical to the one displayed by Windows Explorer (which is in contrast to time shown by DOS and some file managers).

jj2007

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Major update
« Reply #294 on: November 21, 2015, 01:25:28 PM »
MasmBasic update 21 Nov 2015 (download) features several improvements under the hood. Check (in MbGuide.rtf) in particular the TimeSF and IsoWeek functions.

The RichMasm editor crashed on rare occasions when inserting a hyperlink with Ctrl K. This is fixed now.

jj2007

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90 projects
« Reply #295 on: November 23, 2015, 11:34:05 AM »
Sometimes people post Hello World "projects" distributed over a dozen files. Apparently it looks more professional to put the three PROTO lines into separate include files.

When installing MasmBasic (e.g. the latest version), the first thing you'll see after clicking Accept & Install is the file MbGuide.rtf loaded with the RichMasm editor, as shown below (shortened).

Click the link "try 90+ snippets" to open MbSnippets.asc, a collection of over 90 "projects" (second image below). MasmBasic's editor has a very special feature: If the command Init is selected and you hit F6, it checks if there is an include ... line before and an end start or EndOfCode line afterwards. If both are found, the editor exports only the code between the two lines.

While the listbox has the focus, you can use cursor up/down to scroll through the "projects", which demonstrate some of the over 200 MasmBasic commands. If you see an interesting command, just hit F6 to see it in action :biggrin:

jj2007

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GetProcessArray()
« Reply #296 on: November 26, 2015, 10:32:53 AM »
As a complement to GetRegKeyArray and GetRegArray:

include \masm32\MasmBasic\MasmBasic.inc      ; download
  Init
  Print "ct", Tb$, "ID", Tb$, "path"
  For_ n=0 To GetProcessArray(?)-1
      Print Str$("\n%i\t", n), Str$(MbProcID(n)), Tb$, MbProc$(n)
  Next
  Inkey CrLf$, "--- hit any key ---"
EndOfCode


Output:
Code: [Select]
ct      ID      path
1       324     \Device\HarddiskVolume3\Windows\System32\smss.exe
2       692     \Device\HarddiskVolume3\Windows\System32\wininit.exe
3       752     \Device\HarddiskVolume3\Windows\System32\services.exe
4       772     \Device\HarddiskVolume3\Windows\System32\lsass.exe
5       780     \Device\HarddiskVolume3\Windows\System32\lsm.exe
6       888     \Device\HarddiskVolume3\Windows\System32\winlogon.exe
7       924     \Device\HarddiskVolume3\Windows\System32\svchost.exe
8       992     \Device\HarddiskVolume3\Windows\System32\nvvsvc.exe
...

Source & exe attached, building requires latest MasmBasic version.

Oliver Scantleberry

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Re: MasmBasic
« Reply #297 on: November 28, 2015, 03:08:25 PM »
MasmBasic is a library that allows to use BASIC syntax in assembler. . .

This is absolutely brilliant! I have been programming Intel processors in Assembly Language since 1975. In fact, hand-assembling the first few years. What I have always dreamed of, is using Microsoft 4k Basic syntax in assembly. Wow! This guy JJ is just awesome! He knows what everybody wants! I am thrilled!

dedndave

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Re: MasmBasic
« Reply #298 on: November 28, 2015, 08:14:34 PM »
i think Jochen has a new fan   :biggrin:

jj2007

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Re: MasmBasic
« Reply #299 on: November 28, 2015, 08:26:52 PM »
At least one :P

He knows what everybody wants! I am thrilled!

Thanks, although I am not so convinced ::)
I would be stinkin' rich if that bold statement was true :bgrin: