June 4, 2008
If you guys haven’t already noticed the big change in the outlook of our website and forum, you must have been missing out on the action. We decided to have a new website design to mark our successful migration to the new server and it looks really pretty in fact. A whole lot brighter too compared to the really dark theme we had initially.
The forum is currently empty since we have been really busy in the office with the amount of WORK to do, so please be patient with us while we repost certain items. But please go ahead and post a comment if you require assistance, have a bug report, a wish list and whatnots.
Aside from that, we have updated the FICE EBlue Documentation with code for integration with the FlamingICE. So it stands at v1.1 until we decide to add more stuff.
Thats about it for now. Release 2 for FIDE v1.4 (making that v1.4.1) is due for release sometime soon. You can expect hot-key enabling and code cleanup for the Data Comm. Tool.
May 17, 2008
FIDE v1.4 is now available for download!
We changed the install location of the documentations to its own folder in your computer’s <My Documents>. So that should make it easier on you when you need those help files. New FICE eBlue Bluetooth Documentation added! Makes an interesting and important read on how you can make your applications wireless.
We haven’t gotten round to putting this in the documentation but please do take note especially when you’re using the FTDI comm key. Once you’ve set your Comm Key settings and opened the port, it is not recommended to plug out the Comm Key while FIDE is still running. This will cause the application to crash. Especially when you’re in the midst of downloading.
Why is this? You’d probably ask. Think about it for a moment. It is only possible to open the port when the serial device is attached to the COM Port. When you open the port in the FIDE and you plug the device out, this port disappears. You can see this if you leave your device manager open. Try plugging the Comm Key in and out and you’ll see what i mean.
Okay, Say you have connected your FI board to your PC through the Comm Key. And your FI chip has a program onboard from your previous downloads or something, and even if the chip is new, the FI OS on first use would transmit data through the UART to signal that it’s working. So there is definitely some data that you can see in the debug window of FIDE(assuming you opened the COM PORT). Now, while the FIDE is running and reading the data that is being sent through the port and you plug out the device, this means that the port is forcefully “closed” or rather, it becomes non-existent and the Comm Port can no longer be accessed even if the application does not crash/hang.
The only work-around we can recommend is that you do not plug out the Comm Key while the port is open or in use (meaning some transmission is going on).
May 4, 2008
It’s been a couple of days since FIDE v1.3 has been put up on the net for downloading but i haven’t gotten around to announcing it and such.
FIDE v1.3 is an improvement from v1.2 where i mentioned in the previous post that the bugs found while using structures have been fixed. And! The release of FIDE’s System Library v1.2 is a huge leap in improvement with the amount of changes that have been done. All the instructions that are available for use, its explanations and example codings are all there.
Work is ongoing for doing up a complete walk-through for new users to FIDE. So you might wanna keep a look out for that.
April 21, 2008
Within a week of posting the workarounds for a couple of bugs in the structures as stated here and here, they were fixed (thats efficiency for ya)! New version with bug fixes will be releasing soon, along with added features and other bug fixes in the FIDE tools. AND! FICE System Documentation v1.2 will be up soon with loads of example codings and explanations as compared to the v1.1 release. So keep your eye open for it.
Users still using v1.2 till date can still take note of the workarounds until the next release.
(Release dates TBA. )
April 16, 2008
The FOR.. NEXT loop has got to be my favourite control structure of all time. Just something to take note of though;
The control variable MUST be a local or publicly declared variable. The use of a variable that is called by reference is not allowed.
What i mean by control variable is this:
Example:
Dim i As Integer ‘i is the control variable
For i = 0 To 100
‘Statements Here
Next
Tip of the Day:
As everybody (well, almost everybody.. okay fine, programmers) knows, the use of the select case statement is similar to that of using an If..Elseif…Else..End If statement, however, if you’re into boosting the performance rate of the FI and optimizing your code for the best results, a good practice would be to use the If..Elseif..Else..End If statement instead of the Select Case statement for faster results. But in certain cases it really is easier to use the Select Case statement. But that depends on the individual programmer’s preference.
April 14, 2008
FIDE v1.2 has officially launched!
Meanwhile…
Do take note that while doing this is fine…
Select Case word
case 178 ‘Who
keyWords(kwInt) = RDAT(sInt)
kwInt = kwInt + 1
typeState = 1
case 124 ‘What
keyWords(kwInt) = RDAT(sInt)
kwInt = kwInt + 1
typeState = 1
case 128 ‘When
keyWords(kwInt) = RDAT(sInt)
kwInt = kwInt + 1
typeState = 1
case 218 ‘Where
keyWords(kwInt) = RDAT(sInt)
kwInt = kwInt + 1
typeState = 1
case 255 ‘Why
keyWords(kwInt) = RDAT(sInt)
kwInt = kwInt + 1
typeState = 1
case else
End Select
Having a commented line on its own in between the cases will trigger a syntax error.
Example:
Select Case word
case 178 ‘Who
keyWords(kwInt) = RDAT(sInt)
kwInt = kwInt + 1
typeState = 1
case 124 ‘What
keyWords(kwInt) = RDAT(sInt)
kwInt = kwInt + 1
typeState = 1
‘something like that <==============
case 128 ‘When
keyWords(kwInt) = RDAT(sInt)
kwInt = kwInt + 1
typeState = 1
case else
End Select
And you should always, ALWAYS have a case else right at the end before you End Select.
Speaking of ‘else’;
Something else (no pun intended) that you should take note of would be the IF.. ELSEIF..ELSE..END IF statement, is that it HAS to be in this particular format, unless you’re just using IF..END IF.
So yeah. Till next time!
