OS2 World Community Forum

OS/2, eCS & ArcaOS - Technical => Applications => Topic started by: Ronald on June 15, 2017, 06:06:03 am

Title: Visual BASIC for OS/2
Post by: Ronald on June 15, 2017, 06:06:03 am
Did someone ever get their hands on this old app?  I've read people talking about it for decades now.  But never seen any proof of its existance.  Enquiring minds want to know. ;)
Title: Re: Visual BASIC for OS/2
Post by: Andy Willis on June 15, 2017, 07:02:31 am
I had a copy of VisualAge Basic.
Title: Re: Visual BASIC for OS/2
Post by: Eduardo Vila Echagüe on June 15, 2017, 05:19:26 pm
I have a copy. Years ago I developed an application with it and still use it at times.
Title: Re: Visual BASIC for OS/2
Post by: Martin Iturbide on June 16, 2017, 10:39:07 pm
Hi.

If you mean "IBM VisualAge for Basic for OS/2", yes I know it exists.

If it is "Microsoft Visual Basic for OS/2" I had never see it. EDM/2 page (http://www.edm2.com/index.php/Microsoft_Visual_Basic) says it was a version of OS/2 but I have never see it.

Screenshots of both tools will be appreciated to be posted on the wiki.

Regards
Title: Re: Visual BASIC for OS/2
Post by: Eduardo Vila Echagüe on June 17, 2017, 05:26:50 am
Matin:

Yes, I meant IBM VisualAge for Basic for OS/2. There was also an IBM VisualAge for Basic for Windows NT which I also have and tested. In my period as IBM Chile Software Manager (1995-1997) I never heard of any MS software capable of running in OS2 (with the exception of those running in WinOS2) If it existed, it must be from a much earlier period.

Eduardo Vila Echagüe
Santiago, Chile
Title: Re: Visual BASIC for OS/2
Post by: Dariusz Piatkowski on June 17, 2017, 05:36:03 pm
You know, interesting thread. Some years ago, not all that long ago actually, I was trying to introduce the concept of programming to my son, he was about 11-12 yrs old at that time. I struggled to find an easy IDE type environment that would make for a simple type of rudimentary programming, sort of along the lines of what I experienced writing my first BASIC/QBASIC/GWBASIC programs...LOL, ahh, those were the days!!!

Anyways, I came across the Visual Basic mention on-line as well, but nowhere was I actually able to find anything handy. We eventually settled on QBASIC and that was fun. Other Windows based environments were availabe, such as Python for example, and since they appeared a lot more digestable to my kid that's what he pursued.

So that begs the question: given the age of this type of stuff, has any of it actually gone to that "abandon-ware" status? There certainly are vasts amounts of previously commercial software that has goen down that path...
Title: Re: Visual BASIC for OS/2
Post by: Ronald on June 18, 2017, 01:58:22 pm
I thought someone would have dug up a copy by now.  Oh well.
Title: Re: Visual BASIC for OS/2
Post by: Jean-Yves on June 19, 2017, 04:30:14 pm
Just as an interesting addition, the VisualAge for Basic programming help file mentions that:

Quote
If you are familiar with Visual Basic, you will find the transition to VisualAge for Basic an easy one. VisualAge for Basic supports the Visual Basic** language, while extending it in several ways. In VisualAge for Basic, you can load and run your Visual Basic** programs that have been saved in text format.

I just tried a few simple Visual Basic programs (no forms, just loops and message boxes etc) and they worked fine.

A more detailed comparison is also to be found in the manual:

Quote
This section provides an overview of the differences between VisualAge for Basic and Microsoft Visual Basic. They include:

Visual Basic is only available for the Microsoft Windows operating system. Versions of VisualAge for Basic exist for several operating systems, including Microsoft Windows, OS/2, and AIX.

The VisualAge for Basic language is compatible with Visual Basic. However, VisualAge for Basic contains a number of unique statements and functions as well.

Visual Basic uses proprietary "custom controls" as application elements. VisualAge for Basic's components are classes from which you can derive subclasses.

Visual Basic does not allow you to define or derive classes. VisualAge for Basic lets you define new non-visual classes. In addition, you can use VisualAge for Basic to derive from existing visual component classes. Derivation can be done interactively or using VisualAge for Basic statements.

VisualAge for Basic assigns the extension .i to new forms. VisualAge for Basic also recognizes forms assigned the extension .frm by Visual Basic.

Visual Basic assigns the extension .mak to project files. VisualAge for Basic assigns the extension .prj to project files.

VisualAge for Basic's debugging facilities are contained in the Inspector and the Watchpoints and Breakpoints window. You use these tools to set breakpoints and watchpoints, examine the call stack, and change the values of variables using the Immediate window.

VisualAge for Basic lets you incorporate the following into your applications:

-Visual or non-visual C++ objects
-SOM objects
-OLE objects
-Native GUI controls
-OpenDoc components and OCXs
Title: Re: Visual BASIC for OS/2
Post by: Jean-Yves on June 19, 2017, 04:32:56 pm
@Martin, I can do some screenshots of VA Basic if you like? I just noticed that you requested some.

Update: screenshot attached - this is the client edition, I have not installed the server edition as I do not currently have a copy of DB2/2.  I opened a sample app at random, in this case a currency converter.

Title: Re: Visual BASIC for OS/2
Post by: Martin Iturbide on June 20, 2017, 04:55:07 am
Thanks Jean-Yves.

I had posted it on the EDM/2.
http://www.edm2.com/index.php/VisualAge_for_Basic

Regards
Title: Re: Visual BASIC for OS/2
Post by: Martin Iturbide on June 20, 2017, 04:22:34 pm
Hi.

By the way does Microsoft Visual Basic for OS/2 exists? Or was it only a Win-16 version?
Some pictures of that, if exists, will be interesting too.

Regards
Title: Re: Visual BASIC for OS/2
Post by: Daniel on June 20, 2017, 06:00:26 pm
Don't forget Visual Basic for DOS. I have a copy. It uses characters to create radio buttons etc.
Title: Re: Visual BASIC for OS/2
Post by: xynixme on June 20, 2017, 11:38:51 pm
I can do some screenshots of VA Basic

What are all of its desktop objects, templates, settings, and so on? So far I've got:

Code: [Select]
Main folder VisualAge for Basic (SF1_OS2.ICO, SF2_OS2.ICO)
   Folder Information (DB2INFO.ICO)
      Data Access Guide
      Programming Guide
   Program VisualAge for Basic (VW.EXE)

CONFIG.SYS
   SET LIBPATH=x:\VABASIC
   SET VWDIR=x:\VABASIC
Title: Re: Visual BASIC for OS/2
Post by: Jean-Yves on June 21, 2017, 10:55:03 am
Hi Andre,

See attached screenshot for the desktop objects I have - remember that this is just the client version - I did not install the server.

With regards config.sys, these lines have VABASIC in them. Note that I installed into C:\Programs rather than direct to the root of C:

Code: [Select]
LIBPATH     C:\Programs\VABASIC\SOM\LIB; C:\Programs\VABASIC\DLL;
PATH        C:\Programs\VABASIC\SOM\BIN; C:\Programs\VABASIC\BIN;
DPATH       C:\Programs\VABASIC\SOM\MSG;
HELP        C:\Programs\VABASIC\HELP;
SOMIR       C:\Programs\VABASIC\SOM\ETC\SOM.IR;
INCLUDE     C:\Programs\VABASIC\SOM\INCLUDE;
VWDIR       C:\Programs\VABASIC;
LIB         C:\Programs\VABASIC\SOM\LIB;
SOMBASE     C:\Programs\VABASIC;
SMINCLUDE   C:\Programs\VABASIC\SOM\INCLUDE;
SMTMP       C:\Programs\VABASIC\SOM\TMP;
Title: Re: Visual BASIC for OS/2
Post by: xynixme on June 21, 2017, 11:30:46 am
See attached screenshot for the desktop objects I have - remember that this is just the client version - I did not install the server.

Excellent (to reconstruct even more components of an install). Is there at least one template and/or registered WPS class too?

Code: [Select]
/* Rexx, query WPS class list, FWIW */
CALL RxFuncAdd 'SysQueryClassList','RexxUtil','SysQueryClassList'
CALLl SysQueryClassList 'list.'
DO i=1 TO list.0
   SAY list.i
END i
EXIT
Title: Re: Visual BASIC for OS/2
Post by: Jean-Yves on June 21, 2017, 12:14:46 pm
No template that I can see - neither in the VABASIC folders nor in the main OS/2 templates folder.

Ouput of script attached.
Title: Re: Visual BASIC for OS/2
Post by: xynixme on June 21, 2017, 11:27:37 pm
Thanks, no registered VAB/2 classes too.

Perhaps the screendump and the CONFIG.SYS entries are also EDM/2-material, because there is no WPS installer. And, IIRC, the only obvious settings are one LIBPATH setting and SET VWDIR. There is some EXE which can modify CONFIG.SYS. I don't know what the purpose this EXE is, but it's not a clear installer and it's not the original full installer of VAB/2.
Title: Re: Visual BASIC for OS/2
Post by: Olafur Gunnlaugsson on June 22, 2017, 02:13:28 pm
Hi.

By the way does Microsoft Visual Basic for OS/2 exists? Or was it only a Win-16 version?
Some pictures of that, if exists, will be interesting too.

Regards

It exists as a native v1 Beta only that was shipped to those with (a then very expensive) Microsoft Developer Network subscription. Funnily enough the first edition of the manual for the VB v1 Win 16 still has sections written for OS/2 where the editor of the manual has forgotten to convert references from OS/2 to Windows references and even has a couple of screenshots from an OS/2 system where they had not had the time to replace it with a Win 3.x equivalent. The second edition of the v1 BV manual fixed this.
Title: Re: Visual BASIC for OS/2
Post by: Olafur Gunnlaugsson on June 22, 2017, 02:18:32 pm
I have a copy of VA-BASIC v.1 somewhere and could create an ISO if someone is desperate, however this is the initial release which is full of bugs, and not one of the later fixed versions. IBM removed the fix downloads after just a few weeks and I did not have the presence of mind to download it initially.
Title: Re: Visual BASIC for OS/2
Post by: xynixme on June 23, 2017, 12:31:50 am
If someone has the VAB files installed, but not the original installer, then the attached Rexx script should recreate the Sample folder. Most of the objects can be found there. The script uses the desktop instead of the object ID of a VAB folder, and the texts "x:\VABASIC" have to be edited to point to your main VABASIC directory. If you like the theme, then you can use QBASIC /EDIT to edit the file.
Title: Re: Visual BASIC for OS/2
Post by: nathana on June 24, 2017, 11:35:51 am
I am almost positive that I have a 60-day eval (expiring) version of VA for Basic for OS/2 on one of my DevCon disc sets.  I can't imagine anyone would have a problem with me distributing a timebombed evalulation version, so if anybody is reeeeeeeally interested, I'll dig up my discs...

If MS had a beta version of VB 1.0 for OS/2 that they canned before release (and it sounds like they did), surely this was targeted at OS/2 1.x PM and was 16-bit only.

-- Nathan
Title: Re: Visual BASIC for OS/2
Post by: xynixme on June 24, 2017, 01:17:01 pm
I have a 60-day eval (expiring) version of VA for Basic for OS/2 on one of my DevCon disc sets.  I can't imagine anyone would have a problem with me distributing a timebombed evalulation version

I've lost my copy of DevCon, but at least one of the DevCons is already available for download. This set should contain several Basics, including but not limited to VAB, so you don't even have to consider distributing yours.
Title: Re: Visual BASIC for OS/2
Post by: xynixme on June 25, 2017, 11:52:16 am
Unverified, answering the underlying original question: https://archive.org/details/IBMDeveloperConnectionForOS25CDs (https://archive.org/details/IBMDeveloperConnectionForOS25CDs)
Title: Re: Visual BASIC for OS/2
Post by: Highwinder on September 30, 2017, 09:34:11 am
IBM VisualAge for BASIC for OS/2 v1.2 can be downloaded here on this abandonware site:

http://vetusware.com/download/Visual%20Age%20for%20Basic%20_Client%20_%20Server_%20-%20OS2%20version%201.2/?id=10628 (http://vetusware.com/download/Visual%20Age%20for%20Basic%20_Client%20_%20Server_%20-%20OS2%20version%201.2/?id=10628)

Note that it seems to work fine on OS/2 v2.1, Warp3/4, and eCS v1x and 2x.  Also installed and ran fine on AcraOS 5.0.1.

Note that the product will not run until after you've rebooted due to critical paths being added to config.sys.

This is a real find, as this is available NOWHERE else on the net and it's the v1.2 bug-fixed version.

I dug through my archives of old IBM BESTeam distribution CDs from the 90s and found all the documentation and manuals for this product (in postscript form)- an exciting discovery that had me darned near dancing around the room.  I will be converting all the manuals to PDF files and uploading the whole "IBM VisualAge for BASIC for OS/2 v1.2" package to abandonware web sites and will be including instructions and all documentation along with the full, non-demo v1.2 installer of both client and server editions.  It will be in the form of a zipped .ISO file.

As a Visual Basic developer and enthusiast, I think this is a great product worthy of resurrection now that all the necessary components have been assembled into a complete, updated package that includes everything and works on all versions and variatiosn of OS/2 from 2.1 on.  I will post the package on the same abandonware web site linked above (vetusware).
Title: Re: Visual BASIC for OS/2
Post by: Pete on September 30, 2017, 05:49:28 pm
Hi Robert

I just downloaded VAB from the url you supplied.

I have only installed the client and can state that it runs on ArcaOS so would expect it to run on ecS2.1 - will try to install to eCS2.1 later to test.


Regards

Pete
Title: Re: Visual BASIC for OS/2
Post by: Pete on October 02, 2017, 04:04:17 am
Hi Robert

Installed and briefly tested on my eCS2.1 system - works fine.


Regards

Pete
Title: Re: Visual BASIC for OS/2
Post by: Andy Willis on October 04, 2017, 06:11:35 am
Hi Robert

I just downloaded VAB from the url you supplied.

I have only installed the client and can state that it runs on ArcaOS so would expect it to run on ecS2.1 - will try to install to eCS2.1 later to test.


Regards

Pete

It most likely "upgraded" your SOM for you.  I discovered this when my Lucide starting crashing when trying to open PDFs. 
I do not recall what all it replaced but here are the files and dates of the original files:
9-06-00  12:43          76,878      0   ___A_  rexxsom.dll
6-30-99  16:33          92,009      0   ___A_  SOM.DLL
6-30-99  19:17         438,894     75   ___A_  SOMD.DLL
6-30-99  19:17          60,020     76   ___A_  SOMEM.DLL
6-30-99  16:34          87,628      0   ___A_  SOMIR.DLL
6-30-99  16:34          23,106      0   ___A_  SOMS.DLL
6-30-99  16:34          32,878      0   ___A_  SOMSEC.DLL
6-30-99  19:17          39,027     76   ___A_  SOMST.DLL
6-30-99  19:17          33,477     78   ___A_  SOMST32.DLL
6-30-99  16:34          30,484      0   ___A_  SOMTC.DLL
6-30-99  16:34          81,044      0   ___A_  SOMU.DLL
6-30-99  16:34          81,700      0   ___A_  SOMUC.DLL
Title: Re: Visual BASIC for OS/2
Post by: Doug Bissett on October 04, 2017, 05:25:37 pm
Quote
It most likely "upgraded" your SOM for you

If it is anything like other IBM software packages, it probably added a bunch of paths, and other things, FIRST in the sequence (in CONFIG.SYS). Meaning that modern versions will be blocked, and the system will try to use the ancient versions that the packages supply.
Title: Re: Visual BASIC for OS/2
Post by: Pete on October 04, 2017, 08:10:33 pm
Hi All

Installing the VA Basic client does not seem to have changed much here; no change to som*.dll files except a few added, the only changes to config.sys are adding VAB directories to the end of Path and Libpath and putting the VAB SOM.IR at the start of SET SOM - there does not seem to be any duplicate files installed.


Regards

Pete
Title: Re: Visual BASIC for OS/2
Post by: Highwinder on November 28, 2017, 09:50:13 pm
Please see my original post above with the download link.  I made significant updates to it.  namely:

1.  I have found the original dev and reference manuals that accompanied the product and have converted them to PDF files.
2.  I am creating an .ISO file that contains the client/server version installers, dev and reference manuals, and instructions.
3.  It is IBM VisualAge for BASIC v1.2 for OS/2, which is an RTM full-install bug-fixed version (no patching required).
4.  It will be uploaded to the abandonware web site called "vetusware".
5.  I should have it uploaded by the end of November, 2017.

I believe that this is a great tool that deserves another chance and should excite any Visual Basic developer, since it is MS VB syntax that produces 32-bit native OS2 code, and has the ability to directly import Microsoft Visual Basic 3/4 projects.   You can even use real VB in WIN-OS2 to create a VB project and just use IBM's VAB/2 as the compiler (my chosen strategy). 

This is a VERY exciting upload to provide to the OS/2 community because it resurrects a potentially great dev tool that was never given a chance.  This is pretty much Microsoft Visual Basic for OS/2, folks.
Title: Re: Visual BASIC for OS/2
Post by: Daniel on November 29, 2017, 02:39:20 am
That's cool! I built a three axis robotics controller in Visual Basic for DOS. There are advantages to your code taking over the whole computer when microsecond timing is needed.  :)