Topic Title

I'll be following along also, and vote for C++.

I'm assuming that DCAL Classic is included with DataCAD, but are the other two available as free downloads somewhere?

Of the three, which would be the easiest for someone like me (a total newbie to programming) to use?

Guess I should have checked the stickies first, before I posted the above about which were free to download!

Still the same question about which would be easier to learn.

Pietro -

Two items:

#1) I had asked which one of the three 'flavors' of the programming language I should use. No response from you, either.
#2) I would hazard a guess that I'm not the only one that may try to sneak this into an already crowded day. If you expect me to devout time every day, I can't commit to that. Making money comes first ... this is extra-curricular for me.

I'm very interested, but it will have to be something I work on over the weekends for me. I've got to keep doing the work I get paid for to do during the week and the tasks to keep that work flowing. It is most appreciated the time you are dedicating to this task and hope this continues on.

I have Visual Studio 2008 Standard. Will this work or would you prefer that I use Starter Edition so we are on a level playing field? I can load started edition onto one of my VM's if needed. I don't know the differences between the two.

This is Sunday, the 25th and I just got a forum notification this morning that the DNN start was up. I didn't know that anything other than a personal message was taking place. Then, when I get here, I find that StudioPM has really been trying to get this up and running and wondering where everyone was.
I sure wasn't intending to upset the cart by ignoring this opportunity so please be aware that "I just didn't know...."
I'll try to get the information that you requested immediately.
Please don't get discouraged by the way that this started.
Woody

Although I am a little bit familiar with DCAL Classic, if it will make it easier, since Josh is interested in using VC++, put me down for that also. As I type this, I am downloading the program from Microsoft.

My DCAD Version is 12.07.01.07

OS Name XP Home
OS Ver. 5.1 2600 SP2 Build 2600

I have created a C:\_Lab\_Tempry\DCAL VC++

Woody

Although I am a little bit familiar with DCAL Classic, if it will make it easier, since Josh is interested in using VC++, put me down for that also. As I type this, I am downloading the program from Microsoft.

My DCAD Version is 12.07.01.07

OS Name XP Home
OS Ver. 5.1 2600 SP2 Build 2600

I have created a C:\_Lab\_Tempry\DCAL VC++

Woody

Although I am a little bit familiar with DCAL Classic, if it will make it easier, since Josh is interested in using VC++, put me down for that also. As I type this, I am downloading the program from Microsoft.

My DCAD Version is 12.07.01.07

OS Name XP Home
OS Ver. 5.1 2600 SP2 Build 2600

I have created a C:\_Lab\_Tempry\DCAL VC++

Woody

Versions:
Datacad: 12.08.02.01
OS: Vista 64 Build 6001 SP1
Visual Studio 2008 Std: 9.0.30729.1 SP
(VS2008 is fully updated via Windows Update, not sure how to find the specific version of the VC++ module)

Created my lab folder at
C:\Datacad 12\Backup Files\DCAL\_Lab\
with the two requested sub-folders of
..\_Tempry
..\DCAL VC++

-- Down-load the HelloWorld.zip sample from DataCAD ftp site:
ftp://dcal:documentation@ftp.datacad.com:3010
into your \_Tempry dir

-- Extract and copy “DTester Template” into your \DCAL VC++

-- Run DataCAD 12 and execute command menu File > New
to create a Drawing1.aec file into the same \DCAL VC++ dir. Then exit DataCAD 12.

-- Locate and double-click the “Solution” file DT.sln in \DTester Template\DT-ORnn\DT, to run VC++

Done.

-- On Visual C++ verify:
menu Project > Properties... > Configuration Properties
Linker > Input > Module Definition File = Exports.def

Linker > General > Output File = $(OutDir)\$(ProjectName).dmx
(instead of the usual default .dll)

If I go up to the menu bar, and select Project, Properties, it opens this dialog

**Moving on to the steps below propulated the DT Properties page. See below

Then expand the “Solution” folder Header Files, double click to open the file “DT_RoutineLib.h”. There locate the “case f1” statement.

Then execute:
menu Build > Rebuild Solution (should go OK),

Done.

Once I re-built the soulution, I went back and verified the steps above, and they looked good now.

Linker > Input > Module Definition File = Exports.def
Linker > General > Output File = $(OutDir)\$(ProjectName).dmx

then:
menu Debug > Start Debugging
At first Debug, locate your main program “DCADWIN.exe”.
Ignore the “No Debugging Information” warning: that's all right.

-- Now you should have your DataCAD 12 up and running, ready to test your “Hello world!” DCAL application.
Via command menu File > Open... the Drawing1.aec you've created before. The new function menu [2D] Edit should appear.

-- Activate function menu S9 Toolbox, locate and execute the DT.dmx application you'll find in \DT\Debug. A new “DTest” function menu should appear:
execute F1 HelloW!

-- Through a breakpoint on the source, at “case f1”, you may check statement-by- statement what will follow.

Looks like everything complied well and the macro executed properly with the Hellow W! At the menu location F1 and reported back a complete message "Hello world!" in the attention bar.


Well done Pietro!

Just seeing the code in the looking at your well layed out and discriptive code helps a lot in understanding the format and syntax. Thank you for this. Looking forward to the next task.

After downloading XBuilder, I used it a couple of times to generally see how one used it. Because I'd worked with DOS and DCAL, it worked great for me. First I did the "Hello World" sample. After that, I took the sample Arrow and disassembled it, re-worked it, and crashed.
How do we go about finding where we've created our own errors, let folks have access to the good and the bad that we've done here, and so on.
Having fun... confusingly.