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Visual bB 1.0 - a new IDE for batari Basic


jwierer

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Here is a project that I have been working on for some time and it's finally in a shareable state. VisualbB is an integrated development environment for writing Atari 2600 programs in batariBasic. For anybody that is familiar with Microsoft Visual Studio, it has a similar look and feel. Hope somebody find this useful icon_smile.gif

 

ALTERNATIVES:

Please Pardon the Interruption :-D

While Visual bB helped many folks get started with batari BASIC, it has not had an update for many years. 

A more well-maintained alternative is Atari Dev Studio for the popular (and free!) editor Visual Code.

(Besides being easy to setup it is also an alternative for Mac and Linux users!)

A kickstart for working with it can be found here.

Atari Dev Studio does not have the assortment of asset managers and editors for graphics and sound.

Some replacements (all generating ready-to-run batari Basic code) can be found at https://alienbill.com/2600/

And as always, see https://www.randomterrain.com/atari-2600-memories-batari-basic-commands.html for the most complete list of batari Basic resources.

 

NOW BACK TO THE PROGRAM!

 

Build 568 - Update by CPUWIZ

 

Please click the link below for the last version of VbB that jwierer gave to Random Terrain in 2014:

 

https://atariage.com/forums/topic/123849-visual-bb-10-a-new-ide-for-batari-basic/?do=findComment&comment=3537039

 

 

*New* Build 554 Update Notes
(Because AA limits 2MB uploads you'll need to download both files and unzip it to the same folder)

 

Work in Progress
You can grab the latest from my blog. Along with changes that work with the bB1.1 beta builds there are other enhancements like a title screen wizard, integration with bblint, and a new bookmarking feature. These builds are specific to the beta versions of bB1.1 so use at your own risk. It should work fine (even better?) with the latest 1.0 release of bB.

Previous Releases

Feature list:

  • Project Management and Grouping
  • Color Sprite Editor
  • Image Importer & Converter (works with the bitmap kernel and titlescreen kernel)
  • Sprite Animator
  • Color, Height Playfield Editor
  • Project Wizard for creating new projects
  • Code editor with Syntax Highlighting and color coding
  • Music composing and Sound Editing
  • Built in integration with bB compiler
  • Built in integration with multiple Windows Atari 2600 emulators
  • Built it in TIA Palette
  • Built in Score Table Editor
  • Quick bB Commands for rapid application development
  • Quick launch

Online Guide available here
Troubleshooting guide is here
Daniel Davis has started a set of video tutorial here

Prerequisites

  • If you are not running Vista or Windows 7 then you'll need to make sure the .NET Framework 3.0 is installed
  • If you are running Vista you may need to RunAs Administrator. If you are logged in with admin privileges or have turned off UAC then it should just work
  • If you are having trouble with the music and sound editor, it's likely you don't have the .NET 1.1 runtimes installed. Older machines don't include it and I believe newer ones won't allow the install.You can just copy msvcr71.dll to your visualbB folder. msvcr71.zip

Optional

  • If you are having trouble you may want to try a different 2600bas.bat 2600bas.zip
  • If you're using Windows 7 64-bit, you'll need to update your bB files. Here is a copy of my working bB folder bBWin7_64bit-2-26-2013.zip You can learn more by reading this thread. Updated on 2/13/2013 with RevEng's jitter fix
  • If you're having trouble using the sprite/playfield editor go here for a registry fix.

Special thanks to Random Terrain for beta testing and submitting bug reports for many, many years!

Screen Shots
post-5778-1207440756_thumb.jpg post-5778-1207440714_thumb.jpg post-5778-1207440739_thumb.jpg post-5778-1207440825_thumb.jpgpost-5778-1220314634_thumb.jpg post-5778-126241772158_thumb.jpg post-5778-126603183666_thumb.jpg

-Jeff

bBWin7_64bit.zip

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I haven't tried it yet, but I couldn't wait to say Thank You! This is much, much appreciated and it will contribute greatly to bB game creation. Everyone who develops a game using this IDE owes you one, big time. Why did you make it? Will you be releasing any bB games?

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I haven't tried it yet, but I couldn't wait to say Thank You! This is much, much appreciated and it will contribute greatly to bB game creation. Everyone who develops a game using this IDE owes you one, big time. Why did you make it? Will you be releasing any bB games?

 

I always wanted to learn bB, but couldn't find an editor that would make it easy enough to do it quickly. The more I thought about it, the more I became obsessed with making a great bB editor. I've made some test projects, but nothing really worth sharing, mostly stuff to make sure I could get this working. I'm hoping you more creative types can use it to create better games for me to play.

 

Thanks,

Jeff

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VbB isn't just for programmers. Your artist friends can use the VbB sprite editor to make some cool color sprites, then they can save the sprites and send them to you. All you'll have to do is plop them into your game. No more spending hours trying to recreate sprites by looking at GIFs. The same can be done with playfields using the VbB playfield editor.

 

Once programmers and artists start using VbB, a lot of time and energy will be saved.

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Thanks for your effort - I'll have to try this out later. I usually use a Mac but have a PC as well.

 

That said, do you have any plans to release the source (privately would be OK) as I wonder if it will build under Mono?

 

I would have to do some serious code clean up and commenting before I felt comfortable sharing the source ;)

 

-Jeff

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Stupid question, but in settings, what do I put for Commands and Dictionary, or do I leave those blank?

From what I remember, you leave those blank unless you have saved your own edited versions.

 

Say that jwierer decided to take a 20 year trip to Mars. You can add more commands and more entries in the dictionary as batari Basic changes, so VbB will never get stale and out-of-date.

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Stupid question, but in settings, what do I put for Commands and Dictionary, or do I leave those blank?

Not stupid at all. Those features aren't that intuitive to use.

 

The Dictionary is for custom terms you want to show up with color codes in the code editor. Click the dictionary button to see the current list of terms, edit as you choose and then save. It will create an XML file with your settings.

 

Commands are useful if you want to extend the list of commands which you can access from the project explorer pane on the right side. Those commands can literally be anything such as snippets of code that you reuse. You can right click from the commands pane to generate the basic commands.xml file. From there all changes will be saved to that file and reapplied every time you load Visual bB.

 

You can always leave them blank and use the defaults. They are only necessary if you want to make modifications.

 

-Jeff

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I always wanted to learn bB, but couldn't find an editor that would make it easy enough to do it quickly. The more I thought about it, the more I became obsessed with making a great bB editor. I've made some test projects, but nothing really worth sharing, mostly stuff to make sure I could get this working. I'm hoping you more creative types can use it to create better games for me to play.

 

Thanks,

Jeff

 

What are your favorite games created with bB so far? What would you most like to see developed using this IDE? Any suggestions on how the language could be improved? I wish there was an official spiral bound bB manual. I don't have a printer and I'm sick of reading it on my screen. It looks like this will really help shorten the "staring at the same s^&*" aspects of using this language for me. I hope you will be able to release an update for use with 1.1 as well.

Edited by MausGames
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I wish there was an official spiral bound bB manual. I don't have a printer and I'm sick of reading it on my screen.

Once the AtariAge Wiki is set up, many people will be able to work on the bB info and it will become even easier to understand. Then maybe someone will put it in book form. Now that we have a new IDE that is easy-to-use, has cool tools, and won't become obsolete overnight, maybe more people will finally use bB and a book will be worth the cost. A company like Chris++ uses that logs a worldwide ISBN number might be worth looking into.

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uhh ok it's asking me for the link to the bB compiler. which of the four EXEs is that?

2600basic.exe

 

 

 

and then "Commands"? and for "Dictionary"? wtf??? :dunce:

Look above:

 

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?s...t&p=1496439

http://www.atariage.com/forums/index.php?s...t&p=1496440

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Prerequsites

- If you are not running Vista then you'll need to make sure the .NET Framework 3.0 isinstalled

That said, do you have any plans to release the source (privately would be OK) as I wonder if it will build under Mono?

That would be slick, but, in reading that wiki link I see an issue:

Implementation of .NET Framework 3.0 is under development under an experimental Mono subproject called Olive, but the availability of a Mono framework supporting .NET 3.0 is still not planned yet.
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