hideshow: Demo of Some (Useless?) API Calls

This progrm is simply a demo (for Windows version of REALbasic only) of how to use API calls to do the following:

     * Hide Desktop Icons
     * Show Desktop Icons
     * Hide TaskBar
     * Show TaskBar
     * Hide Start Button
     * Show Start Button
     * Hide System Tray (plus Clock)
     * Show System Tray (plus Clock)
     * Hide Clock
     * Show Clock

I hear some of you saying, "But why would you want to do that?" And I don't have any answer to that. Everything doesn't have to have a practical purpose, does it?

The program is at least an example of how Declares can be made (and used) in a simple REALbasic program.

The RB expert on Windows Declares is Aaron Ballman. If you are interested in more information on Windows Declares, check out the following:

Windows Functionality Suite 2.2
"The Windows Functionality Suite is a set of REALbasic classes and modules that provide convenient access to features that are not already included in the REALbasic framework. It is an on-going open source project that includes many different pieces of Windows-specific functionality for your application. It is provided free of charge and includes a rich feature set, including:

     * System Parameters, Colors and Metrics
     * OS Version and Process Information
     * Service Support
     * System Colors
     * Registry Helpers
     * High Performance Counters
     * Locale Information
     * Cryptography
     * Plug and Play Notifications
     * StatusBar Control
     * TreeView Control
     * Date/Time and Calendar Controls
     * Extended ToolTip Support
     * Window and FolderItem Extensions
     * And Much More!

What version of REALbasic does the Windows Functionality Suite 2.0 (and up) support?

Version 2.0 and up are only supported on REALbasic 2005r1 and higher. This is due to the Suite's heavy reliance on the new Soft Declare functionality that was introduced with REALbasic 2005r1."

You will also find the following (also by Aaron Ballman) to be of benefit:

VB Declare Converter 1.0
"One question I have seen come across the various lists about REALbasic comes from people who are trying to port declares from Visual Basic into REALbasic. The declare syntax is strikingly close between the two languages, but there are some very subtle differences to watch out for. So the VB Declare Converter is a whitepaper that explains how to convert VB declares that you find online or have written yourself into RB declares. Also included with the whitepaper is an open source application that will convert declares automatically. The program isn't 100% fool-proof, but it will convert the majority of VB declares."

For my avplayer program as well as my hideshow program, I made use of Aaron's VB Declare Converter, but the particular Windows API Declares used in avplayer and hideshow were not in Aaron's Windows Functionality Suite (at least at the time when I wrote my programs).

Barry Traver

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Home Page for This Blog: http://traverrbw.blogspot.com/

Programs and Files Discussed in the Blog: http://traver.org/traverrbw/