The Ring programming language version 1.10 book - Part 12 of 212

1. Ring Documentation, Release 1.10
7. Better behavior for displaying the properties window when changing the selected objects.
8. New buttons are added to move and resize multiple selection of objects.
9. Window Properties - Add button to select the layout.
10. Opening forms and switching between files is faster.
11. Objects Order window.
12. Select Objects window.
13. When we change the control name, the name will be updated in layout objects.
6.14 Better Cards Game
The Cards game is updated and we can play with the Computer
6.15 Better RingQt
• The next classes are added to RingQt
1. QTabBar
2. QFile
3. QFileDevice
4. QStandardPaths
5. QDir
6. QQuickWidget
7. QQmlError
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2. Ring Documentation, Release 1.10
8. QScrollBar
• RingQt for Android is updated to support modern versions of Qt
Tested using
1. Qt 5.5.1
2. Qt 5.9.5
3. Qt 5.11.0
• In RingQt for Android, The Ring Object File (ringo) will be executed directly from resources.
6.16 Better Code Generator For Extensions
New Option: StaticMethods
Starting from Ring 1.8 the code generator support the staticmethods option.
So the code generator can know that the class doesn’t need an object to call the methods.
Example:
<class>
name: QStandardPaths
para: void
nonew
staticmethods
</class>
QString displayName(QStandardPaths::StandardLocation type)
QString findExecutable(QString executableName, QStringList paths))
6.17 Better Ring Compiler and VM
1. Better loading for files in relative paths
2. Code Optimization for eval() function
3. Better Memory Pool
4. When embedding Ring in Ring, the error in the hosted environment will not close the host
Example:
? "Start the test!"
pState = ring_state_init()
ring_state_runcode(pState," ? 'Let us try having an error' ? x")
ring_state_delete(pState)
? ""
? "End of test!"
Output:
6.16. Better Code Generator For Extensions 79

3. Ring Documentation, Release 1.10
Start the test!
Let us try having an error
Line 1 Error (R24) : Using uninitialized variable : x
in file Ring_EmbeddedCode
End of test!
5. The compiler will ignore new lines after keywords that expect tokens after it
Example:
see
"
Hello, World!
"
test()
func
#======================#
Test
#======================#
?
"
Hello from the Test function
"
Output:
Hello, World!
Hello from the Test function
6. Better code (faster) for the main loop, special loop for eval() function.
7. Better code (faster) for tracking C pointers to avoid using NULL pointers.
8. Better code (faster) for getting the self object using braces.
6.18 Notes to extensions creators
If you have created new extensions for Ring in the C/C++ languages.
You have to rebuild your extension (Generate the DLL file again using Ring 1.8 header files) before usage with Ring
1.8
Because we changed the internal structure of the VM, but no changes to the code are required. just rebuild.
6.18. Notes to extensions creators 80

4. CHAPTER
SEVEN
WHAT IS NEW IN RING 1.7?
In this chapter we will learn about the changes and new features in Ring 1.7 release.
7.1 List of changes and new features
Ring 1.7 comes with many new features!
• New Command: Load Package
• ringvm_see() and ringvm_give() functions
• ring_state_new() and ring_state_mainfile() functions
• Better Trace Library
• Better Ring Notepad
• Better RingQt
• Better Ring2EXE
• Better RingZip
• Better Documentation
• Better Ring VM
• RingLibuv Extension
7.2 New Command: Load Package
Using the ‘load’ command we can use many ring source files in the same project
But all of these files will share the same global scope
Now we have the “Load Package” command too
Using “Load Package” we can load a library (*.ring file) in new global scope
This is very useful to create libraries that avoid conflicts in global variables
Example:
File: loadpackage.ring
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5. Ring Documentation, Release 1.10
x = 100
? "Hello, World!"
load package "testloadpackage.ring"
? x
test()
File: testloadpackage.ring
? "Hello from testloadpackage.ring"
x = 1000
test()
func test
? x
Output:
Hello, World!
Hello from testloadpackage.ring
1000
100
1000
7.3 ringvm_see() and ringvm_give() functions
Using the ringvm_see() function we can redefine the behavior of the See command
Also we can use ring_see() to have the original behavior
Example:
see "Hello world" + nl
see 123 + nl
see ["one","two","three"]
see new point {x=10 y=20 z=30}
func ringvm_see t
ring_see("We want to print: ")
ring_See(t)
class point x y z
Output:
We want to print: Hello world
We want to print: 123
We want to print: one
two
three
We want to print: x: 10.000000
y: 20.000000
z: 30.000000
Using the ringvm_give() function we can redefine the behavior of the Give command
Also we can use ring_give() to have the original behavior
7.3. ringvm_see() and ringvm_give() functions 82

6. Ring Documentation, Release 1.10
Example:
see "Name: " give name
see "Hello " + name
func ringvm_give
see "Mahmoud" + nl
return "Mahmoud"
Output:
Name: Mahmoud
Hello Mahmoud
7.4 ring_state_new() and ring_state_mainfile() functions
Using ring_state_new() and ring_state_mainfile() we can run Ring programs from Ring programs
But unlike ring_state_main(), Here we can control when to delete the Ring state!
This is important when we run GUI programs from GUI programs
Because they will share the GUI Library (RingQt), And In this case the caller will call
qApp.Exec()
So the sub program, will not stop and will return to the Main program
Here deleting the State of the sub programs will lead to a problem when we run the sub program events
So keeping the state is important for sub GUI programs hosted in GUI programs.
7.5 Better Trace Library
The Trace library is updated, In the Debugger at break points we have now the “callstack” command
This command will print the functions call stack.
Example:
load "tracelib.ring"
func main
? "Hello from main!"
test1()
func test1
? "Hello from test1!"
test2()
func test2
? "Hello from test2!"
test3()
func test3
? "Hello from test3!"
breakpoint()
7.4. ring_state_new() and ring_state_mainfile() functions 83

7. Ring Documentation, Release 1.10
7.6 Better Ring Notepad
Ring Notepad comes with the next updates
1. Support *.cf extension
2. Using Hash function (SHA256) for better “Save Changes?” message
3. Ring Notepad - X Button - Ask for saving changes?
7.7 Better RingQt
The next classes are added to RingQt
1. QStackedWidget
2. QCalendarWidget
3. QOpenGLFunctions
4. QOpenGLContext
5. QSurfaceFormat
6. QOpenGLWidget
7. QOpenGLVersionProfile
8. QOpenGLFunctions_3_2_Core
9. QVector2D
10. QVector3D
11. QVector4D
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8. Ring Documentation, Release 1.10
12. QQuaternion
13. QMatrix4x4
14. QOpenGLPaintDevice
15. QPaintDevice
16. QOpenGLTimerQuery
17. QOpenGLDebugLogger
18. QOpenGLFramebufferObject
19. QOpenGLVertexArrayObject
20. QOpenGLBuffer
21. QOpenGLShaderProgram
22. QOpenGLShader
23. QOpenGLTexture
7.8 Better Ring2EXE
Ring2EXE is updated to works as expected when we don’t have a C/C++ compiler
Where we can distribute applications and get (exe file and ringo file) in this case.
7.9 Better RingZip
The library is updated to support extracting files contains sub folders!
7.10 Better Documentation
1. RingQt Classes Chapter - The classes are sorted.
7.11 Better Ring VM
1. Better Error Message
2. List2Str() function support lists contains numbers
3. Correct support for numbers contains _ as separator
4. Creating lists without variables (statement –> Expression –> List)
5. IsNULL() - Not case sensitive - treat Null and null like NULL
6. Support adding the Self object to an attribute in this object
7. Using ‘:’ operator then keyword will create lower case literal
8. Printing objects - respect decimals() function
9. When literal is not closed - determine the start of the literal
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9. Ring Documentation, Release 1.10
10. Better message when printing objects contains lists
11. VarPtr() - Support getting a pointer to variables in the local scope
12. replace performance instructions with normal instructions when creating new threads
7.12 RingLibuv Extension
Ring 1.7 comes with the RingLibuv extension
Libuv is a multi-platform support library with a focus on asynchronous I/O.
Example (Events Loop):
load "libuv.ring"
counter = 0
idler = NULL
func main
idler = new_uv_idle_t()
uv_idle_init(uv_default_loop(), idler)
uv_idle_start(idler, "wait()")
? "Idling..."
uv_run(uv_default_loop(), UV_RUN_DEFAULT);
uv_loop_close(uv_default_loop());
destroy_uv_idle_t(idler)
func wait
counter++
if counter >= 100000
uv_idle_stop(idler)
ok
Output:
Idling...
Example (Server):
load "libuv.ring"
load "objectslib.ring"
? "Testing RingLibuv - Server Side - Using Classes"
open_object(:MyServer)
class MyServer from ObjectControllerParent
DEFAULT_PORT = 13370
DEFAULT_BACKLOG = 1024
addr = new_sockaddr_in()
server = NULL
client = NULL
myloop = NULL
func start
myloop = uv_default_loop()
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10. Ring Documentation, Release 1.10
server = new_uv_tcp_t()
uv_tcp_init(myloop, server)
uv_ip4_addr("127.0.0.1", DEFAULT_PORT, addr)
uv_tcp_bind(server, addr, 0)
r = uv_listen(server, DEFAULT_BACKLOG, Method(:newconnection) )
if r
? "Listen error " + uv_strerror(r)
return 1
ok
uv_run(myloop, UV_RUN_DEFAULT)
destroy_uv_tcp_t(server)
destroy_uv_sockaddr_in(addr)
func newconnection
? "New Connection"
aPara = uv_Eventpara(server,:connect)
nStatus = aPara[2]
if nStatus < 0
? "New connection error : " + nStatus
return
ok
client = new_uv_tcp_t()
uv_tcp_init(myloop, client)
if uv_accept(server, client) = 0
uv_read_start(client, uv_myalloccallback(),
Method(:echo_read))
ok
func echo_read
aPara = uv_Eventpara(client,:read)
nRead = aPara[2]
buf = aPara[3]
if nRead > 0
req = new_uv_write_t()
wrbuf = uv_buf_init(get_uv_buf_t_base(buf), nread)
uv_write(req, client, wrbuf, 1, Method(:echo_write))
? uv_buf2str(wrbuf)
message = "message from the server to the client"
buf = new_uv_buf_t()
set_uv_buf_t_len(buf,len(message))
set_uv_buf_t_base(buf,varptr("message","char *"))
uv_write(req, client, buf, 1, Method(:echo_write))
ok
func echo_write
aPara = uv_Eventpara(client,:read)
req = aPara[1]
Output:
When we run the client, We will see the message “New Connection”
Then the message “hello from the client”
Testing RingLibuv - Server Side - Using Classes
New Connection
hello from the client
Example (Using Threads):
7.12. RingLibuv Extension 87