REALbasic (RB): A Cross-Platform Language

REALbasic (RB) is a cross-platform computer language used to develop programs for Windows, Mac, and Linux. In some ways, it is very similar to Visual Basic 6.0, except that an RB program will run without the hassle of a complicated installation procedure or the presence of a separate runtime file: you can put your program into a single file on a CD-ROM, and run it from there! "Where's the beef?" (the complaint) with RB? There is none.

Well, maybe there is one: the lack of availability of any quantity of sample source code comparable to the amount of Visual Basic source code available at places like Planet Source Code. The purpose of this blog is to two-fold: (1) to share comments about things I've learned about RB and (2) to announce the availability of RB source code for (I hope) hundreds of short RB programs to be called "TraverToys."

The emphasis will be upon short programs that are "simple samples," learning examples that may serve as building blocks for larger programs. In many cases the programs will do things that you won't find elsewhere, in spite of the small size of the TraverToys. Only source code will be provided, so this blog (or RBlog) is intended specifically for REALbasic programmers. Executables are not "cross-platform," but the source code should be, unless otherwise noted, although most of the programs have only been tested for Windows (using RB 2005 on Windows XP, although earlier versions of RB or Windows may often work as well).

Disclaimer: No promises, warranties, guarantees, etc. of any kind are made here. The code may or may not work for the purpose you intend. If it doesn't, then I warned you of that. If it does, and if you would like to say "Thank you" in some concrete way (e.g., by sending a donation), then that would be great and much appreciated (although I will have to earn it first by providing enough useful TraverToys that you will want to do so). I'll explain in a future entry how that may be done.

The plans are also to include comments on and make reference to longer programs from time to time. Links will be provided to those larger programs as well. The TraverToys collection, however, will all be "barebones," not much more than enough code snippets to accomplish the purpose.

Example: The first TraverToy, TraverToy001, will show you how to remove automatically any blank lines from the source code for an RB Project. It will involve these steps:

1. Saving the RB Project as an XML file.

2. Running TraverToy1 and "processing" that XML file.

3. Loading the modified XML file into the RB IDE, and saving it back to disk as a normal RB Project.

Incidentally, TraverToy1 is based on a larger Project in progress called RBCodeHelper, which offers over a hundred tasks that can be performed. If you are interested in being involved in the development process for RB CodeHelper, please let me know by sending a private email to rb@ix.netcom.com, listing "RB CodeHelper" as the Subject of the email.

Another disclaimer: I'm not a professional programmer (although I've been programming in Visual Basic since before version 3.0). I've been using REALbasic for only about a year, and there is much yet for me to learn. Thus I am very much interested in getting feedback and constructive suggestions from any readers of this blog. (Again, you're invited to send a private email to rb@ix.netcom.com, but this time listing "TraverRB Feedback" as the Subject of the email.)

Finally, for their sake, I probably should mention that I am in no way officially connected with REAL Software. I just like RB, and I like writing RB programs that I hope will be useful or enjoyable to other people.

Brry Traver

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Blog Home Page: http://traverrb.blogspot.com/

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