Desaware ActiveX Gallimaufry

For further information, check out each of the individual descriptions below.

• The PerList Control - Who can forget the opening credits of the movie Star Wars - where the opening text scrolls upward and into the distance as it tells of events a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Now your web pages can accomplish the same effect with Desaware's perspective list (PerList) control.From this control you'll learn API wizardry including advanced bitmap manipulation techniques, API drawing techniques, and object oriented design approaches
• The Banner Control this flexible marquee control can appear over a fixed background, or over any background that you choose (including other controls on a Visual Basic form, if you are so inclined). This one may also find use on web pages. You'll also learn some interesting techniques including some advanced API techniques, transparency techniques, and how to scale a font accurately to fit in an available space
• The RotatePic Control - We've received dozens of requests for a control that can rotate bitmaps. We're pleased to finally have one to offer.
• The HexEdit Control - Every programmer sooner or later needs a hex editor. It's one of the most useful utilities around. Now can offer you it to your users as part of any application. Just drop this control on a form and 99% of the job is done.This control is a good example of combined use of constituent and user drawn controls. The control supports read only (display modes), optional display of the ANSI text window, adjustable window sizes, and editing using an array or arbitrary memory buffer
• The SpiralBox Control - Sometimes it's fine if an ActiveX control has no purpose other than being just plain fun. And our SpiralBox control is as good an example as you'll find. Not only do you get the control, but you get an MDI application that lets you create and save your own creations. If it proves to be the greatest time waster since MineSweeper, don't blame us - we just wrote it. And when you see the spiral art class module, with its optimized graphic algorithms, you'll know that you can safely use the excuse that you're studying and testing advanced ActiveX technology - a feature that Minesweeper and Solitaire certainly can't match
• The MDI TaskBar Control - This one will be especially interesting to SpyWorks users and API mavens. Windows 95 and now NT 4.0 introduced the desktop taskbar as a great way to switch among applications. Why not add a taskbar to your MDI applications to switch among MDI child windows? It's easy with this MDI Taskbar control, because it demonstrates a number of advanced subclassing and messaging techniques. (This control will also be included in the next SpyWorks Professional edition release)

The Gallimaufry Component Library - This library of useful components implement a number of common algorithms. It includes the following:

• A double linked list component - demonstrates two techniques for aggregation and delegation of internal objects
• A FIFO (first in first out) queue component
• A Stack component
• A Quicksort component - which also supports background operations
• Above all, you'll find some extremely interesting Visual Basic techniques, from the correct way to use multithreading to implement a background operation (no, it's not the way it's shown in recent MSJ and VBPJ articles), to using variants to support parameter overloading

Fine Print - Some of these controls require SpyWorks in order to rebuild. Desaware's licensing allows royalty free distribution of these controls and incorporation of source code into your applications only if you are adding significant and primary functionality to the control.