VOGONS


First post, by Bruninho

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What the title says. I would like to know which tools/software I would need to build apps for Win 3.x and/or Win 9x? And some guides, docs, reading material? I'm curious and the last time I wrote something quite simple for Win 95 was in MS Visual Basic, 25 years ago.

Something like that but for beginners: https://www.transmissionzero.co.uk/computing/ … in16-apps-in-c/

"Design isn't just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."
JOBS, Steve.
READ: Right to Repair sucks and is illegal!

Reply 1 of 11, by NJRoadfan

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I used Borland C++ For Windows back in the day. Supports Win16 and Win32 if you are running 4.5x or later. It also has the ability to build "console" Win16 applications using its "EasyWin" libraries and it's resource editor Resource Workshop is top-notch for prototyping windows, dialogs, etc.

Reply 3 of 11, by Jo22

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In the past, I used Turbo Pascal for Windows (which became Borland Pascal 7 Windows), Visual Basic and Delphi.
A long the way, I've also meet Profan and other obscure (by todays standards) IDEs, namely Visual Fox Pro and dBase Fast for Windows (based on XBasic).

Some methods of making programs for both Win16&Win32:

VB: Write in VB1 and take it with you until VB6. Or VB4, which has support for both Win16/32.
Then, save it as VB6 project and open it in .Net 2005 or 2008 and use the converter to create an .Net application.
- Note that simple VB6 programs still run out-of-box (W98+) on the newest Windows, even, since MSVBVM60.DLL is part of it.

TPW: You can write in TWP and import your code in Delphi 1 and compile it with the help of old API support (TPL instead of VCL ?).
Delphi: Write your project in Delphi 1 to get a Win16 application. If you like, Import in Delphi 2 and complie a Win32s application.
Once importet in Delphi 3, it can be compiled as Win32/Win32c application (last lassic Delphi is 7).

In either case, modern common controls can be used in applications made with old compilers by adding a dummy manifest file to them.
That way, some modern retro program written for, say, Win98 does look far less ugly on Windows XP/7/10..
Re: Programs for building software (dos, windows 9x)

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

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Reply 4 of 11, by Bruninho

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Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I will try that under Win 9x VM instead of my WFW 3.x VM. BTW, I installed VB3 in my WFW 3.x VM, now I want to uninstall. However, VB3 does not have an uninstaller. I have even tried VB4 as well (using the VM's snapshots). Apart of deleting the folder and the group, what else I have to do to clean it? I hope I don't have to reinstall everything...

The reason for that is because VB4 16-bit in WFW 3.11 has a custom control for "webBrowser" which for some reason gives me an error when I try to execute an app that uses this control ("object server not correctly registered"), and since I'm at a loss on how to fix this, I expected to install VB4 on Win 9x to see if I can solve this.

EDIT: Nevermind. I will stick with VB3 for Win 3.x since it was lighter and faster than VB4, but with less useful resources. For some simple fun apps, it will be enough. VB4 on Windows 9x / 2k allows me to build a simple web browser, but it renders like IE (crap) so no point in doing it. Lol....

"Design isn't just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."
JOBS, Steve.
READ: Right to Repair sucks and is illegal!

Reply 7 of 11, by Jo22

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Pertinax wrote on 2020-02-04, 10:59:

Game Maker 5.3 is a nice tool to create Direct3D applications for Windows 95 and 98. It is made in Delphi, and the games made with it have low system requirements.

Cool! Kinda reminds me of Klick&Play, an easy to use event-based IDE/Runtime thing from the early 90s.
It was made for Win 3.1 originally, and later evolved into Click and Create for Win95 (?) and so on.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clickteam
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klik_%26_Play (English Translation)

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 9 of 11, by Errius

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onre wrote on 2020-01-19, 08:50:

I'd suggest Borland C++ 4.52 as well. It does it all and the installer background image alone is worth the install.

Is that the one with the car steering wheel and install progress shown in the speedometer?

Is this too much voodoo?

Reply 10 of 11, by onre

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Errius wrote on 2020-02-12, 21:37:
onre wrote on 2020-01-19, 08:50:

I'd suggest Borland C++ 4.52 as well. It does it all and the installer background image alone is worth the install.

Is that the one with the car steering wheel and install progress shown in the speedometer?

Exactly.

Reply 11 of 11, by Bruninho

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I would like to thank you guys for the suggestions, and say that I will sure try them all whenever possible. Actually I started something from the very basic of what I remember, using Visual Basic on Win 3.x. From there I will go up to the other suggestions. I also decided to look for some ideas to build on the web, and I found an interesting basic idea - a hotel management system, easy to build and enough for me to take the dust off my memories of me using VB as a kid.

The topic probably will be useful for others too, and also used to discuss not only mine, but also others projects, I think.

"Design isn't just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."
JOBS, Steve.
READ: Right to Repair sucks and is illegal!