Would MS introduce Small Visual Basic to kids?

Small Visual Basic 401

I've built Small Visual Basic (sVB) on top of Small Basic, with many enhancements in syntax and code editor, in addition to an easy to use form designer and a small windows forms library.
sVB is still a dynamic language, but it offers good support for basic data types like String, Double, Date, Array and Color by inferring the variable type from its initial value.
sVB is semi object oriented, as it makes variables act like objects by accessing extension methods from Text, Math, Date, Array, Color and Control classes. All of this happens behind the scene to make the code shorter and easier for kids. The kid has only to drag a TextBox and a Button on the form, double click the button to switch to its click event handler, and write the code directly, such as:
TextBox1.Text = "Hello sVB!"
The source code of sVB is fully written in VB .NET:
https://github.com/VBAndCs/sVB-Small-Visual-Basic
So, can MS introduce this enhanced version to kids?
It is compatible with SB with a few breaking changes (esp variable domains), and it can be more attractive to nowadays kids, that kept asking me about opening new forms, dealing with dates, and using AI (the latter is still missing of course, and this is why kids are eager to learn Python, and thi sis why I am thinking of some support of ML.NET in sVB in the future!)

JR 126 Reputation points

2022-09-16T01:21:15.71+00:00

I tried to install this and it doesn't work. In the instructions it says I need to copy a folder SmallBasicIDE\SB.Lib which I can't find. So then I extracted the zip file and tried to load svb.exe. It show's a splash screen and then dies. So what am I doing wrong?

JR
Small Visual Basic 401 Reputation points

2022-09-16T17:44:18.41+00:00

Copping SmallBasicIDE\SB.Lib is related only to the source code (when you work with the sVB project in VS.NET)

Try to open the Bin folder and run sb.exe, as it is the actual app. The sVB.exe is just a splash.
Then tell me what happens.
Small Visual Basic 401 Reputation points

2022-09-16T17:47:32.997+00:00

And it will be better if you try this latest update:
https://github.com/VBAndCs/sVB-Small-Visual-Basic/releases/download/v1.8/sVB.1.8.2.zip
Small Visual Basic 401 Reputation points

2022-09-16T17:52:07.783+00:00

There is also a chance that your anti virus deleted sb.exe if it has suspicions about it!
Absolute Beginner 171 Reputation points

2022-11-22T17:46:44.65+00:00

(translated by Google translator)

Hello. :o)

Dear MohammedHamdy-4571, when I run the sVB program where the first code line is "Me.Hide()", then the image of the form appears on the screen for a fraction of a second.

Tell me please, can I turn it off?

Thank you!
WhTurner 1,611 Reputation points

2022-11-22T18:51:35.283+00:00

If you do:

Me.Hide()
Program.Delay(2000)
Me.Show()

the form re-appears after 2 seconds.

Is the Me.Hide() necessary? What happens if you remove that line from your program?
Absolute Beginner 171 Reputation points

2022-11-22T20:29:55.363+00:00

(translated by Google translator)

I think the machine translation did not accurately convey the meaning of my message.

I want the form image do not appear on the screen until the "Me.Show()" line of code is executed.
Now the image appears before the "Me.Hide()" code starts executing. The image appears for a moment, then disappears.
The program executes lines of code that add controls to the form and then displays the form on the screen.

I hope the translator has now translated my words correctly.

Thanks for the help.
Small Visual Basic 401 Reputation points

2022-11-24T18:26:30.37+00:00

@Absolute Beginner
The form is actually shown by the generated code file Form1.sb.gen, which loads the form design from the Form1.xaml file then shows it.
If it is absolutely necessary to hide the form at startup, you may use this workaround:
After finishing designing the form and saving changes, switch to the code editor, then open the Form1.sb.gen with notepad and remove the Form.Show(Form1) from the file and save it.
Now run the project (from the code editor). The form will not be shown until your own code shows it.
Note that this is a volatile workaround, as the form designer will regenerate the sb.gen file when you made changes to the form design. So, this solution is better used when you finished working and want to get the final exe.
In the future, sVB can get a properties window, so I can ad some properties to control the form startup behavior, like staying hidden.
Small Visual Basic 401 Reputation points

2022-11-24T18:41:10.51+00:00
Another friendly solution, which is used in other languages, is to show a splash form at startup, that shows tour app name and some info.
In this form write this code to show another form:

_Path = Program.Directory + "\Form2.xaml" Form2 = Forms.LoadForm("Form2", _Path) ' Do what you want with the form2 here Forms.ShowForm(Form2, "")

But note that accessing Form2 controls will not that direct. For more information, see the Tree versions of the Random Buttons project in the samples folder, to see defendant ways to display forms and control them.
Small Visual Basic 401 Reputation points

2022-11-24T18:51:12.887+00:00

A third option, and I use it sometimes in VB and C#, is to combine the splash screen and the form together:
Add a label on the form (in design or tun time) and make it cover all the form surface . Show some text and info on the label as if it is a splash screen.
Add controls on the form out screen (use negative left and top), hide them, then change its left and top to the correct positions on the form.
After you done, hide the splash label then make other controls visible!
I know this is a hard way to do a simple task, but in fact what you are trying to do is not practical so sVB doesn't focus on it, as you can simply use the designer to add controls in design time. If you want to go wild, then you should crate the form itself in runtime by calling Forms.AddForm and build your UI from scratch.
Absolute Beginner 171 Reputation points

2022-11-24T20:18:50.35+00:00

(translated by Google translator)

Thanks for your help.

Of course I don't want to go wild. :o)
But, at the moment, the sVB control palette does not have a PictureBox control. That's why I'm adding an image to the form using code.

Also, when I use an image for the background of a form using the Form Editor, my Microsoft Surface first shows the form without the image, and only then shows the image on the form.

I use a small tablet computer which is not very fast. This makes it very conspicuous to show a form that doesn't yet have an image.

Thank you.
Small Visual Basic 401 Reputation points

2022-11-25T00:53:59.987+00:00

Use the label.Image to show images.
I added the Form.AddImageBox as infra structure for the uncompleted ImageBox control. The issue is that the ImageBox doesn't inherit th control class, hence it needs a lot of work to create all the properties for it with different code. This is why I aborted this control and decided to embed the image in the label. Though I left the ImageBox for the future, because it can do more with images than just displaying them.
So, try displaying the image in the label (see the Jerry project in the samples folder).
And you seem to use a very high resolution image (chick its size). Such images will take time to be loaded, and resized down to the form size. You can make things better by editing the image to make its diminutions smaller. This will make using it in your app faster.
I will add these notes to the book (still not finished).
thanks.
Absolute Beginner 171 Reputation points

2022-11-25T18:05:30.813+00:00

(translated by Google translator)

Thank you.
I didn't know about the "Label.Image" method.
The resolution of my image is not very high (940x480). But, the monitor of my tablet has a high resolution (2736x1824).
The resolution currently set in the system settings is 1440x900. In addition, the battery saver mode is enabled. (due to shelling, we often do not have electricity)

Probably, all these reasons greatly affect the speed of calculations.

But I hope everything will be fine. :o)

The main thing is that when children learn programming, they can grow up to be SMART people. And in their lives there will never be a war.
Small Visual Basic 401 Reputation points

2023-02-19T13:04:07.0633333+00:00

@JR

I fixed the win11 issue. Win11 doesn't trust apps that load external libs, and this needed only to add a tag to the config file. You can know try this version:

https://github.com/VBAndCs/sVB-Small-Visual-Basic/releases/download/v2.7/sVB.2.7.6.zip
Absolute Beginner 171 Reputation points

2023-04-08T08:49:16.4666667+00:00

(translated by Google translator) I continue to admire the simplicity and possibilities of sVB. This is an amazing solution. I'm sure GPT Chat 5 will generate their codes using only sVB. Here you will see ;-)

22 answers

Small Visual Basic 401 Reputation points

2023-05-15T06:08:02.8666667+00:00

The sVB full reference book: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1pCnB4_7pEBc_wT2u258MmutYCuXwpvjN

The sVB 2.8.2 installer: https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ModernVBNET.sVBInstaller
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Small Visual Basic 401 Reputation points

2024-02-09T05:35:53.3066667+00:00

In sVB 2.9, The form designer now has a menu designer, which allows you to add menu items and set their properties like name, title, and shoutcut keys. To show the menu designer, right-click the form surface and click the "Menu Designer" command from the context menu.

After closing the menu designer, menu items willl appear on top of the form designer, where you can click any of them to add its OnClick event handler to the code editor. You can also double-click main menu items to add its OnOpen event handler to the code editor.

Using the designer to set the shortcut keys for the menu items makes the form auto-handle these keys for you without having to write any more code for them. See the "sVB Notepad 2" application in the samples folder, where the menus are created by the menu designer, and compare that to the rewrote the "sVB Notepad" application where they are crated by code.
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Absolute Beginner 171 Reputation points

2024-02-09T08:05:34.31+00:00

(translated by Google translator) This is very good!
Thank you for your wonderful work. :)

Small Visual Basic 401 Reputation points

2024-02-11T02:53:11.5366667+00:00

You are welcome :)
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Small Visual Basic 401 Reputation points

2024-02-13T02:11:58.98+00:00

I just published the first book of the "Small Visual Basic Kid Programmer" series on Amazon.
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Absolute Beginner 171 Reputation points

2024-02-13T09:21:18.3533333+00:00

(translated by Google translator) This is a great idea! The book looks really nice! ;-)
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JR 126 Reputation points

2022-09-16T20:16:15.103+00:00

Downloaded your new version from the above link. Went into the bin Folder. Clicked on SB.exe. It wanted to know if I wanted to run it from an unknown source. I had it run anyway and it did nothing. Also, tried to run it as Administrator and it did nothing.

JR
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Small Visual Basic 401 Reputation points

2022-09-16T21:16:28.3+00:00

Can you give me some info about your system like Windows version? Do you have framework 4.8 installed? What Anti virus you use? Is it suspicious about SB.EXE?
What is your local language?
Can you move the sVB folder to the any drive without nested it in any other folders? You may also rename the sVB folder to remove any spaces from the name. I am trying to think of possible reasons, but on top of them is the anti virus.

Small Visual Basic 401 Reputation points

2022-09-16T21:30:03.187+00:00

By the way, in the first time I run the sVB when testeing a new version, Avast closes the exe and warns me that it is scanning the file, the reopens it after it passes. See if your anti were software is doing something like that, and try to add the sVB to safe apps. Or if you have VS.NET, try to compile the source code on your device.
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JR 126 Reputation points

2022-09-16T21:35:08.397+00:00

I am running windows 11, with that 4.8 is preinstalled. The anti-virus is just windows anti-virus. Language is
English. If I run it from the bin folder, SB.exe does nothing. If I run it from SVB 1.8.2.exe it just shows the splash screen and dies. I think that is when SB.exe should start.

JR
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Small Visual Basic 401 Reputation points

2022-09-16T21:59:59.153+00:00

In fact I didn't test sVB on Win 11 (my devices didn't pass win 11 requirements!) .
I tested it on Win 7 and win 10, so, I advice you to compile the source on your device. You can download VS.NEt 2022 community for free:
https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/community/
While installing it, you only need to select the Desktop workload.
Then download sVB source code from Github:
https://github.com/VBAndCs/sVB-Small-Visual-Basic/archive/refs/heads/master.zip
and open the sVB.sln with VS.NET and hit F5 to run the code. If the sVB runs correctly, you can find the compiled files in SmallBasicIDE\bin\Debug folder in the source code folder. The ToolBox folder will be missing, so, you can copy it from the SmallBasicIDE\SB.Lib folder.
It is better of cource to build the source for release, but lets see if this works first.

Small Visual Basic 401 Reputation points

2022-09-16T22:08:56.127+00:00

Or there is something to try first:
Right-click sb.exe and click properties, then switch to the complicity tab, and check the opion:
Run this program for compatibility mode for: and choose win 7 32 bits, or win 10 64 bits, and click ok. run sb.exe and see what happens. Try some other options until you find the suitable compatibility mode.

Small Visual Basic 401 Reputation points

2022-09-16T23:58:36.557+00:00

There is also an easy and generic solution:
Win 10 (and I expect win 11 too) has a built-in Hyper-V, which is a virtual machine. You need to activate this service first from control panel, then you can use Hyper-V to create virual machine with a virtual drive and install win 7 on it, and launch it. you can have also a virtual machine for win 10, so, if any app causes issues on win 11, you can run it on win 10 or win 7.
for more details:
https://www.makeuseof.com/windows-11-enable-hyper-v/
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