A dictionary lookup mini application

Here is a simple demo application for our keyed lookup library in development.  It opens a window with keys on the left, and a text editor on the right.  You can add new keys and edit the values for those keys by changing text on the right.  The values are saved to the file dictionary.dat.

We will enhance this code for a couple more blog entries before we move on to some other project.  :-)

Enjoy!

    nomainwin
    WindowWidth = 555
    WindowHeight = 438
    dim keys$(1000)
    dim info$(10, 10)
    global dictionary$, keyCount, lastKey$
    call readDictionary

    texteditor #main.value, 175, 7, 360, 365
    listbox #main.keys, keys$(), [keySelected], 5, 7, 160, 365
    menu #main, "Key", "New", [newKey], "Delete", [deleteKey]
    menu #main, "Edit"
    open "Dictionary inspector" for window as #main
    #main "trapclose [quit]"
    #main.keys "singleclickselect"
    #main.value "!autoresize";
    call loadKeys

[main.inputLoop]   'wait here for input event
    wait

[newKey]   'ask the user for a new key
    call saveValue
    prompt "Enter a name for the key."; newKey$
    if newKey$ <> "" then
        call setValueByName newKey$, ""
        call loadKeys
        #main.keys "select "; newKey$
        #main.value "!cls";
        #main.value "!setfocus";
        call writeDictionary
        lastKey$ = newKey$
    end if
    wait

[deleteKey]  'left for later
    notice "Delete not implemented yet."
    wait

[keySelected] 'a key in the list was selected
    call saveValue
    #main.keys "selection? selectedKey$"
    selectedValue$ = getValue$(selectedKey$)
    #main.value "!contents selectedValue$";
    lastKey$ = selectedKey$
    wait

[quit] 'End the program
    call saveValue
    close #main
    end

sub saveValue   'if the value is changed, save it
    if lastKey$ <> "" then
        #main.value "!modified? modified$";
        if modified$ = "true" then
            #main.value "!contents? saveThisValue$";
            call setValueByName lastKey$, saveThisValue$
            call collectGarbage
            call writeDictionary
        end if
    end if
end sub

function getKeys$(delimiter$)
  global keyCount
  pointer = 1
  while pointer > 0
    'get the next key
    pointer = instr(dictionary$, "~key~", pointer)
    if pointer then
      keyPointer = pointer + 5
      pointer = instr(dictionary$, "~value~", pointer)
      key$ = mid$(dictionary$, keyPointer, pointer - keyPointer)
      if instr(keyList$, "~key~" + key$) = 0 then
        getKeys$ = getKeys$ + key$ + delimiter$
        keyList$ = keyList$ + "~key~" + key$
        keyCount = keyCount + 1
      end if
    end if
  wend
end function

sub writeDictionary
  open "dictionary.dat" for output as #writeDict
    print #writeDict, dictionary$
  close #writeDict
end sub

sub readDictionary
  if fileExists(DefaultDir$, "dictionary.dat") then
      open "dictionary.dat" for input as #readDict
    length = lof(#readDict)
    dictionary$ = input$(#readDict, length)
    close #readDict
  end if
end sub

sub collectGarbage
  pointer = 1
  while pointer > 0
    'get the next key
    pointer = instr(dictionary$, "~key~", pointer)
    if pointer then
      keyPointer = pointer + 5
      pointer = instr(dictionary$, "~value~", pointer)
      key$ = mid$(dictionary$, keyPointer, pointer - keyPointer)
      if instr(keyList$, key$) = 0 then
        value$ = getValue$(key$)
        newDictionary$ = "~key~" + key$ + "~value~" + value$ + newDictionary$
        keyList$ = keyList$ + key$
      end if
    end if
  wend
  dictionary$ = newDictionary$
end sub

sub setValueByName key$, value$
  dictionary$ = "~key~"+key$+"~value~"+value$+dictionary$
end sub

function getValue$(key$)
  getValue$ = chr$(0)
  keyPosition = instr(dictionary$, "~key~"+key$)
  if keyPosition > 0 then
    keyPosition = keyPosition + 5  'skip over key tag
    valuePosition = instr(dictionary$, "~value~",  keyPosition)
    if valuePosition > 0 then
      valuePosition = valuePosition + 7   'skip over value tag
      endPosition = instr(dictionary$, "~key~", valuePosition)
      if endPosition > 0 then
        getValue$ = mid$(dictionary$, valuePosition, endPosition - valuePosition)
      else
        getValue$ = mid$(dictionary$, valuePosition)
      end if
    end if
  end if
end function

sub loadKeys
    keyList$ = getKeys$("~")
    redim keys$(keyCount)
    for item = 1 to keyCount
      keys$(item-1) = word$(keyList$, item, "~")
    next item
    #main.keys "reload"
end sub

function fileExists(path$, filename$) ' Does file exist?
    files path$, filename$, info$(
    fileExists = val(info$(0, 0)) > 0
end function

Demo of Run BASIC at Smalltalk Solutions

Wednesday evening I had the priviledge of organizing the Seaside BOF (birds of a feather) session at Smalltalk Solutions. This meant that I was the one up at the microphone (which I pushed aside since the room wasn't big) for most of an hour and a half. It was fun and I didn't feel put on the spot since this was more of a round table than anything. I only had to try and direct the conversation some.

Here is James Robertson's blog entry with a photo of me presenting.

http://www.cincomsmalltalk.com/blog/blogView?entry=3355631481

I'm very small in the frame, but yeah that's me all right. You can make out the Run BASIC web page up on the screen if you look carefully.

The demo was a little bit scary since I was modifying the Run BASIC code almost right up to the last second before the meeting. Scott and I were spending most of our free time at the conference working on some simple CSS integration. I'm hoping to put a screencast up to show how it all works.