BBPE - Express Guide

Abbreviations

In this Guide and the related files the following BB abbreviations are used:

BB - Block Building as well as Black Box
BBP - BB Programming
BBPE - BBP Environment
BBPP - BBP Project

Hardware and software requirements

At the times of the BBPE development (1989-1991) the following top hardware and software was used:

IBM PC/AT or compatible
at least 640kB of memory
at least 1MB of hard disk
at least VGA or EGA card + color monitor
MS/PC-DOS 3.3 or later
mouse
mouse driver - Microsoft 6.13 (or higher) or Genius 8.08 (or higher)

Therefore any IBM- and MS-compatible contemporary PC should be suitable for BBPE presentations and experiments. The last FreeDOS is usable instead of MS-DOS.

Distribution

The BBPE distribution consists of single BBPE.zip file available on the download page. It contains the following files:

BBPE.exe - The BB Programming Environment
BBPEDemo.exe - The BB Programming Environment - demo-version

BBPE.bbb - the BBP logo-chart
GCD.bbb - the Greatest Common Divisor - a box example

DemoCtrl.bbp - Demonstration Control
BB_Prog.bbp - BB Programming
Intrface.bbp - User Interface
Exceptns.bbp - Exception States
Files.bbp - Files Management
TinyEdit.bbp - Tiny Editor
Design.bbp - BB Programs Design
DesignX.bbp - BB Programs Design eXtension
Config.bbp - Configuration of the Environment

If the BBPE.zip does not contain the following files, BBPE.exe will create them:

BBPEcnfg.bbe - BBPE configuration settings
BBPEmode.bbe - BBPE work settings

The BBPE installation is simple, no installation program is needed.

File Types

In this Guide and in the related files and documentation the following new file types (extensions) are used:

.bbb - BBP Box files - description of box and its subboxes
.bbp - BBP Demonstration files - commented animated demonstrations of BBP and BBPE
.bbe - BBP Environment files - current settings of BBPE
.bk? - BBP backup files - previous versions of .bbb, .bbp, .bbe files

Installation

Please extract the files distributed in the archive BBPE.zip into a new directory on your hard disk. Preferred name of the new directory is BBPEDemo.

If you wish to develop your own BB charts (boxes), please extract the archive file one more time into another directory. Preferred name of this directory is BBPE.

The BBPEDemo directory should contain just the following two box files: BBPE.bbb and GCD.bbb. Any other .bbb files could interfere with BBP demonstrations.

Usage

The BB Programming Environment is implemented as a single executable program and several optional data files. There are two versions of the executable program: BBPE.exe and BBPEDemo.exe. The former is the normal user version, the latter is restricted to be usable for demonstrations only.

Both EXE-files are started without parameters. BB finds and updates its configuration files in the current directory. BBPEDemo finds all its .bbp demonstration files in the current directory and updates no files.

The *.bbp files contain demonstration sequences which can be played either by BBPEDemo or by BBPE. They need a color monitor. They contain commands in a binary form and therefore they are not directly readable.

It is recommended to start with BBPEDemo.

BBPE.exe

This version is for box design. It should be used after gaining sufficient information from the demonstrations. It can be controlled from the keyboard, but the mouse control is far more convenient.

It does not keep the default configuration and does not clean demonstration auxiliary files like BBPEDemo, therefore some collisions may appear when the user interferes with demonstration process. In such a case, please delete $$_*.* files in the BBPE directory, set screen Capacity 1 and color Palette 1.

BBPEDemo.exe - The Demo Version

This version is for demonstration purposes only. The user is restricted to select one of the listed demonstration files to be played and to control the progress of its playing. The names of the demonstration files *.bbp should be listed just after the start of the BBPEDemo program.

BBPE.bbb - The BBP Logo-Chart

This box file is one of the files distributed with the BBPE. It contains the last version of the BBP logo-chart, not a regular box.

The BBP logo-chart shows same basic constructs and some basic terms of the BB Programming.

GCD.bbb - The Greatest Common Divisor Example

This box file is one of the files distributed with the BBPE. It contains a regular box, designed for computation of the GCD(x,y).

How the GCD box works is explained on the GCD Example page, in the BB_Prog demonstration and in the BB Programming Introduction available on the download page.

The Demostrations

The BBPE is able to demonstrate its features and the BB Programming by demo-sequences stored in the demo-files. Each demo-step is commented, comments are displayed in the comment pane.

The following demo-files are available for the demontration of the MKI user interface of the BBPE:

DemoCtrl,
Intrface, Exceptns, Files, TinyEdit
and optionally Config.

The following demo-files are available for the demontration of the BB programming:

BB_Prog, Design, DesignX.

A demo-file is selected by the up and down cursor keys. The demonstration is started by hitting the Enter key. The bottom line menu of the BBPEDemo program lists all commands which are for controlling the demonstrations. The most important of them are:

Ctrl+X - exit from the program,
Esc - escape from the current demonstration,
M - switch to the manual control of the demonstration progress.

All selection and demo-progress commands are explained briefly in the screen area just above the bottom line menu anytime you are offered to select a demo-file. These commands are explained fully in DEMOCTRL demofile and therefore it should be seen first.

The Presentations

The screenshots of all demo-sequences has been saved in the presentation .pdf files. To view the presentation files, a pdf-files viewer is enough, it is not necessary to install the BBP Environmnent. The pdf presentations can start from any step and go forward as well as backward; this is not possible in demo-sequences, they must start from first demo-step and go forward only.

On the othe hand, the presentation files are less expressive than the demo-files. The presentation files don't show the animations displayed by the demo-files in some demo-steps, particularly in the domonstrations of the box design process.

If there is a discrepancy between a demo file and the corresponding presentation file, the demo file should be regarded. The presentation files are available on the download page.

DOS Environments

BBPE was developed under MS-DOS and works under FreeDOS. Although not tested, it is expected to work under IBM-DOS and DrDOS.

It works also under Windows XP Pro Eng SP2, in its VDM (Virtual DOS Machine) environment. The VDM full screen mode should be used. In the windows mode VDM doesn't respect colors and fonts set by BBPE - as can be seen on the above picture.

Mouse

BBPE uses enriched set of mouse commands, e.g. right double-click or simultaneous click by both mouse buttons. BBPE uses its own click/drag timing, therefore not all OS mouse settings are relevant for the BBPE. Clicks should be quick enough to avoid errors and miscommands. BBPE uses two mouse buttons.

For the full control of BBPE by mouse, it is necessary to use an IBM-compatible PC and MS-compatible two or more buttons mouse or trackball with MS-compatible mouse driver. An incompatibility usually degrades the usability of mouse in BBPE.

BBPE Screenshots

BBPE generates its graphics as the pseudographics, i.e. in text mode with a special fonts.

This is why the usual DOS or Windows PrintScreen function doesn't work for the BBPE as expected - such a result can be seen on the above picture. A suitable tool is mentioned in BBPE in *DOS instalation description.

BBPE in *DOS

The BBPEfdos.zip file available on the download page presents the BBPE installation usable under Windows as well as under FreeDOS operating system:

To avoid autoexec.bat conflict, the zip contents should not be installed/copied to the system drive. The best destination for the files is an empty FAT-formated drive, e.g. a small hard disk partition or an USB key.

If you wish to boot FreeDOS on your PC, please first run FreeDos SYS program which copies the FreeDOS system core files to the destination drive and makes the FreeDOS-boot sector for them. Then please copy the rest of files from zip to the destination drive. (The FreeDos SYS program is runable under Windows.) After installation the programs on the destination drive can be run under the installed FreeDOS as well under Windows.

If you wish to run programs saved in the zip file under Windows only, please copy the zip contents to the destination file without using the FreeDos SYS program.

The here described BBPE installation contains a few additional tools:

a few programs and drivers in the MIX directory;
the ST program for BBPE screenshots in the ST directory;
the VC file manager in the VC directory - a VC screenshot is on the picture above.

To run programs on the destination drive under Windows it is recommended to use the VDN-*.pif files:

VDN-VC.pif in the root directory starts VC file manager;
VDN-BBPEDemo.pif in the BBPEDEMO directory starts the BBPEDemo program;
VDN-BBPE.pif in the BBPE directory starts the BBPE program.

The pif files need the new environment variable freedos, its value should be the destination drive name. Please use one of the two methods to insert the variable in Windows:

open Control Panel - System - on the Advanced tab, click Environment Variables - click New of the user variable or system variable - insert new variable name freedos and its value e.g. f:
insert the statement like set freedos=f: into autoexec.bat file, which is in the root directory of the Windows system drive.

Each of the pif files starts Windows VDM (Virtual DOS Machine) in fullscreen mode, because window mode is not suitable for the BBPE. In the VDM the autoexec.bat stored in the destination drive's root directory is executed. The autoexec calls the program given in the Cmd-line of the pif file. The autoexec recognizes that it is running under VDM and adjust everything as if running under booted DOS.

On the hot-key combination Ctrl+Alt+T the ST program saves a new screenshot file into the SCR directory in TIFF format.

Note:
Any part or motif, which is unique to the BB Programming, its Environment or its Interface, may not be used in any other software product without the prior written consent of the author. If you have an interest in BBP or MKI, please contact me by e-mail.