Popup Calculator

I was popped yesterday by a fellow developer who showed me his form using ssDropCalc saying he is very satisfied with ssClasses library.  Thinking that others are really using said class, I decided to create a counterpart of that today for ssUltimate.  Of course, it has to be better.

What is PopCalc?

This is the counterpart of ssDropCalc of ssClasses but is better in many ways

• Better Look
• Unlike ssDropCalc which is a container class, this one is a control class
• This one does not switch between formula and values.  The formula is simply shown on the popup calculator but it always returns the value
• Better hotkeys (hover the mouse to see)
• Highlights the keys pressed (if you do not want to use mouse)
• Easier to use

Using on Form

Drop it and resize if you want.  On focus, this auto-pops the popup calculator and with starting value of what you put there (default is zero unless you change it via code, e.g., this.value = 123)

To exit the popup portion, either click outside, press Esc or press Enter (hotkey to pressing = sign) on your keyboard. To forcefully pop it up again if you want, press down arrow or Ctrl+Down Arrow keys.

Using on Grid

This is easier than ssDropCalc in that all you need to do is drop it down to a selected column of numeric value.  It will then take ownership of that column without setting anything further by doing the following:

• Inheriting ControlSource
• Inheriting Font Name and Size
• Inheriting Alignment
• Making itself the CurrentControl
• Setting Column's Sparse = .F.

When used on Grid, the popup calculator won't auto-pop (by design).  The shortcut to pop it up is Ctrl+Down Arrow Keys.

There you are, the latest addition to ssUltimate!  The only thing I am not that satisfied is because I used here ButtonX class for better look, then there is a bit (nanosecond) delay in popping up form as it has to redraw those buttons on loading of popup calculator.  But I still prefer it than creating several images for those buttons.


Added January 7, 2016

Added/Utilized these properties:

Classic Property - Whether to use native commandbuttons (default or .T.) or ButtonX (.F.).  While buttonx looks cooler, there is that nanosecond delay that some of you may not like, thus this option.

Themes - Affects only Classic popup calculator, whether Themese are used or not on those native commandbuttons

SpecialEffect - Affects only Classic popup calculator.   Using the control class' SpecialEffect property so I won't need to add another myself, ignore what is shows:

Control Class                  Effect on Classic Popup
0 = Raised                     0 = 3D (Default)
1 = Sunken                     1 = Plain
2 = Flat                       2 = HotTracking

Controlling Windows 10 Auto-Updates

I bought a laptop a few months ago with a licensed Windows 8.1 OS.  But since a colleague of mine was able to download an offline Windows 10 free upgrade and burned it into a CD, then immediately after purchase I upgraded mine to that latest OS version (to hell with Windows 8).

And I love it (though on some machines, I encounter blank screens after upgrade that I was forced to reinstall an older version) but there are certain things we need to turn off on privacy settings for our own peace of mind.

Since my Windows 8 is a 64-bit home version, I got the 64-bit Home version of Windows 10 as well.  And unfortunately, while I like Windows 10 better, I am annoyed by its auto-Windows Update where MS totally removes our freedom to choose which upgrades we would like to be installed in our machine.

And due to that forced updates, I  have seen reports on the net of people wailing that after some certain updates, it short-circuit their machine making them curse in grief Windows 10.  Due to that is why I decided to create this post

Option 1 - Turn-off Windows Update

Right-click on taskbar, Task Manager, click on Services Tab, click on Open Services link below.

Inside Services, look for Windows Update, double-click it, choose "Disabled" as start-up type.

In some cases, you will wonder why sometimes after you've done this and after a while you re-checked its status, you will realize it is still running even though the start-up type is still on Disabled.  That is because MS provides a "recovery" action to be done in case it detects failure of a service.

So to totally kill this update, you have to turn off recovery action as well.  See image below



However, it appears that in some cases, even when these are implemented, Windows 10 can still do an uncontrolled update.

Is turning it totally off a good suggestion?  I will leave that to each of you whether you are already comfortable with your OS 10 version or if you want it to still install some patches.  In which case you can re-enable it back at your own accord.

This next alternative might be better for you

Option 2 - Intercept Updates

Okay, this option deals with still leaving windows 10 to do an auto-update but now we will be intercepting its updates.  And to do that you have to install 3rd party downloaders such as Internet Download Manager (IDM), Xtreme Download Manager (XDM), and Download Accelerator Plus (DAP), to name a few.

I am using on my end now XDM 2015.  So when Windows 10 attempts to download a file, this is now being intercepted by XDM.  It will then ask you whether you want to continue downloading it or you can press Cancel.  The moment you pressed/clicked Cancel button, then XDM will release its hold on said intercept and the OS will be given back control over it.

In this way, it is like having control as well which of the attempted downloads will be given back to Windows.  What I do on my end is for those I do not like to be downloaded, I leave XDM intercept window and just move it out of the way and for those I like my OS to download, I clicked Cancel to allow my OS to download it.




There you go, ways to control windows update features of Windows 10.  Cheers!

What’s on ssUltimate Library

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Here are what’s inside ssUltimate Library in alphabetical order (from time to time I update the write ups on each link to inform of the enhancements I made).  The library comes with a sample project with demo forms with the following:

• AnchorX - replaces AnchorSizer class.  This is better in any ways:  http://sandstorm36.blogspot.com/2017/01/anchorx.html

• ButtonX  - a button class showing better themes and added new features.   See http://sandstorm36.blogspot.com/2015/03/buttonx-class-ssultimate-library.html  for a detailed reading

• CalendarX - a unique calendar.  See http://sandstorm36.blogspot.com/2016/01/calendarx.html  for a detailed reading

• CloseX - Is another form of titlebar class that gives a unique appearance.  It can have a titlebar or just that plain close button located at the right side of the form

• ContainerX – a container class with pretty headers. http://sandstorm36.blogspot.com/2015/03/conx-containerx-classes-ssultimate.html

• ConX – another container class but with a flat look.  Also see  http://sandstorm36.blogspot.com/2015/03/conx-containerx-classes-ssultimate.html

•  CtrlBox - a control box originally built solely for TitleBarX.  Now I allow it to be used separately on forms on its own.  http://sandstorm36.blogspot.com/2016/12/ctrlbox-class.html

•  DropSwitch - a control class that shows and hides popup selections.  Like a popup Optiongroup. http://sandstorm36.blogspot.com/2017/02/dropswitch.html

• DTPeriod - 2 calendars that takes care of your from and to dates need.  http://sandstorm36.blogspot.com/2017/01/dtperiod-class.html

• DTPickerX - A unique DateTime Picker class that can be morphed into a month picker, a date picker and a datetime picker.  http://sandstorm36.blogspot.com/2017/12/dtpickerx-december-2017-version.html

• DropClock – a dropdown clock.

• DropTime – a dropdown time picker.  My fastest time picker.  http://sandstorm36.blogspot.com/2017/06/droptime-class.html

• EditX – a dropdown EditBox to save space on form.  http://sandstorm36.blogspot.com/2017/02/editx-20170220-version.html

• ExcelPivot – a class that creates and excel pivot report for you in no time at all.  http://sandstorm36.blogspot.com/2015/07/excelpivot-ssultimate.html

• FaderX – a class that when dropped simply on form will turn irregularly shaped objects into transparent.  Can change transparency level on runtime

• GrdSortLock – a class that provides instant grid column locking and sorting:  http://sandstorm36.blogspot.com/2017/01/grdsortlock.html

• GridX – a class that allows your users to change the appearance of your grids and retain those; among other things, on-the-ply:  http://sandstorm36.blogspot.com/2018/01/gridx-class.html

• HoverButton - a button class but mostly designed for transparency with hover effect (blue highlight) and optional lock icon when disabled.  http://sandstorm36.blogspot.com/2016/11/hoverbutton-class.html

• ImgBack – is an image class that when dropped on form, will give it a background wallpaper.   This wallpaper can be changed any time via double-clicking and it will be retained until you change it again.  

• MonthYear – a class that looks like a command button which shows the month and year.  This was created before I gave dtPickerX the same capability
• MSOButton – a class that looks like a command button on Office 2010. 

• NavigatorX – NAV buttons for Grid and form, to navigate faster as it allows Jumping to record and filtering of records (on grid).  http://sandstorm36.blogspot.com/2017/06/navigatorx-class.html 

• OptionSwitchX – is a class used to mimic a group of switches seen on mobile devices as an alternative to the old native optiongroup of VFP.  http://sandstorm36.blogspot.com/2015/03/switchx-optionswitchx-ssultimate-library.html and http://sandstorm36.blogspot.com/2017/11/switchxoptionswitchx-bold-new-themes.html

• PolyClock – an analog clock that can be dropped on form, can be moved, change skins, etc.

• PopCalc – a pop-up calculator than can perform simple mathematical operations.  http://sandstorm36.blogspot.com/2016/01/popup-calculator.html

• ProgBarX – a progress bar for showing your looping percentage as well as SQL SELECTs.  http://sandstorm36.blogspot.com/2016/04/progbarx.html

• ScrollTime – is a time control class that scrolls up or down via mouse scroll.  Similar to what mobile devices has

• SpinnerX - This is a replacement of native spinner object with a twist. http://sandstorm36.blogspot.com/2017/09/spinnerx-new-faderx-enhancement-others.html

• StickyX - Another class that can be used to replace editbox with a sticky note look.

• SwitchX – is a class used to mimic a switch seen on mobile devices as an alternative to the old native checkbox of VFP.  http://sandstorm36.blogspot.com/2015/03/switchx-optionswitchx-ssultimate-library.html

• TimerX - is a time picker based on spinners.  

• TitleBarX - another titlebar class.  This one though gives user a capability to choose their own colors on objects (when applied) on-the-ply.  http://sandstorm36.blogspot.com/2015/03/titlebarx-ssultimate-library.html

• TransparentX – This one simply make the irregularly shaped image used on form instant transparent

• xBox – a textbox class with a dropdown grid.  Faster than combobox especially in searching.  http://sandstorm36.blogspot.com/2015/10/xbox-october-2015-release.html  

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xBox October 2015 release

Its been a long time that I have not done any intensive developing but last week I decided to try to resume my mood on it.  Finally, yesterday my mood somewhat returned and so after a long time, I decided to adjust xBox class which really needs an overhaul.

Here now are the new features for this release:

Introduced _HighlightKey  Property

.T. (Default) = will highlight the keys you've pressed so far.  Good for dropdown feature (see images)

I decided to have this as an extra guide for users to know what keys they have pressed so far.

.F. = will highlight suggestions for quickfill.  Good for without dropdown

Introduced _PlainBox Property

If you will be using xBox just because of its look (curvature and markers) without any quickfill suggestion or dropdown feature, then set this as .T..  Default is .F.

Miscellanous Enhancements

Well, I've made some clean-ups on codes such as relocating all the WinAPI declarations so it will be declared only once instead of repeatedly re-declaring those on the popup/dropdown grid.  Centralized as well the highlighting capability of the class.

Going Barefoot, Health Benefits

Lately I observed that whenever I take a shower, while wet and I reached for the shower knob, I always receives a minor electric jolt, not too much but still disturbing.  When I reported that to my wife, she said she never experienced such, so it appears that is related in my body system and not with the circuitry of the house.

So I started wearing rubber slippers while taking a shower and it worked good for quite a while. Until this morning, I got a much stronger shock when I reached again for the knob to turn the water off, now even while wearing a rubber slipper during the shower.

So immediately upon arriving here in the office, I googled outright what could be causing this severe static electricity problem I have and the possible remedies, if any; as I am sure something is wrong with my current body metabolism.

And that is why I am making this blog to share what I have found out

Electricity Build-Up

As we know, our body is capable of generating electricity and storing those up.  There are numerous reasons for that but the amount of static electricity each of us can store varies on our own metabolism.  Some are very susceptible to it, others not much.  It appears that the more acidic our body is, the greater it can absorb and store electricity.  Or if our blood is thicker, then the same goes.

xBox, How To..

xBox' Usage, Explained Further

xBox is among my most complicated classes to date due to the fact that I have given this three (3) possible usage.  And a new user is getting confused with it that I decided to rush here explanations on its features as I believe not everyone can easily see, despite my examples shown in codes on the sample form, how the class' different features can be utilized to each developer's advantage.

Take a look at this image below where the class is using the Combo Feature (QuickFill + Popup Grid)

But then, the class is designed to be used as just plain quickfill, plain popup/dropdown grid or that combo.  Explanations follow:

ExcelPivot (ssUltimate)

I was not with the habit of creating changelogs on my classes but I started lately doing that.  So my subscribers will know what those are without me trying to explain each.

Well the major enhancements with this over the previous revisions are:

• Faster - by cleaning up further the codes and looking for ways to speed this up further, this now generates Excel Pivot reports by 20% faster as before
• Added _RepeatLabels property
• Ensured that Excel output will show as Maximized
• Added Arrows to quickly clear previous selections (Filters, Rows, Values and Columns)
• Added option to show or hide Grid Lines on Excel sheet
• There are more which I failed to log before
• Bonus to Subscribers, a sample showing how to use additional automation for this class