rec.autos.simulators

by **John Simmon** » Fri, 02 Mar 2001 21:47:03

I'm creating a DLL that can import race sim results, return the driver
data in a delimited string, and/or export that data to a (user-define
and design) custom HTML file. This DLL will be usable by any VB/C++
(32-bit programs only) programmer who wants to write a utility for their
favorite sim and make use of results data (league/server admin utilites
come to mind).

I've already developed code to do this for N3/NL, N4, and GPL (I own all
of those) but don't have NH.

Does NH create a results file when a race is finished? If so, can I
arrange with someone here to send me a NH result file?

And now for the web page rant...

-- Don't this personally (and it's gonna get ***), but... --

<RANT>
I was originally gonna post this question through email to a web site
owner through email. While I was typing the email message, the web site
in question (High Compression) spawned *over* 20 individual ad windows.
This is pretty damn annoying, and I wish cheap ***ers like this would
PAY for their web space so that folks that visit their site aren't
bombarded with useless ***like this.

I've also had web sites download programs that enhance my mouse cursor
or add a toolbar to my web browser. This was done WITHOUT ASKING ME
FIRST. (For the record, High Compression doesn't use this annoying app-
push crap).

Everyone here is fully aware of the delicate balance that is Windows,
especially where system stability is concerned, and we don't need
"automatic" ***like this happening.

My domain name - www.paddedwall.org - no ads, no way, no how

I pay $15/month for WestHost.com to host my domain name, and I get
unlimited personal (and subscribable) mailing lists, unlimited email
addresses, and 75mb of web space.

I'm not interested in (and won't respond to) flames concerning the
inability to pay $15/month. I just want this ad and push bullshit to
come to an end. Buy a domain name and pay for your web space.

If there's a setting in Internet Exploder to turn this stuff off
(without losing a significant amount of web-browsing functionality), I
haven't found it...
</RANT>

by **edb** » Sat, 03 Mar 2001 07:51:24

LOL, I agree with this guy. Anyone serious enough to want to have a web page
devoted to, say, anything, N3, N4, GPL, NH, Sprint Cars, blah, blah, the
server space out there is mind boggling and because of that, it is very
cheap. I hate all the adds too. I like BHMS for this reason, their ads are
there, just small and non-pushy. As for the comet cursor stuff, well, we're
going to have this as long as 14 year olds have computers ;>

edb

<SNIP>

by **edb** » Sat, 03 Mar 2001 08:03:55

Almost forgot, I'd love to snag this DLL. You say I can front end this deal
with any 32bit VB (how about Access?). If so cool, put me down for a copy
once you have it compiled. I can't seem to find one that works very well for
me (a standing program that is) and didn't want to have to***around
trying to extract data from an HTML file (ala N4) to be able to setup a
league season points deal. I was just going to lay out simple MDB and hand
enter data. I liked the one from Rathbone (I think is his name) but haven't
seen or heard anything about an N4 version.Wouldn't mind trying to tinker
around with designing my own, can do VB and Access but no C/++ or heavy
Java. Hell, I'm just getting ASP and Dreamweaver workable to my feable mind,
lol.

Anyway, get back to play and quit reading my junk,

edb

> LOL, I agree with this guy. Anyone serious enough to want to have a web
page
> devoted to, say, anything, N3, N4, GPL, NH, Sprint Cars, blah, blah, the
> server space out there is mind boggling and because of that, it is very
> cheap. I hate all the adds too. I like BHMS for this reason, their ads are
> there, just small and non-pushy. As for the comet cursor stuff, well,
we're
> going to have this as long as 14 year olds have computers ;>

> edb

> <SNIP>

> >And now for the web page rant...

> > -- Don't this personally (and it's gonna get ***), but... --

> > <RANT>
> > I was originally gonna post this question through email to a web site
> > owner through email. While I was typing the email message, the web site
> > in question (High Compression) spawned *over* 20 individual ad windows.
> > This is pretty damn annoying, and I wish cheap ***ers like this would
> > PAY for their web space so that folks that visit their site aren't
> > bombarded with useless ***like this.

> > I've also had web sites download programs that enhance my mouse cursor
> > or add a toolbar to my web browser. This was done WITHOUT ASKING ME
> > FIRST. (For the record, High Compression doesn't use this annoying app-
> > push crap).

> > Everyone here is fully aware of the delicate balance that is Windows,
> > especially where system stability is concerned, and we don't need
> > "automatic" ***like this happening.

> > My domain name - www.paddedwall.org - no ads, no way, no how

> > I pay $15/month for WestHost.com to host my domain name, and I get
> > unlimited personal (and subscribable) mailing lists, unlimited email
> > addresses, and 75mb of web space.

> > I'm not interested in (and won't respond to) flames concerning the
> > inability to pay $15/month. I just want this ad and push bullshit to
> > come to an end. Buy a domain name and pay for your web space.

> > If there's a setting in Internet Exploder to turn this stuff off
> > (without losing a significant amount of web-browsing functionality), I
> > haven't found it...
> > </RANT>

by **John Simmon** » Sat, 03 Mar 2001 08:54:49

I 've got it working for C++ programs, but I know nothing of VB and what
makes a DLL compatible with it. The info in MSDN is confiusing as hell,
but I think I should be alright. I installed VB (yuch) and thought I'd
give a shot at interfacing with the DLL so that VB programmers can use
it without any fuss or muss.

As far as C++ goes, I've also written a class that loads the DLL and
provides interface functions without the programmer having to worry
about LoadLibrary/FreeLibrary or GetProcAddress calls.

I don't know whether or not you can use the DLL from within Access, but
I could write another extension into the DLL that adds the imported data
into an access database. The only caveat would be that you'd be stuck
with *my* idea of what makes a good/useful database schema, and that
(IMHO) isn't very flexible.

As it is, you get the data back in a single string delimited with "^"
characters, and it should be fairly easy to parse the string into
separate fields. Once again, C++ programmers will benefit from my
forethought by utilizing a generic string parsing class that I wrote
specifically for this purpose, and is in fact, used quite extensively
within the DLL.

I just had a thought while typing the last sentence - I could expose the
string parser class interface within the DLL so that even VB programmers
could make use of it (albeit a little clunkier than the C++ guys since
they could just put the source directly into their code).

by **Rob Adam** » Sat, 03 Mar 2001 09:13:53

I haven't followed this whole thread, but if your DLL follows the COM
specification, VB and Access can use it just like any other COM object. To
make the VB folks happy you could provide a type library (.tlb or .olb) file
too.

> I 've got it working for C++ programs, but I know nothing of VB and what
> makes a DLL compatible with it. The info in MSDN is confiusing as hell,
> but I think I should be alright. I installed VB (yuch) and thought I'd
> give a shot at interfacing with the DLL so that VB programmers can use
> it without any fuss or muss.

> As far as C++ goes, I've also written a class that loads the DLL and
> provides interface functions without the programmer having to worry
> about LoadLibrary/FreeLibrary or GetProcAddress calls.

> I don't know whether or not you can use the DLL from within Access, but
> I could write another extension into the DLL that adds the imported data
> into an access database. The only caveat would be that you'd be stuck
> with *my* idea of what makes a good/useful database schema, and that
> (IMHO) isn't very flexible.

> As it is, you get the data back in a single string delimited with "^"
> characters, and it should be fairly easy to parse the string into
> separate fields. Once again, C++ programmers will benefit from my
> forethought by utilizing a generic string parsing class that I wrote
> specifically for this purpose, and is in fact, used quite extensively
> within the DLL.

> I just had a thought while typing the last sentence - I could expose the
> string parser class interface within the DLL so that even VB programmers
> could make use of it (albeit a little clunkier than the C++ guys since
> they could just put the source directly into their code).

> > Almost forgot, I'd love to snag this DLL. You say I can front end this
deal
> > with any 32bit VB (how about Access?). If so cool, put me down for a
copy
> > once you have it compiled. I can't seem to find one that works very well
for
> > me (a standing program that is) and didn't want to have to***around
> > trying to extract data from an HTML file (ala N4) to be able to setup a
> > league season points deal. I was just going to lay out simple MDB and
hand
> > enter data. I liked the one from Rathbone (I think is his name) but
haven't
> > seen or heard anything about an N4 version.Wouldn't mind trying to
tinker
> > around with designing my own, can do VB and Access but no C/++ or heavy
> > Java. Hell, I'm just getting ASP and Dreamweaver workable to my feable
mind,
> > lol.

> > Anyway, get back to play and quit reading my junk,

> > edb

by **Mike Donnelly J** » Sat, 03 Mar 2001 13:49:20

> LOL, I agree with this guy. Anyone serious enough to want to have a web page
> devoted to, say, anything, N3, N4, GPL, NH, Sprint Cars, blah, blah, the
> server space out there is mind boggling and because of that, it is very
> cheap. I hate all the adds too. I like BHMS for this reason, their ads are
> there, just small and non-pushy. As for the comet cursor stuff, well, we're
> going to have this as long as 14 year olds have computers ;>

You might be pleased with Black Hole, but due to their use of pop-up pages, I
avoid that place like the plague.

by **Tyler Eave** » Sat, 03 Mar 2001 13:59:34

Ditto..

It's one of the worse cases I've seen of 'because we can'

>> LOL, I agree with this guy. Anyone serious enough to want to have a web
page
>> devoted to, say, anything, N3, N4, GPL, NH, Sprint Cars, blah, blah, the
>> server space out there is mind boggling and because of that, it is very
>> cheap. I hate all the adds too. I like BHMS for this reason, their ads
are
>> there, just small and non-pushy. As for the comet cursor stuff, well,
we're
>> going to have this as long as 14 year olds have computers ;>

>You might be pleased with Black Hole, but due to their use of pop-up pages,
I
>avoid that place like the plague.

rec.autos.simulators

A Free DLL For Sim Utilities Will Soon Be Available (and a rant about web pages)

A Free DLL For Sim Utilities Will Soon Be Available (and a rant about web pages)

A Free DLL For Sim Utilities Will Soon Be Available (and a rant about web pages)

A Free DLL For Sim Utilities Will Soon Be Available (and a rant about web pages)

A Free DLL For Sim Utilities Will Soon Be Available (and a rant about web pages)

A Free DLL For Sim Utilities Will Soon Be Available (and a rant about web pages)

A Free DLL For Sim Utilities Will Soon Be Available (and a rant about web pages)

A Free DLL For Sim Utilities Will Soon Be Available (and a rant about web pages)