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Fix external links and some formatting. #160

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KubaO merged 3 commits into from
May 27, 2026
Merged

Fix external links and some formatting. #160

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abbd754
Fix link ambiguity.
KubaO May 27, 2026
d8f0dfa
Fix broken external links.
KubaO May 27, 2026
19e14d9
Clean up formatting markdown formatting.
KubaO May 27, 2026
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45 changes: 21 additions & 24 deletions docs/Features/GUI-Components/Windowless.md
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Expand Up @@ -9,28 +9,28 @@ redirect_from:

# Windowless Controls vs. Normal (Windowed) Controls

| Feature | **Windowless Controls** | **Normal Controls** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Window Handle (hWnd)** | No hWnd; drawn directly on container's Device Context (DC) | Each has its own hWnd |
| **Performance** | Lower overhead, faster rendering<sup>3</sup> | Higher overhead due to window management |
| **Transparency & Shape** | Supports transparent backgrounds and non-rectangular regions | Limited to rectangular, opaque regions |
| **Z-Order Behavior** | Always rendered beneath windowed controls<sup>4</sup> | Can float above other controls |
| **Input Handling** | Requires manual routing of input (keyboard, mouse) via container | OS handles input natively |
| **Accessibility** | Needs explicit support via interfaces like `IAccessibleWindowlessSite`<sup>1</sup> | Built-in accessibility support |
| **Known Issues** | May require custom handling to work around known issues in twinBASIC (e.g., events not firing)<sup>2</sup> | More complete and stable |
| Feature | **Windowless Controls** | **Normal Controls** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Window Handle (hWnd)** | No hWnd; drawn directly on container's Device Context (DC) | Each has its own hWnd |
| **Performance** | Lower overhead, faster rendering[^3] | Higher overhead due to window management |
| **Transparency & Shape** | Supports transparent backgrounds and non-rectangular regions | Limited to rectangular, opaque regions |
| **Z-Order Behavior** | Always rendered beneath windowed controls[^4] | Can float above other controls |
| **Input Handling** | Requires manual routing of input (keyboard, mouse) via container | OS handles input natively |
| **Accessibility** | Needs explicit support via interfaces like `IAccessibleWindowlessSite`[^1] | Built-in accessibility support |
| **Known Issues** | May require custom handling to work around known issues in twinBASIC (e.g., events not firing)[^2] | More complete and stable |
| **Use Case Fit** | Ideal for lightweight, static UI elements (e.g., labels, images) | Best for interactive or focusable controls (e.g., textboxes, buttons) |

---

### ✅ **Benefits of Windowless Controls**
### Benefits of Windowless Controls

- **Performance Boost**: No hWnd means less GDI overhead---great for forms with many static elements.<sup>3</sup>
- **Visual Flexibility**: Enables transparent or shaped UI elements (e.g., rounded buttons, overlays).
- **Resource Efficiency**: Helps avoid hitting system handle limits in control-heavy UIs.

---

### ⚠️ **Drawbacks**
### Drawbacks

- **Complex Input Handling**: You must manually forward focus, mouse, and keyboard events from the container.
- **Z-Order Limitations**: Cannot appear above windowed controls---problematic for overlays or tooltips.<sup>4</sup>
Expand All @@ -39,13 +39,10 @@ redirect_from:

---

<sup>1</sup> [IAccessibleWindowlessSite Interface on Microsoft Learn](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/oleacc/nn-oleacc-iaccessiblewindowlesssite)

<sup>2</sup> Originally reported in [twinBASIC GitHub Issue #1310 -- Windowless Anchor Resizing Bug](https://github.com/twinbasic/twinbasic/issues/1310). Fixed in BETA 162.

<sup>3</sup> Overview of [GDI object handles](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/sysinfo/gdi-objects) and [hWnd user object handles](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/sysinfo/user-objects) in Windows UI architecture: [MSDN -- Window Resources](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/winmsg/window-resources)

<sup>4</sup> Background on Z-order rendering and Windows control layering: [Windows Controls - Z-order](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/winmsg/window-features#z-order)
[^1]: [IAccessibleWindowlessSite Interface on Microsoft Learn](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/api/oleacc/nn-oleacc-iaccessiblewindowlesssite)
[^2]: Originally reported in [twinBASIC GitHub Issue #1310 -- Windowless Anchor Resizing Bug](https://github.com/twinbasic/twinbasic/issues/1310). Fixed in BETA 162.
[^3]: Overview of [GDI object handles](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/sysinfo/gdi-objects) and [hWnd user object handles](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/sysinfo/user-objects) in Windows UI architecture: [MSDN -- Window Resources](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/winmsg/about-windows)
[^4]: Background on Z-order rendering and Windows control layering: [Windows Controls - Z-order](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/winmsg/window-features#z-order)

---

Expand All @@ -72,13 +69,13 @@ redirect_from:

## Real-World Examples

### 🪟 Windowless Control Examples
### Windowless Control Examples

- **[SweetIceLolly/VB6-MemoryDC](https://github.com/SweetIceLolly/VB6-MemoryDC)** -- A VB6 project demonstrating off-screen rendering using memory device contexts. Great for illustrating custom-drawn, windowless UI elements.
- **[fafalone/WinDevLib](https://github.com/fafalone/WinDevLib)** -- A twinBASIC library with low-level Win32 API wrappers. Includes examples of custom rendering and control logic that bypass hWnds.
- **[fafalone/EventTrace](https://github.com/fafalone/EventTrace)** -- A twinBASIC port of an ETW file activity monitor. Uses lightweight, non-windowed UI elements for performance.

### 🧱 Windowed Control Examples
### Windowed Control Examples

- **[fafalone/UIRibbonDemos](https://github.com/fafalone/UIRibbonDemos)** -- twinBASIC demos of the Windows Ribbon UI framework. Showcases interactive, hWnd-backed controls with full accessibility and Z-order behavior.
- **[SweetIceLolly/DragControlsIDE](https://github.com/SweetIceLolly/DragControlsIDE)** -- A VB6-based IDE-like interface with draggable, windowed controls. Useful for demonstrating layout and anchoring behavior.
Expand All @@ -87,16 +84,16 @@ redirect_from:

---

### 🖨️ Printing Mixed-Control Forms in VBx/twinBASIC
### Printing Mixed-Control Forms in VBx/twinBASIC

#### ✅ What Works Out of the Box
#### What Works Out of the Box

* **Windowed controls** (e.g., `TextBox`, `CommandButton`) can often be captured using `Form.DrawToDC` or `PrintForm` in VB6, or by rendering the form’s `hDC` in twinBASIC.
* **Windowless controls**, however, don’t have their own `hWnd` or device context, so they won’t appear unless you explicitly draw them.

---

#### 🧰 Recommended Strategy
#### Recommended Strategy

1. **Render the Entire Form to a Bitmap**

Expand All @@ -115,7 +112,7 @@ redirect_from:

---

#### 🧪 Tips for Accuracy
#### Tips for Accuracy

* **Z-Order Matters**: Since windowless controls render behind windowed ones, draw them first.
* **DPI Awareness**: Match the printer’s DPI to your form’s layout scale to avoid blurry output.
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3 changes: 2 additions & 1 deletion docs/Miscellaneous/FAQs.md
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Expand Up @@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ permalink: /FAQ

# twinBASIC Frequently Asked Questions

### [General](#general) - [Installation](#installation) - [Using twinBASIC](#using-twinbasic)
### [General](#general) - [Installation](#install-section) - [Using twinBASIC](#using-twinbasic)

## General

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -141,6 +141,7 @@ Internal text such as the hover information does not yet support localization, b
</details>

## Installation
{: #install-section }

<details>
<summary markdown=span id="system-requirements"><b>What are the system requirements for twinBASIC?</b></summary>
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1 change: 1 addition & 0 deletions docs/Reference/Core/Open.md
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Expand Up @@ -130,6 +130,7 @@ These identifier strings are accepted as the **Encoding** argument. The constant
| **koi8_u**{: #koi8_u } | `"koi8_u"` | KOI8-U, Ukrainian. |

#### Big5
{: #big5-group }

| Constant | Value | Description |
|----------|-------|-------------|
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1 change: 0 additions & 1 deletion docs/Reference/VBA/FileSystem/CurDir.md
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Expand Up @@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ vba_attribution: true
Returns the current path.

## CurDir Function
{: #curdir }

Returns a **Variant** (**String**) representing the current path.

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10 changes: 5 additions & 5 deletions docs/Tutorials/CEF/Getting started.md
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Expand Up @@ -31,11 +31,11 @@ Unlike [**WebView2**](../../tB/Packages/WebView2/WebView2/), CEF does not rely o

Download the runtime ZIP that matches both the CEF version and the application bitness:

| Version | Win32 | Win64 |
|---------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| v49 | [cefRuntime49_win32.zip](https://github.com/twinbasic/cef-runtimes/releases/download/latest/cefRuntime49_win32.zip) | [cefRuntime49_win64.zip](https://github.com/twinbasic/cef-runtimes/releases/download/latest/cefRuntime49_win64.zip) |
| v109 | [cefRuntime109_win32.zip](https://github.com/twinbasic/cef-runtimes/releases/download/latest/cefRuntime109_win32.zip) | [cefRuntime109_win64.zip](https://github.com/twinbasic/cef-runtimes/releases/download/latest/cefRuntime109_win64.zip) |
| v145 | [cefRuntime145_win32.zip](https://github.com/twinbasic/cef-runtimes/releases/download/latest/cefRuntime145_win32.zip) | [cefRuntime145_win64.zip](https://github.com/twinbasic/cef-runtimes/releases/download/latest/cefRuntime145_win64.zip) |
| Version | Win32 | Win64 |
| ------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------ |
| v49 | [cefRuntime49_win32.zip](https://github.com/twinbasic/cef-runtimes/releases/download/v1.0.0/cefRuntime49_win32.zip) | [cefRuntime49_win64.zip](https://github.com/twinbasic/cef-runtimes/releases/download/v1.0.0/cefRuntime49_win64.zip) |
| v109 | [cefRuntime109_win32.zip](https://github.com/twinbasic/cef-runtimes/releases/download/v1.0.0/cefRuntime109_win32.zip) | [cefRuntime109_win64.zip](https://github.com/twinbasic/cef-runtimes/releases/download/v1.0.0/cefRuntime109_win64.zip) |
| v145 | [cefRuntime145_win32.zip](https://github.com/twinbasic/cef-runtimes/releases/download/v1.0.0/cefRuntime145_win32.zip) | [cefRuntime145_win64.zip](https://github.com/twinbasic/cef-runtimes/releases/download/v1.0.0/cefRuntime145_win64.zip) |

See [CEF Runtime Releases](https://github.com/twinbasic/cef-runtimes/releases/) for the full version list and release notes.

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