In my last post, I discussed one way to use the Twine web framework to create reference materials. Even though Twine’s main purpose is to create Interactive Fiction (IF), I found it to work well for my needs as a way to deliver Bible related materials.
Over the last few years I have played around with two development environments from the same company, Fantaisie Software, out of France. One environment, PureBasic, is used to create executable programs for Windows, Linux and MacOS PCs. The other environment, SpiderBasic, runs on those system but creates web apps for browsers, Android and iOS devices.
I had thought many times to try and switch from AutoHotkey, my preferred Windows development language, to PureBasic, but I always seemed to hit a stumbling block. AutoHotkey really does most everything I need for Windows.
A week ago I decide to spend some more time in SpiderBasic and once I figured out just which web libraries I needed to upload to my web server, I was able to create a working web app. Yea!
Since I had just spent about two months with Twine and uploaded a dozen reference files to the web, I wondered if I could wrap a SpiderBasic user interface around those web pages. I had hoped to make them easier to navigate. Below is the original launcher for what I call Bible Tools, followed by the version embedded into SpiderBasic.
Here we have the same starting page, but, with a SpiderBasic menu bar at the top.
I had tried using a series of Panels with Buttons to launch each file. While it worked well, it was still more work for users than this menu system. As you can see below, I can add items to the bottom of each menu or even add submenus. So, it will be very easy to expand this Bible reference library in the future.
Here is a bit of the SpiderBasic code.
With very little effort, I was also able to create a small Windows PureBasic application (746kb) that looks and acts exactly the same. This is the be expected as they are from the same developer.
If any of you are looking to get into the web / mobile development game, you should check out SpiderBasic at https://www.spiderbasic.com. It is free for small applications or less than $100 to purchase a license.
The web page for the Bible Tools App is https://bible-topics.michaels-tech-notes.info/BibleToolsApp.html.