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Q67697: UI Toolbox: "Subscript Out of Range" or Hang on WindowDo Call

Article: Q67697
Product(s): See article
Version(s): 7.00 7.10
Operating System(s): MS-DOS
Keyword(s): ENDUSER | buglist7.00 buglist7.10 | mspl13_basic
Last Modified: 14-DEC-1990

If more than 20 buttons and edit fields are opened simultaneously
within a single window, a "Subscript out of range" error will occur on
a call to the SUB procedure WindowDo at run time. In some instances, a
call to WindowDo may lead to a "String space corrupt" error message or
cause the computer to hang.

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem with the User Interface
(UI) Toolbox provided with Microsoft BASIC Professional Development
System (PDS) versions 7.00 and 7.10. The correction for this problem
is provided further below.

This information applies to BASIC PDS versions 7.00 and 7.10 for
MS-DOS.

To avoid the problem, change the default value of the constant
MAXHOTSPOT, which appears in the file, GENERAL.BI. Two other constants
MAXBUTTON and MAXEDITFIELD, which appear in GENERAL.BI, set the
maximum number of buttons and edit fields allowed. The value of
MAXHOTSPOT should be changed from its current setting of 20 to the sum
of these two constants. The default setting for MAXBUTTON is 50, and
the default setting for MAXEDITFIELD is 20. MAXHOTSPOT should be
changed to 70.

If a call to the SUB program WindowDo leads to a computer hang or a
"String space corrupt" error message, Microsoft suggests changing the
constants as described in the above paragraph and rebuilding the UI
Toolbox default libraries, UITBEFR.LIB and UITBEFR.QLB. A computer
hang or "String space corrupt" error message usually occurs when the
default libraries have been modified and the modules that make up the
UI Toolbox have not been compiled with the /D option. The /D option
enforces array bounds checking on arrays. Using the /D compile option
will help to avoid a computer hang or a "String space corrupt" error
message at run time.

The following assumes that you are using the default LINK library
UITBEFR.LIB and the Quick library UITBEFR.QLB built during set up of
BASIC PDS.

Once the modifications to GENERAL.BI have been made, update the
library UITBEFR.LIB and re-create the default Quick library
UITBEFR.QLB. Below are the steps necessary to update the .LIB file and
re-create the .QLB file.

Because the files GENERAL.BAS, MENU.BAS, MOUSE.BAS, and WINDOW.BAS all
require GENERAL.BI, they must be recompiled from DOS as follows:

        BC GENERAL.BAS /FS/X/D;
        BC MENU.BAS /FS/X/D;
        BC MOUSE.BAS /FS/X/D;
        BC WINDOW.BAS /FS/X/D;

Enter the following command line from DOS to modify the library,
UITBEFR.LIB:

        LIB UITBEFR.LIB-+GENERAL.OBJ-+MENU.OBJ-+MOUSE.OBJ-+WINDOW.OBJ

Enter the following from DOS to re-create the Quick library,
UITBEFR.QLB:

        LINK /Q UITBEFR.LIB,,,QBXQLB.LIB;

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