View source for Running Gambas Programs in Windows

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Most software developed by [[Piga Software]] are written in [[Gambas]], and as a result they require the Gambas runtime. Unfortunately at this time there is no native support for running the Gambas runtime under [[:wikipedia:Microsoft Windows|Microsoft Windows]]. However, there are many solutions available for this problem.

* Port the program to Windows by rewriting it in a different language such as [[:wikipedia:Visual Basic .NET|Visual Basic .NET]], [[:wikipedia:Classic Visual Basic|classic Visual Basic]], [[:wikipedia:FreeBASIC|FreeBASIC/VisualFBEditor]], [[:wikipedia:Lazarus (software)|Larazrus]]/[[:wikipedia:Free Pascal|Free Pascal]] or [[:wikipedia:Godot (game engine)|Godot/GDScript]].
** We currently recommend Lazarus or VisualFBEditor for application ports, and Godot for game ports.
* Run the program through Windows via Cygwin (as mentioned in the [http://gambaswiki.org/wiki/install/cygwin Gambas documentation]).
* Run the program using the first-party [[:wikipedia:Windows Subsystem for Linux|Windows Subsystem for Linux]] (WSL; also mentioned in the [https://gambaswiki.org/wiki/howto/wsl Gambas documentation]).
* Install the program on a Unix-like computer and use a Windows X11 server such as Xming and SSH forwarding to run the program (once recommended by the  [http://gambaswiki.org/wiki/howto/windows Gambas documentation])
* Stream over the cloud via rollApp.
* Using VMWare, VirtualBox, or another virtualisation tool to run a Unix-like system and run the program in that.
** Use CoLinux and a Windows X11 server such as Xming

== Windows Subsystem for Linux ==
[[File:Mosquito-WSL2.png|thumb|right|200px|''[[Mosquito]]'' running through WSL2 on Windows 11]]

[[:wikipedia:Windows Subsystem for Linux|Windows Subsystem for Linux]]

From 2016 this was usually done using an [[:wikipedia:X terminal|X terminal]] emulator such [https://mobaxterm.mobatek.net/ Mobaxterm] on Windows as WSL did not support [[:wikipedia:X11|X11]] graphics directly until the updates released with [[:wikipedia:Windows 11|Windows 11]] in 2021. Given it is an officially supported part of modern Windows, it is the best option for out-of-the-box use, but is only available from [[:wikipedia:Windows 10|Windows 10]] or later. Our own testing has found this system fairly performant, albeit with issues with mouse focus.

To [https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install install WSL], load up Powershell (CMD Prompt) in administrator and type:

   wsl --install

Once [[:wikipedia:Ubuntu (operating system)|Ubuntu]] is installed (by default, others [[:wikipedia:Linux distribution|distros]] are available as well), type:

   sudo apt update

This will make the [[:wikipedia:APT (software)|apt]] package manager work. You can then install [[Gambas]].

   sudo apt install gambas3*

This will install Gambas and all of its components.

You can then run Gambas applications or the IDE.

*https://forum.gambas.one/viewtopic.php?t=812
*https://forum.gambas.one/viewtopic.php?t=1226

== Running through Cygwin ==
[[File:Hull-Breach-Cygwin.png|thumb|right|200px|''[[Hull Breach]]'' running through Cygwin on Windows 11]]

[[:wikipedia:Cygwin|Cygwin]]

Once only available for command line Gambas programs, since 2016 it is now possible to run graphical, feature rich programs. Therefore, this is the [http://gambaswiki.org/wiki/install/cygwin recommended method] as of version 3.9.2. Additional instructions were posted [https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22575703 here]. Our own testing has found the performance to be lower than of WSL, but with greater compatibility. It is also usable on a greater range of Windows installs. An official package for Cygwin is [https://cygwin.com/packages/summary/gambas3.html available] maintained by Bastian Germann.

== Porting to another language ==
If you are a programmer and you feel up to this challenge then you may want to consider this option. A list of GUI based development environments for Linux can be found [https://www.darkartistry.com/development-environments-with-gui-designers-for-linux/ here] and [https://www.ubuntubuzz.com/2022/01/alternatives-to-visual-basic.html?m=1 here].

*Advantages
** If written properly software should be stable and efficient
** Once ported software should be easy to set up for users no matter what their technical background.

*Disadvantages
** Will require strenuous bugfixing and testing
** Difficult to provide program updates over two separate codebases

Although this is theoretically possible with any language, some are more similar to Gambas than others.

=== Visual Basic ===
[[File:Free-Empires-DOT-NET.png|thumb|200px|Attempted port of ''[[Free Empires]]'' to [[:wikipedia:Microsoft Windows|Windows XP]] with [[:wikipedia:Visual Basic .NET|VB .NET]] [[:wikipedia:Visual Studio 2005|2005 Express]]]]
[[File:FE-Development-2.png|thumb|200px|Original ''[[Free Empires]]'' [[Source Release]] in [[Gambas]] from [[:wikipedia:Fedora (operating system)|Fedora]]]]

The most obvious candidate for porting is [[:wikipedia:Visual Basic .Net|Visual Basic .Net]] as it is a common [[:wikipedia:BASIC|BASIC]] derivative with a [[:wikipedia:GUI builder|form designer]] that works well in modern versions of Windows. Also VB.net has a stripped down "free for use" version (Community, previously Express), and shares certain syntax supported in Gambas (such as -= or += shorthand and zero indexed arrays). If you have the need, you may also consider using the classic [[:wikipedia:Visual Basic (classic)|Visual Basic]] (presumably version 6) for legacy versions of Windows. Other commercial BASIC versions like [[:wikipedia:PureBasic|PureBasic]] and [[:wikipedia:Xojo|Xojo]], as well as the freeware [[:wikipedia:RapidQ|RapidQ]], are also options.

*Advantages
**Common BASIC heritage and similar form designers 

*Disadvantages
** Forms have to be recreated from scratch, and not all form controls are shared between Gambas and either VB or VB .Net
** Syntax differences from both languages are varied
** [[:wikipedia:Visual Studio|Visual Studio]] is proprietary software and Windows only; limited compatibility via [[:wikipedia:Mono (software)|Mono]].
** As of 2020, Microsoft is maintaining but no longer actively developing the .Net version of the language, although the third-party [[:wikipedia:Mercury (RemObjects BASIC programming language)|Mercury]] exists.
** The original variant was discontinued by Microsoft way back in 2008, with legacy support attempted by [https://github.com/VykosX/ModernVB ModernVB], RAD Basic and twinBASIC.

=== FreeBASIC ===
Although descended from the earlier [[:wikipedia:QBasic|QBasic]] rather than [[:wikipedia:Visual Basic|Visual Basic]], the [[:wikipedia:FreeBASIC|FreeBASIC]] language features numerous modernizations including partial support for object-oriented programming. Although primarily used in pure markup, there exists a few visual [[:wikipedia:Integrated development environment|IDE]]s, one of the most active currently in English and cross-platform being [https://github.com/XusinboyBekchanov/VisualFBEditor VisualFBEditor]. The presently discontinued [https://www.q7basic.org/ Basic For Qt] are also options ([https://hbasic.sourceforge.net/ HBasic] meanwhile was also Linux only), as well as markup based variants of BASIC such as [[:wikipedia:wxBASIC|wxBASIC]] or [[:wikipedia:SdlBasic|SdlBasic]] and [[:wikipedia:Basic4GL|Basic4GL]]. [[:wikipedia:QB64|QB64]] also has an event driven graphical IDE called [https://qb64.com/inform.html InForm].

*Advantages
**Free software and crossplatform
**Similar BASIC style syntax 
**Porting can be done from a common Linux installation (running side-by-side)

*Disadvantages
**No unified interface for GUIs, with toolkit components in visual IDEs somewhat limited 
**Smaller community than other options
**More archaic syntax with limited [[:wikipedia:Object oriented programming|object orientation]]

=== Lazarus ===
[[File:Mosquito.png|thumb|200px|Original ''[[Mosquito]]'' in [[Gambas]]]]
[[File:Mosquito-Lazarus.png|thumb|200px|Attempted port of ''[[Mosquito]]'' to [[:wikipedia:Lazarus (software)|Lazarus]]]]

''Main Article: [[Crustacean of Bethany]]''

In terms of feature set, the [[:wikipedia:Integrated development environment|IDE]] most similar to that of [[Gambas]] available in the free software world is arguably [[:wikipedia:Lazarus (IDE)|Lazarus]], an environment powered by [[:wikipedia:Free Pascal|Free Pascal]]. Similar to how Gambas was inspired by Visual Basic, Lazarus was inspired by the very similar [[:wikipedia:Delphi (IDE)|Delphi]] for [[:wikipedia:Object Pascal|Object Pascal]]. Theoretically one could also port a Gambas program to Delphi itself, for which there does exist a freeware community version, or the even older [[:wikipedia:Borland Kylix|Borland Kylix]] if one does not care about using an open source foundation.

* Advantages
** Very similar fundamental graphical component models
** Both are free software languages
** Both are object oriented and event driven languages
** Porting can be done from a common Linux installation (running side-by-side)
** Better support for more recent OpenGL versions

*Disadvantages
** Forms have to be recreated from scratch
** Syntax differences from both languages are varied (Pascal and BASIC are distinct language families)
** Lazarus currently defaults to the antiquated GTK2 on Linux (which needs to be [https://sourceforge.net/projects/gtk-win/ installed] on Windows for 1:1 parity)

=== Python ===
*[https://wiki.python.org/moin/GuiProgramming GUI Programming with Python]
*[https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Python_Programming/GUI_Programming Python Programming/GUI Programming]
*[https://wiki.c2.com/?PythonGuiBuilders Python Gui Builders]
**[https://sourceforge.net/projects/page/ PAGE]
**[https://github.com/reingart/gui2py gui2py] (see also [https://pythoncard.sourceforge.net/ Pythoncard])
**[https://sourceforge.net/projects/visualtkinter/ Visual Tkinter Python IDE]
**[https://sourceforge.net/projects/boa-constructor/ Boa Constructor]

=== Godot ===
The [[:wikipedia:Godot (game engine)|Godot]] 4 engine features a new [https://docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/classes/class_tilemap.html Tilemap] system similar in function to the [[Gambas Tile System]], and has [https://docs.godotengine.org/en/stable/tutorials/ui/index.html a handful] of common UI controls like buttons, labels, text boxes, and containers.

* Advantages
** Both are free software development environments
** Porting can be done from a common Linux installation (running side-by-side)
** Does not require porting of rendering and physics systems
** Utilizes modern frameworks, namely [[:wikipedia:OpenGL ES|OpenGL ES]] and since version 4 also [[:wikipedia:Vulkan|Vulkan]]

*Disadvantages
** Scenes have to be recreated from scratch, although tile maps may be converted
** Syntax differences from both languages are varied (GDScript is based on [[:wikipedia:Python (programming language)|Python]])
** GUI controls far less robust

== Using SSH Forwarding ==

A stated on the Gambas Documentation you can used SSH Forwarding to run Gambas programs in Windows. The page has it nicely layed out for using the NX protocal.

You can also use PuTTY and Xming (or CygwinX) to so the same thing. On the Linux server you need SSH installed and the port opened if you are running a firewall (the default is 22). On the Windows computer you need PuTTY and an X11 server, like Xming.

One you have the Gambas software installed on Linux run the X11 server and PuTTY on the Windows computer. Make sure PuTTY is set to allow X11 forwarding too your server. Then connect and login to the linux server.

One you have done that run the program using the relevant command.

E.g. Gambas_Example

Things to add to tutorial:

    Sound Forwarding with PulseAudio

*Advantages
** actually running on a Linux server so is fully compatible

Disadvantages
** can be slow depending on network connectivity
**  limited support for devices
**  requires a separate computer

==Cloud streaming==
Gambas is [https://www.rollapp.com/app/gambas included] on the [https://www.rollapp.com/ rollApp] cloud streaming service, although the free tier is [https://forum.gambas.one/viewtopic.php?t=1476&sid=b2b8f47234f75e1011c4b0783f95d551 very limited] in functionality.

==Running through Linux virtual machines==

For this option you need a Virtualisation environment to run a "virtual copy" of Linux on top of Windows. There are several available including Parallels, VMWare, Virtual PC, and VirtualBox. For this documentation we are going to use Sun Microsystems VirtualBox platform. The procedure should be similar for other platforms however, you may need to consult documentation specific to it. Microsoft's Virtual PC should work but is not recommended since there is no official support for Linux guests.

https://blog.desdelinux.net/en/gnulinux-y-gambas3-ejecutandose-en-windows/

*Advantages
**No code changes

*Disadvantages
**Difficult for non-technical users
**Can be resource intensive
**Separates your program from the user's native Windows setup

===coLinux===
[[File:Snake-coLinux.png|thumb|right|200px|[[:wikipedia:Snake (video game)|Snake]] example under coLinux on [[:wikipedia:Windows XP|Windows XP]]]]

[[:wikipedia:Cooperative Linux|coLinux]] is actually a specialized cooperative [[:wikipedia:Virtualization|virtualisation]] environment for seamlessly running [[:wikipedia:Linux|Linux]] under a [[:wikipedia:Windows kernel|Windows kernel]]. As shown from the accompanying screenshot, [[Piga Software]] has successfully tested this once using [https://andlinux.sourceforge.io/ andLinux]; as has [https://gambas-user.narkive.com/oZba9RVr/gambas-on-windows-alternative Daniel Campos].

*Advantages
**Seamlessly run [[Gambas]], or any Linux software, under Windows

*Disadvantages
**Extremely difficult for non-technical users
**Has not been recently maintained since April 9, 2011
**Less choice of [[:wikipedia:Linux distribution|distributions]] than traditional virtualization

[[Category:Guides]]
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View source for Running Gambas Programs in Windows

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