Bugs and Gotchas

Author - The Community

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This is a list of known bugs, quirks and gotchas that folks new to Liberty BASIC have discovered. Each is listed beside the command it is associated with. A bug is something Liberty is getting wrong, a cha is something the programmer should not be doing and the rest is for info as each BASIC language has little quirks of its own.
If you are new to Liberty BASIC and you have not yet found or read the Fast FAQ then please do so. The LBPE is your other searchable font of knowledge about all things Liberty.

If you are still perplexed then there are many people to chat to over on the Conforum board.

The command	Description of Bug Gotcha or Info	Link to more info
-	Unary minus is not supported, use 0-x	Info
=	Comparing two floats x.x y.y is problematic	Gotcha
!insert	Texteditor !insert command requires a locally scoped string	Bug
%	If this appears in front of a using() number its too big to fit	Info
*	A missing * in a maths statement is not caught, always insert *	Info
,	Missing , are sometimes not reported, check , are inserted	Info
Beep	Beep is not supported by modern BIOS, use Playwave instead	Info
Box graphics	Box draws one pixel short	Info
Branch labels	A [Branch Label] should not head up another [Branch Label]	Bug
Button	Button anchor values result in misplaced buttons	Bug
Calldll	Calldll return types USHORT and WORD are broken	Bug
Close	Random file's close command cannot use a Handle$ variable	Bug
Data	If you precede the data statement with line numbers it will fail	Bug
Error message	Attempted to kill non-existant file	Gotcha
Error message	Stack Overflow	Gotcha
Error message	Collection is empty	Gotcha
Error message	Argument must be a collection	Gotcha
Error message	Index (n) is outside collection bounds	Gotcha
Error message	Invalid Branch Label [xyz]	Gotcha
Error message	Float invalid op	Info
Error message	System Primitive Failed	Gotcha
Error message	File is literally invisible	Gotcha
Error message	Error Opening file	Gotcha
Error message	File System Access Denied	Gotcha
Error message	Problem creating file	Gotcha
Error message	OS Error cannot find file	Gotcha
Error message	String can't hold string	Info
Error message	A non-continuable protection violation has occurred	Gotcha
Error message	IsEmpty	Gotcha
Field	Random file's field command cannot use a Handle$ variable	Bug
File Association	Associating liberty.exe to .bas files needs manual fix on upgrade	Info
For Next	Incorrectly allows a string variable as a loop counter	Bug
For Next	Do not use a global variable as a loop counter	Info
For Next	Don't jump out a for next loop, leave using exit for	Gotcha
For Next	A STRUCT variable cannot be used as a loop counter	Info
Function	Arrays are global by default and available inside functions	Info
Function	Global variables need not be passed to functions	Info
Get	Random file's get command cannot use a Handle$ variable	Bug
Handle$	Handle$ variables do not work with RAF files	Bug
Horizscrollbar	Large graphics need special preparation	Bug
IDE	IDE-editor - Undo feature does not work + some quirks	Bug
Inkey$	The help file reference listing Virtual Key Codes is erroneous	Info
Input var$;val	Input cannot use a var$ as a prompt as per the help file	Bug
Inputcsv	Does not deal with embeded quotes correctly	Bug
Line graphics	Line draws one pixel short	Info
Listbox	Changes to font size after creation breaks scroll range	Bug
lof()	Lof() function reports incorrect files size for files > 4Gb	Info
Mainwin	Mainwin permanently alters width, reset to 80 using preferences	Info
Mid$()	Mid$() reads a string fragment, it cannot assign a string fragment	Info
middleButtonMove	middleButtonMove event is broken	Bug
Pie graphics	Pie and Piefilled drawing distorted	Bug
Piefilled graphics	Pie and Piefilled drawing distorted	Bug
Printerdialog	Printerdialog is broken an API alternative is available	Bug
Prompt	If you use prompt when a timer is running Liberty will crash	Bug
Put	Random file's put command cannot use a Handle$ variable	Bug
Put	Attempting to write to record 0 erronously creates a 4Gb file	Bug
Redim	Redim acts on an existing array a(x,y) x,y cannot change	Info
Rnd(0)	Rnd(0) has a slight bias, improved routines are available	Info
Sort	Sort a(),r,c,col if r is less than c sorting breaks when col is >r	Bug
Sort	Sorting is not in ASCII order it is dictionary order but flawed	Bug
STRUCT	STRUCT keyword is case sensitive	Info
STRUCT double	STRUCT member of type double crashes if you assign and integer	Bug
STRUCT Variable	STRUCT variable cannot be used as a For loop counter	Info
Sub	Arrays are global by default and available inside Subs	Info
Sub	Global variables need not be passed to Subs	Info
Texteditor	The !insert command must use a locally scoped string	Info
Texteditor	The undo feature is broken	Bug
Time$()	Time$() arguments are case sensitive, lower case	Info
Timer	If you use prompt when a timer is running Liberty will crash	Bug
Timer	If a timer is set you must consider where the scope is when it fires	Gotcha
Timer	Timer events repeat, you must turn them off asap	Tutorial needed
Timer	Only a timer encased entirely within a sub will work	Tutorial needed
Trapclose	Trapclose is broken for windows of type text	Bug
Using	Using is accurate to 16 digits, beyond that is garbage	Info
Using()	If a % appears the number is too big to fit in the format	Info
Vertscrollbar	Large graphics need special preparation	Bug
Virtual Key Code	The help file reference listing Virtual Key Codes is erroneous	Info
Window type Dialog	Dialog windows may position incorrectly if DPI is not 96	Bug
Window type Text	Trapclose is broken for windows of type text	Bug

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Bugs and Gotchas