Wonder Ball
It's Wonder Ball! An entertaining and fascinating application that's destined to become the Lava Lamp of the computer age- it's Wonder Ball! Shape your spherical world in this geometric wonderland. Whether you come seeking colorfully stimulating interactive fun or powerfully relaxing vibrant visuals, Wonder Ball has what you need.

Here are some guidelines for using Wonder Ball...

  • Create balls

    • Create balls of all shapes, colors and sizes. First select the color of the ball from the toolbar. Now, hold down the CTRL key and hold your left mouse button while dragging the mouse. The ball will get larger and smaller as you move the cursor farther from and closer to the beginning of the drag. When the ball is the desired size, release the mouse button.
     
  • Set Balls in Motion

    • Click on any ball and drag it. When the mouse button is released it is set in motion in the direction of your drag. The harder you throw the ball, the faster it moves. You can also "grab" balls in motion and throw them again, changing their speed and direction.
     
  • Destroy Balls

    • Use the right mouse button to destroy balls. Watch as the ball inflates and then explodes. Challenge yourself by trying to destroy a fast moving ball or a small ball!
     
  • Ball Trails

    • This is everyone's favorite. Select this option from the Ball menu or on the toolbar and balls in motion will leave a trail behind them. This creates some really hypnotic effects! Design dazzling patterns that you can relax in front of for hours. You can also draw by dragging balls around. While drawing, you may want to disable the "In Motion" option in the Ball menu or on the toolbar if you don't want your balls to be set in motion after you let go of them.

     
    Download Wonder Ball

    System Requirements
        Windows 95 (or greater) or Windows NT
        16 megabytes of RAM
        1 megabyte of free disk space
        Pentium or better recommended

    Download Size
        1.67 megabytes
     

     
     
     
     
    Skills Demonstrated
    MFC Wonder Ball was written completely in Visual C++ and based on Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC).
    GDI All graphics are done through the Graphic Device Interface (GDI). This includes the drawing and animation of the balls, as well as the Wonder Ball bitmap that is centered in the window. Since the graphics programming is done through the MFC framework, basic Print and Print Preview functionality is present without having to write extra code.
    MDI Wonder Ball is a Multiple Document Interface (MDI) implementation of the Document-View arcitechture. This allows the user to open more than one Wonder Ball document at the same time and allows the user to create multiple views of the same document. 
    Serialization The data in Wonder Ball is serialized, giving it the ability to easily archive and restore Wonder Ball documents. Like most endeavors in MFC, by following a few simple rules, a programmer saves him or herself a great deal of time and effort. By serializing the data objects, MFC handles the details of the Open and Save functionality. There's no need to "re-invent the wheel" by deciding on a file format and writing code support the file format. MFC just needs the data and it handles the rest.
    InstallShield The install for Wonder Ball was written using InstallShield and PackageForTheWeb. Contrary to what others may have you believe, install programming is far from trivial. Even with all the improvements over the years, InstallShield still requires a considerable learning curve to create even a minimal install program. And elaborate InstallShield programming is comprable to (and sometimes is) regular Windows programming.
    Timers Admittedly not a huge accomlishment, but at least worth mentioning! The balls move at regular intervals thanks to Windows Timers.

     
     
     

    You can e-mail the author, Jeff Lawlor, at jlawlor@jlawlor.pair.com.
     
     

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