Don't use END to terminate your application

Using the End statement is like waking up from a nightmare. After multiple 'runs' in the IDE the GFA-BASIC 32 IDE might stop working at all and crashes eventually. End does not behave as it did in previous versions of GFA-BASIC where it was safe to use it as the application termination command. In GB32 you should never use End to terminate a program. Here is why.

End is defined as to terminate the execution of an application immediately. End is never required by itself but may be placed anywhere in a procedure to end code execution, close files opened with the Open statement and to clear variables.

The End statement stops code execution abruptly, without invoking the any window events, or any other code. Code you have placed in the form_Destroy, form_Close, etc, is not executed. GB32 data types referencing allocated memory at runtime (strings, arrays, hash tables) are properly destroyed, and files opened using the Open statement are closed. Object references held by other programs are invalidated.

The End statement provides a way to force your program to halt. For normal termination of a GB32 program, you should close all forms. Then when you use the 'Do : Sleep : Until Me Is Nothing' loop your program closes as soon as there are no more forms open. This is the only proper way to run a program!

Note The same is true for Quit, Assert, and Stop. These commands do not terminate your application properly.

It is an exception dude
For the curious. When GB32 encounters the End, Assert, and Stop commands GB32 it inserts code that raises an exception event: GB32 inserts a call to the RaiseException() API. An “exception” is an event that is unexpected or disrupts the ability of the process to proceed normally. However, GB32 supports structured exception handling (Try/Catch) the exception is caught by the nearest exception handler. In most cases, and certainly when End is used to terminate an application, the exception is caught by GB32's main-program exception handler. This handler is implicitly inserted around the code in the main program part of a GB32 program. Each unhandled exception is eventually handled by this main exception handler. The handler does nothing more than clearing variables and closing file handles.

So, when GB32 suddenly stops working, make sure your code let the OCX forms and controls properly close their windows in a natural order.

Also Known As bugs
NOTE – Don't blame GB32 too soon! Their are little or no bugs in the memory handling of GB32. Without pointing any fingers..., it turns out that most GB32 blamers are frustrated programmers that can't get their program(s) to work. Often the program structure is wrong or the programmer is under-qualified. This then leads to mysterious mistakes, AKA GB32 bugs.