Programmer 7500/MAX_PROGRAMMERS.iso/PASCAL/ICONMN.ZIP/ICONMEU1.DOC

Text File | 1989-04-11 | 10.1 KB | 178 lines

ICONMEU1.DOC

Instruction file for Turbo Pascal Icon Menu Maker  -  by  Bill Tavolga
                           Version 1.0

Files in this group:
     ICON-MK.EXE   Program for constructing up to 32 icons per file
     ICONTST1.EXE  Program to demonstrate use of constructed icons in menu
     ICONTST1.PAS  Source code for above
     ICON-DEM.DAT  Sample file of icons
     ICON.1        Sample file of menu parameters (use with ICONTST1)
     ICONMEU1.TPU  Unit to be used with ICONTST1 or your own program
     IMOUSE.PAS    Unit of basic mouse functions used here
     IMOUSE.TPU    Compiled mouse unit

Requirements:
     Turbo Pascal 5.0
     PC-type hardware with EGA or VGA graphics
     Mouse and mouse driver (loaded)
     (and patience to experiment)

General purpose:
     This is for the programmer who is looking for a shortcut to making MAC-
like mouse-controlled icon-menus for his programs.
     The procedure is first to create a file of icons. The menu in your own
program will use two procedures. The DISPLAY_ICONS procedure permits you
to select several icons from your file and paint them on the screen.  The
USE_ICON_MENU procedure waits until a mouse button is pressed. At this
point four values are returned to the program: the x and y coordinates of
the mouse cursor, the button status (1 for left, 2 for right, etc.), and the
icon number that was selected (0 if none).  The most frequent use of this
procedure would be in a loop that would continue until a particular icon is
selected.  Within the loop the returned values can be used for any other
programming tasks, except something that interferes with the display of the
icons or mouse operation. See ICONTST1.PAS for a sample.

Getting started
   (read this especially if you are an inexperienced programmer):
     As a first step, just run program ICONTST1.EXE.  Choose the internally
programmed option (C).  Be sure that your mouse driver has been loaded.
Pressing any mouse button anywhere on the screen gives you an output of:
icon selected (0 if none), x-y coordinates, and button status. This option is
programmed so that clicking the left mouse button over icon "EXIT" will quit
the program, otherwise the loop continues. Your icon is selected only when
the left mouse button is pressed, but the button must be released before any
action takes place.
     Exit the program, and run it again, but this time choose the B option:
text-file of menu parameters. (If you have any problems, it may be that the
data files are not in the default directory.) The demonstration textfile is
ICON.1 .  The menu display will be a bit different.  If you examine ICON.1,
you will see it is an ASCII file with the following:
                        icon-dem.dat
                        7 10 21 13 8
                        5
The first line is a demonstration file of icon data; next is an array of five
numbers that represent the ordinal position of the icons in the file, i.e., you
will use the seventh, tenth, twenty-first, etc., in that order; lastly is the
position of the icon you will use to exit the program. Within limits, you can
change this file to use any of the available icons in any order. In Version 1.0
of this program, a maximum of five icons can be used in a menu. If the
number of icons you choose is less than the maximum of five, then a zero
must be added to the array. The number in line 3 cannot be greater than the
number of icons used.  The unit ICONMEU1.TPU will catch some of these
errors, but the programmer has the responsibility to stay within proper
limits.
     Finally, run the program again and try the A option.  You may find new
and wonderful ways of crashing your system, but if you use the Turbo
Pascal 5.0 environment, it will catch most of your errors. Make sure that the
icon file, e.g., ICON-DEM.DAT, is in the path.  Enter the array with spaces
between the numbers, thus: 2 5 7. The last number must be a zero if the
array contains fewer than five numbers, and each number may not be less
than 1 or more than 32. The last item can only be equal to or less than the
number of array members, and not zero.

Icon constructor (ICON-MK.EXE):
     This program creates the icons that you use in your menu. Each icon
consists of a rectangle 24 pixels across and 20 pixels high, and a file of 32
such icons is generated and saved in a format that can be used by
ICONMEU1.TPU. The program permits you to use a previously saved file of
icons or create a new file. The file ICON-DEM.DAT is supplied with a few
samples for you to start with.
     After the file is selected, the screen displays all the component icons
(including blanks), and a drawing area. The mouse is used for all operations.
Clicking the mouse over an existing icon (or blank area over an icon
number), brings up that icon: left button for editing; right button to blank
out and begin drawing. Draw the icon within the squares area: left button
to fill a square; right button to clear. By holding down a button, you can
create or clear a line of squares.  Each square represents a pixel in the icon,
and as you draw within the squares area, the icon is created over its
number. A red dot marks the currently active icon.
     In this way, you can create your new icons or redraw old ones.  When
finished, click the mouse left button over either SAVE or EXIT.  The latter
will quit the program without saving your work, so be careful.

Icon testing program (ICONTST1.PAS):
     The source code of this program is supplied to show you how the
ICONMENU system works, and to give you a model of how you can create your
own MAC-like mouse menus.
     There are some absolute requirements: you must be in EGA or VGA
graphics, and the mouse driver must be loaded.

     The DISPLAY_ICONS procedure must be given the following parameters:
     ICON_FILE_NAME : This is a string type variable which can be defined
as a file name with or without a complete path.  Anything goes, as long as
the program can find the file. The program will halt if the file cannot be
found or the file is not the right format or size. This file must have been
created by the ICON-MK.EXE program.
     ICS : This is an array of bytes of the type ICON_ARRAY (defined in
ICONMEU1.TPU). It contains a maximum of 5 bytes, each with a value of from
1 to 32, representing the icon number in the above file. If the array has
fewer than 5 members, then a final zero must be added so that the program
will know when to stop loading icons.
     Finally, you must enter the foreground and background colors for the
icons. Numbers can be used, but it is convenient to enter the names of the
16 standard colors as defined in Turbo Pascal.
     This procedure also checks for the presence of a mouse driver, and sets
the screen size to 650x350.

     The USE_ICON_MENU procedure receives the necessary values from the
above procedure. Although mouse movement is still possible, the program is
otherwise suspended until any mouse button is pressed.  To use this
procedure repetitively, you must place it in a loop (as shown in
ICONTST1.PAS).  At each button press, four values are passed:
     icon_selected : Returns byte representing the ordinal value of the icon
selected. If the mouse was not clicked over an icon, the returned value is
zero. When the mouse cursor is over an icon and the left button pressed, the
icon is selected, but no action takes place until the button is released.  This
is to prevent "dragging" the cursor over the icons.  When selecting an icon,
the left button should be "clicked."  Note that the mouse cursor shape
changes when it moves over the icon area.
      x and y : These are of type word and represent the coordinates of the
mouse cursor at the time of button press.  The x values range 0 to 649, and
y values range 0 to 349.
      button : This is also of type word, and remains zero if no button
pressed. Left button generates 1; right button - 2; both buttons - 3.  If you
have a 3-button mouse, the middle button generates 4.
      The programmer is free to use the mouse and virtually all other screen
functions in conjunction with this icon menu.  Obviously if the program
erases the display, then it is necessary to use the DISPLAY_ICONS procedure
again.

     IMOUSE.PAS : This file is included here for the convenience of the
programmer.  The file consists of several basic mouse functions, and should
work with most mouse drivers (I have tested them with Microsoft Mouse and
Logitech Mouse). The file IMOUSE.TPU is the compiled unit used in the icon
menu programs.

     These programs have all been generated by Turbo Pascal 5.0 from
Borland International.

=======================================================================

     These files and programs are provided for the convenience and
enjoyment of any Turbo Pascal programmers.  You are welcome to use,
misuse, copy, and distribute this material in any way.

     However, I do have a version 2.0 of this material with a few additional
features. The DISPLAY_ICONS in version 2.0 has the following additional input
parameters:
        An option of placing the icon menu anywhere on the screen.
        An option of displaying the icons horizontally as well as vertically.
        As many icons as will fit across or down the screen can be displayed.
     For a registration fee of $15, I shall send a copy of version 2.0 and you
will be notified of any further improvements or modifications. The files will
be sent on a 5.25" (360K) disk, unless a 3.5" (720K) disk is requested.
     Comments and suggestions from users would be appreciated and, if
feasible, could be added to subsequent versions. I know there are other
similar programs available, but this one has the virtue of being cheap and
may have some features appropriate to your particular application.
     Please send comments, checks, etc., to:
                 William N. Tavolga
                 5151 Windward Ave.
                 Sarasota, FL  34242
                    Phone: [phone]
                    CIS: 76360,45

     The author is not responsible for any damage to your computer, loss of
time, or loss of hair resulting from the use of any of this software.