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Text File | 1987-12-01 | 18.6 KB | 410 lines

December 01, 1987 QWIK SCREEN UTILITIES Version 4.0 PURPOSE: QWIK screen utilities permit fast screen writing on IBM | compatibles on any IBM or Hercules adapter including the new PS/2 systems without "snow" or flicker effects and is compatible with | ANY column format (e.g. 40/80 or variable). Written in MASM and | implemented in a unit for Turbo Pascal 4.0, these procedures are lightning fast. The code has also been condensed as much as possible without sacrificing speed - only 1.6k bytes of compiled | code for all 18 procedures! QWIK utilities allow you to write to | the screen in absolute coordinates on any video page and are not | confined to a Turbo window or to just page 0. TEST DRIVE: Compile and run QWIKDEMO.PAS to get a feel for features and speed. IMPROVEMENTS: | Most obviously, this version was overhauled to work with TP 4.0. | In addition, Hercules and 3270 PC detection was added. (For those | not familiar with the 3270 PC, it is a stand alone PC that doubles | as a main-frame terminal.) WhereR and WhereC were added. CRTcols | and CRTrows variables were added. TP 4.0 improved string handling | procedures so that Qwrite- no longer requires VAR parameters, so, | QwriteV and QwriteCV were deleted. Read UPGRADING below on how to | change your source code. Also, char-type variables can now be | passed to Qwrite- procedures. FILES: In this version, QWIK40.ARC contains: Qwik40 .tpu: Compiled QWIK40 unit of 1200 lines of assembler. Qwik40 .pas: Source code for QWIK40.TPU. (MASM source code and object files are not included.) Qwik40 .doc: This document. QwikDemo.pas: A demonstration program showing the features and speed of all procedures and is written primarily for color cards, but also works on mono cards. Qinit .doc: Document for Qinit procedure. Qinitest.pas: A program that verifies the equipment detected by the Qinit procedure. Qbench .pas: A timing program that shows "screens/second" for the Q- procedures. Cursor .doc: Document for cursor procedures and functions. TimerD12.inc: Include file to measure elapsed time. License .arc: ARC file containing license agreements PROCEDURES AND FUNCTIONS: In this version, QWIK40.TPU has the following procedures and functions. To see the parameters needed, see QWIK40.PAS. One initializing procedure: Qinit - Initializing procedure executed by QWIK40.TPU which sets the global variables for the Q- procedures. It should be executed again after a change from one text mode to another. Three quick direct screen writing procedures, all work with or without attribute change: Qwrite - for any type string or char. QwriteC - for any type string or char; self-centering. QwriteA - for any type variable; specified length and index. (Array-like) Four quick direct screen filling procedures in Rows-by-Cols block parameters: Qfill - repetitive filling with the same character; self-centering, with or without attribute change. QfillC - Same as Qfill, but self-centering. Qattr - repetitive filling with the same attribute only. QattrC - Same as Qattr, but self-centering. Two quick screen storing procedures: QstoreToMem - Saves a Rows-by-Cols block to memory. QstoreToScr - Restores a Rows-by-Cols block to any screen page. Two quick video page changing procedures: QviewPage - Changes the page to be displayed - up to 8! QwritePage - Sets the page on which the Q- procedures are writing. You don't have to write just on the displayed page! Six quick cursor procedures and functions: GotoRC - inverse of Turbo's GotoXY but in absolute coordinates rather than relative to a window. It also works on any video page. ChangeCursor - changes shape and visibility of the cursor; saves old shape, too! CursorOff - Hides cursor. CursorOn - Reveals cursor, again. WhereR - Returns absolute row coordinate for the viewed video page. WhereC - Returns absolute column coordinate for the viewed video page. PROGRAMMING: | To use QWIK40.TPU in your programs add the following line: | | USES {$U Qwik40.tpu} Qwik; | | Or, if you would like, it is recommended that you copy QWIK40.TPU | to QWIK.TPU and just do this line: | | USES Qwik; | | TP 4.0 Startup - Borland improved the startup of any EXE file. It | checks for the video mode to see if it is a valid text mode | (0..3,7). If so, it remains in that mode. If not, it is in a | graphics mode and it is forced back into the computer's default | text mode, whatever that may be. | | QWIK40 Startup - QWIK40.TPU automatically runs Qinit the first | time. (Turbo's smart compiler does it just once no matter how | many times it appears in USES statments throughout your program.) | If you change from one text mode to another in a running program, | you still need to run Qinit again. PARAMETERS: Row/Col - The procedures do not check for bounds on the screen, so be sure to stay in range. The procedures were designed for the upper left column on the screen to be 1,1. They also wrap to the next line; they do not truncate at EOL. You of course can have something like Row:=1 and Col:=255 which is equivalent to Row:=3 and Col:=15 on a screen with 80 columns. ColL/ColR - In QwriteC, QfillC, and QattrC, the left and right columns are simply averaged. To center on the full width of an 80 column display, set ColL:=1 and ColR:=80. To center on a certain | column number, set both values equal to that column number. Or, | to center on any display, set ColL:=1 and ColR:=CRTcols. Rows/Cols - They can be any byte to define the block: Rows-by- Columns starting at Row, Col. Please keep Cols limited to one row. Attr - The attributes range from 0 to 255. Values greater than 255 will be operated by modulo 256 to stay useful. Negative values suppress any changes to the screen attributes and use what's currently on the screen. You can also use Turbo's | TextColor and TextBackground procedures, and then use TextAttr as | a parameter. Be aware that the 3270 PC ignores the foreground | intensity bit, so there are only 8 colors. In addition, 4 colors | have different tints: | PC Color 3270 PC Color | ------------ ------------- | Cyan Turquoise | Magenta Pink | Brown Yellow | Light Gray White | ArrayLength - In QwriteA, you can write arrays or partial strings | by specifying the ArrayLength and the starting index (aStr[i]). | (Qwrite and QwriteC assume the length is the value at aStr[0] and | the starting index is aStr[1].) ArrayLength can be any word. For | example: | | MyString:='Step B: Testin out this line.'; | QwriteA (1,1,-1,21,MyString[9]); | | will print out "Testing out this line." Of course, MyString | doesn't have to be a string - it can be any type variable or | address in memory. | aStr - One of the nice improvements of TP 4.0 is that the address | of a string is always passed onto to the stack no matter if it's a | string value or a variable. So, there is no need to copy strings | to the stack and thereby increasing speed. The Qwrite- procedures | only use the address. "aStr" is of type "string", now, and not | Str80 and there is no need to be concerned about incompatible | string types Source/Dest - For Qstores.inc, this can be a pointer for the heap or an array variable. Be sure there is sufficient room. Storage requirements are: (Rows * Cols shl 1) which is two bytes for every column. For pointers use a format such as: Var MemPtr: ^byte; GetMem (MemPtr,Rows*Cols shl 1); QstoreToMem (Row,Col,Rows,Cols,MemPtr^); Page - The page range depends upon your adapter. See QINIT.DOC for the possible ranges. PAGING: If you have a CGA or better, you already have memory on your card for more than the 80x25 display you normally see. The two page procedures allow you to use QWIK utilities on these other pages and display which ever you choose. However, Turbo's procedures such as Write, Window, and GotoXY are dedicated to page 0 only. Be sure to end your programs with "QviewPage (0);". | UPGRADING: Here's a list of steps to help you upgrade to QWIK40 from earlier versions on your new programs: 1. Add "Uses Qwik;" or "Uses {$U Qwik40.tpu} Qwik;". 2. Delete the first Qinit. 3. Do a search and replace for the following names. Search Replace with --------- --------------------- CardWait CardSnow Qwait Qsnow QwriteLV QwriteA QwriteCV QwriteC QwriteV Qwrite ActiveDD ActiveDispDev AltDD AltDispDev PCCAltDD AltDispDevPCC Vmode VideoMode 4. Add "CheckSnow:=Qsnow" early in the program and after each Qinit. 5. See REVISIONS for changes of type. | TIPS: CheckSnow - If you plan on using the standard CRT unit, place the following line early in your programs and after each Qinit. CheckSnow:=Qsnow; Qinit appears to be more extensive in it's testing for wait-for- retrace. Then, Write and WriteLn will work at the same speed as QWIK if DirectVideo is true. Multi-Tasking - Currently, QWIK does not attempt to modify Page0seg for multi-tasking software, but the variables have been set up so you can do this. Take DESQview for example; rather than writing direct to screen memory, DESQview allocates a presentation buffer in RAM. All direct screen write procedures can treat the presentation buffer just like the video buffer, except that Qsnow can always be false. Then, DESQview copies the correct portions to the video buffer. Here's an example procedure that would modify Page0seg: uses DOS; GetVideoBuffer (VAR Page0seg: word); begin Regs.es:=Page0seg; Regs.di:=0; Regs.ah:=$FE; Intr ($10,Regs); Page0seg:=Regs.es; end; This procedure also works for 3270 PC. If neither DESQview nor the 3270 PC are present, then Page0seg will still have the same value. To update the display on the 3270 PC when using multi-tasking, use the following procedure: UpdateVideoDisplay (Row, Col: byte; NumOfChars: word); begin Regs.es:=Page0seg; Regs.di:=pred(Row)*CRTcols + pred(Col); Regs.cx:=NumOfChars; Intr ($10,Regs); Qseg:=Page0seg; end; where Row and Col is the position in the presentation buffer to be updated and only for NumOfChars. CardSeg will still have the original segment of the video card. EgaMono - You should be aware that another constant also named EGAMono is used by the DetectGraph procedure in the Graph unit, but fortunately, they have the same value! Longer names - If you wish to be more explicit with procedure, function, and variable names, you can always add the unit name as a prefix: Qwik.GotoRC (1,1); MyCols:=Qwik.CRTcols; Q- Convention - The "Q" in front of a procedure means that it depends on the data initialized by Qinit. Others do not. SPEED: How fast is fast? Well, I thought it would be good idea to have some criteria to get a feeling for speed. The units I decided to use for comparison are "screens/second". To make one screen, a procedure is repeated with a FOR loop to fill several 80x25 pages and timed. Qwrite- use 80 character strings, and Qattr and Qfill use Rows:=25 and Cols:=80. Here are some samples from the systems that have been tested. My own computer is the AT&T 6300+ which uses Intel 80286. Monochrome (MDA) speeds are close to EGA speeds. ------------------ S C R E E N S / S E C O N D ------------------ Chng XT(4.77 MHz) M50 M30 PCC ATT 6300+ Procedure Attr EGA CGA MCGA VGA LCD EGA CGA --------- ---- ------------ ----- ----- ----- ----------- | Qwrite Yes 32.8 9.5 75.4 88.4 40.0 112.1 16.7 | No 42.4 9.5 90.0 138.1 48.6 119.5 16.8 | QwriteC Yes 32.6 9.5 74.9 89.0 39.5 111.0 16.8 | No 41.6 9.5 89.3 138.1 47.8 119.0 16.8 QwriteA Yes 32.6 9.5 74.9 88.4 39.7 111.3 16.8 No 42.0 9.5 89.3 138.1 47.8 119.5 16.8 QfillC Yes 81.2 11.9 166.6 147.3 122.5 244.3 21.5 No 72.6 7.4 141.3 174.4 90.5 176.9 14.0 Qfill Yes 81.2 11.8 164.1 147.3 122.5 246.1 21.5 No 73.7 7.4 141.3 174.4 90.5 177.9 14.0 Qattr Yes 72.6 7.4 141.3 174.4 90.5 177.9 14.0 QattrC Yes 72.6 7.4 141.3 174.4 90.5 177.9 14.0 QstoreToMem n/a 59.1 7.2 111.6 127.4 78.4 181.9 13.8 QstoreToScr n/a 59.1 7.0 111.6 126.2 78.4 183.9 13.7 APPLICATIONS: Multi-level Windows - An application of QWIK40.INC is multi-level windows. The code is available in a file called WINDOW40.ARC. It creates protected windows with serial or random access that can be moved or removed and has Macintosh-like special special effects. Scheduled release is 12-12-87. Multi-level Pull-down Menus - An application of windows is multi- level pull-down menus. I have already created some very thorough code in a file called PULL20.ARC. It is fully featured and fully configurable. Includes execute, single, and multiple choice menus, unlimited nested submenus, data entry windows, help windows, directory windows, message system, and fully completed interfaces. Scheduled release is 01-02-88. On-line source - All updated files can be found on the CompuServe Borland Forum (GO BPROGA) in the MSDOS TP 4.0 Data Library or the IBM software forum (GO IBMSW) data library. CREDITS: Without the assistance and original ideas from Brian Foley [76317,3247], these routines would not have been written. Copyright (c) 1986,1987 by Jim LeMay If there are any problems, please let me know. Jim LeMay [76011,217] (1-817-735-4833 after 1800 CST) 6341 Klamath Rd., Ft. Worth, TX, 76116. PRICE: After much thought, I have decided to make these procedures into ShareWare. The cost may range from $6 to $16 depending on your application. I do enjoy assisting others in their programming, but lack of reimbursement is expensive for me! Please help out. See the license statement, STATMENT.LIC, in LICENSE.ARC for details. If the response will let me break even, I will continue | support. Those who have already registered can receive a disk | complete with source code for $2.50, or free if you supply the | disc, mailer and postage. REVISIONS: Version 4.0 (12-01-87): Converted QWIK30 to QWIK40 to work on Turbo Pascal 4.0. Deleted QwriteV and QwriteCV. Added WhereR and WhereC. Added Hercules and IBM 3270 PC detection. Renamed the following variables: From To ---------- ------------ CardWait CardSnow Qwait Qsnow QwriteLV QwriteA QwriteCV QwriteC QwriteV Qwrite ActiveDD ActiveDispDev AltDD AltDispDev PCCAltDD AltDispDevPCC Vmode VideoMode Added the following variables: VideoPage, CRTcols, CRTrows, CardSeg, Have3270, ActiveDispDev3270 Added the following constants: NoHerc, HgcMono, HgcPlus, HercInColor Types were changed on the following items: - Strings passed to Qwrite- are of type String rather than Str80. (Should not be of any consequence.) - The CursorChange parameters are now word. - EgaFontSize, CRTcolumns, CardSeg, Page0seg, Qseg, AltDispDevPCC and ArrayLength are now word.