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GW-BASIC | 1982-03-21 | 10.3 KB | 220 lines

10 REM 20 REM EASYGRAF -- Graphics display and print 30 REM ---------------------------------------- 40 REM Written by: Miracle Computing 50 REM Version: 1.0 60 REM Date: 3/1/82 70 REM 80 REM 90 REM 100 REM System Documentation 110 REM -------------------- 120 REM 130 REM 140 REM The EASYGRAF system is a set of programs which allow you to record 150 REM display, and print "pictures" -- using an IBM Personal Computer. 160 REM 170 REM To use EASYGRAF, you must have the following minimum system 180 REM configuration : 190 REM 1) Color display card 200 REM 2) An Epson MX-80F/T with the "graftrax" option 210 REM 3) Advanced BASIC running under PCDOS 220 REM 4) Optionally, you may use a light pen to input 230 REM data on the screen. Otherwise, you must use 240 REM the cursor-control keys. 250 REM 5) One diskette drive, although two are very handy. 260 REM 270 REM The pictures produced by the computer are of "reasonable" 280 REM quality. In order to produce pictures of more outstanding 290 REM quality, it may be necessary to input data to the screen via 300 REM a digitizer. Any screen pattern may be saved to disk using the 310 REM EASYGRAF system. It then may be retrieved later by EASYGRAF and 320 REM optionally printed. 330 REM 340 REM To begin using EASYGRAF, you should first set-up a diskette 350 REM upon which to record pictures and your index. If you have two 360 REM diskette drives, you may wish to set up your picture diskette on 370 REM another diskette. Programs and the index should reside on the 380 REM same diskette and must be "on-line" at all times. 390 REM 400 REM The programs and index should be placed on a diskette of 410 REM by themselves. You may then place pictures on the same diskette, 420 REM or another. The maximum number of pictures that may be referenced 430 REM by the index is indefinite, however only approx. 10 pictures may 440 REM be recorded on a diskette. Each picture is written out as a 450 REM separate file and takes up about 16,000 bytes. Each file is a 460 REM BLOAD of the color display memory buffer. This means that multi- 470 REM page displays may be stored and retrieved from the EASYGRAF system. 480 REM 490 REM 500 REM OPERATION 510 REM --------- 520 REM 530 REM 1) How to set up a new index diskette 540 REM ------------------------------------- 550 REM 560 REM Before using EASYGRAF, it is necessary to create your index 570 REM diskette. To do this you must start-up EASYGRAF by typing 580 REM the following: RUN "EASYGRAF 590 REM 600 REM Be certain that the easygraf program diskette is in the 610 REM default drive. 620 REM 630 REM The first screen you will see is the system menu screen. It 640 REM displays the functions available in the system. To set-up the 650 REM index diskette, select the "ERASE/BUILD INDEX" function by 660 REM typing: X 670 REM 680 REM You will be asked if you are sure you want to go on. If you 690 REM are doing this the first time, go ahead to build the index. 700 REM *WARNING* If you have entries already in an existing index, 710 REM do not erase that index unless you do not desire to save the 720 REM pictures. Once erased, the pictures may not again be accessed. 730 REM 740 REM 2) How to draw a picture 750 REM ------------------------ 760 REM 770 REM Once you have an index diskette set-up, you may then add to the 780 REM index by adding items. This is done by again starting-up 790 REM EASYGRAF by typing: RUN "EASYGRAF 800 REM 810 REM Then the "ADD/CHANGE ITEM" function may be selected. You will 820 REM then be asked if you want to use high-resolution graphics or 830 REM medium resolution. You will have to make this decision. 840 REM 850 REM Once this is done, you will be presented with a blank screen 860 REM that contains a small square in the center and a single dot. 870 REM 880 REM The square is the "drawing area" of the screen. This square may 890 REM be enlarged by controlling movement of each of the sides of the 900 REM square. You may move the top line by pressing the "T" key, the 910 REM bottom line by pressing "B", the left by pressing "L" and the 920 REM right line by pressing "R". These lines will not be a part of 930 REM the finished picture but are there in order to provide writing 940 REM boundaries. These boundaries should be kept as small as 950 REM possible, since the print time may be drastically reduced by 960 REM the size of them. 970 REM 980 REM The point in the center of the screen is the beginning point 990 REM from which you may begin drawing. Two methods exist for 1000 REM drawing -- 1) Light pen 2) Cursor control keys 1010 REM We suggest using the light pen. The cursor control keys are 1020 REM very difficult to use but do provide a means of drawing in no 1030 REM light pen is available. 1040 REM 1050 REM If using the light pen, you may draw any particular point on 1060 REM the screen by just pressing the light pen to the screen anywhere 1070 REM in the "drawing area". To erase, press the "-" key, then touch 1080 REM the point on the screen to be erased. The light pen will 1090 REM continue erasing until the "+" key is pressed. 1100 REM 1110 REM If using the cursor control keys, drawing is much more 1120 REM difficult. You begin drawing at the dot in the center of the 1130 REM screen and control the area to be drawn by moving the drawing 1140 REM point up, down, left and right. You may erase dots drawn by 1150 REM first pressing the "-" key and then moving the drawing point. 1160 REM Drawing will resume whenever you press the "+" key. 1170 REM 1180 REM By using either techniques, you may develop very detailed 1190 REM drawings and patterns. These may be then be saved to diskette 1200 REM for later review, change, or printing. To save an item to 1210 REM diskette, press the "Esc" key. After a few seconds, you will 1220 REM be asked to enter a name for the item and a description. 1230 REM 1240 REM The name that you assign to the item must follow the rules 1250 REM for filenames. The name should be unique and may contain a 1260 REM drive prefix if desired--however no extension should be used. 1270 REM EASYGRAF assigns a unique extension of ".EZG" to all of it's 1280 REM "picture" files. 1290 REM 1300 REM The description that is listed may be any string of characters 1310 REM up to 25 characters long. 1320 REM 1330 REM Once this information is entered, the image is redisplayed and 1340 REM then recorded to diskette. **IMPORTANT** If something happens 1350 REM between the time you pressed the "Esc" key and the item is 1360 REM recorded to it's own picture-file, you may retrieve the 1370 REM content of the item from a temporary holding-file named 1380 REM "a:tempgraf.ezg". This file is erased automatically by 1390 REM EASYGRAF each time a picture-file is saved, but in the case of 1400 REM a power failure or diskette error, this file would remain. 1410 REM It may be retrieved by specifying "TEMPGRAF" as the beginning 1420 REM picture file on a new "ADD/CHANGE ITEM" run. 1430 REM 1440 REM 1450 REM 3) How to print an item 1460 REM ----------------------- 1470 REM 1480 REM To print an item from a picture-file, you need to start-up 1490 REM EASYGRAF by typing: RUN "EASYGRAF 1500 REM 1510 REM The "PRINT ITEM" function should then be selected. 1520 REM 1530 REM Execution of the print may be considerable. You may discover 1540 REM that it will take as long as 5 minutes to display a full screen 1550 REM of information. This is due to the process of examining each 1560 REM available point on the screen and converting this information 1570 REM into the proper bit-pattern for the printer. 1580 REM 1590 REM Remember, one way of reducing the amount of print-time is by 1600 REM keeping the size of the drawing-area as small as possible. 1610 REM 1620 REM Another way exists of printing an item. This function may be 1630 REM invoked from within another program, written by yourself. 1640 REM To do this, you must invoke the "PRNTGRAF" program. This is 1650 REM done by issuing a CHAIN "PRNTGRAF" in a basic program. 1660 REM A COMMON statement must be issued prior to the chain, which 1670 REM reads like this: COMMON TOP,BOTTOM,LEFT,RIGHT 1680 REM 1690 REM These fields must be set to the proper coordinates for 1700 REM the drawing-area perimeter. For instance, lets say the 1710 REM left line is on x coordinate 100, the right line is on 1720 REM x coordinate 200, the top line is on y coordinate 50, and 1730 REM the bottom line is on y coordinate 150, the values for the 1740 REM fields would be as follows: LEFT=100 1750 REM RIGHT=200 1760 REM TOP=50 1770 REM BOTTOM=150 1780 REM 1790 REM 1800 REM DATABASE DOCUMENTATION 1810 REM ---------------------- 1820 REM 1830 REM Two dataset types exist in the EASYGRAF system. The first is the 1840 REM index dataset, the second the picture dataset. The following highlights 1850 REM the format and content of each of these datasets and give information 1860 REM necessary to write additonal programs used to access them. 1870 REM 1880 REM INDEX DATASET 1890 REM ------------- 1900 REM 1910 REM Record length=128 1920 REM Maximum records=[diskette maximum] 1930 REM 1940 REM 1 - 10 Item name (filename) -- Contains a filename of the 1950 REM particular picture. This may contain a drive prefix 1960 REM if other than the default drive. 1970 REM 1980 REM 11 - 35 Description -- Contains a description of the particular 1990 REM picture. 2000 REM 2010 REM 36 - 37 Left limit -- Left line coordinate of the drawing area. 2020 REM 2030 REM 38 - 39 Right limit -- Right line coordinate of the drawing area. 2040 REM 2050 REM 40 - 41 Top limit -- Top line coordinate of the drawing area. 2060 REM 2070 REM 42 - 43 Bottom lim. -- Bottom coordinate of the drawing area. 2080 REM 2090 REM 2100 REM 2110 REM PICTURE FILE 2120 REM ------------ 2130 REM 2140 REM The format of the picture files are straight "BLOAD" format. 2150 REM They contain the contents of the color screen buffer starting at 2160 REM Hex address B8000 for a length of 16k. 2170 REM 2180 REM 2190 REM