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Text File | 2004-01-01 | 8.4 KB | 331 lines

u DOTBASIC DOCUMENTATION Part 4 We're BACK...and ready for DISK ACCESS! BLOAD: .BL,file$,dv,location ---------------------------- BLOAD will load file$ from device DV to any memory location, except $d000-dfff. E$ returns the error message. F% returns the end location (plus 1) of the BLOADed file. Note that values above 32767 cause the integer F% to be negative. [NOTE:] Yet again a great place for .IU,F% -- with the full positive value returned in the variable FP. DMM BSAVE: .BS,name$,dv,start,end+1 ------------------------------- This will SAVE a chunk of memory to device DV under the given name. Only memory accessible by the CPU may be saved - meaning you can't save data hidden under the ROMS or I/O. The error message is returned in E$. DISK COMMAND: .DV,command$,dv ----------------------------- This will send your string to device DV via the command channel. The error message is returned in E$. To only read the error channel, send a null string (""). MULTI-COLUMN MENU: .MZ,nc,x1,x2,y1,y2,u,h,hot$ --------------------------- This routine has a lot in common with the regular menu, with a few exceptions. NC is the number of columns in your menu, which can be from 1 to 5. You must follow that with an X1 and X2 value for each column of your menu. Y1 and Y2 apply to all columns. NOTE: The width of each column can be different! U is the color of unhighlighted items in the menu. The highlight bar is colored H. If you don't want the text to reverse or un-reverse as the bar moves, add 128 to H. The user can move the mouse or joystick right to the desired item, or use the CRSR keys to change rows and columns. The items are numbered in this order: down the first column, then the next, and so on. So, if you had 3 columns with 7 items in each column, the 2nd column would start with item number 8. Items can be directly selected by pressing the appropriate HOTKEY. The highlight bar is moved to that item number, unless it doesn't exist. Pressing the Global Escape key (MV+12) ALWAYS returns a zero in SL%. The selected item's number is returned in SL%. The maximum number of columns is 5, making the highest possible SL% (25 rows) equal to 125. There's a reason for this! Related Variable: (default is 192) MV+11 Multi-Menu Type Just like MV+10, this byte has eight features attached to it. Note that bit 4's feature is different. +128 Automatic Caging of Mouse + 64 Automatic Point-to-First + 32 Must Select + 16 Regions Active + 8 Honor Hotkey Colors + 4 Dual Response + 2 Un-highlight after Select + 1 Stray-to-Exit +16 allows the user to click on ANY active region. If this happens, 128 is added to the region number and that value is returned in SL%. The region is not "highlighted" in any way as the pointer moves over it. This feature has limited uses and does require some setup on your part. You probably won't want to use the same ol' regions as the main portion of your program. Special regions should be defined, making sure that only THEY are the active ones, and labelled in some way to inform the user that these areas are clickable. If regions are active, the HOTKEYS no longer select individual items in the menu, but regions! 128 will be added to the hotkey's number and that value is returned in SL%. Even the fanciest menu can still have complete keyboard compatibility! +32 is especially valuable for multi-column menus. Since clicks that occur nowhere can be ignored, you don't have to make the columns touch. This is made even better if regions are active. Only regions and items of the menu could then be clicked on. If you are using regions, you probably shouldn't enable the CAGE. Point-to-First might not even be a good idea. If you are clicking on a region to flip through "pages" of items, it would be bothersome to have the pointer yanked away with each press. Experiment with it. BLOAD WITH ZERO: .B0,file$,dv,location --------------------- The only difference between this and a regular BLOAD is that a zero will be placed at the end of the BLOADED file. If the load is not successful for ANY reason, the zero will NOT be placed, since the real end location can't be known for sure. Some routines in this later section use EDSTAR files which must terminate with 0. This routine saves you the hassle of BLOADing and then using F% to POKE the zero manually. RACK EDSTAR FILE: .RK,location ------------------------------ This routine takes an EDSTAR file (terminated by a zero) and "racks it up". A table of pointers is created right after the zero cap of the text, enabling you to use INDEX to grab or print individual lines of the file. The file can be located anywhere in memory, even under I/O. Racking needs 3 bytes per line at the end of the file for its pointers. The total number of items is returned in N%. INDEX ITEM: .RI,number ---------------------- Once you've racked up an EDSTAR file, you can index it. The indexed item is returned in W$. F$ is also set by indexing, and will always return a null unless you happen to be looking at a directory, in which case it contains the entry's filename. PRINT ITEM: .PI,x,y,number -------------------------- This routine indexes an item and prints it anywhere on the screen. The string is NOT returned in W$ or F$. PRINT NAME: .PN,x,y,number -------------------------- If you've used GET DIRECTORY and have racked up the resulting text, you can print the filenames. SORT RACKED DATA: .AZ,position ------------------------------ This command and the next was added through DotBASIC. Racked data can be sorted, beginning the the given position. For example, .AZ,3 would consider the third character in the string as the first. Normally, you will use .AZ,1. (An exception would be if you are sorting a directory and want to "ignore" the "B.*" or "T.*" and just sort the actual filenames. In that case, you would use .AZ,4.) SORT DIRECTORY: .A$ ------------------- This alphabetizes the directory loaded with .B$ and Racked. DEFINE REGION TEXT: .NT,number,"static string" -------------------------- The concept of "region text" for LOADSTAR programs is credited to both Jeff Jones and myself. CASH FLOWER (LS #161), the LOADSTAR Presenter, and QUICKSMITH (LS #164) both used the concept, and it's interesting to note that neither of us knew what the other was up to. "Region text" is when the user moves the mouse pointer around the screen, and a message bar at the bottom of the screen informs the user of what will happen if he or she clicks on that particular area. These strings don't have to be associated with regions - it's just likely that this will be their most common use. Related Variables: (& defaults) MV+20 Region Text Zone (LB) (0) MV+21 Region Text Zone (HB) (4) MV+22 Region Text Color / Flags (1) MV+23 Region Text Row (24) Strings defined as region text must NOT be made by combining smaller strings. The string's POINTER will be stored in its proper slot in the Region Text Zone. Be sure this zone is safe from BASIC and other data. The Zone will never exceed 3 pages. All region text will be printed in MV+22's color. Add 128 to MV+22 for REVERSE printing. Add 32 to MV+22 and all your region text will be CENTERED. Add 16 instead, and each string will be printed after a forced leading SPACE. EDSTAR TO REGION TEXT: .NE,location ---------------------- This command defines ALL region text with a single command! It takes an EDSTAR file (terminated by 0), racks it up, and POKEs MV+24 and MV+25. The number of lines in the file is returned in N%. Keep in mind that the FIRST line of the EDSTAR file will be referenced by number zero. You can have as many lines as you want (memory available). PRINT REGION TEXT: .NP,number ------------------ This prints region text on the line specified in MV+23. It fills up the unused part of the line with spaces, so you don't have to worry about erasing the old text before printing over it. The string will be printed as specified in MV+22, above. Usually the "number" will be RG%, but it doesn't have to be. Just one more section to go -- then you will know all there is to know about DotBASIC!