Loadstar 236/236.d81/t.vdot

Text File | 2004-01-01 | 14.8 KB | 607 lines

u
               V D O T
    DotBASIC Visual Design Program
                using
   Mr. Mouse Image Construction Kit
           by Dave Moorman


    In order to create a program in
DotBASIC, you must first design the
screen. VDOT is where you do that.
Before we get into the nuts and bolts
of VDOT, here is a quick example,
step by step, on how to make a simple
DotBASIC screen.


1. Boot VDOT. Press <Shift-RETURN> to
go to Keyboard Mode. Cursor to the
left side of the screen and type

                Howdy

Then cursor to the right side of the
screen and type

                 Quit

Press <F1> to return to Mouse Mode.


2. Click EDIT > BOX. Use mouse or
joystick to move the box slightly
above and left of the "H" in "Howdy".
Click. Now move the mouse down and to
the right until the word "Howdy" is
nicely bracked. Click.


3. The EDIT menu will appear. Choose
ADD REGION. A dialog box appears
titled "Create Region 1". Answer the
questions:

 Line Number: 1000       <RETURN>
 Hotkey:                 <h><RETURN>
 Right Clk (Y/N)         <n>
 Unhighlighted Color:    <1><RETURN>
 Reversed? (Y/N)         <y>
 Highlighted Color:      <7><RETURN>
 Reversed? (Y/N)         <y>
 Is This Right? (Y/N)    <y>


4. Repeat 2 - 3 for the word "Quit",
with a Hotkey of <q>, of course.


5. If your work disk is on a
different drive, click FILE >
DISK/DIR, then click ON DEVICE and
choose the work disk drive number.
Click EXIT DISK/DIR.


6. Click FILE > SAVE. Choose
MEDDLESCREEN.MED. Input the filename
by which you will call this DotBASIC
program. In this case, call it

                howdy

Click OK. If you already have a
"howdy.med" file and want to replace
it, click OK again.


    There! Your MED file is saved. To
complete your first DotBASIC program,
read Getting Started, elsewhere in
this issue.

         --------------------

    Now that you have had a taste of
how VDOT looks and feels, let's get on
with the many features. You may note
some references within the program to
Mr.MICK -- Mr. Mouse Image
Construction Kit -- published in 1997.
That is because VDOT is an extension
of Mr.MICK.

    VDOT sports a built-in font tool
that does nearly everything a font
editor does -- but all right on the
screen where you can see the
interaction of custom characters. In
short, VDOT has everything you need
for dramatic text screen design.
Remember, you can create screens
other than MED screens. The
ToolBoxStash format has the screen
and color information in just 2K of
data. And SuperToolStash can block
together up to 4 TBS screens in one
8K file.

    On boot-up, you will see a Menu
Bar and pointer on a black screen.
This is MOUSE MODE -- and every
function is available on the three
pull-down menus. You can call the
menus with a point and click, or
press:

  CONTROL-F for File
  CONTROL-E for Edit
  CONTROL-C for Control.

    Note that the functions on the
Control Menu have hot keys listed.
The F-keys are easier than slogging
through the menu:

  F1 - Toggle Menu Bar On/Off
  F3 - Toggle Window On/Off
  F5 - Switch Font/Color Windows
  UP ARROW - Window to Top/Bottom

    The Menu Bar and Window are non-
destructive, giving you access to the
whole screen. Press F3 and F5 until
you have the Font Window visible on
the screen.

    In FontMouse Mode, you can pick
up any visible character with a point
and click, then move it to any place
on the screen and place it with
another click. You can only pick up
characters from the Font display.
Press the right mouse button or F7 to
drop a character without placing it
on the screen.

    At the right of the Font display
is the character editor. Point and
click a cell to toggle the pixel. The
cursor keys move the box cursor on
the display to select the current
character.

    While the font is visible,
pressing F6 (or Font Edit Control
from the Control Menu) will display a
menu of ten useful character
manipulators. The pointer is trapped
in the Font Control Menu until you
press the right mouse button or F7.
The first nine controls are obvious
and immediate. To Copy one character
to another, first choose the
character to be copied using the
cursor keys. Then click on Copy. The
pointer will jump to the Font display
(and is trapped there). Point to the
character to receive the copy and
click. (To cancel, point at the
character in the box cursor.)


  COLORMOUSE MODE
  ---------------

    Press F5 to switch to the Color
Window. The pointer becomes a "Paint
Bucket." Point and click one for the
colors on the palette to set the
current color. Then simply hold down
the left mouse button (or fire) and
move around to point the characters
on the screen.

    To the left of the palette is the
border/background box. Move the
"Bucket" to the far left edge of the
Color Window and click to paint the
border. Point to the center of the
box and click to paint the
background. If the background and
Menu Bar are the same color, press F4
to cycle through menu colors. All
menus and dialog boxes will be in the
Menu Bar color.

    VDOT lets you work in any C-64
color mode. With the Color Window
visible, press F2 (or use the Control
Menu <F2 To .... Mode>). You will
cycle through each color mode. In
Extended Background, the background
colors are displayed in four
quadrants. In Multi-Color, the three
background colors are displayed in
three rows.

  Note: If the border color is 0-7,
you will not see the extra multi-
colors. Choose colors 8 - 15 and
click the border rim of the color box
to see the two other background
colors in the center of the box. The
three rows WILL respond correctly to
painting even if they do not display
the colors. Just chalk it up to the
nature of our favorite beast!

    We have just three other Control
Menu functions left. F8 is a
QuikSave, which you can perform once
an image has been named. The BACK
ARROW cycles you through fonts:

     Custom to
     Default Upper Case to
     Default Lower Case.

    Check Regions will be discussed
below.


  TEXT MODE
  ---------

    Point and click are nice -- but
the keyboard is better for straight
typing. Use the Control Menu <Shift-
RET: To Text Mode>, or press Shift-
RETURN. The menus are not available
in Text Mode, and the only Function
key functioning is F1. To exit Text
Mode, press Shift-RETURN or F1.

  Clue: Remember F1! In a stroke or
two, F1 will get the Menu Bar back on
the screen.

    In Text Mode, the keyboard works
almost exactly like the native C-64
screen editor. I have excluded the
irritating line links and bottom
scrolling. Insert and Delete only
affect the cursor row. Set colors and
Reverse On/Off in the normal way. CLR
clears the screen. However, if you
press CLR again, the screen will be
restored to the point where you
entered Text Mode.

    F1 or Shift-RETURN returns you to
Mouse Mode.


  THE MENUS
  ---------


  File Menu

  New -- clears work in progress.

  Load --

  VDOT will load:

  ToolBoxStash   (.TBS)
  MeddleScreen   (.MED)
  SuperToolStash (.STS)
  Font           ( F. )
  Screen         (from 1024)
  Color          (from 55296)

    The MeddleScreen (.MED) loads a
font followed by .TBS format data,
followed by Event Region Data. This
is the format required by DotBASIC.
As you can see, the this language's
name went through some changes during
development. At first, I thought I
would call it "Mouse Event Driven
Development Language Experiment" (or,
more narcassisticly, "Moorman's
EDDLE"). However, after using the Dot
Commands, the name DotBASIC became
obvious. By then, VDOT was working
with the .MED extension and I decided
not to change it.

    SuperToolStash is a group of one
to four .TBS images in one file --
particularly handy for bringing
several images into a program with a
single bload. The .STS file fits
nicely at page 160 or 224 under ROM.

    Screen and Color files have been
included to bring data in from less
sophisticated programs.


  SAVE

  Choose the file-type:

  F.   Font
  .TBS  ToolBoxStash
  .MED  MeddleScreen (aka DotBASIC)
  .STS  SuperToolStash

    Next input the filename and
confirm. See below in Put/Get Image
about saving .STS files.


  QUIKSAVE

    Once a .TBS or .FTS file is
saved, the filename is embedded in
the data. QuikSave saves the .TBS
file to the same filename with auto-
replace. F8 will do a QuikSave in one
keystroke.


  PUT/GET IMAGE

    MR.MICK has four buffers to hold
.TBS images, which can be saved
together as an .STS file. If the
image has no name, Put will ask you
for one. The image names are listed
on the Buffer Menu -- making swapping
between images extremely easy.

    When you save the .STS buffer,
you are asked which images to save.
The file will contain images down to
the one you choose. Only the images
saved will load. For instance, if you
saved images 1 and 2, you can later
load them on top of 1, 2, 3, and 4,
replacing only the first two images.
This way, you can easily shuffle
around between images.


  PUT/GET FONT BUFFER

    Have you ever wished you could
copy portions of a great font to
another font file?  MR.MICK allows
you to Put 32 characters in one font
display row into a buffer, then Get
the buffer into any 32 character row.
When you choose Put Font Buffer, the
Font Window appears, with the box
cursor at the beginning of a row. Use
the Up/Down cursor key to choose the
row to Put in the buffer. Press
RETURN to select. Shift-RETURN exits.

    Get Font Buffer works the same
way. Up/Down cursor and RETURN to
choose the row to which the buffer
will be copied. I have included a
dialog window just to be safe.


  PRINT SCREEN

    This is one uncorrected remnant
from Mr.MICK. To have room for the
Event Region commands, I had to
remove the Print Screen funtions,
but, alas, I forgot to get rid of the
menu item. Do [NOT] use it.


  EXIT MR.MICK

    This is the only proper way to
get out of MR.MICK (aka VDOT).


  EDIT MENU
  ---------

  Undo

    Returns you to the point of the
last F1, F3, F5, or Shift-RETURN key
press (or associated Control Menu
selection.


  BOX

    The rest of the functions in the
Edit Menu will not work until you
have put a Box on the screen. (This
is indicated by a dot before the menu
items). Choose Box, then place the
square pointer at the location of the
upper left corner of the area you
want to box, and click. The four
corners "come apart" and you can mark
any area of the screen. Click again,
and you return to the Edit Menu.
Copy, Cut, and the three Fill
functions are now enabled.

 Copy puts the screen and color within
    the box into the copy buffer.

 Cut copies, then fills the box area
    with spaces.

 R-Cut copies, then fills the box area
    with screen code 160.

 Color Fill paints the box area with
    the current paint color. Be sure
    to select the color first.

 Text Fill fills the box area with the
    current character in the current
    paint color. Be sure to select
    character and color first.

 Text Tile fills the box area by
    alternating the current character
    with the next screen code. Again,
    choose character and color first.

 Paste -- After you have copied the
    box area, you can paste the buffer
    anywhere on the screen. Simply
    move the box and click. No part of
    the box can leave the screen.

 Add Region -- This will add the box
    area to the Event Region Data and
    let you assign properties to the
    Event Region.

    Line Number -- You can use any
      even line number for the Event
      Region. The thousands numbers
      are offered for convenience and
      usually do the trick. Just press
      <RETURN>

    Hot Key -- This is the keyboard
      shortcut for the Event Region.
      Any unshifted alphanumeric is
      allowed.

    Right Clk -- When you answer Y to
      this item, the Region will have
      a different response for right
      click. The line number is
      automatically assigned, being
      256 larger than the one you
      input above.

    Unhighlighted Color -- This is the
      color of the Region when the
      mouse pointer is not over it.

    Reversed? -- Press <Y> to reverse
      the Region when unhighlighted.

    Highlighted Color -- The color
      when the pointer is pointing to
      the Region.

    Reversed? -- Same as above.

    Is This Right -- Your chance to go
      back and try again. Press <Y>
      when you are finished.


  MORE CONTROL MENU
  -----------------

    We have covered all the features
of the Control Menu except one: Check
Regions. This function will cycle
through all defined and assigned Event
Regions, showing their location,
color, and hotkey. If the color is
unhighlighted, a frame will appear
around the region. This is just a
quick check to make sure everything is
OK.


  TECHNO-KUDOS

     I began doing visual screen
design by using IMAGE MAKER (LS #106,
by C.E. "Spock" Prince). But that
meant either including Image Writer in
my programs, or converting the results
to ToolBoxStash format.

     I happen to like ToolBoxStash.
This is really just a function,
"pioneered" by Jeff Jones and Rick
Nash, found on nearly every toolbox
module -- the ability to stash
screen/color info in some safe memory
location, and restore it at will. A
.TBS file bloads to memory, then can
be called with the restore command.

     Imbedded in every TBS and MED
file is data to set the screen's
border and background colors and the
screen mode. To access and use this
information in your own program, use
the following Basic:

  SYS <Restore>,<Page>
  POKE 53280,PEEK(2024)
  POKE 53281,PEEK(2025)
  POKE 53282,PEEK(2024)/16
  POKE 53283,PEEK(2025)/16
  POKE 53284,PEEK(2039)
  A=PEEK(2039)AND192
  IFA=0THENPOKE53265,27:POKE53270,200
  IFA=64THENPOKE53265,91:
     POKE53270,200
  IFA=128THENPOKE53265,27:
     POKE53270,216

     The filename to which you saved
the image in MR.MICK is also embedded
in this free memory area, beginning
with a 255 at 2026:

     2026 255
     2027 "F"
     2028 "I"
     2029 "L"
     2030 "E"
     2031 255

  Note the 255 that marks the end of
the filename.

    MR.MICK and VDOT (and DotBASIC)
would be impossible without Mr. MOUSE.
Over the years, Lee Novak improved,
honed, and polished Mr. MOUSE into TWO
great driver/ toolboxes.

  Mr.MOUSE 3.0 is the tightest,
    fastest, cleanest module ever
    created to the C-64, including
    almost every MM function in just
    4K.

  Mr.MOUSE 2.1 is filled to the brim
    with useful ML magic. This is the
    version borrowed and expanded by
    DotBASIC.

    If you need to print out your TBS
screens, get a copy of Mr.MICK, which
includes hardcopy capabilities.

    Long ago I wrote in the docs for
Mr.MICK:

    "Egads! The C-64 is exploding with
new life! Even if you are a purist or
a pauper, and chug along with nothing
but an ugly brown-round keyboard and
unenhanced 1541, the power and
possibilities are expanding
exponentially."

    And that was 8 years ago! Whoda
thunk we would have a brand new, hot
off the factory assembly line C-64
that would fit in your pocket (if you
had a tiny keyboard, drive, and
monitor). DotBASIC is the language
that fully takes advantage of the
native capabilities of the C-64!

 DMM