One nice thing is that GeoBasic allows you to use desk accessories, just the way you do when using commercial Geos applications. That way, you can refer to these notes as you experiment with the GeoBasic Mini Demo.
A suggestion:
Save the screen you are working on before using a desk accessory, since it won't automatically restore when you are finished with it.
Now, here are some tips on each of the menu items. > > >
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geos menu item:
This appears in all GeoBasic programs. From it you can select program information, and you can select any desk accessory which is on the same disk as your program.
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By the way, run this program in your ram expander, if you have one, for best performance.
formation, which is entered through the menu editor, and you can select any desk accessory which is on the same disk as your program.
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Screen menu item:
The menu was designed using the menu editor provided with GeoBasic. The screen menu will allow you to clear the screen, to save a screen which you have designed, and to load screens from disk.
program.
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When clearing the screen, your drawing tool icons, if present, will be erased along with everything else, even though the drawing tools may still be active. To restore the icons, turn drawing off, then back on again, using the drawing menu.
When saving a screen to disk, you will be asked for a file name. Two files will actually be saved - one for graphic information, and one for color. The color file will have /c after the file name, so keep your file name under 14 characters.
Sprite menu item:
Some demo sprites have been designed using GeoBasic's sprite editor. The editor includes animation features, making sprites easy to use. Turn them on and off with this menu item.
sprite editor.
Clock menu item:
Several types of system information can be accessed through GeoBasic. I have included the clock as an example of this. Turn it on and off with this menu item.
ith this menu item.
sprite editor.
Drawing menu item:
Turns the drawing feature on and off. When drawing is on, several icons representing drawing tools will appear on the lower left side of the screen.
When you turn drawing off, the icons will be erased.
This first icon is the line tool. Click on the icon, then click anywhere on the screen. This will mark the beginning of a line. Click on another spot, and a line will be drawn between the two.
the icons will be erased.
The second drawing icon is the box tool. Click on this icon, then click where you want the upper left corner of the box, then click on the lower right of the box. A box will then be drawn. This feature stays in effect until another is selected.
The third drawing icon is the freehand drawing tool. Click on this, then click anywhere on the screen. A line will then follow your mouse pointer until you click again to turn it off. This feature stays in effect until another is selected.
Click on the fourth icon to choose the pattern tool. Then click on the upper left and lower right of the area you want to cover. A dialog box will ask you for a pattern number. Pattern 0 is blank, and is useful for erasing an area.
lected.
The fifth icon accesses an eraser. It works like the freehand drawing tool, except that it draws a fine blank line which is useful for precision erasing.
for a pattern number. Pattern 0 is blank, and is useful for erasing an area.
lected.
The last drawing icon is the color tool. After selecting, click on the upper left and lower right of the area to be colored. You will then be asked for foreground and background color choices. These numbers come from the regular Commodore color chart.
Colors:
0 black 8 orange
1 white 9 brown
2 red 10 light red
3 cyan 11 dark gray
4 purple 12 med. gray
5 green 13 light green
6 blue 14 light blue
7 yellow 15 light gray
re color chart.
Let's see . . .
We're still on the drawing menu item. Click on menu on/off to hide the menu. This is useful just before saving a screen. The menu will still work - just remember where everything is! Click on the same area to restore the menu.
Text menu item:
Text can be added to your screen. If you want to use fonts, they must be on the same disk as the program. Size is limited to 12 points, because the program takes quite a bit of memory.
Click on the same area to restore the menu.
Styles are additive - if you choose one style and then another, both will be used. For example, if you choose bold, then italic, your text will be displayed in bold italic. When you choose plain text, it cancels all the other options.
the menu.
Enter text:
Gives you an opportunity to type in the text you want.
Place text:
Choose this, then click where you want the text to be.
t will be displayed in bold italic. When you choose plain text, it cancels all the other options.
the menu.
Bitmaps:
A couple of bitmaps, made with the bitmap editor, have been included. Click on the one you want, then click where you want to put it on the screen.
bold italic. When you choose plain text, it cancels all the other options.
the menu.
GeoBasic, like other Geos programs, can give the appearance of multi-tasking. For example, you can be drawing while the clock and sprites are running.
ayed in bold italic. When you choose plain text, it cancels all the other options.
the menu.
The idea of this little demo was to show some of the capabilities of GeoBasic, and is not a finely polished program. But it does show that GeoBasic supports the mouse, pulldown menus, dialog boxes, sprites and a bunch of other things.
the menu.
I'm not offering fixes or enhancements, but if you have comments, I'd like to hear them.
You can get in touch with me by e-mail at
D.ELLIS21@GENIE.GEIS.COM
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ulldown menus, dialog boxes, sprites and a bunch of other things.
the menu.
I almost forgot -
you stop the program with the run-stop key. If you get a dialog box with an error message when you hit run-stop, just hold down run-stop and click on ok in the dialog box.
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