¢ Turbo Basic Character Editor¢ By Gavan Moran¢ (c) 1989¢¢¢Note: On this disk there are two¢versions of this manual. CHARED.TXT¢which you are now reading and is¢formatted for 40 columns and¢CHARED.DOC which is formatted for 80¢columns.¢¢¢The Turbo Basic Character Editor is a¢very powerful tool with which to¢create your own character sets. It is¢unusual in that it is window, rather¢than menu, driven. Yes, thats right -¢just like an ST. A joystick is needed¢in port 1 in order to control¢selections in the windows. The only¢time the keyboard is used is when¢loading and saving character sets and¢when going from the editing to the¢manipulation options.¢¢When first running the program, you¢will see a large 8X8 editing grid on¢the left hand side of the screen, a¢window containing credits on the right¢ and a window showing the entire¢character set being edited along the¢bottom. Pressing START will cause the¢credits window to disappear and a¢window offering various character¢manipulation and I/O options will¢appear as will a smaller window¢containing the ascii number of the¢character being edited and it's image.¢ Alternatively, just moving the stick¢or pressing fire will also cause the¢credits window to disappear and you¢will find yourself controlling the¢editing cursor in the 8X8 window.¢¢¢The Edit Window¢¢This window contains an 8X8 grid which¢represents the shape of the character¢being edited. The small window at the¢top-centre-right of the screen tells¢you the number of the character which¢you are currently editing and shows an¢actual gr.0 sized image of it. Use¢the joystick to move the cross-shaped¢cursor around the window in the 8¢directions. Going off one side of the¢window will lead to you coming back on¢at the other. Press the fire button¢in order to change a square from lit¢to unlit or vice versa. The lit and¢unlit squares on the grid represent¢lit and unlit pixels in the character¢being edited and changes in the grid¢are reflected in the character in the¢small window (but NOT on the character¢in the bottom character set window). ¢Note that changes are only made to the¢actual character when the PUTCHAR¢function is selected in the¢manipulation window (see later) so¢feel free to try your ideas out. Once¢you have finished designing your¢character you will want to place it in¢the character set or maybe manipulate¢it using some 'special effects'. In¢order to do this you will have to¢enable the manipulation window. Do¢this by pressing START on the¢keyboard.¢¢¢The Manipulation Window¢¢This is the window down the right hand¢side of the screen. It allows you to¢carry out many special operations on¢the character in the character window¢and also allows disk I/O. The options¢available are shown inside the window.¢ A white 'menu bar' is used to select¢an option. This is done by up/down on¢the joystick to move the bar over the¢desired option and then fire to select¢it. Sometimes this may cause another¢window to be opened and the bar is¢then transferred to this window and so¢on.¢¢Let us go through the options¢available:-¢¢EDIT:¢Selecting this will cause you to be¢back in the character edit window ¢controlling the cursor. Use this when¢editing a new character or when¢'touching up' after an effect is used.¢¢REVERSE:¢This will reverse all the pixels of¢the current character. It acts like¢the inverse key in the BASIC editor.¢¢SCROLL up:¢Moves all the rows in the current¢character up by one position. The top¢row will 'wrap around' to the bottom¢row.¢¢SCROLL down:¢Moves all rows down one. Bottom wraps¢round to top.¢¢SHIFT right:¢Moves all the pixels across one pixel¢to the right. Wraparound occurs on¢pixels shifted off right hand side of¢grid.¢¢SHIFT left:¢Shifts pixels to left. Wraparound¢occurs.¢¢FLIP u/d:¢Spins character through 180 degrees¢around a horizontal line through the¢centre of the grid.¢¢FLIP l/r:¢Spins character 180 degrees around¢vertical line through centre.¢ ¢ROTATE:¢Rotates character 90 degrees clockwise¢around centre.¢ ¢GETCHAR:¢Allows you to choose a character in¢the set to be edited. This causes¢another selection window to be opened¢which allows you to select the¢character in the following ways:¢¢ >> and << go backwards and forwards¢ through the character set.¢ ¢ ASCII lets you type ascii no of¢ character to be edited.¢ ¢ TYPE lets you type the character¢ directly on the keyboard.¢ ¢ QUIT returns you to the¢ manipulation window selecting the¢ character currently shown.¢ ¢Notice that a smaller, quarter-size¢window is opened over the edit window¢while you are choosing the character.¢ This contains a representation of the¢character which will be chosen and is¢done for speed purposes - on leaving¢the GETCHAR window, the full edit¢window is restored.¢¢PUTCHAR:¢When you have edited a character to¢your satisfaction, you must put it¢back into the character set in order¢to affect a permanent change. You may¢either put the character back into the¢set 'as is' i.e. as the same¢character number it was fetched as, or¢you may put it back in as a different¢character number.¢¢As with getchar, these options are¢represented in a seperate window -¢simply use the menu bar to select¢them. The options are AS IS, OTHER and¢QUIT. With the other option, you will¢be prompted to press a key on the¢keyboard and this is the character¢that the redifined character will be¢assigned to. e.g. pressing 'A' will¢cause the character A (ascii number¢65) to be redefined to the shape in¢the edit grid. Use QUIT to go back to¢the main window.¢¢DISK:¢This presents a window of I/O options.¢They are LOAD, SAVE and QUIT. ¢¢ LOAD causes a directory window to¢ be opened, showing all the files on¢ the disk with .SET extenders. ¢ Another window prompts you for the¢ name of the file to be loaded. ¢ Type your filename (minus the D:¢ and .SET extenders). This set will¢ then be loaded and displayed in the¢ blue window along the bottom of the¢ screen.¢ ¢ SAVE opens a window which prompts¢ you to type a name for the file¢ which you mean to save the current¢ set as. The filename of the last¢ file loaded is displayed as a¢ default and pressing RETURN will¢ allow you to save as this file. ¢ Any other keypress will allow you¢ to type a new name.¢ ¢ QUIT returns you to the main¢ window.¢ ¢DEFAULT:¢This option will opens a window with¢three further options. They are:¢¢ CHAR which will change the¢ character being edited back into¢ it's default (O.S.) form. Note¢ that this also affects the actual¢ character in the set being edited.¢ ¢ SET which changes the whole¢ character set to it's default form.¢ ¢ QUIT returns you to the main¢ window.¢ ¢CLEAR:¢This allows you to clear the character¢currently being edited. i.e. set all¢it's pixels off. Note that it does¢not affect the character in the set¢being edited.¢¢¢Notes¢¢When the program is run, it tries to¢load a character set off the disk¢called CHARED.SET. If this is not¢present, the program will not run.¢This is because the program itself¢uses a redefined set. If for some¢reason you do not have the CHARED.SET¢file, simply rename any character set¢file to CHARED.SET and use it. The¢program will then run correctly, but¢needless to say the graphics of the¢windows, grid etc will not be correct.¢ You can, of course, use the editor to¢redefine the CHARED.SET file in order¢to change the grpahics of the program¢to whatever you want.¢¢The program itself is nearly 100%¢Turbo Basic. The exception is the DLI¢routines for changing the character¢set and screen colour at the bottom of¢the screen. These were created using¢the excellent DLI MAKER program by¢Greg Anderson in the Jan '86 issue of¢ANALOG magazine (No 38).¢¢Well, thats about all. I think that¢this program nicely demonstrates the¢power of Turbo Basic and hopefully¢should inspire people to make the most¢of this powerful language.¢¢Gavan Moran¢18 Roehill Walk,¢Limavady,¢Co. Derry,¢Northern Ireland¢BT49 9BJ ¢¢¢¢¢¢¢
