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@AUTHOR "Thomas Landspurg" ## $VER: SuperDark.guide v1.1 (12.2.93) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Main "SuperDark prog" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Writing your own modules for superdark: 'Overview' 'Info' 'Dark function' 'MyGadg' 'Debug' 'The info text' 'Problems' ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Overview "Overview" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- @Toc "Main" I Overview: How to add modules to SuperDark. - It is not very difficult to add your own module to Superdark, but you have to read carefuly this doc, because there is some important things to understand! You have to do four things to add a new module in SuperDark: * Create your own 'dark()' procedure, that's the procedure called at screen blanking. That's the biggest part of the job. * Add the 'proc_init()','proc_save()','proc_end()' function. Usually, these function are empty. But for special purpose, you could fill them, look at the doc. * Add a 'my_gadg[]' array. This array is used to create the param window, but also to read and save parameters. Very powerful, and easy to use after you've read the doc! * Create an 'info' text. This should be easy,no? Notes: * YOU MUST link your module with the proc_main.o object. Proc_main will make some important initialisation, contain important function for you! * I use some special keyword of the Lattice compile, like __saveds. If you don't have them, check your compiler's documentation.But if you don't use callback procedure with button, you don't need this. The simplest way to add a new module is to take a look at the module named "rien.dark.c", this module does aboslutly nothing, but you can use it at a skeletton program. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Info "Info" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- II What is a module for SuperDark ? - It's an executable program, loaded by SuperDark. - You have link it with proc_main.o. - Proc_main.o will make initialisation and wait for a signal from superdark, and then will call your 'dark' function. But: - You can't do ANY printf - You can't run it alone Except: If you link it with 'proc_main_debug.o' instead of proc_main.o ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- dark "Dark function" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- III The dark() function: This function is called by proc_main when the screen should be blanked. You can ask for a copy of the frontmost screen. To do this, look at the 'proc_init()' function. So you can put what you want here, but remeber these limitations: - Don't use any printf in your program - Don't make any global auto-initalised variable. This may be cause some problems if you don't see exactly what happens. Because when your dark() function is called two time, the global are not reset to her initial value. So if you use global var and change their value, be careful. - Try to don't use the whole CPU time. Use WaitTOF(), Delay(), Wait()... But you are a good programmer, so you know what to do! To test if your function have to exit, you have the tst_end() function. This function will return TRUE if you have to exit, or FALSE if you have to continue. Example: while(tst_end()==FALSE){ do what you want... } The other function is wait_end(). This function will only return at the end of the blanking time. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- proc_init() "proc_init()" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IV proc_init(),proc_save() and proc_end() proc_init() is called after your module have been loaded. You can do special initialisation here, but don't use too much memory. That's here that you told if you want a copy of the current frontmost screen be opened for you. To do this, you have to do this: p_data_proc->type_screen=SCR_GIVEN; You can also tell to superdark that your module should only run with superdark for WB2.0 or higher. p_data_proc->code_ret=DARK_WB_20; proc_save() is no more used, but is still here for compatibility... proc_end() is called when the module have to be removed from memory. You can free what you've allocated in proc_init(). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MyGadg "MyGadg" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- V The my_gadg array.... This one of the most powerful of superdark. Each module can have a parameter window. To do this, you have to define this window, but in a special manner. This array is an array of type tom_gadget. This is the definition of the type tom_gadget (from includes/tom_gadget.h) : typedef struct tom_gadget{ char *GadgetText; /* Text of the gadget on screen. */ type_gadget type_gadg; /* The type of the gadget, see later */ short int LeftEdge,TopEdge;/* position */ short int Width,Height; /* size */ short int value; /* value ! */ short int d1,d2,d3; /* Used for special purpose.... */ char *p_data; /* Used for special purpose.... */ struct Gadget *p_gadg; /* Internal use only */ }; Note that the four standart gadget "ok","test","cancel","help" are automaticly added! Let's see these field: char *GadgetText: So it's the text of your gadget in the configuration window, but also of the corrseponding value in the TOOL TYPE list. Yes, because SuperDark se these informations to save the configuration as ToolTypes in the .info of the module. You can use shorcut, by using '_'. Example, a gadget named TEST can have the shortcut T if his name is: "_TEST" type_gadget type_gadg: Define the type of the gadget. These type are availaible: (note that they are also availble on WB1.3 for the most of them) The following type are available(and look at the 'exemple': 'END_LISTE' 'BUTTON' 'SLIDER' 'CHECKBOX' 'MX' 'CYCLE' 'LISTVIEW' 'OWN_GADGET' 'STRING' 'INTEGER' 'SCREEN' 'FONT' 'DATA_STRING' 'IMAGE' LeftEdge,TopEdge,Width,Height: Position and size of the gadget...nothing else to say! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- END_LISTE ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- END_LISTE: This is not really a type, but each tom_gadget array should end with this value! Remember it!!! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BUTTON ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BUTTON: A simple button. You can define a function called when the button is pressed, by giving a pointer to this function in the p_data field. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SLIDER ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SLIDER: A normal slider. The direction of the slizer (horiz/vertical) is defined by the ratio Width/Height. If Width is > Height, this will be an horizontal slider, otherwhise it's an vertical one. * value must contain the initial value of the slider, * d1 and d2 must contain the range of the slider * if p_data is not nul, it must contain a pointer to the variable wich will receive a copy of the current value of the slider. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHECKBOX ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHECKBOX: Checkbock gadget. * value contain the initial value, and will be re-actualised, ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MX ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MX: Multiple choice gadget. * p_data must contain a pointer to an array of char example: p_data={"Choice1","Choice2","Choice3",NULL} * value contain the initial value, and will be re-actualised, ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CYCLE ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CYCLE: Cycle gadget. Same kind of configuration than the MX gadget. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LISTVIEW ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LISTVIEW: Listview gadget. * p_data must containt a pointer to a List structure. the name of each node of the list will be be show on screen. * value contain the position of the initial selected value, and will be re-actulised. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OWN_GADGET ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OWN_GADGET: Very special purpose gadget!!!! No time to describe it now...sorry. I just can say that it's used to create other type of gadget than the current available. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- STRING ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- STRING: String gadget * p_data must contain a pointer to a buffer of char. This buffer will containt the value of the string gadget. * d1 MUST CONTAINT the size of the buffer. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INTEGER ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INTEGER: Integer gadgt. *value contain the initial value, and will be re-actualised, *d1 contain the max number of digits for the number. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SCREEN ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SCREEN: High level gadget.... This gadget will only be active if reqtools.library v38 or higher is present on your system. It allow you to choose a screen resolution, size, and overscan value, by using the screen requester from the reqtools lib. * value contain the initial Overscan mode of the screen, and will be re-actualised. Look at intuition/screens.h * d1 contain the initial Width of the screen, and will be re-actualised * d2 contain the initial Height of the screen, and will be re-actualised * d2 contain the initial Depth of the screen, and will be re-actualised * p_data contain the initial Mode ID of the screen, and will be re-actualised Note: If d3 (depth) is null, this mean that none of the value is significative. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FONT ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- FONT: The second high level gadget.... This gadget will only be active if reqtools.library is present on your system. It allow you to choose a font, include size and attributes. * p_data is a pointer to a TextAttr structure. IMPORTANT NOTE: This text attr must have the field ta_Name initialized with a pointer to a string buffer, with enough space to put the biggest name of the available font ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DATA_STRING ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DATA_STRING: This data type is only used for configuration. I mean than you won't see anything on configuration window, but a string will be saved and loaded in the configuration file. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IMAGE ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IMAGE With this data, you can include an image in your parameter window. Just put a pointer to an image structure in the p_data field ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- EXEMPLE ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Example: we want to make a parameter window, with three things: - a checbox, - a slider , wich can have value from -10 to 50 - a "screen" button. struct tom_gadget my_gadg[]={ {"_Check it" ,CHECKBOX , 100, 10, 10,10,0,0,0,0,0}, {"_slide it" ,SLIDER , 100, 25, 10,10,10,-10,50,0,0}, {"s_creen" ,SCREEN , 200, 10, 50,10,0,0,0,0,0}}; The parameter window will look like this: ------------------------------------------------- | | | _ ________ | | Check it | | |screen| | | - -------- | | ___________________ | | slide it | # | | | ------------------- | | | | Ok Test Cancel Info | | | ------------------------------------------------- and when you press OK, you'll see in the tooltype of your module: CHECK IT=FALSE SLIDE IT=20 SCREEN =320 x 256 x 3 ID=21000 OVSCN=0 Nice no? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Info_text "Info_text" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The information text: It's the text show when you press the "Info" button. It's just an ascii string, named p_text_info. Example: char *p_text_info= " Hi evrybody\n" "now I can do my\n" "own module for\n" " SUPERDARK!\n"; Note the \n at the end of each line ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DEBUG ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now, a little help to debug your module.... - First, try to make your 'effect' alone, without using superdark. Then, put it as a blanker. - Use proc_main_debug instead of proc_main. With proc_main_debug, you can run your module exactly like running with superdark. But now you can put printf, you can use a source level debugger, etc....very useful! The only problem is that you can't have the saved configuration for this module! And one more thing: don't try to run this module FROM superdark!!! If you do this....CRASH (you must now what you want!) You have to link it with proc_main to do so. - To stop a module linked with proc_main_debug, just click the close button of the window opened in the Workbench screen. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Problems "Problems" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VI If it doesn't work.... Hum....take a look at the other sourcecodes in the disk If this still doesn't work, you can send me you module and I'll try to make it work.... my adress Thomas LANDSPURG 9, Place Alexandre 1er 78000 VERSAILLES FRANCE FidoNet: 2:320/104.18 AMyNet: 39:180/1.18 UseNet: Thomas_Landpsurg@ramses.gna.org SuperDark may not be included with any commercial product nor may it be sold for profit either separately or as part of a compilation without my permission. It may be included in non-profit disk collections such as the Fred Fish collection. It may be archived & uploaded to electronic bulletin board systems as long as all files remain together & unaltered.