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Text File | 1990-07-15 | 33KB | 912 lines

S C R E E N D E B U T v1.4 by Willie Robinson 2613 Louis Blvd Hephzibah Ga 30815 (C)opyright 1990 Willie Robinson S C R E E N D E B U T 1.4 Pg 1 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Contents Foreword...............................................Page 2 Disclaimer.............................................Page 2 Shareware Notice.......................................Page 3 Starting Screen Debut..................................Page 4 Exiting Screen Debut...................................Page 4 General Editing Commands...............................Page 4 Options................................................Page 6 Extended Options.......................................Page 8 Building ANSI Screens..................................Page 9 ANSI Animator..........................................Page 9 Support for GT Power BBSs..............................Page 12 Build ANSI Function....................................Page 13 Build BASIC Function...................................Page 14 BSAVE..................................................Page 14 Use with Hammerly's ProBas.............................Page 14 Build C Language Function..............................Page 15 Build Pascal Function..................................Page 15 File Handling..........................................Page 16 Block Diagram of Major Functions.......................Page 17 Snap Screen............................................Page 18 Odds and Ends..........................................Page 19 Limitations............................................Page 20 S C R E E N D E B U T 1.4 Pg 2 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── THANK-YOU Thank-you to all the people who have contributed so greatly to the success of this program. Without your support and suggestions this program would not have achieved the level of performance that it currently maintains. A personal Thank-you to: Scott Cushman Tom & Jane Devlin Jack Hazel Chris Kitchin Warren Leadbeatter Steve Moody Steve Paye David Philpott FOREWORD Screen Debut is a very powerful screen generator. It's designed as a tool to ease the development of text screens. It generates code for screens in many different ways. » ASCII Code » ANSI Code for use with DOS and Telecommunications. » BASIC Code with & without line numbers plus BSAVE. » C Code for Turbo C. » Pascal Code For use with Turbo Pascal. » Compressed Binary Format for use with Snap Screen and Hammerly's ProBas. DISCLAIMER: While this program has been extensively tested, unforeseen snags may arise. The use of this program is at your own risk! S C R E E N D E B U T 1.4 Pg 3 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── SHAREWARE NOTICE This program is a shareware program, feel free to share it with your friends or whomever. The more you share it, the wider it's distribution will be. Please help by uploading it to all BBSs! Under the shareware concept, the user is allowed to try out the program before purchasing it. If you like the program and feel it will be of use to you, please register it by sending $10.00 to the below address. With a $10.00 registration you will receive a free complimentary copy of Screen Predator (Outside US add $10.00 for handling plus postage) and the most recent version of Screen Debut. If you do use the program, help it along with your registration. Your support will help to keep the program alive. Send registrations to the below address. Please specify 3.5 or 5.25 inch disk. Outside North America add $10.00 for handling and postage. Willie Robinson 2613 LOUIS BLVD HEPHZIBAH GA. 30815 NOTICE: This program is Copyrighted. ALL Rights Reserved. It may not be modified, disassembled, or sold by second parties without written consent from the author. Site license information is available. NOTE TO SHAREWARE DISTRIBUTION OUTLETS: A small fee (Less Than $10.00) may be charged for copying and providing a disk. This does not negate the authors request. NOTE TO SYSOPS: Thank-you for your support of this program! S C R E E N D E B U T 1.4 Pg 4 ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── RUNNING SCREEN DEBUT From the Dos Prompt: A>SD YOURFILE (Screens can be loaded from the command line) Command Line Switches: /S - Puts the program in Snow Suppression mode. This is only useful for older CGA chips. If you don't see snow, don't use this switch. It slows the program down. EXITING THE PROGRAM Use the Esc key to exit the program. The Esc key will also exit any function within the program. With a mouse, locate the cursor in the bottom right corner and click the left key. EDITING COMMANDS » Screen Debut is Mouse supported. All commands use the left button. » The Arrow Keys move the cursor on the screen. The status bar at the bottom of the screen indicates the cursor's coordinates. To draw lines, use the F2 Key to toggle between Move Cursor, Single Border, and Double Border. » The Home, End, Pg Up, Pg Dn, and Tab also move the Cursor on the screen. » The Back Space key removes character to the left of the Cursor and moves the Cursor one space to the left. Pulling all Characters to the right of the cursor one space to the left. » Pressing the "Ins" key will toggle between the insert mode and the overwrite mode of operation. In the Insert mode the cursor is small. This allows characters to be inserted. In the Overwrite mode the cursor is full height. This allows characters to be overwritten. » The Del key removes characters. » Full Control key support. [Ctrl] A place ASCII character #1 (a happy face) at the cursor and so on. S C R E E N D E B U T 1.4 Pg 5 ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── » Full Numeric ASCII code support. Hold down the [ALT] key and type the ASCII code into the NUMERIC key pad. The Character will be placed at the cursor position. » [ALT] L (Letter) allows BIG LETTERS to be placed on the screen. All ASCII characters from 1 to 127 are supported. The Pointer on the ASCII Chart (F5) is used to select the fill characters. To use the ASCII Chart without putting a character at the current cursor position set the pointer and press Escape. The fill characters may be of any ASCII character. The Letters will be of the Default color set by the (F3) or (F4) select color commands. The Tab Key works very well for letter spacing. The characters are based on a 8 x 8 Row/Column matrix. There are three methods to enter the BIG character. 1) Just use the normal keyboard keys. 2) Use the [Ctrl] letter combination that represents a control character. (ASCII codes 1 to 30) 3) Hold down the [ALT] Key and type in the ASCII character number. Note: This is a tough way to go, but if you don't have a book with an ASCII chart then use the programs chart (F5). Just start at the top and count from left to right. The first character is number #1 or [Ctrl] A depending how you look at it. This procedure is a last minute addition to the program. It is not yet reflected in the menuing system. S C R E E N D E B U T 1.4 Pg 6 ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── OPTIONS ╓──┐ ║F1│ The F1 key activates the options menu. Use the up/down arrow ╚══╛ keys or press the appropriate short cut key to select an option. The short cut keys are always active for fast service. A second press of the F1 key activates the ANSI Animation Mode of operation. ╓──┐ ║F2│ The F2 key toggles between Move Cursor, Single Border, and ╚══╛ Double Border. This is useful for moving the cursor and drawing single or double lines. [Shift] F2 for line modes without automatic junctions. This command is not listed on the menuing system. However, the F2 command does have a dot next to it as a reminder. ╓──┐ ║F3│ The F3 key sets the current color. The current color is ╚══╛ indicated by the color of the left half of the Status Line. ╓──┐ ║F4│ The F4 key activates the recolor screen option. Place the ╚══╛ cursor over the color you wish to reset. Notice that the red selector arrow visually differentiates this function from the F3 function ( ≡> versus > ). ╓──┐ ║F5│ The F5 key calls up the ASCII character chart. Characters not ╚══╛ supported by the Keyboard are available. The selected character will be placed at the cursors current location. [Shift] F5 or [Alt] Z places a ASCII character selected by the ASCII chart to the current cursor position without going to the menu. Caution: Some ASCII characters, control codes, cause unpredictable results when used in conjunction with programming languages. ╓──┐ ║F6│ The F6 key selects Box Junctions. ╚══╛ ╓──┐ ║F7│ The F7 key loads Screen Debut files. These files have the ".SD" ╚══╛ extension. [Shift] F7 allows for the loading of raw files. Screen Debut directs these files through the BIOS therefore ANSI Files are no problem as long as the ANSI Device Driver is installed. The files are loaded in line by line. Hit any key to stop the loading process. Note: The Screen Debut directory is limited to 110 SD files. Use sub-directories to surpase this limitation. S C R E E N D E B U T 1.4 Pg 7 ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ╓──┐ ║F8│ The F8 key saves the screen. ╚══╛ Caution: Do not keep more than 110 .SD files in one DOS directory. ╓──┐ ║F9│ The F9 key clears the entire screen to the default colors, a ╚══╛ grey foreground on a black background. Use the F4 key to change the foreground and background colors if desired. ╓───┐ ║F10│ The F10 key exits to the DOS shell. This means the ╚═══╛ program stays in the computer's memory while work is being done at the DOS level. Tip: Set the DOS Path so COMMAND.COM can be found. As an alternative, place COMMAND.COM in the current directory. S C R E E N D E B U T 1.4 Pg 8 ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── EXTENDED OPTIONS ╓───┐ ╓──┐ ║Alt│ ║F1│ activates the pull up "Extended Options" menu. This ╚═══╛ ╚══╛ menu provides a quick reference of the extended editing capabilities of the program. All commands have shortcut keys. ╓───┐ ╓──┐ ║Alt│ ║F2│ Recolor Area - Recolors a Block (a square) on the ╚═══╛ ╚══╛ screen. Note: The Block is Re-colored to the current selected color. ╓───┐ ╓──┐ ║Alt│ ║F3│ Cut & Paste - Removes selected text and allows ╚═══╛ ╚══╛ movement of it to another location via the arrow keys. ╓───┐ ╓──┐ ║Alt│ ║F4│ Copy & Paste - This function allows a block to be ╚═══╛ ╚══╛ copied from one position to another. ╓───┐ ╓──┐ ║Alt│ ║F5│ Cut - Cuts a block from the screen, storing it in ╚═══╛ ╚══╛ memory for later recovery with Paste. Cut is also useful for erasing all or part of the Screen. The cut area assumes the current color attributes. ╓───┐ ╓──┐ ║Alt│ ║F6│ Copy - This function works much like a camera. It ╚═══╛ ╚══╛ Copies a selected area into memory, saving it for later recovery with Paste. ╓───┐ ╓──┐ ║Alt│ ║F7│ Paste - Restores a block which was saved with the ╚═══╛ ╚══╛ Cut or Copy function. Note: The main purpose of the Cut, Copy, and Paste functions is to allow the importation of screen snapshots (blocks). S C R E E N D E B U T 1.4 Pg 9 ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── BUILDING ANSI SCREENS SYSTEM SET-UP: ANSI Screens use the ANSI.SYS file that comes with DOS. Make sure your CONFIG.SYS file contains the following. DEVICE = ANSI.SYS It should be in the root directory on the hard disk or on the boot up disk. If it doesn't exist it can be created with a word processor, or the DOS COPY CON command. (SEE YOUR DOS MANUAL). Now your ready to use the ANSI screens built by Screen Debut. ANSI screens have the extension ".ANS". Use the DOS "TYPE" command to post the screen to your monitor. Like this A>TYPE YOURFILE.ANS NOTE: An alternative to the ANSI.SYS is to use Snap Screen. (See Snap Screen in the Index) Ansi Animation Screen Debut allows for Animated and Non-Animated screens. For information on how to create Non-Animated screens see the section on editing commands. A small blinking box on the right of the status line indicates the screen is Animated. ╓──┐ ╓──┐ ║F1│ ║F1│ To Enter or Exit the ANSI Animation mode of operation ╚══╛ ╚══╛ press the F1 key twice. Once you have pressed the F1 key twice you will notice a change at the bottom status line of the screen. In the Animation Mode of operation, a Frame counter will appear on the Statue Line. Note: Some of the editing commands available under the F1 Option have changed. Extended options are not used in this mode of operation. S C R E E N D E B U T 1.4 Pg 10 ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ╓──┐ ║F2│ The F2 key toggles between Move Cursor, Single Border, and ╚══╛ Double Border. This is useful for moving the cursor and drawing single or double lines. ╓──┐ ║F3│ The F3 key sets the current color. The Current color status ╚══╛ colors the left half of the status line at the bottom of the screen. ╓──┐ ║F4│ The F4 key selects the "Data View" Option. This option pulls ╚══╛ up a window that contains information contained within the animation frames. The options available are: Up/Down Arrow - Scrolls data Left/Right Arrow - Sets Replay Delay time in micro-seconds. This is the Animation display delay. Ins - Depressing the insert key insert a +/- character into the frame selected by the red arrow. Del - Cuts the character selected by the red arrow. ╓──┐ ║F5│ The F5 key selects the ASCII character chart. ╚══╛ Caution: ASCII codes below 32 are used for control codes. In certain circumstances they may cause unpredictable results. S C R E E N D E B U T 1.4 Pg 11 ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ╓──┐ ║F6│ The F6 key selects Box Junctions. ╚══╛ ╓──┐ ║F7│ The F7 key steps the program one frame back. ╚══╛ ╓──┐ ║F8│ The F8 key steps the program one frame forward. ╚══╛ ╓──┐ ║F9│ The F9 key clears the animated portion of the screen. ╚══╛ ╓───┐ ║F10│ The F10 key causes the animator to reset to frame 1 then ╚═══╛ it replays the animation. To stop the animator press any key. Animation speed is set using the F4 function. See the instructions on the F4 key for an explanation on how this works. S C R E E N D E B U T 1.4 Pg 12 ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── SUPPORT FOR GT Power BBSs: GT Power BBSs allow uploading of ANSI Code into the message areas using the ASCII protocol for uploading. Screen Debut supports these message areas in the following ways. This example of the ANSI code parameter window appears every time the Build ANSI code procedure is invoked. ╓─────────────────────────────────────────╖ ║ ║ ║ Code Style Compact ║ ║ Code Width ± 72 ║ ║ Clear Screen Yes ║ ║ BBS Control Code ^E ║ ╟────────────────────┬────────────────────╢ ║ Enter │ Esc ║ ╙────────────────────┴────────────────────╜ 1) Code Style Code style selects the coding routine which will code the non- animated screen. There are two flavors, Regular and Compact. Regular code is special geared to scroll the screen as it appears. Compact code on the other hand uses a different coding strategy. It will minimize the number of lines of code. Ideal for fairly complex screens which will be used in a BBS message base. 2) Code Width Use a width of 72 for message base work otherwise open it up to 250. For fine tuning use the + or - keys. Note that these widths are only approximations. The actual code width may be wider under some circumstances. 3) Clear Screen Controls whether or not the code to clear the screen is to be used. 4) Control Code Support GT BBSs use the ^E and ^R characters to control the "More Y/n?". The "More" prompt is not always desirable. To add a ^E or ^R to the beginning of a file, set ANSI Code parameter window's "BBS Control Code". A ^E will give one "More Y/n?" then allow the file to run uninterrupted . A ^R will allow a file to run it's entire length without a "More Y/n?" S C R E E N D E B U T 1.4 Pg 13 ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ALT A BUILD ANSI CODE: Screen Debut use three separate algorithms to code ANSI screens. The first two code the Static (Non-Animated) Screen. Screen Debut uses Auto-Sizing to adjust the size of the coded screen. Auto Sizing first determines the existence and actual size of the drawing by scanning the screen from bottom (Row 24) to top. Then it scans from right to left to determine the right edge of the drawing. It does this by searching for characters that are not blank spaces (ASCII character 32) of the default color white on black. Once it has determined that a drawing does exist on the screen and it's size, it codes it. See the section on the previous page for a discussion of the code parameter window. The Third algorithm codes the Soft (Animated) Screen. It first checks to see if an animated drawing exists. If there is anything in the animation buffer (memory area) it codes it. The code produced here is sensitive to screen placement because it uses the screens X, Y coordinates to place each character. Furthermore, the cursors resting position (position of the cursor when the ALT A command was used) will be recorded into the ANSI code. S C R E E N D E B U T 1.4 Pg 14 ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── BASIC BUILD BASIC CODE: [ALT] B Screen Debut codes the top 24 rows of the screen in Basic, with or without line numbers. Use Basic's "MERGE" command to place the code built by Debut in your program. Basic screen files end with the .BAS extension. Use Basic's "RENUM" command to renumber the line numbers if needed. BSAVE Load BSAVE files from Basic with the use of the "BLOAD" command. An example has been provided in the file "BLOAD.BAS". Note: The BSAVE files made by this program haven't been successful on Tandy computers. (?) Screen Debut Files with HAMMERLY'S PROBAS The Compressed Binary files with the .SD file extension are compatible with Hammerly's ProBas. Here's the code segment needed to load and post the screens. DIM SCR%(2000) '--- Dimension Array to 2000 integers DIM CSCR%(2000) '-/OPEN SCREEN FILE TO BE READ IN FROM DISK/----------------------- CALL FOPEN("YOURFILE.SD", 0, 0, HANDLE%, ECODE%) IF ECODE% THEN PRINT "ERROR" '-/Get file size/-------------------------------------------------- CALL FSIZE(HANDLE%, BYTES&) BYTES% = CINT(BYTES&) '--- Put Long integer into short '-/Read Data in file/---------------------------------------------- CSEG% = VARSEG(CSCR%(1)) '--- Set Pointers COFS% = VARPTR(CSCR%(1)) CALL DFREAD(HANDLE%, CSEG%, COFS%, BYTES%, BYTESREAD%, ECODE%) IF ECODE% THEN PRINT "ERROR" '-/Close File/----------------------------------------------------- CALL FCLOSE(HANDLE%) S C R E E N D E B U T 1.4 Pg 15 ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── '-/UnCrunch Screen Data(Decompress)/------------------------------- DSEG% = VARSEG(SCR%(1)) '--- Reset pointers DOFS% = VARPTR(SCR%(1)) CSEG% = VARSEG(CSCR%(1)) COFS% = VARPTR(CSCR%(1)) CALL UNSCRUNCH(DSEG%, DOFS%, CSEG%, COFS%) '-/Put Data to the Screen/----------------------------------------- DSEG% = VARSEG(SCR%(1)) '--- Reset Pointers DOFS% = VARPTR(SCR%(1)) CALL DSCRREST(DSEG%, DOFS%, 0, SNOW%) NOTE: When saved the 25th line assumes the current color attributes. C Language The C code is built top 24 rows of the screen. The code is compatible with Turbo C. C screen files end with the ".C" extension. Pascal Originally Screen Debut was built as a Pascal only screen code generator. The Pascal code generated by it is compatible with Turbo Pascal. Due to the use of the "CheckSnow" variable the screens are very fast. The code can be produced as either a procedure or as a unit. See your Language manual to include the screens into your program. Pascal coded screens end with the extension ".PAS". S C R E E N D E B U T 1.4 Pg 16 ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── File Handling When doing a F7, Load Screen function, Screen Debut looks for the files with the ".SD" extension. When a file is selected from the menu it checks to see if it is has an animated counterpart. The animated files are the files with the extension ".SDA". If one exists, it loads it along with the ".SD" file. It is assumed that a ".SDA" file will not exist without a ".SD" file. When saving a file from one of the build code functions the ".SD" file, the ".SDA" file (If appropriate), and the code file are all saved. If the .SD file exists, Screen Debut will challenge the user with "*.SD EXISTS OVERWRITE ?". Select "No" to write the code to the disk without overwriting the *.SD file. Hit Escape to abort the procedure entirely. Debut guards the ".SD" files because they represent your work. The coded screens are of no concern to it, it will overwrite them without notification. File Extensions .SD...........Debut's Compressed Binary File .SDA..........Debut's Animated Screens .ANS..........ANSI Coded Screens .ASC..........ASCII Files .BAS..........Basic Coded Screens & BSAVE .C............C Language Coded Screens .PAS..........Pascal Coded Screens S C R E E N D E B U T 1.4 Pg 17 ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Major Function Areas A>SD >──────────────────────┐ ┌────────┴────────┐ │ OPENING SCREEN │ └────────┬────────┘ ┌───────────┐ ┌─────────┴──────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ │ │ │ │ ┌───┤ Build ALT │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ASCII @ │ │ │ │ │ │ ├─────────────┤ │ A A │ │ │ ├───┤ Build ALT │ │ N N │ │ │ │ │ ANSI A │ │ S I │ │ Main │ │ ├─────────────┤ │ I M ├───────┤ Editor ├───┼───┤ Build ALT │ │ A │ │ │ │ │ Basic B │ │ T │ │ │ │ ├─────────────┤ │ O │ │ │ ├───┤ Build ALT │ │ R │ │ │ │ │ C Lang. C │ │ │ │ │ │ ├─────────────┤ │ │ │ │ └───┤ Build ALT │ │ F1 - F1 │ │ │ │ Pascal P │ └───────────┘ └─────────┬──────────┘ └─────────────┘ │ │ (Escape Key to DOS ) A> <──────────────────┘ (Or out of any Area) S C R E E N D E B U T 1.4 Pg 18 ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── SNAP SCREEN Snap Screen posts to the screen, Screen Debut files. It's primarily intended for use with batch files. It's advantage over ANSI is that it posts screens very fast. It can reach across a directory or even a drive and post a screen in the blink of an eye. All screens can be kept in one directory for easy maintenance. It also has the ability to post screens in a dramatic split screen way. The advantages of using Snap Screen over ".COM" screens are. 1) Saves Space - It reads Screen Debuts compressed binary files which are typical about 800 Bytes in size. A typical ".COM" screen that carries no video assistance takes over 4000 bytes of disk space! 2) Monitor Support - Snap Screen checks for the type of monitor (color or monochrome) and then loads the screen correctly. It also sets the DOS prompt to the position you indicate. 3) Dramatic split screen displays - optional 4) Ease of Maintenance - All screens can be kept in the directory with Screen Debut for easy modification and still used with batch files that are located elsewhere. Here's how it works: A>SNAPSCRN YOURFILE.SD 20 1 ^ ^ ^ │ │ └───(NON Zero = Split Screen, 0 = Normal) │ │ │ └─────(UP/DOWN Location of the A> (1 - 24)) │ └──────────────(File made with Screen Debut ) (The extension .SD is not necessary ) S C R E E N D E B U T 1.4 Pg 19 ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ODDS & ENDS When developing a screen it is very important to pay attention to the hidden color attributes. Changing color attributes for no reason adds unnecessary extra code. PROGRAM ERRORS The program has had the heck run out of it. To the best of my knowledge it's bug free, however there's the human element. If you find an error please let me know so I can correct it. ANTICIPATED ERRORS Hardware versus Software type errors have been anticipated. An example of this type of error is writing to a drive while the drive door is open. In the event of an anticipated error the program will try to recover itself. It will beep, give an error message for approximately five seconds, then revert to where it was before the error occurred. The only action required on your part is to heed the error message. MEMORY ALLOCATION [ALT] = : This function checks the amount of unused memory. Without enough free memory, Screen Debut will crash. In fact, this is the only time it's been known to crash. Adding TSR's improperly from the DOS shell causes a memory allocation problem. Don't load Screen Predator from the DOS shell! If you suspect the program is running out of memory check it by pushing "[ALT] =" while in the Main Editing environment. Storage of all the large data arrays takes place in the Far Memory. Insure that there's plenty of free memory here as it is allocated on the fly. (30KB plus) S C R E E N D E B U T 1.4 Pg 20 ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── Limitations The program will code up to 999 lines of code. Line 25 has been left off coded screens. Because, when the last character of line 25 is written it causes the cursor to move to line 26. This causes the screen to scroll. The ANSI Animator can handle up to 6000 frames. The equivalent of three full screens. Inquires Please direct inquires to the fore mentioned address or via the GT Power Network to NET NODE 081/001 (Jack's Board of Augusta Georgia). Open questions concerning ANSI may be directed thru the "Inter- national ANSI Conference" or the "OZ ANSI Conference" also in the GT net. Thanks for taking the time to look this program over! Sincerely, ╔═════════╗ ║│ │∙││∙┌─╜ ║│││││││├─ ║└┴┘└┴┴┘└─╖ ╚═════════╝ Willie Robinson -------------------------- TRADEMARKS ---------------------------- TURBO C & TURBO Pascal are trademarks of Borland International. Tandy is a trademark of the Tandy Corporation. ProBas is a trademark of Hammerly Computer Services. GT Power is a product of P & M Software Co.