####
      ##  ##
     ##     =============================================================
    ## ###  E N E R A T I N G   ' S M A R T '   C O D E
   ##  ## ===============================================================
  ##  ##
  #####

Often in generating long ANSI screens with many  colour changes, it is
important to consider the time that the screen will take to display over
the modem (especially at 2400 baud.)  Programmes like  BBS-DRAW will
automatically generate 'smart' ANSI code which transmits in the least
amount of time possible, but generating such code by hand takes a little
bit of ingenuity on the part of the BBS artist.

The first thing to bear in mind when generating 'smart' code is that any
two (or more) ANSI codes which have the same command  terminator may be
combined into a single command.

Example:  To set the text to bright cyan and the background to violet on an
          ANSI screen,

either enter     ESC [ 1 m    then    ESC [ 36 m    then    ESC [ 45 m
    or enter     ESC [ 1; 36 ; 45 m

where the ; is the division character in the combined command, and the "m"
is the common terminator of the three combined commands.  As you can see,
the second, 'optimised,' code contains four fewer characters than the first
(those characters can add up after a while.)

Another thing to consider in optimising your code is that colour,
background, and text F/X changes remain in effect until they are removed
in some way (by another change or by resetting to defaults.)  So, if you
wanted a whole passage of text to have a bright purple foreground but
wanted to change backgrounds in the middle, it would only be necessary to
enter something such as:

  ESC [ 1 ; 35 ; 43 m This is a test of the
  ESC [ 44 m Emergency Broadcast System.

instead of entering

  ESC [ 1 ; 35 ; 43 m This is a test of the
  ESC [ 1 ; 35 ; 44 m Emergency Broadcast System

However, if for some reason you wanted the text of "Emergency Broadcast
System" to appear in dark purple instead of bright purple, you would need
to specify a longer command:

  ESC [ 1 ; 35 ; 43 m This is a test of the
  ESC [ 0 ; 35 ; 44 m Emergency Broadcast System

This is necessary since ESC [ 0 m not only turns off brightness but resets
the colour and background as well.


COMPLEX DICE
============

OK, let's take a quantum leap here.  Let's say you wanted to clear the
screen, jump down 14 lines, jump over 43 columns, change the text colour to
dark red, change the background colour to yellow, and then make your
machine quote Monty Python.

   CTRL-L                      clears the display
   ESC [ 14 B                  jumps down 14 lines
   ESC [ 43 C                  jumps over 43 lines
   ESC [ 7 ; 1 ; 33 ; 41 m     the only way to use a bright colour as a
                               background is through Reverse Mode

   type "I didn't expect a kind of  Spanish Inquisition!"

     Next Section                               Table of Contents