Shareware Grab Bag/Shareware Grab Bag.iso/009/32clspat.arc/32CLSPAT.TXT

Text File | 1987-03-25 | 5.3 KB | 161 lines

                          A N S I . S Y S



There are two ways to set screen color from DOS without using one of
the many memory resident programs available.  I don't like using the
memory resident programs because they are inevitably incompatible
with something.  Both of the 'normal' methods involve patching DOS.
The first involves patching COMMAND.COM (instructions given below),
and the second involves patching ANSI.SYS.  If you have ansi.sys
loaded, and you use the dos CLS command, the command is routed to
ANSI.SYS, and not through COMMAND.COM.  That is why you must patch
ANSI.SYS for color if you intend to use it at all.  Both of these
methods are activated by the CLS command.  Merely type CLS, and the
screen changes color to whatever you have set it at.  All further
writes to the screen will be in those colors too.  I prefer to use
ANSI.SYS, for reasons which I will expound upon further.  Many
programs use ansi for output, and these programs will magically
appear in color once you have loaded ansi.sys.  ANSI.SYS supports
screen colors, and the colors you want are changeable at any time.
Merely include the proper 'escape' codes in your PROMPT command, and
the screen colors will change appropriately.  To use ANSI.SYS,
include the following line in your CONFIG.SYS file:

DEVICE=ANSIPACH.SYS

Notice that the file is called ANSIPACH.SYS, and not ANSI.SYS.  That
is the name of the file I have included in this ARC library.  It is
already patched, and to save myself typing, I am not going to bother
going into the nitty gritty detail of what the patch is.  It does
replace the ESC[=# command, the 'Set Mode' command as it is called.
Since no programs use this, and the dos MODE command does the same
thing anyway, there should be no problem.  To have set the screen
colors using ANSI.SYS, you should include the appropriate 'escape
sequences' in your PROMPT command.  Here is an excerpt from the
DOS-3.1 Technical Reference Manual:


        Set Graphics Rendition (SGR)

ESC[#,...;#m        Sets the character attribute specified
            by the parameters.  All following
            characters have the attribute according
            to the parameters until the next occurence
            of SGR.

Parameter    Meaning
---------    -------
  0        All attributes OFF (Normal Black on White)
  1        Bold ON (high intensity)
  4        Underscore ON (IBM Monochrome display only)
  5        Blink ON
  7        Reverse Video ON
  8        Canceled ON (invisible text)
  30        Black foreground
  31        Red foreground
  32        Green foreground
  33        Yellow foreground
  34        Blue foreground
  35        Magenta foreground
  36        Cyan foreground
  37        White foreground
  40        Black background
  41        Red background
  42        Green background
  43        Brown background
  44        Blue background
  45        Magenta background
  46        Cyan background
  47        White background


To set the colors using the DOS PROMPT command, just type the
following command:

PROMPT $e[#;#m$g         - Where # is a number taken off of the above chart.

If you like to have the current directory displayed when you are at
dos, add $p to the command like this:

PROMPT $e[#;#m$p$g

For example, supposing I want the current directory displayed, and I
would like screen colors of white on blue, I would use the command:

PROMPT $e[37;44m$p$g

If I wanted yellow on blue I would type:

PROMPT $e[33;44m$p$g

REMEMBER:  For this to work, you must have ANSIPACH.SYS loaded.  To
do this, include it in your CONFIG.SYS file.







                          C O M M A N D . C O M


Here is a patch for DOS 3.2 CLS (clear screen) command.  It will let
you set the screen colors to whatever you wish, and it will also
change the screen border color as well as the foreground and
background text colors.  I would prefer you use the ansi.sys patch
which I describe above, but if you don't want ansi.sys loaded, and
you don't think you will ever change your mind about what colors you
wish to have, then I guess patching command.com is alright.  I feel
ansi.sys is more independent.  When you are making this patch, be sure to
make it on a COPY of the COMMAND.COM file.  NEVER patch your original
programs, you're just asking for trouble if you do.  In this patch
you will need to know the hexadecimal codes for the different screen
colors.  Here they are:

0 - Black    8 - Gray
1 - Blue    9 - Light Blue
2 - Green    A - Light Green
3 - Cyan    B - Light Cyann
4 - Red        C - Light Red
5 - Magenta    D - Light Magenta
6 - Brown    E - Yellow
7 - White    F - Bright White

Patch your COMMAND.COM file by using the command -

DEBUG COMMAND.COM

Type the following:

A 2818
MOV AH,0B
MOV BX,000<n>    - Where <n> is the color (from the color chart
INT 10             above) of the screen border color you wish to use.
XOR CX,CX       For example, MOV BX,0001 gives you a blue border.
MOV AH,0F
INT 10
MOV BL,BH
MOV DL,AH
MOV DH,18
MOV AX,0600
MOV BH,<b><f>    - Where <b> is the code for the background color you
INT 10             want, and <f> is the color for the foreground.
MOV BH,BL          For example, MOV BH,17 would    give you white on blue
MOV AH,02          text, and MOV BH,1E would give you yellow on blue text.
XOR DX,DX
INT 10
RET
NOP
                 - Press return on a blank line.
W
Q


You are done patching DOS.  You will have to reboot to see your
changes go into effect.