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Commodore_Free_Issue_23_2008_Commodore_Computer_Club.d64
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2023-02-26
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Commodore 64 .prg Generator
---------------------------
A handy Commodore BASIC programming
utility for Windows
http://www.ajordison.co.uk/
What is it?
In a nutshell, the Commodore 64
Program Generator (called C64prgGen
from now on) allows you to type a
BASIC program using a nice Windows
environment (let's face it, the C64
was a pain to use compared to today's
modern kit) and then convert the
application to a '.prg' file which you
can run on an emulator, or even a real
C64 if you're feeling brave and have
the right kit to transfer the file.
What it isn't is a front-end for
tok64, cbmcnvrt, bastext or any other
tokeniser/detokeniser. It's been
written completely from scratch.
C64prgGen has the following features:
-NEW! Program import (.prg, .T64/.D64)
-Sprite editor,
-Character editor,
-Binary file import/export,
-Code snippets (often-used routines
which can be pasted into code),
-A Screen Code Builder, for using those
pesky print control characters,
-Code formatting and renumbering,
-Comprehensive help, includes
tutorials,
-Plus many other features.
Background
A while ago I was given a VB.NET
project at work. I'm a C++ programmer
by trade and I hadn't touched VB since
version 3 (many years ago) so I was a
bit rusty to say the least. Typically
I wasn't given any investigation time
and was expected to just get on with
it, I'm sure any programmers out there
are familiar with that! Anyway I was
scrabbling about looking for a nice
little project I could do in my own
time to get me up to speed with
VB.NET, at the same time I was into
playing around with the various C64
emulators and tools particularly
tok64. That's how C64prgGen came
about, I noticed that there weren't
many (if any) code generation tools
with a GUI front end. Admittedly I
hadn't looked very hard though, so
after about six months of on-and-off
(mostly off) work I finally released
version 1.0.0
Future Developments
I'm writing a 6502/6510 assembler,
which will be integrated into
C64prgGen, which I'm hoping to release
by the end of July.
I'm open to any suggestions, so if you
have anything you'd like adding to
C64prgGen feel free to contact me!
News!
3rd June 2008, Version 1.3.1 released.
NEW Features
Program Import
You can now import programs either
from .prg, .T64 or from a .D64 disk
image. You can only import BASIC
version 2 files though. This wasnt
something I was planning to implement
into C64prgGen. I had some unexpected
time off work and so I thought I'd
have a stab it at.
This is a 'work in progress' feature
though so don't expect it to be bomb
proof! It has been successfully tested
with all of the sample programs which
come with C64prgGen, i.e. the programs
have been compiled into .prgs which
have been imported again.
Binary Import
You can now import binary files and
append them to your listing as DATA
statements, useful for importing
sprite and character data.
User Defined Tools
You can launch you own tools from
within C64prgGen.
Sprite and Character Editors
These can now 'import' data from the
BASIC listing by using the listings
DATA statements.
Screen Codes
The screen codes, e.g. 'left*8', can
now be configured to be compatible
with other tokenisers/detokenisers.
Comments
You can now select a region of text
and automatically turn it into a
comment. See the 'Changes' section
Changes
The comment block tool has been
removed as it shared functionality
with the new way of turning text into
a comment and was no longer useful.
The rules regarding the format of
screen codes have been relaxed.
Previously a code string had to be in
the format code*multiplier. Now it can
be either way around, e.g
multiplier*code.
Tweaks
Couple of minor interface issues.
You can now 'Find/Find Next' text in
the BASIC listing.
You can now resize the status window.
(Yay!)
Bugs fixed in this release
There was a problem if:
1) you used pi in your programs as it
wasn't translated properly.
2) you tried to convert a .prg
generated with C64prgGen back to BASIC
text, e.g. with tok64.
3) you tried to renumber a program
which had listing only ('!-') comments
in them.
4) you closed the sprite or char
editor and sometimes unwanted data was
inserted into the program listing.
5) you tried to use the keyboard
shortcuts for cut/copy/paste.
Screen shots
Main Application Window
Below is the main application window.
This screen is showing the 'Balloon'
sample program. A number of sample
programs taken from the 'Commodore 64
User Guide' and 'Commodore 64
Programmer's Reference' are included.
Sprite Editor
Below is the sprite editor dialog. The
editor allows the creation, saving and
loading of up to 128 sprites.
The sprite data can be generated as
DATA statements directly into your
BASIC program.
Character Editor
Below is the character editor dialog.
The editor allows the creation, saving
and loading of any character from the
upper and lower case set. As with the
sprite editor data the character data
can be generated as DATA statements
directly into your BASIC program.
Screen Codes
The Screen Code Builder dialog lets
you build up strings of screen control
codes. No more having to remember what
the code to clear the screen is! The
real reason for this is many listings
found on the net use non standard
codes, and this dialog is used to
translate them.
Code Snippet Tool
The Code Snippet dialog is used to
select and paste common, often used
code snippets, e.g. clearing the SID
chip into your code. You can also
create and save your own snippets.
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