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2022-08-26
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u
V D O T
DOTBASIC VISUAL DESIGN UTILITY
Mr. Mouse Image Construction Kit
by Dave Moorman
The first step in creating slick
DOTBASIC programs is to visually
design the screen using VDOT.
VDOT is a text screen designer,
built on MR.MICK, which is similar to
Screen Dazzler by Brian Eddy,
published on LOADSTAR #90. The
difference here is that MR.MICK and
VDOT are mouse-driven, include a font
editor, and the ability to save and
load screens in a format which
includes the font.
And VDOT allows you to define and
assign Event Regions for use with
DOTBASIC!
Text screens are not like DOODLE
or KOALA screens. Text screens are
made using Commodore graphics, more
appropriately called "font graphics,"
pieced together with font characters.
For instance, the LOADSTAR at the top
of our main menu is not a DOODLE, but
a font graphic that's been typed or
printed to the regular text screen.
How artistic can a graphic screen be
with only text? Well, check out any
of Phil Sampson's "Black Knight"
pictures and you'll see what can be
done with only the graphics
characters supplied by the C-64
default character set. With a custom
set (which LOADSTAR practically
requires) you can really get fancy.
It's easy to make text screens,
even artsy ones, but you're limited
by the font, which only has 256
unique characters. If you want to
type text on the screen, you'll have
to alter characters other than text
characters in the font. The trade is
usually the C= key characters,
most of which are rarely used.
VDOT has multiple file
formats, two based on the .TBS
format.
[Note from Jeff:] TBS stands for
Toolbox Stash Format. I didn't know
when I designed my screen stash
subroutine that I was designing an
official, usable file "format,"
worthy of a file extension. All I
can say is that today I consider
myself the luckiest man on the face
of the earth.
This screen editor sports a
built-in font tool that does nearly
everything a font editor does -- but
all right on the screen where you can
see the interaction of custom
characters. In short, VDOT has
everything you need for dramatic text
screen design.
You will need an intelligent
mouse in port 1, or a joystick in
port 2. On boot-up, you will see a
Menu Bar and pointer on a black
screen. This is [MOUSE MODE] -- and
every function is available on the
three pull-down menus. You can call
the menus with a point and click, or
press:
CONTROL-F for File
CONTROL-E for Edit
CONTROL-C for Control.
Note that the functions on the
Control Menu have hot keys listed.
The F-keys are easier than slogging
through the menu:
F1 - Toggle Menu Bar On/Off
F3 - Toggle Window On/Off
F5 - Switch Font/Color Windows
UP ARROW - Window to Top/Bottom
The Menu Bar and Window are non-
destructive, giving you access to the
whole screen. Press F3 and F5 until
you have the Font Window visible on
the screen.
In FontMouse Mode, you can pick
up any visible character with a point
and click, then move it to any place
on the screen and place it with
another click. You can only pick up
characters from the Font display.
Press the right mouse button or F7 to
drop a character without placing it
on the screen.
At the right of the Font display
is the character editor. Point and
click a cell to toggle the pixel. The
cursor keys move the box cursor on
the display to select the current
character.
While the font is visible,
pressing F6 (or Font Edit Control
from the Control Menu) will display a
menu of ten useful character
manipulators. The pointer is trapped
in the Font Control Menu until you
press the right mouse button or F7.
The first nine controls are obvious
and immediate. To Copy one character
to another, first choose the
character to be copied using the
cursor keys. Then click on [Copy].
The pointer will jump to the Font
display (and is trapped there). Point
to the character to receive the copy
and click. (To cancel, point at the
character in the box cursor.)
[COLORMOUSE MODE]
[{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}]
Press F5 to switch to the Color
Window. The pointer becomes a "Paint
Bucket." Point and click one for the
colors on the palette to set the
current color. Then simply hold down
the left mouse button (or fire) and
move around to paint the characters on
the screen.
To the left of the palette is the
border/background box. Move the
"Bucket" to the far left edge of the
Color Window and click to paint the
border. Point to the center of the box
and click to paint the background. If
the background and Menu Bar are the
same color, press F4 to cycle through
menu colors. All menus and dialog
boxes will be in the Menu Bar color.
VDOT lets you work in any C-64
color mode. With the Color Window
visible, press F2 (or use the Control
Menu <F2 To .... Mode>). You will
cycle through each color mode. In
Extended Background, the background
colors are displayed in four
quadrants. In Multi-Color, the three
background colors are displayed in
three rows.
[Note:] If the border color is 0-7,
you will not see the extra multi-
colors. Choose colors 8 - 15 and
click the border rim of the color box
to see the two other background
colors in the center of the box. The
three rows WILL respond correctly to
painting even if they do not display
the colors. Just chalk it up to the
nature of our favorite beast!
We have just three other Control
Menu functions left. F8 is a
QuikSave, which you can perform once
an image has been named. The BACK
ARROW cycles you through fonts:
Custom
to Default Upper Case
to Default Lower Case.
[TEXT MODE]
[{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}]
Point and click are nice -- but
the keyboard is better for straight
typing. Use the Control Menu <Shift-
RET: To Text Mode>, or press Shift-
RETURN. The menus are not available
in Text Mode, and the only Function
key functioning is F1. To exit Text
Mode, press Shift-RETURN or F1.
[Clue:] Remember F1! In a stroke or
two, F1 will get the Menu Bar back on
the screen.
In Text Mode, the keyboard works
almost exactly like the native C-64
screen editor. I have excluded the
irritating line links and bottom
scrolling. Insert and Delete only
affect the cursor row. Set colors and
Reverse On/Off in the normal way. CLR
clears the screen. However, if you
press CLR again, the screen will be
restored to the point where you
entered Text Mode.
F1 or Shift-RETURN returns you to
Mouse Mode.
[THE MENUS]
[{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}{SHIFT-*}]
[File Menu]
New -- clears work in progress.
Load --
VDOT will load:
ToolBoxStash (.TBS)
Meddlefile (.MED)
SuperToolStash (.STS)
Font ( F. )
Screen (from 1024)
Color (from 55296)
The Meddlefile (.MED) loads a
font followed by .TBS format data,
followed by Region and Event data.
This the file format used by DOTBASIC
for the visually designed screen.
SuperToolStash is a group of one
to four .TBS images in one file --
particularly handy for bringing
several images into a program with a
single bload. The .STS file fits
nicely at page 160 or 224 under ROM.
Screen and Color files have been
included to bring data in from less
sophisticated programs.
[SAVE]
Choose the file-type:
F. Font
.TBS ToolBoxStash
.MED Meddlefile (DOTBASIC)
.STS SuperToolStash
Next input the filename and
confirm. See below in Put/Get Image
about saving .STS files.
[QUIKSAVE]
Once a .TBS or .FTS file is
saved, the filename is embedded in
the data. QuikSave saves the .TBS
file to the same filename with auto-
replace. F8 will do a QuikSave in one
keystroke.
[PUT/GET IMAGE]
MR.MICK has four buffers to hold
.TBS images, which can be saved
together as an .STS file. If the
image has no name, Put will ask you
for one. The image names are listed
on the Buffer Menu -- making swapping
between images extremely easy.
When you save the .STS buffer,
you are asked which images to save.
The file will contain images down to
the one you choose. Only the images
saved will load. For instance, if you
saved images 1 and 2, you can later
load them on top of 1, 2, 3, and 4,
replacing only the first two images.
This way, you can easily shuffle
around between images.
[PUT/GET FONT BUFFER]