ALT-QUICK for QUICK BASIC..............v5.55
This is the talked about programmer's tools
that are written by Christy Gemmell-England.
Add many new routines and functions to your
present or even new programs to give them
a unique look and feel. With this toolbox
you can do it easily ! Add Popups, zooms,
extended functions not present in QB45.
Available in QB, PDS, Visual Basic. !!!
U.S.A. Support is available thru Club PC BBS
located in Smithfield, Va. 804-357-0357.

ALT-QUICK for QUICK BASIC..............v5.55
This is the talked about programmer's tools
that are written by Christy Gemmell-England.
Add many new routines and functions to your
present or even new programs to give them
a unique look and feel. With this toolbox
you can do it easily ! Add Popups, zooms,
extended functions not present in QB45.
Available in QB, PDS, Visual Basic. !!!
U.S.A. Support is available thru Club PC BBS
located in Smithfield, Va. 804-357-0357.
Assembly-Language Toolbox for QuickBASIC and VisualBASIC DOS

By Christy Gemmell


ABOUT SHAREWARE AND THE USE/DISTRIBUTION OF THIS SOFTWARE


DISTRIBUTION OF *ANY* SOFTWARE, WHETHER FOR PERSONAL OR COMMERCIAL USE
IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED UNLESS THE PROFESSIONAL (REGISTERED) VERSION IS
PURCHASED! VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED TO THE FULL EXTENT OF THE LAW!


Shareware distribution gives users a chance to try software before buying it.
If you try a Shareware program and continue using it, you are expected to
register. Individual programs differ on details - some request registration
while others require it, some specify a maximum trial period. Along with the
registration, you get anything from the simple right to continue using the
software to an updated program with a printed manual.

Copyright LAWS apply to both Shareware and Commercial software, and the
copyright holder retains all rights, with a few specific exceptions as stated
below. Shareware authors are accomplished programmers, just like commercial
authors, and the programs are of comparable quality. In both cases, there are
good programs and bad ones! The main difference is in the method used in the
distribution. The author specifically grants the right to copy and distribute
the software, either to all and sundry or to a specific group. For example,
some authors require written permission before a commercial disk vendor may
copy their Shareware.

So, Shareware is a distribution method, not a type of software. You should
find software that suits your needs and pocketbook, whether it's commercial
or Shareware. The Shareware system makes fitting your needs easier, because
you can try before you buy. And because the overhead is low, prices are low
also. Shareware has the ultimate money-back guarantee - if you don't use the
product, you don't pay for it.

You are granted a license to try this program for a period of 21 days. If you
continue to use this program after the trial period is over you must register
it by sending the registration form with remittance to either of the 2 listed
addresses following in this document.

This program may not be sold in any form without the express written consent
from Christy Gemmell -or- CPC Consulting Company. If you distribute this
program to friends or to a BBS, you *MUST* do so under it's given name!


ABOUT THE ASSEMBLY LANGUAGE TOOLBOX (ALT)


The fifth edition of the Assembly-Language Toolbox has many new features. EMS
support has been added with a full set of routines for reading and writing to
LIM 3.2 / 4.0 Expanded Memory. Other routines enable you to control the DOS
print spooler and, thanks to Neil Carter, it now has a complete set of Mouse
functions.

High-resolution graphics, a previously neglected area in the Toolbox, have at
last been tackled and this release provides facilities for scrolling,panning,
and controlling the intensity of graphics displays. The routines for loading
and saving high-resolution screens to disk files have been rewritten in pure
assembly-language and are, consequently, much smaller and faster. In addition
I have added routines for drawing and scaling high-resolution text in any
combination of colours that your video card is capable of displaying. This
includes computers fitted with CGA, MCGA, EGA and VGA adaptors. Hercules
graphics cards are not, as yet, supported.

Version 5.xx adds a few new requested features; DOSBOX which allows you to
SHELL and run DOS commands in a window is particularly popular. There are
also routines to redirect output from a SHELLed program to the printer or a
file, to stuff up to fifteen keystrokes into the keyboard typeahead buffer,
to locate the DOS master environment and to find the pathname of the
currently executing program.

As in previous releases, two(2) versions of the Toolbox library are included.
The first, ALTQUICK.LIB, is intended for linking with stand-alone programs
which are run from the DOS command line. To do this you must first compile
your program using BC's /O switch, eg:

BC /O YOURPROG.BAS;

where YOURPROG.BAS is, of course, the name of your program.

The resulting object file should then be linked to the library using the
version of LINK.EXE which came with your QuickBASIC compiler, viz:

LINK YOURPROG,,,ALTQUICK.LIB;

This will produce an EXEcutable program, YOURPROG.EXE, which can be run
completely stand-alone, without the need for the QuickBASIC support module
BRUN45.EXE to be present at runtime. It can, therefore, be distributed
freely without the need for royalty payments considering that the REGISTERED
version of the library was used to create the Stand-Alone. *See Warning about
this at top of this document*!

ALTQUICK.QLB, the second version of the library, is used for the developing
programs in the QuickBASIC environment. To load it, use the following command
when starting up QuickBASIC:

QB YOURPROG /L ALTQUICK.QLB

Thereafter your program can call any of the Toolbox functions and procedures,
provided that it includes the appropriate DECLARE statements at the beginning
of its' code.

DECLARE statements are prototype descriptions of the SUB programs and the
FUNCTION procedures which your program will CALL. The QuickBASIC compiler
uses them to determine the number of arguments that need to be passed and how
the routines are to be called. Once declared, a library routine needs only to
be named for it to be executed and becomes, in effect, an extension to the
QuickBASIC language. To use the Toolbox FASTPRINT routine, for example, add
the following lines to your program:

DECLARE SUB FastPrint (BYVAL Row%, BYVAL Col%, Message$, BYVAL Attribute%)
FastPrint 25, 34, "Hello World!", 48

This will print 'Hello World!' at the centre of the bottom screen row, using
black characters on cyan background assuming that you have a colour monitor.
Notice that you don't even have to use a CALL statement to invoke FastPrint
and that the parentheses around the argument list are not required.

DECLARE statements have another use when building stand-alone programs with
LINK.EXE. They tell the linker to attach only the modules containing the
declared library routines to your program, and no others. This helps keep
your .EXE file smaller by preventing them from being burdened with any of the
unneccessary code. The file ALTQUICK.DEF contains a full set of DECLARE
statements for all the library routines on this disk. Just paste the ones you
need into your current program.

If you have been using a previous version of the Toolbox, please note that
many of the DECLARE statements for previously existing routines have been
changed. In particular, a number of arguments which were previously passed
by reference are now passed BY VALue. Others have been given additional
parameters. Before you link any existing code to the new version of the
ALTQUICK.LIB, you should check with ALTQUICK.DEF that your DECLARE statements
are still valid.

The \HELP subdirectory contains a number of ASCII topic files which are used
by DEMON.EXE, a Toolbox demonstration program, to provide context-sensitive
help. If you are copying the Toolbox package to your hard disk, be aware that
not all of these are visible to normal directory listings (see the HELPMATE
documentation for more information). You may also need to set up a DOS
environment variable to point to the subdirectory you transfer the topic
files to, otherwise DEMON may not find them, eg:

SET HELP=C:\QB45\HELPTEXT

With this release I have also provided the source code for DEMON as a guide
to using Toolbox routines in your own programs. Feel free to copy or modify
any part of it as you see fit, for demonstration or learning purposes.

If you intend to use the Toolbox on a regular basis, however, you MUST
register your copy. For a modest fee, this will bring you a copy of the
Professional version of the Toolbox, complete with all the source code,
object modules for building your own custom libraries and many additional
features. Registration also entitles you to a free upgrade to Release 6 of
the Toolbox, when it becomes available, and to subsequent releases at a
greatly reduced price. Full Hotline support is also included, at no extra
charge.


FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:


James Kreyling CPC Consulting Company
1217 Crescent Drive
Smithfield, Va. 23430
U.S.A.

Tel: (804)-357-9190 (Voice)
(804)-357-9190 (FAX)
(804)-PRI-VATE (Club-PC BBS Node #1)
(804)-357-0357 (Club-PC BBS Node #2)
(804)-622-8011 (Club-PC BBS Node #3)
(804)-357-3416 (Club-PC BBS Node #4)


Christy Gemmell Apt.13, Beckville Building
17 Glebe Street
Leicester LE2 0JR
England

Tel: (044)-0533-540720


DID YOU KNOW ?


The Assembly-Language Toolbox (ALT) for QuickBASIC is used by thousands of
programmers in Great Britain, Europe, the USA and Canada, Australasia and
Japan, to build fast and powerful QuickBASIC programs. It has been shown at
COMDEX and was featured in the November 1990 issue of BYTE magazine.

Christy Gemmell, the author of this package, is also major author of the
definitive textbook on QuickBASIC programming, the QuickBASIC BIBLE, which
is published by Microsoft Press, in association with the Waite Group, at
24.95 ($27.95 USD) ISBN 1-55615-262-0. Its thousand pages are packed with
information, tips and example programs which you wont find anywhere else.
Look out for it in your local bookstore and grab a copy !


DISTRIBUTION OF *ANY* SOFTWARE, WHETHER FOR PERSONAL OR COMMERCIAL USE
IS STRICTLY PROHIBITED UNLESS THE PROFESSIONAL (REGISTERED) VERSION IS
PURCHASED! VIOLATORS WILL BE PROSECUTED TO THE FULL EXTENT OF THE LAW!