VGIX .30 alpha 1-22-93 Copyright (C) Roland De Graaf 1992,1993
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This is one of the introductory demo releases of VGIX, the graphical front-end
written specifically for The Virtual BBS/NET ver 5.6x and up.

.30 alpha:
1- Standard Upload and Download Protocols via VXY Stand-Alone
Protocol Driver -- Xmodem, Ymodem, Zmodem

===> You must have a copy of VXY.EXE 2.00, or higher, on your system, either
===> in the same directory as VGIX, or in a directory listed in your system's
===> PATH statement, in order for the transfer protocols to function.

2- Added support for [Esc] key to exit list box menus (in addition to "Q")
3- Reogranized VGIX Main Menu

.25 alpha introduces some new things:
1- Dialing Directory with Auto-Login to VBBS Boards
2- Simultaneous File Downloading (VGIX SimulDownload)
3- Faster, smoother operation

.20 alpha introduces some new things:
1- Fast pop up System Info box
2- List Box GUI object (mouseable, arrow keys, etc)
3- Better VGIX internal menu organization

.15 alpha introduces Ctrl E on-the-fly quick-box handling.
This lets VGIX become much more mousable within VBBS.
Quick-Boxes can be activated under mouse control.
also features more icons.

VGIX stands for Virtual Graphic Interactive Executive.

VGIX main task is to receive and execute the VGIX command set,
as issued by VBBS and other programs, as set forth by the VGIX standard/1
as outlined by Roland De Graaf.

In addition, VGIX automatically handles standard ANSI codes, and can
interpret VBBS "heart codes" directly.

VGIX.EXE -- The VGIX Program
ICONS.VGI -- VGIX Icons

An ICON Editor is available separately.

VGIX requires a VGA or better display, and mouse support is provided.
(Note: Be sure your mouse driver is loaded!)

VGIX/VBBS provides you with:
-Free-lance grahics capabilties
-ICONified menus with mouse support
-Yes/No Pop-Up Requestors (Space-Bar to temp. hide requestor)
-Ctrl E Quick-Box Selectors
-Music and Sound Capabilities

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How to use .30 alpha:

Put the files VGIX.EXE and ICONS.VGI in the directory you intend to execute
them from. If you have ICONEDIT.EXE, put it there too.

Execute VGIX.EXE.

VGIX .30 alpha only works with VBBS boards running VBBS ver 5.6x or higher!

NOTE: Be sure you set your VBBS account video mode to VGIX!

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VGIX command set capabilities:

-Graphics primitives: (as known by their Vscript Commands)


CLS
LINE x y x2 y2 color boxflag
PAINT x y color bordercolor
PLOT x y color
COLOR color
CIRCLE x y radius color
PALETTE color,VGAcolor
DRAW actionstring

x and x2 refer to coordinates from 0 to 639.
y and y2 refer to coordinates from 0 to 479.
color refers to a color setting from 0 to 15.
boxflag: 0 draw a line, 1 draw a box.
bordercolor refers to the color to at which painting stops.
radius refers to the radius of a circle.
actionstring (for DRAW) refers to a string such as the following:
"U2R2D2L2" = Up 2, Right 2, Down 2, Left 2, etc.

-Sound/Music: (as known by their Vscript Commands)

PLAY musicstring

musicstring refers to a string of text such as:
"ABCDEFGO4L4" = Notes A thru G, go to Octave 4, note Length 1/4, etc.

-ICONs: (as known by their Vscript Commands)

ICONIFY Resets VGIX ICON "counter"
ICON iconname x y orflag
ICON iconname x y orflag key caption

iconname is a 12 character icon name.
x and y are coordinates.
orflag: 0 = SET ICON, 1 = OVERLAY ICON (over a background).
key refers to the keystroke to return if this icon is selected.
caption refers to the caption to be printed under the icon (centered).

Note: If key and caption are absent, the icon is NOT "counted" and
is not mouseable. Both key and caption must be present for the icon
to be mousable.

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VGIX -- The future:

Add a standard for handling binary images
Add SoundBlaster Support

.....and much much more!