Category : Miscellaneous Language Source Code
Archive   : SD275.ZIP
Filename : SD275.TXT

2/25/89



Screen Designer
Version 2.75



Copyright (C) 1987, 1988, 1989
by
Michael W. Cocke



A Tool for Designing Screen Displays



This program is being distributed under the `shareware'
concept. You are freely encouraged to copy and distribute
this program, provided that no changes are made to either the
program or the documentation. This means that you can down-
load this program from a bulletin board, get it through a
mail order house, or copy it from a friend. If you don't
find it worthwhile, you won't have risked anything. But, if
you do find it useful, all I ask is that you send me a check
for just $10.00. This buys you to a new copy of the program,
WITH ALL updates. It will also buy you some peace of mind.
I'm one person, not a giant software company, and the check
you send may make the difference between feeding my cat this
week and not feeding my cat this week.


Please send a check for $10.00 to:

Michael Cocke
11 Cedar Road
Montville NJ 07045

Thank You,
Mike


Hacker Central BBS
(201)334-2555
300/1200/2400 baud 8N1
24 hours.



---> Royalty-FREE Source code available for $100.00 (U.S.) <---
Write for details.











Technical support, upgrades and requests available upon payment of
$ 10.00 (U.S.) registration fee.


What is SCREEN DESIGNER:

SCREEN DESIGNER is a program created to aid you in
designing and producing screens for batch files, pro-
grams, and, if you have the right printer, title pages
for word processor documents and spreadsheets.

Screen Designer was especially designed for programmers.
Whether you program in BASIC, Dbase or C, probably the
worst part of the job is 'prettifying' the screens.
Screen Designer has a programmer's interface that allows
you to draw the screen image you want, and then export
it (formatted properly !) into your source code. I
originally wrote Screen Designer because I work in 3-4
different languages, and the only common denominator is
that graphics is DAMNED difficult in all of them.

The graphics that SCREEN DESIGNER creates can be used on
color or monochrome video systems, and on IBM (tm)
compatible graphics printers.

To give you an idea of some of the uses of SCREEN DE-
SIGNER, all of the help screens and title pages embedded
in the Screen Designer program were created using the
program.


How to run SCREEN DESIGNER:

SCREEN DESIGNER was designed to work on a monochrome,
CGA, EGA or PGA equipped IBM (tm) compatible computer,
with at least 512K Ram and one floppy disk drive.

Late Note: Screen Designer also works in >ALL< VGA
MODES.

To run the program, all you need to do is type 'SD' at
the DOS prompt, and press .

There are two command line options available. If you
wish SCREEN DESIGNER to run in monochrome mode, type 'SD
M'. If you wish to run SCREEN DESIGNER in color mode,
type 'SD C'. If you don't do either, SCREEN DESIGNER
will look at your hardware and make its best guess.








Note: The graphics produced will still work on any type
of video, the above discussion refers only to how you
run it on your computer.

The second option is the ability to put the name of an
existing file that you wish to edit on the command line.
After the two opening screens display, this file will be
loaded just as if you had selected the load command from
the file sub-menu.


How to use SCREEN DESIGNER:

The Main Editor Screen

This is the screen where you do the actual drawing,
typing, etc. of your screen image. In addition to all
of the function keys (explained below), the backspace,
insert, delete, tab, return, and cursor keys all work
normally. The other keys that work here are:

+ Insert a new line at the current
line.
+ Delete the current line.

+ Center screen contents horizontal-
ly.
+ Center current line contents hori-
zontally.
The horizontal center is a little subtle, since
boxes are multi-line constructs. Rather than try
to explain what happens if there are two boxes of
different heights on the same set of lines, I will
suggest you try it. The insert and delete keys can
be used to modify the results, if desired. You
might want to do some experimenting here.

+ Center screen contents vertically.

+ Pops up a ruler line on whatever
line the cursor is currently on.
This WILL NOT Destroy the screen
contents. To get rid of the ruler
and restore your screen, do a
'Screen Redraw'.

+ Erase to the left of the curser.

+ Erase to the right of the curser.

+ Erase to the top of the curser.

+ Erase to the bottom of the curser.








In addition to the keys listed above, the following
keys are used with the 'box' capability.

Mark the upper left corner of a
single line box.

+ Mark the upper left corner of a
double line box.
+ Mark the upper left corner of a
special box.

Mark the lower right corner of
all boxes.

Screen Wrap

The screen wraps in all directions. This means that
if you move the cursor off the right side of the
screen, it will reappear on the left side, one line
down. If you move the cursor off the top of the
screen, it will reappear on the bottom of the screen
in the same column. The screen also wraps diagonally,
so that if you run the cursor off the lower right
corner of the screen, it will reappear in the upper
left corner.

It is NOT possible to edit more than one screen at a
time.


The Box Capability

There is a sophisticated auto-box routine built into
SCREEN DESIGNER, which will allow you to draw boxes of
many different sizes and styles. All you need to do
is mark the upper left corner of where you want to
draw a box, using one of the key combinations
listed above. Then move the cursor to where you wish
the lower right corner of the box, and press Down>. Presto, a box of the desired type and size!

There are three separate box patterns available at any
time in SCREEN DESIGNER. They are the SINGLE BOX, the
DOUBLE BOX and the SPECIAL BOX. The single box is a
single line box (-). The double box is a double line
box (=). The special box is one of a number of possi-
ble patterns. There are eight predefined special
boxes (that was the number of keys I had left over),
and a user-defined option to allow you to set any type
of box pattern you might wish.

As of version 2.11, there is also an 'intersection
mode' to simplify making intersections in the lines
and boxes. Tee intersections for all four sides are
supported, as are X type intersections (four way).






These are available in both one and two line patterns.
Mixed type patterns are not supported yet (I'm running
out of keys!).

The Function Keys
SCREEN DESIGNER makes use of the programmable function
keys, F1-F10, in all of the sub-menu screens, as well
as in the main edit screen and the line draw screen.

Some of the function keys 'toggle' an effect. In the
case of such a toggle key, the function key label (on
line 25 of the screen) will change to show what press-
ing the key will do. The labels always indicate what
pressing the key WILL do; they do NOT show the cur-
rent function of the key.

Function Keys from the Main Edit Screen
---------------------------------------
F1 Main Screen Help
F2 File Utilities Menu
F3 Character Utility Menu
F4 Programmers Utility
F5 Intersections
F6 Line Drawing Mode
F7 Screen Redraw
F8 Graphics Mode
F9 Restart the Program
F10 Exit the Program

F1 - HELP
---------
The F1 key ALWAYS displays a help screen. There are help
screens for each of the sub menus, the main edit screen,
and the line draw screen.

F2 - File Utilities Menu
------------------------
The function keys that are used in this menu are:

F1 File Menu Help
F2 File Load
F3 File Save
F4 Directory List
F10 Return to the Main Edit Screen


F1 - File Menu Help


This key is used to provide a quick reference to the
file menu.

F2 - File Load
This key is used to load an already existing file for
further editing.
After pressing F2, you will be asked to enter the






filename you want to edit. If you enter a filename
longer than 12 characters, you will be asked to try
again. If you press without entering any
filename, you will be returned to the Main Editor
Screen.
The files are saved as normal ASCII text files, so you
should be able to edit them with any word processor
that supports a plain ASCII mode (such as Wordstar (in
NON-document mode) or the editors in Turbo Pascal (tm)
or Quickbasic (tm)).

F3 - File Save
This key is used to save a file that you have created.
After you have pressed F2, you will be asked to enter
the filename you want to save. If you enter a file-
name longer than 12 characters, you will be asked to
try again. If you press without entering any
filename, you will be returned to the Main Editor
Screen.
The files are saved as normal ASCII text files, so you
should be able to edit them with any word processor
that supports a plain ASCII mode (such as Wordstar (in
NON-document mode) or the editors in Turbo Pascal (tm)
or Quickbasic (tm)).

F4 - Directory List
This key is used to list the files in the current
directory. The display stops every 24 lines and
displays 'Press to continue'

F10 - Return to Main Editor Screen
This key is used to return to the Main Edit Screen.

F3 - Alternate Box
------------------
This is how you design your 'special' box. The menu
for selecting among the predefined boxes is self-
explanatory. The screen will display the different box
patterns along with a number for each one. Simply
press the corresponding number and the correct pattern
will be generated.

If the user-defined box option is chosen (number 8), a
new screen will appear. The left side of the screen
shows a listing of keys with the corresponding charac-
ter generated by each key. The right side of the
screen prompts the user for the characters that will
make up the various corners and sides of the user-
defined box. Pressing after each selection
will move to the next prompt.

UL stands for Upper Left, UR stands for Upper Right,
LL is Lower Left, LR is Lower Right. VS is the verti-
cal Side and HS is the Horizontal Side. These charac-
ters are entered by typing the standard ASCII key






shown to the left of the graphics characters on the
chart that is displayed on the screen.


F4 - Programmers Utility
------------------------
This is the function of the program that caused me to
write SCREEN DESIGNER. I tend to write truly horrible
screen interfaces. This is because, like many pro-
grammers, I'm more concerned with the program than
with its appearance. SCREEN DESIGNER is designed to
remedy those appalling interfaces. I have tried to
make this function non-language specific, as I work in
several different programming languages. As written,
this function is adequate for BASIC, C, Dbase and
PASCAL coding conventions. I haven't tested any other
languages with it. Suggestions and comments are
welcome.

The first question that you are asked is:
'Screen type (P = Program Export, B = BBS Screen):'
This performs the following; If you answer this
question with a letter 'P', skip to the section marked
'Programmer Interface, Program Export'

Programmer Interface (BBS Screen)
---------------------------------
This function of the Programmer interface skips all of
the questions detailed below, and simply requests the
name of the file to save. The formatting of the result
file, however, is very different from the result of
the Program export function! The result file will NOT
be padded to 80 character lines (the same as the
'right trim' question below). Blank lines will be
padded to 1 space. The file will NOT be padded to 24
lines! This function is useful for drawing bulletins,
messages, and main menu screens for BBS systems, Such
as are used in

The Hacker Central BBS
(201)334-2555
300/1200/2400 8N1
24 hours

(The preceding has been a blatant advertisement of my
BBS)


Programmer Interface (Program export)
-------------------------------------

You are asked a number of questions in this section, a
detailed discussion follows.

Number Lines (Y/N):







Do you wish to have each line of the screen image
numbered? For instance, GWBASIC requires line num-
bers, QUICKBASIC considers them optional, and C
doesn't want to consider the prospect of numbered
lines. If you answer this question 'yes' you will be
asked for a starting number, and an increment between
line numbers.

Next, the question 'Right Trim (Y/N)' will be dis-
played.

This is asking you if you wish to trim trailing blanks
from the right side of the screen image. All other
formatting will work properly in either mode, this is
for people using non-standard width screens.

The message "DO NOT ENTER QUOTES FOR THE FOLLOWING 2
QUESTIONS" will be displayed. If you are working in
BASIC or a similar language which requires PRINT
statements to be quoted, DO NOT type quotes (") here!
I have no idea what will happen if anyone enters
quotes here, but I can guarantee that the program WILL
malfunction.

The message 'The '^" character will be replaced with
the physical line number in the following statements.'
will display. This is intended for languages support-
ing a 'print at location' statement. Entering a caret
(^) in either of the next two lines will create a file
formatted as you request, with the caret (^) being
replaced by the physical line number for each line of
the screen image.

Example:
page=0:row=^:col=4:scrmode=1:st$=
will produce a file formatted thus;
page=0:row=1-25:col=4:scrmode=1:st$= etc.

The message 'Begin lines with:' will be displayed,
this is the programming language statement you wish to
have each line begin with. for example, if program-
ming in BASIC, the answer would be 'PRINT'

** Please note that Compound statements under Basic
ARE supported.

The message 'End lines with:' will be displayed, this
is the programming language statement you wish to have
each line end with. for example, in C you could use
this capability in PRINTF statements.

** Please note that Compound statements under Basic
ARE supported.








Next you will be asked for;
'Offset from top for line counter metacharacter (0 =
none)'

This rather indecipherable message relates back to the
caret (^) we discussed above. Normally the lines will
be numbered 1 to 25. If, for some reason, you need
them numbered 5 to 30, enter an offset of 5. In
short, this is the number you wish added to the physi-
cal line number in your output file.

(The curious may wish to know why I phrased this
question in this fashion. The answer is that my XENIX
is showing.)


Next you will be asked if you need to have screen
lines quoted, this is a yes/no question. The opening
quotes will be inserted AFTER the 'begin lines with'
field , and the closing quotes will be inserted BEFORE
the 'end lines with' field. (BASIC programmers, the
answer is YES)

The last question you will be asked is for the name of
the file you wish to save the formatted screen image
in. If you supply the name of a file that already
exists, it will be OVERWRITTEN.

If you enter a filename longer than 12 characters, you
will be asked to try again. If you press
without entering any filename, you will be returned to
the Main Editor Screen. The files are saved as normal
ASCII text files, so you should be able to edit them
with any word processor.


F5 - Intersection mode
-----------------------
Intersection mode is designed to place an 'intersection'
character at the current cursor position. The way it
works is:

1) Position the cursor where you want an intersection.
2) Press the F5 key.
3) Press any one of the following keys;

w, W, a, A, s, S, z, Z, x, X

(This is going to be a little difficult.....)

Visualize the WASZ diamond on your keyboard as
being representative of the four sides of a square.
Lower case supplies single line intersections
appropriate to the side of the square being repre-






sented by the appropriate key, upper case gives
double lines. The x or X key does a 'four way'
intersection. I suggest a little experimentation.

F6 - Line Draw Mode
-------------------
The function keys used from this menu are:

F1 Line Draw Help
F2 Single / Double Line Toggle
F3 Pen Up / Down Toggle
F4 Redraw the Screen
F5 Intersection Mode
F10 Return to the Main Editor Screen

All of the cursor arrow keys work normally (SEE NOTE
BELOW), as do the backspace, tab, return, insert and
delete keys. The other keys that work here are:

+ Pops up a ruler line on whatever
line the cursor is currently on.
This WILL NOT Destroy the screen
contents. To get rid of the ruler
and restore your screen, just do a
'Screen Redraw'.

+ Erase to the left of the cursor.

+ Erase to the right of the cursor.

+ Erase to the top of the cursor.

+ Erase to the bottom of the cursor.

NOTE: The cursor keys work as marked when the pen is
UP. When the pen is down, a line of the selected type
is drawn by the cursor.

F1 - Line Draw Help
This key is used to provide a quick reference to the Line Draw Screen.

F2 - Single / Double Line Toggle

This key toggles between single line (-) and double
line (=) mode. Note that the function key line changes
to indicate what pressing the toggle key WILL do, not
the current status of the toggle key.

F3 - Pen Up / Down Toggle

This key toggles between pen up (cursor movement) and
pen down (line drawing modes. The lines are actually
drawn by moving the cursor (with the arrow keys) while
the pen is DOWN. Appropriate corners will be supplied
automatically. (Well, within limits - the program is







not omniscient.)

F4 - Redraw the Screen

This key is used to redraw the screen after a RAM-
resident program has messed it up. It is also useful
for getting rid of the ruler line.

F5 - Intersection mode

Intersection mode is designed to place an 'intersec-
tion' character at the current cursor position. The
way it works is:

1) Position the cursor where you want an intersection.
2) Press the F5 key.
3) Press any one of the following keys;


w, W, a, A, s, S, z, Z, x, X

(This is going to be a little difficult.....)

visualize the WASZ diamond on your keyboard as being
representative of the four sides of a square. Lower
case supplies single line intersections appropriate to
the side of the square being represented by the appro-
priate key, upper case gives double lines. The x or X
key does a 'four way' intersection. I suggest a
little experimentation.

F10 - Return to main Editor Screen

This key returns you to the Main Edit Screen.

F7 - Redraw the Screen
-----------------------
This key is used to redraw the screen after a RAM-
resident program has messed it up. It is also useful
for getting rid of the ruler line.

F8 - Graphics Mode
------------------

This key toggles between 'TEXT' and 'GRAPHICS' keyboard
mode. Note that the function key line changes to indi-

cate what pressing the toggle key WILL do, not the
current status of the toggle key.


F9 - Clear Screen and Restart the Program
------------------------------------------

This key clears the screen and restarts the program.







F10 - Exit the Program
----------------------
This key is used to exit the program.

As of Ver 2.11, You will be asked if you have saved
the screen currently displayed. This is a Yes or NO
(Y/N) question. If you answer yes, the program will
exit. If the answer is no, you will be asked for the
filename you wish to save the screen in. The screen
will then be saved and the program will then exit.



Technical Appendix:
-------------------

The graphics characters produced by SCREEN DESIGNER are
the extended ASCII character set incorporated in every
video board as part of the standard (as defined by IBM)
character set. On a CGA, EGA, PGA or other color board,
SCREEN DESIGNER does not operate in the GRAPHICS mode,
but rather in TEXT mode. This allows the graphics
created by SCREEN DESIGNER to work properly on any type
of computer / video system.

All files produced by SCREEN DESIGNER are standard ASCII
text files, with no tokenization. You can edit any of
the image files you create with an ASCII word processor,
such as WORDSTAR in NON-document mode, or the editors in
Turbo Pascal and QuickBasic.

The files created are 24 records long, with 80 charac-
ters per record.

PLEASE NOTE: If you use column 80 for your screen design,
be advised that there is a bug involving the
video systems ability (indeed, a desire) to
wrap to the next line. SCREEN DESIGNER at-
tempts to handle this problem with column 80
for you, but it will probably turn out
strangely. I advise that you design your
screens to use columns 1-79, and ignore column
80 entirely.

If you attempt to read in a file that contains either short
lines (less then 80 characters) or short files (less than 24
records) SCREEN DESIGNER will pad the records to the requi-
site length & number.

This program is written in Microsoft QuickBasic 4.5, and
makes use of the 'event trapping' features of that language.
Attempting to use a RAM-resident program, such as Sidekick
(tm), while running SCREEN DESIGNER may produce strange
results.







I have attempted to make this program as portable as possi-
ble. The screen redraw is a little slow, but keep in mind
that SCREEN DESIGNER should work on 98% & 99% compatibles as
well as 100% compatibles, and under Windows (tm) and Double-
Dos (tm). I felt that the compromise was worth it.


SCREEN DESIGNER has been tested on the following comput-
er systems:
(machine types are listed generically, to avoid having
to list three pages of trademark credits)
AT with CGA
AT with EGA
AT with monochrome
XT with monochrome graphics
XT with CGA
XT with Hercules
386 with VGA


These systems were run under various versions
of MS-DOS (tm), from 2.11 through 3.2. and
PC-DOS (tm) 3.3



Miscellaneous Notes and Release History:

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Anthony Scriffig-
nano, whose program 'CHART' inspired SCREEN DESIGNER.

I'd also like to thank the system operator of the Software
Society BBS (Sparta NJ) for his willingness to put up with my
inability to upload the right file the first time (EVER!). I
got the idea for the intersection mode from his main menu.

And, last but not least, I want to thank my wife, Evelyne
Stalzer, for tolerating my living at this computer while I
wrote SCREEN DESIGNER, and for editing the documentation.




Revision History:

Version .99
The boxer goes berserk, no line draw mode

Version 1.00
Beta testing: added corrections for short files & short
records, added ruler line, added blank left, right, up & down
feature. (I'll get even with John someday..)

Version 1.45
The virtual screen wins the battle, but I win the war....






Where is the cursor going ?, started docs. figured out the
boxer bug, added interlock so up left MUST be above & left of
lower right (good morning stupid)



Version 1.75
I found the cursor, rewrite the logical to physical screen
connection. (AGAIN!)

Version 2.0
First Release to the public (Software Society BBS)

2 Days later.....

Version 2.02
Killed the idea of delay loops in the title display, made it
a 'hit a key'.

Version 2.03
Not released pending $, found minor bug in line draw, on line
24, going right to left, cursor goes to top of screen. fixed
same.

Version 2.04
Incorporates 2.03 fix and a correction to the virtual-physi-
cal cursor link.

Version 2.10
added intersection mode, also remapped all F keys in draw
mode at suggestion of Sid K.

Version 2.11
At the suggestion of Sid (and original design notes, which I
finally found on my desk!) added check for save during exit
sequence.

Version 2.30
Added Trim right and line counter metacharacter to the pro-
grammer interface. also added offset from top for counter
meta. Rewrote whole programmer interface (internal). As
test, rewrote all help screens using new programmer interface
and PROBAS (tm) windowmanager. New screens only available on
color systems, maintaining support for mono systems.

Version 2.33
Corrected garbage character pickup on exiting 'help' with a
function key (Joey DeS). Added the video mode force feature
at request of Chuck A. (sysop of Chuck's attempt), fixed
comma bug in programmer interface (Vic LaG.)

Version 2.35
Corrected minor bug in video mode force routine. Reworked
the way that the INSERT and DELETE keys work. compile/linked
using OPTCALL (Public Domain, Copyright 1988, Michael W.






Cocke) which reduced the size of the Executable file from
over 140K to about 114K.

Version 2.37
Added command line facility to enter name of existing file to
load for editing. Added the 'BBS Screen' function to the
programmers interface.

Version 2.39
Corrected two (actually two and one half) bugs in the command
line file load ability. Non-existant files are now handled
properly, and loading a new file from the file menu, after
having loaded a file from the command line now works. the
'half bug' was in the way the screen displayed the 'loading'
message during startup. it worked, but looked sloppy.

Version 2.75
Rewrote entire graphics mode, reworked graphics keyboard
mode, got mixed mode graphics keyboard to work, almost broke
1 screen barrier, but decided against it on basis of effort
required/registrations received, combined separate help
screens for mono & color modes into one multimode system,
cleaned up main help screens, moved more keystrokes away from
the event handlers and back to keyboard scanning, added
facility to save under name most recently loaded under.
rewrote docs using new version of Wordstar (tm)




It is the policy of MWC Enterprises (Me) to implement REGIS-
TERED user requests (where possible) in ALL shareware
products. If you have a suggestion, LET ME KNOW! (If you
aren't registered, REGISTER!) It is a hope (not a policy,
but what do you want?) to implement user suggestions in
Public Domain Software.


IBM is a registered trademark of International Business
Machines Corp. Turbo Pascal is a registered trademark of
Borland International. QuickBasic is a registered trademark
of Microsoft, Inc.
Wordstar is a registered trademark of Micropro International
Corp. MS-DOS is a registered trademark of Microsoft, Inc.
PC-DOS is a registered trademark of International Business
Machines Corp.