Atomic Windows 1.0 auteur: Kees van Oss Translated from Dutch by Wouter Ras (See also.)
INTRODUCTION
At last... After hours of thinking, trying, compressing, inhaling,
transpiring and experimenting it's been done. The ATOMIC WINDOWS ROM is
finished!!! The result is a ROM in which there is a number of commands to
create so called dialogue windows in CLEAR 4. These windows are used to
interact with the user.
It has now become very easy to select between several options, to select or
deselect an option, to enter text, or to place an icon. Pulldown menus or
icon menus can be made as well.
All this can be done with or without a mouse, in an original ATOM, a software
ATOM emulator or the Atom-in-PC (a hardware Atom emulator). The possibilities
are unlimited, well... Limited to the programmers imagination.
What is Atomic Windows
----------------------
Atomic Windows (AW) is a ROM with which the programmer can build a graphical
interface by placing objects in order to achieve interaction with the user.
One can use icons and push buttons to execute parts of a program. One can
use text input areas. One can create a selection list. The whole building of
the screen (which would normally occupy a large part of the programs size)
has become a lot easier, when using AW-commands. Most of the objects are also
known in Microsoft Windows.
System requirements
-------------------
To get AW to work, the ROM is required at A000h. There is no further hardware
required. The software inside the ROM can be used to control the hardware
mouse.
Atomic Windows Commands
-----------------------
The commands in the ROM can be split into three divisions: General commands,
Active objects, and Passive commands. In their turn, active objects can be
split into two groups, namely Active-Exit and Active-Loop objects.
General commands
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AW
Shows version number of the ROM.
DLGBASE <Address>
With this command a memory block from <address> to <address+06FFh> is
reserved for a FontDataTable and an IconDataTable; From <address+0700h>
onwards, there is space for object parameters.
address : address+02FFh FontDataTable
address+0300h : address+06FFh IconDataTable
address+0700h : ... WindowsEventTable
DLGCLS
Fills the entire screen with a raster pattern.
DLGCREATE <ExitVar>,<Text$>,<Style>,<x>,<y>,<w>,<h>
Defines a Window on position <x>,<y> with width <w> and height <h>, titled
<Text$>. Whenever a selection is made, and the interaction mode is exited
the selection (ExitCode) is transferred to <ExitVar>.
<Style> allows the following options for <Text$> (which by the way applies
to all other objects as well):
bit 7 : Place a CANCEL button (DLGCREATE only),
bit 6 : Place an OK button (DLGCREATE only),
bit 5 : Double height,
bit 4 : Greyscale, selectable objects are then no longer selectable,
bit 3 : Invert,
bit 2 : Underline,
bit 1 : Italic,
bit 0 : Bold.
Combinations of several bits are allowed. If, for example, you'd like a
bold, inverted text, select Style = 1 + 8 = 9.
DLGEND
Goes to interaction mode. The <COPY> key selects the next object; the
<DELETE> key the previous object. The <ESCAPE> key exits the interaction
mode. The <SPACEBAR> is used to execute an action. If you're using a
mouse, the left mouse button has the same effect as the <SPACEBAR>.
DLGPOINTER <number>
Assigns mouse pointer <number>. There are 32 predefined mouse cursors
available.
bit 7 : 0=Pointer on,
1=Pointer off.
bits 0-4 : Mouse cursor number.
Active-Exit objects
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Active-Exit objects are objects then exit the interaction mode, when they
are selected. When the interaction mode is exited, the object's ExitCode
is transferred to the ExitVar, defined with DLGCREATE. The commands to
place such an objects are the following:
DLGPUSHBUTTON <ExitCode>,<Text$>,<Style>,<x>,<y>
Places a push button at position <x>,<y>, with header <Text$> and is
selectable.
DLGOPTION <ExitCode>,<Text$>,<Style>,<x>,<y>
Places <Text$> at position <x>,<y> and is selectable.
DLGICON <ExitCode>,<IconNr>,<Text$>,<Style>,<x>,<y>
Places an icon [0..31] at position <x>,<y>, with subscript <Text$> and is
selectable.
DLGHOTSPOT <ExitCode>,<x>,<y>,<w>,<h>,<VarX>,<VarY>
Marks a rectangle at position <x>,<y> with width <w> and height <h>, in
which any point can be clicked. The relative x- and y-values of this
point are stored into <VarX> and <VarY>.
DLGLISTBOX <ExitCode>,<Var>,<x>,<y>,<w>,<h>,<MaxRec>,<Pointer>
Places a rectangle at position <x>,<y> with width <w> and height <h>, and
attached to it a scrollbar. In the rectangle strings, defined in the array
<Var>, are placed. The format of the array is as follows:
Selected string + 0Dh,
1 byte with number of strings in array,
1 byte with stringnumber of first string in window,
1 byte with stringnumber of selected string,
First string in array + 0Dh,
Second string in array + 0Dh,
....
MaxRec string in array + 0Dh.
Whenever the [up-arrow] in the scrollbar is clicked, all strings are
scrolled down one position, and vice versa for the [down-arrow].
If one clicks on a string inside the rectangle, it will be selected and
transferred to the selected string. <Var> therefore always holds the
latest selected string.
Active-Loop objects
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Active-Loop objects change a variable, but do not exit the interaction mode.
The commands are the following:
DLGRADIOBUTTON <Var>,<Text$>,<Style>,<x>,<y>
Places a radio button at position <x>,<y> with behind it <Text$> which is
selectable. The first radio button is bit 0 of <Var>, the second radio
button is bit 1 of <Var>, etc. Thus, there is a maximum of eight radio
buttons per <Var>, of which only one can be selected.
DLGCHECKBOX <Var>,<Text$>,<Style>,<x>,<y>
Places a check box at position <x>,<y> with behind it <Text$> which is
selectable. If the check box is empty, <Var> will be 0. If the check box
is selected, <Var> is not 0.
DLGTEXT <StringVar>,<Text$>,<Style>,<x>,<y>,<w>
Places <Text$> at position <x>,<y> with behind an input area with width
<w>. As default, this input area contains $<StringVar>. On leaving the
input area with the <RETURN> key, $<StringVar> is adjusted. On leaving the
input area with the <ESCAPE> key, $<StringVar> is not adjusted.
Passive objects
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Passtive objects are objects, that are not selectable. The commands to place
such an object are the following:
DLGFRAME <Text$>,<Style>,<x>,<y>,<w>,<h>
Places a rectangle at position <x>,<y> with width <w> and height <h> and
is not selectable. <Text$> is placed right above the rectangle and is
centred horizontally.
DLGLABEL <Text$>,<Style>,<x>,<y>
Places <Text$> at position <x>,<y> and is not selectable.
Remark
~~~~~~
All <x> and <y> coordinates (except DLGCREATE) are relative, i.e. (0,0) is
the upper left hand corner of the DLGCREATE window, undepending on the
position of the window on the screen.
How to use AW
-------------
1. Assign a memory range for storage of data (DLGBASE).
2. Create a window, in which the object are to be placed (DLTGREATE).
3. Place several objects in the window, by using the AW commands.
4. Go to interaction mode (DLGEND).
5. Whenever the interaction mode is exited, take action depending on the
value of ExitVar.
6. Repeat this procedure from point 2 until the program is ended.
Memory usage
------------
AW uses the following memory:
0080h - 0090h : Workspace hardware dependend routines,
00C0h - 00D0h : Workspace command routines,
0140h - 017Fh : Buffer area and storage global variables,
A000h - AFFFh : AW-ROM,
BFE0h - BFE2h : Hardware mouse.
The ROM is divided into three parts, namely:
Interpreter,
Command routines,
Data storage AW-characters (ASCII 0-31).
The workspace for the hardware dependend routines (80h-90h) and for the
commands (C0h-D0h) is temporary. The usage of the buffer area (0140h-
017Fh) is temporary as well, except for DlgBaseAddress (016Dh-016Eh) and
DlgBasePointer (016Fh-0170h).
The Data storage area is assigned by DLGBASE, and can be split into three
parts, namely:
0000h - 02FFh : FontDataTable, storage of ASCII characters 32-127. Each
characters consists of 8x8 pixels.
0300h - 06FFh : IconDataTable, storage of 32 pieces, 16x16 pixels. An
icon is made up of 2 columns of 16 bytes. The first byte
in the upper left hand corner, the sixteenth byte in the
lower left hand corner, the seventeenth byte in the
upper right hand corner, and the thirtysecond byte in
the lower right hand corner.
0700h - ... : WindowsEventTable; each selectable object takes 12 bytes.
In this table, parameters of selectable objects are
stored temporarily. The storage is as follows:
Byte 0 : X focus min
Byte 1 : X focus max
Byte 2 : Y focus min
Byte 3 : Y focus max
Byte 4 : Mode
Byte 5 : Var or ExitCode or IconNr
Byte 6 : Length Text$ or ExitCode or VarX
Byte 7 : Style or VarY
Byte 8 : X
Byte 9 : Y
Byte A : W
Byte B : H of BitMasker
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