screen.display Utility

The screen.display utility displays a screen and waits for a selection.

Syntax

call "dm,bp, screen.display"

Description

Input

The common variables defined in dm,bp,includes screen.inc must be set as follows:

screen

Array of up to 512 options. The options are displayed in a columnar format, prefixed by their number on 3 digits. The routine then waits for user input. The first 10 options can be selected by entering their number. Other options can be selected by typing the first letter of the option or by moving the cursor (CTRL+N: Next; CTRL+B: Back; CTRL+J: Move left; CTRL+K: Move right).

screen.help

Array of help messages. The message displays starting at the line specified by screen.msgline. A value mark is a line separator. If nonnull, the help displays starting at the line specified by screen.msgline when the cursor is moved to the corresponding option.

screen.size

Number of actual entries in the screen array.

screen.title

Title. Displayed underlined.

screen.x

Coordinates of the upper-left corner of the menu, starting at 0,0.

screen.y

Coordinates of the upper-left corner of the menu, starting at 0,0.

screen.active

Option number to set as active (highlighted).

screen.lastline

Last line available to display the menu. If there are more options than there are available lines, the menu displays in columnar format. If there are more columns than can display on the 80 column screen, some columns do not display.

screen.width

Width of an option. The default is 35 characters.

screen.doselect

Boolean. If true, the user can select more then one option before validating by pressing the Spacebar. An asterisk displays in front of the selected options. The list of selected option numbers is returned in screen.select.

screen.msgline

Line number where the help messages can be displayed. The message area extends to the end of the screen.

screen.notice

If nonnull, contains the name of an external subroutine that is called periodically. The main program can provide a polling routine to display user information or perform some periodic task.

Output

These variables are then updated:

screen.active

User selection:

n

Option n.

Q

Quit or Esc.

X

Exit to TCL.

screen.select

If screen.doselect is true, contains the list of option numbers selected by the user, separated by an attribute mark.

screen.maxsize

Last line actually displayed on screen. In most cases, it is screen.y+screen.size. However, if there are too many options to fit in one column, this variable reflects the actual last line on screen. This is used by screen.erase.

Example(s)

include dm,bp,includes screen.inc

* Init the screen

* ---------------

call "dm,bp, screen.init"

* Clear the whole screen

* ----------------------

crt @(-1)

* Build the menu

* --------------

screen.x=0 ; screen.y=0 ;* Top left corner

screen(1)="User" ;* Option 1

screen(2)="Account"

screen.help(1)="User name" ;* Help messages

screen.help(2)="Account name"

screen.size=2 ;* Number of options

screen.active=1 ;* Option 1 is default

screen.msgline=23 ;* Help line

* Display the menu

* ----------------

call "dm,bp, screen.display"

begin case

case screen.active=’x’

* Back to TCL

stop

case screen.active=’q’

* User typed ’q’ or Esc

...

case 1

* Selected an option from 1 to screen.size

...

end case

See Also

BASIC Screen Utilities

screen.erase Utility

screen.init Utility

screen.input Utility