This is an archive of CompuServe forum messages from 1985 to 1995, as saved in transcripts by John Foust.
Search Results (47 messages)
(*To: Michael St. Laurent 72017,235 Michael, though it really feels like cheating, this is how I would do the code you had a question on.*) MODULE Test; FROM Strings IMPORT Assign, String; TYPE DaysArray = ARRAY [0..7] OF String; VAR DayOfWeek : String; DayList : DaysArray; PROCEDURE IniArray(VAR days :…
#46779-
#WB1.2
Message #46831
The schematics are all that are in the Cardinal package, unless you want to count a sheet with the pinouts of some of the chips. I will be sending off for the Commodore hardware docs (a New Year's resolution), so will have both. I will then be better able to…
Mike, I believe I saw something about your first issue a few months back which said that you could define a type TYPEA which is an ARRAY[0..9] then assign this type to each item and then you can do the assignment between each item since they are now the same…
#46390-
#interface
Message #46820
cheath, Yes, I understand from a developers view you may wish to use the CLI. What got me started on this was…my older brother owns a Mac. He is a graduate student in electrical eng. and progrmming. I used a product on his Mac called LightSpeed C, a C compiler…
That is THE problem with the Amiga, getting maximum performance. You can do anything with the built-in routines, which is wonderful, but there isn't enough documentation to do things efficiently. If I were you (and had the time), I would write a routine that writes directly to the bitmap, and…
You are right (rereading the function description). ParentDir does give the immediate parent, not the grandparent. You keep calling it until it returns a zero, which means it found the root directory. —Mike
There are several reasons why I don't want to use the console. One of which is performance. I would rather work directly with IDCMP messages than to shoot serial data streams to the console input. I would prefer to code it myself like you mentioned, It's just that VERY LITTLE…
Mike, Glad to hear you got the info you needed on obtaining a CurrentDir lock. As for ParentDir, a "drawer in a drawer" situation should be that the parent of Volume:dir/subdir is Volume:dir, and the parent of Volume:dir is of course Volume: If it doesn't work like this, I would…
Thanks for the reply. I am still confused about my second question though. What I meant was that I wanted to do something like this: CONST DayNames : ARRAY [0..6] OF ARRAY [1..9] OF CHAR = ('Sunday', 'Monday', 'Tuesday' 'Wednesday', 'Thursday', 'Friday', 'Saturday'); Any ideas? Thanks, –Mike–
You cannot assign one variable to another if they are not of the same type (even if the declaration of both vars are the same: ARRAY[0..n] OF CHAR, they are considered to not be the same). To declare a two dimensional array do: ARRAY[0..12],[0..9] OF CHAR. Hope this helps, -…
Kelly: there is a DOS function called ParentDir() that gets the FileInfoBlock for (what else?) the parent directory. What I haven;t determined is if the file is in a drawer which is in a drawer (etc.), how does one get the intermediate pathnames. Thanx! —Mike
Hi Mike, What calling Lock with a null string gives is the FileInfoBlock pointer (or a pointer to the block is what I mean), and this block will give the info for the current directory. The name will be that of the current VOLUME if the CD is to a…
#MODULA-2
Message #46667
I can't figure out why this won't compile. Am I doing something wrong or is there a bug in the compiler? The books on MODULA-2 that I have read say that this should work. MODULE Test (* Test the open array as a parameter *) VAR testone : ARRAY [0..9]…
I didn't really disassemble it, just used Wack to go exploring. I used a combination of that and a list of equates I got from assembling all the include files to fill in the many gaps that aren't really called out in the include files. The problem comes when you…
Thanx, Kelly. I'm not certain what send a null string to Lock() gives you back. I did "bro /key dir*" in DL10 on DL'ed a few listings, including LD.C. Thanx again, and HNY. —Mike
BCPL is yet another language. (It is one of the ancestors of C.) I've never used it so I can't tell you anything else about it. A file lock is a pointer to a data structure that AmigaDOS uses to locate the file. But from the program side it normally…
I believe that you want to use the (new to 1.2) function AddClipRect (not 100% sure about name).
#46488-
amiga screens
Message #46587
It's not a matter of re-writing intuition. It should only be about 50 bytes of code, and can be done without violating any OS conventions. All you have to do is a tiny amount of pre-processing in the OpenWindow and CloseWindow calls, which can be re-vectored using SetFunction. The code…
#ParentDIR from CLI
Message #46584
Mike, have you looked at the program called LD or LD4? This is a program for for getting a directory. This program works without being given a directory to start with. In this case, for the Lock() command, it uses a name that is a null string. Here is a…
You disasmed the execbase structure! What a task that must of been!
Mike, SYS: is always there, as is C: (probably L: DEVS: and LIBS: too). I have finally documented the entire Execbase structure, complete with all offsets, and it is quite large. Highest offset is $24B. Next comes some branching out to other lists and such to see what can be…
Todd, I have the Cardinal schematics, and have noticed at least one innaccuracy, though others have said things that make me think that I have a slightly earlier version. I have heard others say that there are more innaccuracies. All in all though, they doo look pretty darn close, and…
Why don't you use the console? What's a "high performance productivity tool" anyway? When an intuition function doesn't do exactly what I want, I just code it myself. I've come up with a file requester scheme that looks like each filename is in it's own gadget, but I don't use…
Larry, RAM: isn't there (in 1.1) until you ask for it. I'd rather not create something that will show up as "lost memory" to the uninitiated. I do think that SYS: is always assigned, at least, that is what Scribble! uses as it's default. The current directory entry would be…
#46515-
#WB1.2
Message #46536
Well, I do have the Commodore Docs and I must admit that they are anything from being easy to read! Others, please jump in at this point and let me know what's in Cardinal's docs. I can't believe that they could be better than C-A's, since I've never seen a…
I'm not using the console, I'm working on a high performance productivity tool, and I'm using Intuition. I'm really looking for a few un-resolved areas where documentation fails to completly describe how to use it.
Well, RAM: is always there, and of course any of the standard "necessary ones". Earlier tonight I was building a documentation file on Execbase. It's quite a structure! I'm sure that I will run across the current directory entry somewhere along the line, or at least find a pointer to…
Cap'n: If you attach a console to the window, you can then send commands that set the LEFT OFFSET, TOP OFFSET, LINE LENGTH and PAGE LENGTH for any text sent to the window thru the console. LINE LENGTH is given in # of characters rather than pixels, based on the…
#amiga screens
Message #46476
I've got 2 questions/thoughts about intuition screens: a) does anyone know how to get a DOS CON: device open on another screen? what exactly is the relationship between the console.device, which you use Exec to do i/o to, and which can be in any window, and the DOS console device…
Dan, Thanks for the reply; I now understand how to convert from a BPTR to a "real" pointer and what the difference is. However, what is a BCPL? Also is a filelock, or filehandle a pointer to a file? And how does a filelock for a RAW: (opened with DOSfiles.Open)…
Someone left a message a while ago where they said that Cardnial actually took an Amiga apart and traced every line on it and then put the whole package into a CAD program and verified the result with the Amiga schematic package and used that to label the lines.
Don, Thanks for the info. The way I hear it, Cardinal translated the boards into a CAD package. I don't know about how well they documented them and I admit, C-A's package is far from perfect (they tell you so), but it is "from the horse's mouth". If anyone has…
Hmmmm, so I use CurrentDir to get the old lock, then use it again to make it current again. The only problem is what I should set currentdir to the first time. It has to be an existing directory cause I don't want a requester to pop up. I suppose…
#46402-
#WB1.2
Message #46433
Todd, The Cardinal schematics are reportedly more complete and better documented. I say reportedly 'cuz I haven't seen either but am going on what I have seen here.
Layer part 2
Message #46411
Naturally, the entry was too long…… Here's the 2nd part…. #3. Do the Coordinates reference to the ULC of the new Layer area, or are they referenced from the ULC of the Intuition Window? (ULC = Upper Left Corner). NOTE: Naturally, I didn't mention above, but I assume that I…
#Layers Anyone??
Message #46410
I'm trying to set a smaller area in an Intuition window to render text to. I want the text to remain "clipped" into a specified rectangle. I looked in the documentation and see no function that can set up a clipped region. I assume that I must use the Layers…
Charlie.. Something sticks in my mind about disk drivers.. I think they work out to 23K each, but of course this includes the a copy of the driver and the buffer for each drive attached.
Mike, it may sem a bit of a kludge, but Currentdir() will return the OLD Currentdir lock, while making the new lock Current, and Examine() will fill in the info in the FileInfoBlock. As I say, kludgey, but it may work.
#ParentDir from CLI
Message #46397
Well, not really ParentDir. Is there away to get the name (ascii string) of the current directory when a program is run from CLI? I am adding a load file menu to EDLP, and the current directory is diplayed in the "drawer" gadget. I can get the parent+current directory name…
#WB1.2
Message #46391
The track buffers are 15K per disk, including other overhead, as best I know. You could find out by disconnecting df1: and booting up, checking the difference in mem for a "virgin" system. ( Then again, that would include an extra process for df1:. )
"Nearly" everything uses Text(). I think there is an Exec level call that is used occaisionally, but never tracked it down. I just noticed a font other than the one I had substituted in a couple things like alerts, some of the time. Glad to hear of the improvement in…
Regarding the query back up this thread, you can also get further hardware details on the Amiga by getting a set of Schematics from Cardinal Software at 14840 Build America Dr. [no kidding], Woodbridge, VA 22191. They cost $24.95 for a four sheet set plus leaflet.
#46256-
WB1.2
Message #46340
Do either of you two guys read Amazing Computing? Vol 1 #6, page 73 has an article by Thom Sterling on the Amiga disk controller (in fact, it's titled "Fun with the Amiga disk controller"). As a real amachoor, I don't understand nearly as much of the article as I…
#FastFonts
Message #46317
BTW, it also speeds up the menu display, which on a 4-bplane screen is fairly slow. The menu function must use Text(), eh? —Mike
#Modula-2
Message #46294
Can't help with the CLI questions (never looked at it). BPTRs are pretty simple, they are the pointers used by BCPL. BCPL can only address the memory as long words so it`s pointers are perverse (that is a comment on BCPL). Basicly multiply the BPTR by 4 and you have…
#WB1.2
Message #46278
I was under the impression that a random trashing of the track buffer would immediately cause a guru or equivalent. Is it that easy to randomly trash the the disk buffer. After all, it is considered to be encoded already, are all patterns legal? Hopfully, there is some identifying characteristic…
WB1.2
Message #46273
Dave, if I understand you correctly, then if a particular block consisted of: FF 00 FF (1111,1111 0000,0000 1111,1111) then the track buffer for that block would be: AA AB FF F5 55 ? (1010,1010,1010,10 11,1111,1111,111 1,0101,0101,0101,0) assuming that this 'block' is from the middle of the sector. Also, if…