CompuServe Thread

help type AmigaBASIC gets little attention these days, since it went out with the 1.3 system… But let me try a few possible friendliness rules: (hung together on the spur of the moment) 1. Always use the prompt string option with INPUT, so the user has some idea what you're asking for. 2. Always use LINE INPUT rather than INPUT. This gives the user more freedom as to what he/she can type in (e.g., commas don't mess things up so badly). 3. Have a 'default' in mind in case you receive something from the user which is either incomprehensible or 'nothing'. In fact, pressing RETURN can be a good 'help' response on the part of the user. Take advantage of it. Thus: LINE INPUT "YOUR AGE, PLEASE: ";AGE$ AG=VAL(AGE$) IF AG < 2 THEN AG = 29 PRINT "(… I'll assume 29)" ENDIF 4. Try to plan so that a user input goof will result in the best "default" action, similar to that shown above. Don't try to read files unless you have checked that they exist; don't write files with names that exist unless you double check this with the user. 5. Don't assume 80 column screens; some users are still at 60. 6. Do use WINDOW and SCREEN to pretty up your display. They look good, and can often "set off" a certain part of the program so that the user can better understand what operation is currently active. 7. If you have time, try your program on naive users; watch, but don't say a word. When the user does a dumb thing (as you see it) say NOTHING. Fix the program that it behaves in a civilized way to whatever dumb things were done. –Jim post type 20 delete change

If you mean the original Amiga Basic, as supplied with all machines before Workbench 2, you are in for quite a struggle doing anything user friendly with it. Good Luck !

Probably a good book to read about Amiga UI's would be the "Amiga User Interface Style Guide", written by CAT's and publised by Addison-Wesley. Although it's primarily geared for the C and Arexx programmer, the ideas presented would be useful for the AmigaBasic programmer as well. // John – (TechnoJunkie at heart) \X/ Mercury@ins.infonet.net

You may want to have a look at my AmigaBASIC compiler (ACE) which has more GUI features than AmigaBASIC: menus with command-keys, gadgets, requesters (message, file and input). Regards, David Benn