BOXCHARS

GRAPHIC CHARACTER HELP SYSTEM FOR zBASE

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COPYRIGHT (C) WORDMONGERS 1989 The following files are saved on this EPROM and

need to be downloaded to your system memory before you start. a>

BOXCHAR. exe --> Execute this to fetch other files from EPROM b> BOXCHAR. prg

--> Program file c> BOXCHAR. def --> Definition file d> BOXCHAR. dbf -->

Database file e> READ. me --> This document This set of programs

will be of assistance to all programmers who are using zBASE and wish to use

the graphics characters to make screens look neater. To use this help

system execute the BOXCHAR. exe to load the above programs into RAM, then

start up zBASE as normal. At the curly prompt type 'DO BOXCHAR. prg'. This

command will tell zBASE to start the BOX CHARacter help system. When

it has loaded a menu will appear. It will ask you whether you want help on Box

Characters, Icons, or Special effects. When you enter the option you want the

screen will display the pictures of the Box Characters, Icons, or Special

effects according to which option you selected. To get help about a specific

character, simply type in the coresponding number then press -ENTER-. e. g.

if you wish to find out how to create the top left corner of a box,

simply type '1' and press -ENTER-. The program will search it's database

and pull up the required piece of zBASE code, which it will print, in the

bottom right hand corner of the screen, in the box marked 'WHAT YOU NEED TO

TYPE. . '. It will also print a short description of the graphic

character in the box marked 'DESCRIPTION OF ABOVE VARIABLE' It will then move

back to the top left corner and clear the GET and wait for the next required

help number or for the command to return to the first menu. If you wish to

generate variables to draw horizontal lines of more than one character you

can either have innumerable quantities of 'HLIN1$' in your program or create

other multiple character lines. e. g. LET HLIN1$=CHR(1)+"2*E" --> this

creates a 1chr variable LET HLIN2$=HLIN1$+HLIN1$ --> 1+1=2chr

variable LET HLIN5$=HLIN2$+HLIN2$+HLIN1$ --> 2+2+1=5chr variable

Alternatively, you may want to just load a file containing the set of

variables into a slot in your program. There is such a file contained on

this EPROM. It is called BOXCHAR. When it is loaded into a slot in a

program it will create the required variables for you.

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Author. J. Shrimpton

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