The PC-SIG Library 10

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Text File | 1980-01-01 | 47KB | 1,313 lines

COMMANDS ======== Commands are FAST functions in effect, which don't return any value, they perform a task with no resulting value to return. Notes: + represents a command which is considered advanced. $$$ represents a command which is not working yet - work needed. ASCIIZ ASCIIZ n Changes the end character of the string at address n to 0. The string at address n must be defined using STRING and input from the keyboard using INPUTS. ASCIIZ strings are used for making calls to dos (either using FAST's file commands or direct to DOS via int 21h). ASCIIZ strings usually represent file or directory names. To see how a string is stored in memory then see the STRING command. ASCIIZ = ASCII ZERO, any string of ASCII characters with a 0 bytes to mark the end. BEEP BEEP 'PRINTs' the bell character (7) using the standard output. BREAK BREAK Executes the active ON BREAK statement. Same as pressing CTRL-C or CTRL-SCROLL_LOCK. BRIGHT BRIGHT n Sets the brightness used by the PRINT commands. Sets the 'b' bit in the COLOUR variable. CALL + CALL address The code at the specified address is executed. If the address is a SEGMENT|OFFSET then an inter-segment call is used, to return the subroutine must return using a RETF (return far). If the address is just an OFFSET (ie same code segment) then returning from the subroutine is done using a RET assembly instruction or RETURN command. CHANGE CHANGE DISK b Changes the default drive to b, b=0 for A:, b=1 for B: etc... CHANGE DISK does not include error checking, to test if a CHANGE DISK is sucessful then test using the function CDISK. Example: CHANGE DISK new_drive if CDISK<>new_drive then error 15 ;Invalid drive spec. CHANGE CHANGE DIR pathname Sets the current directory to a new pathname, with ERROR checking. CLOCKS + CLOCKS n Sets the new timer tick frequency to n. This should not normally be changed becuase it effects the computers time but can be useful for doing crucial timing at your own speeds. The timer frequency is 1193181 / n. Example. CLOCKS 29829 ;1193181 / 40 ON INT 1 { ;this is done 40 times a second. } wait for key=27 ;Until escape is pressed. STOP INT 1 CLOCKS 0 ;Reset timer tick to 18.2 second intervals (default). CLOSE CLOSE #n Closes the open file (opened by OPEN or CREATE), includes ERROR checking. CLOSE CLOSE WINDOW[S] Closes all open windows, does nothing if no windows are open. If singular (CLOSE WINDOW) but there are no open windows then an error 6 will be generated (invalid [window] handle), includes error checking. CLS CLS Clears the current display page (see multiple PAGEs). To clear a text screen firstly set the COLOUR variable to the default background colour, eg 7 or 15. To clear a graphics screen set the colour to 0. COLOUR COLOUR b COLOR Sets the colour value used by CLS, LINE, PLOT, PRINT, PRINTS, PRINTM & SCROLL. COLOUR can be used as a variable, except COLOUR b is used rather than COLOUR=b. How is the colour used for? TEXT: The colour is determined using 8 bits - 'fpppbiii' where f = FLASH on/off ppp = PAPER (background) colour b = BRIGHT on/off iii = INK (text) colour GRAPHICS: Colour is determined where COLOUR = 'm-----ii' m = mode where 0=normal, 1=toggle dot on/off (exclusive OR). ii = INK (foreground) colour. Note ! COLOR is the same as COLOUR (two spellings - a first eh!, now all you foriegners can't complain). The colour values for the text colour and background colour are: Decimal Binary Colour ------------------------- 0 000 Black 1 001 Blue 2 010 Red 3 011 Magenta 4 100 Green 5 101 Cyan 6 110 Yellow 7 111 White CONST CONST[32] label=n [,...] Assigns a constant value to a unique label. CONST defines 16 bit labels (integer/word type), whereas CONST32 defines 32 bit labels (double word). CREATE CREATE #n,filename [,reclen] Creates a file, opens it for IO as file #n. Includes ERROR checking. If the file already exists then the original is deleted. CURPOS CURPOS=n Sets the cursor position where n = y*256 + x. The complementary function is also called CURPOS. CURSOR CURSOR y,x Sets the cursor position used by PRINT DOS to row y, column x. CURTOLOC CURTOLOC CURSOR TO LOCATE sets the PRINT postion to the same as the CURSOR position. The flashing CURSOR is the next position for PRINT DOS commands to print at whereas the LOCATE or LOCPOS position is for the PRINT commands. CURTOLOC is the same as: LOCATE HIGH CURPOS,LOW CURPOS or: LOCPOS=(CURPOS/256)*160+(CURPOS AND 255)*2 DATA DATA[B] n,string [,...] Stores the values n and the strings in memory. DATA is for words (strings not allowed), DATAB is for bytes and strings. Data must not be in the running part of a program because it will be run as machine code. INLINE is the same as DATAB but makes it clear for a programmer to see that INLINE will contain machine code. INLINE comes from the Pascal command. Put DATA statements at the end of a program. Note ! n must be constant (not an undefined expression during compile time). DEALLOCATE DEALLOCATE segment The memory segment is deallocated (freed), no more references to the memory segment can be made. Includes ERROR checking. Typically DEALLOCATE is used to free ALLOCATEd memory. Note ! TERMINATE & STOP automatically deallocate all memory used, STOP RESIDENT can be used to return to DOS while still retaining all allocated memory. DELETE DELETE filename Deletes the file, with ERROR checking. DIM $$$ DIM[B] var(n[,m]) DIM = word elements, DIMB = bytes. Sets dimensions for an array to n [*m] elements. All the elements of an array can be used individually. Example. DIM board(8,8) board(4,4)=1:board(4,5)=2 board(5,4)=2:board(5,5)=1 PRINT board(x,y) DIR DIR filename,address [,b] Creates a table of directory entries at address. The optional b is for specifying an alternate attribute search from the default which finds all files of normal and/or archive and/or read only. See FIND FIRST for a file attribute break down. The first word of the table contains the number of file entries in the table. Each entry after that is 13 bytes long, containing a "name.ext,0". offset Example table: 0000 2 ;2 entries 0002 'FAST.COM',0,?,?,?,? ;0=chr 0 000F 'FASTL.HLP',0,?,?,? ;?=unknown value. DISABLE DISABLE BREAK Sets the ON BREAK statement to NULL, effectively disabling the BREAK key. DISABLE + DISABLE SERIAL Serial Communications. Before returning to DOS the serial port interupts must be disabled, DISABLE SERIAL does this. ENABLE SERIAL will initialise the COM1 port and receive characters for you. Example: See ENABLE SERIAL. DISABLE + DISABLE INTERUPTS Disables all interupts, such as the clock, keyboard & disk. This is probably only useful for hardware controlling software. Note ! DISABLE INTERUPTS is the same as assembler CLI. DOS + DOS b [(b)] Performs DOS function calls. *** b is a hexadecimal number by default. b is the function number (AH register), (b) is the sub-function (AL). Example. DOS 4d(0) ;Same as ASM - MOV AX,4d00h & INT 21h ENABLE ENABLE BREAK Enables the break key, makes the BREAK key do what it did before the last DISABLE BREAK command. ENABLE + ENABLE SERIAL [n] Serial Communications. Enables the COM1 serial port to send interupts for receiving data. Every time the COM1 port receives a byte it calls interupt 0ch. ENABLE SERIAL firstly initialises the COM1 port to your settings if provided, eg ENABLE SERIAL 0a3h. See Parameters below. After ENABLE SERIAL, your program just continues to run as normal. Whenever a character is received, a special handler will automatically put the byte into a buffer. This buffer is serial_size bytes long and at segment serial_seg. The byte is put at offset serial_head and then serial_head is incremented, wrapped around if buffer fills up. The variables serial_seg, serial_head and serial_size are internal FAST variables. The ENABLE SERIAL interupt will alter serial_head automatically. Example to clarify things. -------------------------- serial_head=0 serial_size=10000 serial_seg=allocate serial_size/16+1 enable serial 0a3h ;2400 8N1. forever { while serial_head<>serial_size { print dos chr serial_seg[serial_tail]b; serial_tail++ if serial_tail>=serial_size then serial_tail=0 } if key=27 then disable serial:stop } Parameters ---------- Initializes the baud rate, parity, stop-bit, and word length parameters for the serial port COM1. The optional parameter of ENABLE SERIAL uses the format: bbbppsww b b b p p s w w ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Baud rate Parity Stop bits Word Length Bit: 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 0 0 0 0 110 0 0 None 0 One 1 0 7 bits 0 0 1 150 0 1 Odd 1 Two 1 1 8 bits 0 1 0 300 1 0 None 0 1 1 600 1 1 Even 1 0 0 1,200 1 0 1 2,400 1 1 0 4,800 1 1 1 9,600 ENABLE + ENABLE INTERUPTS Enables all interupts, see DISABLE INTERUPTS. Note ! ENABLE INTERUPTS is the same as assembler STI). ENDFOR ENDFOR Drops out of the current FOREVER loop to the line below it. $$$ At present ENDFOR is of no practical use becase it can't be used in an IF THEN ELSE statement. ERROR ERROR [n] Sets the ERROR variable to value n and the current ON ERROR statement is executed. If n is not specified then the current ERROR value is used. ERROR ERROR MSG filename [,n] Loads the file (created using MAKEMSG or MERR) and then prints the error message for error n (printing is done using the standard IO - PRINT DOS). If n is not specified then the ERROR variable is used. Notes ! If there isn't 16k memory free or the file is missing or the error number doesn't exist then the following message is printed - Error n [DOS=de] ;de=the DOS error. - If ERROR MSG gets its own error it does not recursively call ON ERROR. Example. ON ERROR { ERROR MSG "\dos.err" PRINT DOS "!" STOP } EXECUTE $$$ EXECUTE filename,n FILL FILL[B] length FROM address WITH n Fills length memory locations starting from address with the word value n (byte value if FILLB). Length is the count of words (FILL) or bytes (FILLB). FIND FIND FIRST filename [,b] Finds the first occurrence of a filename - optional wildcards. Includes ERROR checking. b is an alternate file attribute for finding files. Attributes: Bit File Type 76543210 .......1 Read only ......1. Hidden .....1.. System ....1... Volume label ...1.... Directory ..1..... Archive Combinations: If the attribute (b) is set to 0 (the default) then all read only, archive & normal files are found. If the directory, hidden or system bits are set then they are found aswell as normal files. The information for the file found is at address: DTA SEGMENT|DTA OFFSET + 15h (1) = File attribute. + 16h (2) = Time stamp. + 18h (2) = Date stamp. + 1Ah (4) = File size in bytes. + 1Eh (13) = File name,0 (ASCIIZ). Note ! FIND NEXT is used to find all subsequent files in the directory. FIND FIND NEXT As for FIND FIRST but finds all subsequent files. FIND NEXT must be used for every file. Includes ERROR checking. Note ! Error 18 means no more files, Example. #ERRORS OFF FIND FIRST "*.*" ;Find the first, will abort GOTO entry FOREVER { FIND NEXT ;Next file. #ERRORS ON entry: IF ERROR=18 THEN GOTO finished IF ERROR THEN ERROR ;Handler genuine errors. ;Process File. } finished: ;Complete. FLASH FLASH b Determines whether text PRINTed will be flashing or not. Sets the 'f' bit in the COLOUR variable. FNAME FNAME string FNAME (FileNAME) is the same as DATAB string,0 but is generally more convienient. Appending the 0 to the name makes it an ASCIIZ string for file commands. Filenames defined using FNAME are easily used. Example. OPEN #2,output_file ... output_file: FNAME 'file.lst' FOR FOR var=n TO last [STEP step] The FOR command 1) sets var=n, 2) calculates the last value for the variable, 3) executes the instructions until a NEXT is encountered, 4) Adds the increment to var, 5) If var <= last then go back to step 3. Note ! FOR-NEXT loops can be nested to about 20 levels maximum. FOREVER FOREVER statement Executes the statement forever or until exited. Common ways to exit a forever are: GOTO, BREAK & ENDFOR. GOTOs are valid in and out of FOREVER statements. FREE + FREE MEMORY Frees memory in excess of what the FAST program requires, leaving the minimum amount of memory for code, variables, windows & stack. Note ! FREE MEMORY is done automatically at program startup (only here for old code compatibility, not needed now). FREE + FREE ALL MEMORY Fress all memory used by the FAST program including the code. FREE MEMORY is provied for programs which may remain memory resident for some time but terminate at some stage. Notes ! TERMINATE and STOP will automatically free all memory. FUNCTION FUNCTION funcname [(var [,...])] statement Defines a function with an optional number of parameters. All functions can be called from within themselves but variables are NOT remembered. When a function is used any parameters missing from the list have an undefined value. Example. FUNCTION rnd_range(max) { RETURN RND MOD (max+1) } PRINT rnd_range(200) GOSUB GOSUB label Program jumps to a subroutine - when a RETURN is reached the program continues from the command after GOSUB. Note ! If using PUSH or POP then keep the STACK intact. GOTO GOTO label Program jumps to the label. HALT + HALT Halts the CPU using the assembler HALT instruction, used for timing and synchronisation, or as a delay until the next interupt. HANDLE + HANDLE #b,n Overrides the file handle for any FAST files from 1 to 12. N could be the handle of a standard DOS output handle. Eg handles from 0 to 4. Gets your hands on the DOS technical reference for some very useful info on files and handles, or someone who has read it. In brief -------- A handle is a number which represents a file that has been OPENed or CREATEd. All FASTs file comamnds & functions use #1 to #12 to represent a file. In reality #1, #2 ... #12 are just variables which contain the handle number of open files. For example. OPEN #1,myfile ;Sets #1=the next availble DOS file handle number, typically 5. DOS has 5 default handles which can also be used for input and output but they don't represent files. They are: 0 Standard input device, input can be redirected. 1 Standard output device, output can be redirected. 2 Standard error device, cannot be redirected. 3 Standard auxiliary device. 4 Standard printer device. For example to write bytes to the standard auxiliary device using FAST commands such as WRITE #1,50 FROM address could be done, try... HANDLE #1,3 ;Sets #1 (a variable containing a file handle) to 3. WRITE #1,50 FROM address ;Write bytes. Note ! The five standard DOS handles (0-4) don't have to be opened before use. HGRAPHICS HGRAPHICS Turns a hercules (or compatible) graphics card into graphics mode, Screen resolution of 720 rows and 348 columns. The SCREEN command cannot change mode on an HGA or compatible card. To display SPRITEs, PLOT dots or draw LINEs then the MODE command must be used as MODE 720,mode for setting which mode is being used. Example. HGRAPHICS MODE 720,AND Note ! HTEXT puts the HGA card back into text mode. HTEXT HTEXT Puts the hercules (or compatible) graphics card back into text mode, after using HGRAPHICS. IF IF n THEN statement [:...] [ELSE statement [:...]] IF the value for n is true (not 0) then the first statement is executed. If an ELSE statement is provided and the value is false then the second statement is executed. IFs can be nested to a maximum of approximately 30 levels. Example. IF score>75 THEN PRINT "Excellent" ELSE IF score>50 THEN PRINT "Pass" ELSE PRINT "Fail" INK INK n Sets the ink (text) colour used by the PRINT commands. Sets the 'iii' bits in the COLOUR variable. INLINE + INLINE b [,...] All values b are assumed to be for a machine code subroutine. Use the DOS utility debug to write a subroutine then put the machine code in the INLINE command. Note ! INLINE is exactly the same as DATAB, INLINE should be used for any machine code to show that it is for running (unlike data). $$$ FAST will soon be able to compile SOFA compatible assembly code and #INCLUDE SOFA source files. INPUTS INPUTS n Gets a string input from the keyboard and stores it as a STRING at address n. The string format is described by the STRING command. There is an extended input option provided in the EXTINPUT.FI file, include this into your source files then change the INPUTS commands - read the file for help on using the new functions. INT + INT b Calls the specified software interupt. *** b is a hexadecimal number by default. There are 256 interupt vectors, to set or read their values use the SETINT command and the GETINT function. To find which interupts do what - read the DOS technical reference or any half-way decent assembly language book for the PC Compatible. Note ! b is a hexadecimal number, same as for the DOS command. Example. INT 17 ;(means 17 hexadecimal or 23 decimal). IRET + IRET Performs a return from interupt (same as assembler IRET). JUMP + JUMP address Like GOTO but can goto any segment|offset address within memory. Possible uses - Jumping to a program overlay. Example of program overlay. over_seg=ALLOCATE 2048 ;2048 paragraphs = 32k LOAD "over.com",over_seg|100h ;Load overlay. JUMP over_seg|100h ;Jump to start of the program. ;Note ! 100h is used as the start. LET [LET] var assignment n Assigns value n to the variable. See the VARS entries for possible ways of assigning variables a value. Example. LET a=20 ;same as a=20 score+=20 x++ address=x*2+y*160 LINE $$$ LINE x,y TO x,y Draws a line on the graphics screen using the current MODE setting. The line goes from the first x,y coordinate to the second x,y. The graphics screen should be set with both SCREEN and MODE commands. Eg if using a 320*200 graphics screen then MODE should be set using MODE 320,[AND] [OR] [XOR] : SCREEN 4 The 'iii' bits of COLOUR are used to determine the colour of the dot on the screen. 2 colours use 1 bit, 4 colours use 2 bits. LOAD LOAD filename,address [,length] Loads the file into memory at address. Maximum load is 64K bytes. Includes ERROR checking. Three steps are done by the LOAD command: 1) OPEN filename 2) READ bytes to address, default is load up to 64k but can be over-ridden. 3) CLOSE file. LOCATE LOCATE y,x Sets the LOCPOS (PRINT location) to row y, column x. Same as saying LOCPOS = y*160 + x*2 (but LOCATE is more efficient). LOCTOCUR LOCTOCUR LOCATE TO CURSOR sets the CURSOR postion to the same as the LOCATE position. The flashing CURSOR is the next position for PRINT DOS commands to print at whereas the LOCATE or LOCPOS position is for the PRINT commands. LOCTOCUR is the same as: CURSOR LOCPOS/160,(LOCPOS MOD 160)/2 MAKE MAKE DIR pathname Makes the specified directory, includes ERROR checking. MODE MODE r,m Tells the FAST graphics library which screen mode is being used. The MODE command should always be used in conjunction with the SCREEN command before using graphics commands such as PLOT, LINE, SPRITE & POINT. r = screen width in pixels; 320, 640 & 720 are currently supported. m = printing mode for PLOT, LINE & SPRITE; either AND, OR or XOR. AND, OR & XOR in animation terms: AND will clear the background and print itself (dot or sprite) on screen. OR will merge itself with the current image on the screen. XOR will inverse itself with the current image. AND would be used when the background can be wiped out. OR is used for putting images on the screen over the top of each other, generally not for animation. XOR is used for putting images over anything then removing them (by printing in the same place, therefore removing itself) and printing it elsewhere. MODIFY MODIFY segment TO n Modifies the length in paragraphs of an ALLOCATEd segment of memory, includes ERROR checking. A block of memory can almost always be made smaller. Normally a segment can only be enlarged if no segments have been allocated since the one being modified. MOVE MOVE[B] length FROM address TO address Moves the number of words (or bytes if MOVEB) from the first address to the second address. The maximum number of words moveable at once is 32768, the maximum number of bytes is 65535. If length=0 then nothing is done. Note ! MOVE will never over-ride memory, special checks have been implemented and so MOVE automatically inserts or deletes gaps where required. In assembler terms, MOVE knows whether to set CLD or STD and whether or not to add the length to the base registers. NEXT NEXT var [,...] Associated with a FOR loop, the STEP is added to the variable, if the variable is <= the last value then the statements between the FOR-NEXT are repeated. NOISE NOISE OFF Turns the sound off (speaker frequency = 0). NOISE NOISE duration,n Produces a noise for duration loops at frequency n. NOISE's duration represents approximately 1/20000th of a second (for 4.77MHz PC). Therefore NOISE 20,10 is 1/1000th of a second. The duration of a sound command will vary greatly, depending on whether you run your program on the 4.77MHz PC or the 33MHz 80486. A frequency can be converted to n using: n = 1,331,000 / freq NOISE does not turn the speaker off when it has finished, so more noise can be made without interference, NOISE OFF turns the sound off when finsihed. To set the speaker on but do something else while the noise is on then use either the SOUND command with a long duration or NOSIE 1,n (1 means short delay). Note ! While NOISE is being executed nothing else will be done. ON ON TRACE statement Every line which is compiled while the ON TRACE statement is compiled will call the current ON TRACE statement. The ON TRACE statement will only be run if the program is traced using the FASTT command, 'FASTT filename'. To find all information on tracing search the word 'TRACE' AND 'TRACING'. Note ! The #ON TRACE flag should be OFF and not changed while compiling the ON TRACE statement. ON ON ERROR statement When the ERROR command is used it calls this user-definable statement, the error number is stored in the ERROR variable. The address of where the error occurred is on the stack. If no ON ERROR statement is defined then the default is used. Example. ON ERROR { POP address OPEN WINDOW severe CURSOR 18,50 ERROR MSG "\dos.err" PRINTH BIOS ", at address: ";address WAIT FOR KEY=27 CLOSE WINDOW STOP } ON ON BREAK statement The ON BREAK interupt is set so that when the break key is detected, control transfers to the new ON BREAK statement. The ON BREAK statement automatically returns to the place were the break was detected using an assembler IRET instruction. Example. ON BREAK beep ON ON DEBUG statement Any lines that have the #DEBUG flag on will execute the current ON DEBUG statement while executing. The ON DEBUG statement could be used to display variables in a window or allow checking of special key presses etc. If no ON DEBUG statement is defined then the default statement tests the break key. Note ! The #ON DEBUG flag should be OFF and not changed while compiling the ON DEBUG statement. ON + ON INT b statement Sets one of FASTs 12 interupts to perform a statement. b ranges from 1 to 12. Each interupt occurs 18.2 times every second. FASTs 12 interupts are seperate from the computers interupts (using the FAST INT, GETINT and SETINT commands) and different from DOS functions (using DOS). FASTs interupts are all attached to the computers interupt 08h which is the normal timer tick interupt. The command STOP INT b will stop an interupt. Note ! DOS functions and FAST commands which include error checking must not be used inside ON INT statements becase they effect DOS. To perform DOS functions during interupts the computer must not be currently running any other DOS function, check this with the INDOS flag and the ON IDLE interupt. All information on TSRs can be located by doing a search on TSR. ON + ON IDLE statement The idle interupt is intercepted by the ON IDLE comamnd (INT 28h). DOS calls interupt 28h whenever it is waiting for input from the keyboard. If you want to call the IDLE interupt within your own program simply use the command 'INT 28'. STOP IDLE restores the idle interupt to its state before the ON IDLE was used. ON IDLE can be used to detect when DOS is not doing anything (useful for TSR programs). ON $$$ ON CRITICAL statement ON $$$ ON KEY b statement When the specified key is read from the keyboard the statement is executed. b is a value within the range 32-127. ON $$$ ON SCAN b statement Same as ON KEY but SCAN codes are used to determine which key has been pressed (run sample program HEXD for scan values). When the specified key is read from the keyboard the statement is executed. b is a value within the range 0-132. OPEN OPEN #n,filename [,reclen] Opens the file as being file #n and it is ready for input & output, includes ERROR checking. An error occurs if the file doesn't exist (error 2), the CREATE command can be used to delete an existing file (if it exists) and start with a 0 length file. See also: CLOSE, SEEK, RECLEN, READ & WRITE. OPEN OPEN WINDOW n Opens a window on the screen. Windows can only be used in 80 column colour text mode, this is the default for almost all applications so this should be a small limitation. If OPEN WINDOW gets an error then this is handled by normal error checking. Error 4 occurs if no more windows can be opened - No more handles available. Error 8 occurs if no more window memory - Insufficient Memory, this can be fixed by increasing the size of #WINDOW MEMORY, it defaults to 1500 bytes. n is an address which points to a description of the window. The memory at n is structured as: Address n = mode, options, x1, y1, x2, y2, colour, [text...,] eof. 1) mode is 0, 1 or 2. Mode 0 prints the window with a boundary, no top line is used. Mode 1 prints a top line for the windows heading and are used for selecting items (ie: the highlighted bar will appear in the window). Items can be selected either using ENTER or pressing either of the first two letters of the option (meaning the lettersa at column x1+1 and x1+2). Mode 2 is the same as mode 1 except items must be selected using ENTER. 2) options is the number of selectable options the window has, only used by mode 1 & 2. 3) x1,y1 is the top left coordinate for the window. 4) x2,y2 is the bottom right coordinate for the window. 5) colour is the colour used to clear the window. See the COLOUR command for a description of the colours. 6) text is where you can put any printable characters inside the window. Two commands can be within the text area, decimal 20,b sets the new colour for text printed, 22,x,y sets a new printing position, its origin is at x1,y1 (0,0). 7) eof is used to signal the end of the window. The eof (end of file) character is 26 decimal (1A hexadecimal). Typically OPEN WINDOW will only be used to open mode 0 windows. The MENU function should be used for mode 1 & 2 windows. The CLOSE WINDOW command closes only the most recently opened window, last in first out. Example. #ERRORS ON ;Trap any errors. OPEN WINDOW win_status ;Open a typical status window. ... ;Print details inside window. STOP win_status: datab 0,0,40,14,79,24,15 ;mode, options, x1,y1, x2,y2, colour datab 22,1,4,'System Status' ;text... datab 26 ;eof. Note ! The PRINT command does not use the current windows origin for printing, the whole screen is used as always. ! The maximum number of windows open is 20. OUT OUT n,b Sends the byte value b to the port n. FAST uses the assembler OUT command for OUTput. PAGE PAGE b Sets the current screen page, see the SCREEN command for the number of pages in each mode. Typically i n 80*25 colour on CGA there are 4 pages. 0 is the first page. PALETTE PALETTE b Sets the colour palette for the graphics on the screen. At the moment this command only effects CGA SCREEN mode 4 (320*200). PAPER PAPER n Sets the paper (background) colour used by the PRINT commands. Sets the 'ppp' bits in the COLOUR variable. PLOT PLOT x,y Plots one dot (pixel) on the screen which must be a graphics screen. The graphics screen should be set with both SCREEN and MODE commands. Eg if using a 320*200 graphics screen then MODE should be set using MODE 320,AND/OR/XOR & SCREEN 4. The low bits of COLOUR are used to determine the colour of the dot on the screen. 2 colours use 1 bit, 4 colours use 2 bits. POKE POKE[B] address,n The word (or byte, POKEB) value is put into memory at the specified address. The low 8 bits of the word value n are stored at address and the high 8 bits are stored at address+1. PEEK is the function to retrieve values from memory. POP + POP var [,...] Pops the last pushed value from the stack. To use this function a good knowledge of a stack and SP registers is needed. POPALL + POPALL Pops all of the computers registers from the stack. Note ! Only to be used in conjunction with PUSHALL. Registers are POPed as: DS ES DI SI BP DX CX BX AX PRINT [S][L]PRINT[H][B][HB] [DOS] n , cr lf ff "text" tab chr ; [S] as in SPRINT is for ultra fast screen printing. [L] as in LPRINT is for printing on the printer. [H] as in PRINTH is for printing n values in HEX (hhhh). [B] as in PRINTB is for printing n as byte values (ddd). [HB] as in PRINTHB is for printing n as byte values in HEX (hh). [DOS] as in PRINT DOS is for printing through the standard DOS IO. [BIOS] as in PRINT BIOS, same as PRINT DOS (left for compatibility with older versions of FAST). Just PRINT is for quick screen printing, n is printed using decimal. Print options: , For PRINT and SPRINT to tab to the next column assuming two 16 character columns. cr Used by LPRINT and PRINT DOS to start printing from the start of the same line (carriage return). Used by SPRINT and PRINT to start printing from beginning of the next line. lf Used by LPRINT and PRINT DOS to start printing from the same column but on the next line down (line feed). ff Used by LPRINT to start on a new page (form feed). "text" Any message to print. To actually print the double quotes type "" within the message. tab Used by PRINT, LPRINT & PRINT DOS to tab to the next 8 columns. chr Used by all to print any character eg: PRINT chr 254 Note ! Comments (;) are not allowed after the print commands because ; is treated as a seperator. PROC PROC[EDURE] procname [(var [,...])] statement PROCEDURE A procedure is the same as a FUNCTION but the RETURN value is ignored. See FUNCTION for a description. Note ! Both functions and procedures can be used as commands or functions. PSP + PSP n Sets the current PSP (Program Segment Prefix) to point to the segment n. The default PSP for any FAST program is the same as the code segment because FAST uses COM files which have only one segment. Each program run under DOS has a PSP, when running COM programs the PSP information is stored within the first 128 bytes of the segment. The function PSP returns the current PSP segment. The PSP command and function should be used within TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident programs). PUSH + PUSH n [,...] Pushes the word value onto the stack. POP retrieves the items off the stack. Knowledge of the STACK is essential before using this command because using it incorrectly will disrupt some FAST commands. PUSHALL + PUSHALL Saves all registers on the stack to be retrieved later using the POPALL command. Registers are PUSHed as: AX BX CX DX BP SI DI ES DS RANDOMIZE RANDOMIZE n Sets the RND seed (starting point) to n. If the seed is set to the same number then the same sequence of "random" numbers will be generated by RND. READ READ[B] v [,...] Reads a value from the current RESTORE address and puts it into the variable and increments the RESTORE address by 2 for words or 1 for bytes. See RESTORE for an example. RECLEN RECLEN #n,n Changes the record length of any OPEN file to a new value of n. This new record length is used only by SEEK. REG + REG REGISTER=n [,...] Sets any register from the following set with the value n. REG can be any of 'AX BX CX DX SI DI BP SP DS ES CS' Note ! Some expressions use many registers to get the value n so if n is not a constant or a variable then use this syntax: var_dx=PEEK segment|offset ;or var_dx=any expression. REG DI=10,DX=var_dx,AX=20 REMOVE REMOVE DIR pathname Removes the specified directory, includes ERROR checking. RENAME RENAME filename TO filename Renames the first file to the second file, includes ERROR checking. REPEAT REPEAT n statement [:...] Repeats the statement n times. A GOTO within the statement can be used to exit the REPEAT before it finishes. REPEATs can be nested to about 50 levels. Example. REPEAT 200 freq+=50:REPEAT 5 NOISE 2,freq:freq+=4 ----------------- --------------------- Repeats 200 times Repeats 5 times * 200 RESET + RESET INTERUPTS Resets the interupts INT 08 and INT 09 if they were set. After compiling FAST says which interupts will be used if any, those ones will be reset. Note ! If interupts are running while a FAST program is running then it must always return to DOS when finished with either TERMINATE or STOP. This applies only to INT 08 & INT 09, which may be utilised by FAST automatically. RESTORE RESTORE address Sets the READ pointer to the address. The next READ command will retrieve data from the new address. Note ! The READ command reads words/bytes from memory whereas the READ function reads bytes from a file or device. Example. PROC draw_pic(pic_address) RESTORE pic_address lx=-1 loop: READ x,y IF x=-1 THEN RETURN IF lx>0 THEN LINE lx,ly TO x,y lx=x:ly=y GOTO loop RETF + RETF This is the same the assembly RETF instruction. RETURN RETURN [n] Return from a function optionally returning a value. Note ! If the stack has been used with PUSH or POP then it should be how it was originally before the RETURN is done. SAVE SAVE filename,address,length Writes a file to disk, includes ERROR checking. Three steps are done automatically by SAVE: 1) CREATE filename. 2) WRITE length bytes from address in memory to disk. 3) CLOSE file. The maximum length is 65535 bytes. SCREEN SCREEN b Sets the screen display to any type, including support for HGA, MDA, CGA, EGA, VGA and any others which use the BIOS INT 10h for setting video modes. MODE should be used in conjunction with SCREEN to set graphics modes. b Type Resolution Adapter(s) Colours VIDEO ------------------------------------------------------------ 0 T 40 x 25 All but MDA 16 gray B800 1 T 40 x 25 All but MDA 16 fore/8 back B800 2 T 80 x 25 All but MDA 16 gray B800 3 T 80 x 25 All but MDA 16 fore/8 back B800 4 G 320 x 200 All but MDA 4 B800 5 G 320 x 200 All but MDA 4 gray B800 6 G 640 x 200 All but MDA 2 B800 7 T 80 x 25 HGA,MDA,EGA b/w B000 8 G 160 x 200 PCjr 16 B000 9 G 320 x 200 PCjr 16 B000 10 G 640 x 200 PCjr 4 B000 11 R (internal to EGA) 12 R (internal to EGA) 13 G 320 x 200 EGA 16 A000 14 G 640 x 200 EGA 16 A000 15 G 640 x 350 EGA b/w A000 16 G 640 x 350 EGA 16 A000 SCROLL SCROLL [DOWN] x,y,x,y,b Scrolls the specified window b lines. The first x,y represents the upper left corner, therefore the second x,y represents the bottom right. If b is 0 then the window is cleared. The COLOUR variable contains the value used for the blank line. Example. SCROLL 0,0,24,79,1 ;Scroll the entire screen up one line. SEEK SEEK #n,record Moves the file pointer to the nth record, includes ERROR checking. The offset within the file will = record * reclen. Record can be a 32 bit expression or variable. By default the record length if 1 so SEEK #1,1000 will seek to the 1000th byte. SETINT + SETINT b TO address The interupt vector is set to the given address. *** b is a hexadecimal number by default, see the DOS and INT commands. GETINT is a function which returns the address of an interupt vector. SHAPE SHAPE "????????????????" Defines a shape to be used by the SPRITE command. Sprites can be any width in multiples of 16 pixels. When defining sprites for MODE 640 or MODE 720 then each character within the SHAPE string represents one pixel, MODE 320 uses two characters - 4 colours. Note ! The asterisk (*) is used to represent 1, space is for 0. Example. DATAB 1,8 ;This sprite will be 1*16 pixels wide and 8 pixels high. SHAPE " " SHAPE " ************ " SHAPE " *** *** " SHAPE " ** ** " SHAPE " *** *** " SHAPE " ****** " SHAPE " ** " SHAPE " " SHELL $$$ SHELL string Performs the DOS command through the command interpreter COMMAND.COM, includes ERROR checking. SOUND SOUND duration,n Sets the speaker to produce a noise at frequency n. The duration of the noise will be for duration interupts. By default the computers timer interupt is activated 18.2 times per second. This can be changed if the time is not required. Setting the clock frequency with CLOCKS is allowed, but CLOCKS 0 must be used to reset to 18.2 interupts per second when your program finishes. The variable DURATION can be used to alter or test how many interupts remain before the sound finishes. A frequency can be converted to n using: n = 1,331,000 / freq NOISE OFF can be used to turn the sound off before DURATION=0. Note ! While the sound is being made, the program continues; INT 08 is used in the background to automatically detect the end of the sound and turn the speaker off. SPACE SPACE n Defines a work area of n bytes in length. n must be a constant. All bytes are set by default to 0. SPACE is identical to saying DATAB 0, ... n times. If defining space for a variable of say 200 bytes, it is preferable to use the declaration as var ? 200. Example. table: space 200 ;Puts 200 bytes in memory. Same rules apply to SPACE as ;to DATA, should be used at end of program. table ? 200 ;Can be used anywhere. Same as above but won't add 200 ;bytes to the file length. SPPOS + SPPOS Sets the register SI for SPRINTing. Register SI is set equal to the variable LOCPOS which represents the position for the PRINT command. Register SI is destroyed in certain instances so SPPOS should be used just before using SPRINT. Example. SPPOS m=start_file WHILE PEEKB m SPRINT CHR PEEKB m;:m++ There are 2 other VERY FAST printing routines for printing lines of text or messages: PRINTS & PRINTM (PRINTM is a function). PRINTM is the prefered choice, it prints a line, automatically scanning for a variety of end characters, including end of file. Tabs are automatically expanded and the colour can be transparent or changed. SPRITE SPRITE x,y,address Puts a sprite (bit image graphic) on the screen which must be a graphics screen. The graphics screen should be set with both SCREEN and MODE commands. Eg if using a 640*200 graphics screen then MODE should be set using MODE 640,AND/OR/XOR & SCREEN 6. A sprite is defined by the contents of the bytes at 'address'. address + 0 = width of sprite (in words) 1=16 bits/2=32 bits etc. address + 1 = heigth of sprite (in pixel rows). address + 2 = shape data (width*2*height bytes). Example of a sprite 16 pixels across and 5 pixels high. SCREEN 6:MODE 640,AND SPRITE x,y,sprite_address STOP sprite_address: DATAB 1,5 SHAPE " ** " SHAPE " ********** " SHAPE "****************" SHAPE " ********** " SHAPE " ** " STACK + STACK=n Sets the stack pointer (register SP) to the value n. Should only be used if full control of the stack is guaranteed, remembering that interupts use the stack (DISABLE INTERUPTS if setting the stack to point to a volatile memory area). STOP STOP INT b Stops interupt b from doing anything, ie: disables the current ON INT b statement. Note ! b ranges from 1 to 8. FASTs 8 interupts are seperate from the computers interupts (using the FAST INT, GETINT and SETINT commands) and different from DOS functions (using DOS). FASTs 8 interupts are all attached to the computers interupt 08h which is the normal timer tick interupt. STOP STOP DEBUG Stops the current ON DEBUG statement, ie: nothing is done during each debugged line at all, until the next ON DEBUG command. STOP STOP RESIDENT The program returns to DOS and remains in memory. All files that are OPEN are left open and all memory ALLOCATEd is left allocated. This command is for TSR (Terminate and Stay Resident) programs. The other FAST commands to use when writing TSR programs are normally PSP, INDOS & ON IDLE. For an example of a TSR program see the PU.F source file. Note ! All interupts set using ON INT, ON KEY, ON SCAN & ON IDLE remain in use after STOP RESIDENT but interupts set using ON BREAK & ON CRITICAL are restored to their original values. STOP STOP IDLE Stops the current ON IDLE statement, ie: Now every IDLE interupt does what it used to; typically DOS does nothing. STOP STOP TRACE Stops the current ON TRACE statement, ie: nothing is done during each traced line other than the ordinary, which is to display the source code being executed if run using FASTT. STOP STOP Same as TERMINATE. STOP $$$ STOP SCAN b STOP $$$ STOP CRITICAL STOP $$$ STOP KEY b STRING STRING b Defines an area in memory suitable for the INPUTS command. The memory is defined as: address + 0 = length of string (b) address + 1 = ? (set by INPUTS) address + 2 to address + 2 + b is set to 0 by default. The actual text goes here. SWAP SWAP var,var The contents of one variable is swapped with the other. TERMINATE TERMINATE Same as STOP. Terminates (STOPs) the program, all memory is automatically freed and interupts 08 and 10h are reset if they were used. TERMINATE is the same as: 1) RESET INTERUPTS 2) INT 20h TEST TEST BREAK Checks to see if the break key has been pressed, the last ON BREAK statement is executed if break was pressed. TIMER TIMER=n Sets the low part of the time system variable to n. This effects the computers current DOS TIME setting. UNSIGNED UNSIGNED v [,...] Declares a variable of one word, 16 bits. All unsigned variables must be defined at the start of a program, signed takes preference over unsigned. Unsigned variables range from 0 to 65535. VAR VAR[32] var [,...] Declares a variable of one word (or double word - VAR32). Only variables used before they are assigned a value must be declared with VAR. All 32 bit variables must be declared using VAR32 because all assignment operators default to 16 bits (one word). WAIT WAIT FOR n n is recalculated until it gives a true (not 0) value. Examples. WAIT FOR KEYPRESSED WAIT FOR KEY=27 WHILE WHILE n statement The statement is repeated until the expression n gives a false value, ie n=0. WRITE WRITE #n,length FROM address 'Length' bytes at 'address' are written to a file, includes ERROR checking.