Simtel MSDOS 1992 June/SIMTEL_0692.cdr/msdos/info/dostips3.arc/MONOGRFX.TXT

Text File | 1985-11-24 | 6KB | 97 lines

              IBM Graphics on a Monochrome Monitor
          (COMPUTE! November 1985 by T. G. Hanlin III)

     IBM PCs can generate stunning graphics, but advanced BASIC
graphics features are available only on PCs with a color/graphics
adapter.  However, with the right programming methods, your monochrome
system can produce graphics, too.  They are fairly low resolution, and
no amount of programming skill can make your monochrome monitor display
more than one color, but they are graphics nonetheless.  You may find
them handy for utilitarian purposes or you may enjoy making simple
graphic screens, animated figures, or games.  Once you master the basic
technique, more and more applications will come to mind.
     When a PC boots up, it checks to see if the system contains a
color/graphics adapter and configures itself accordingly.  If a color/
graphics adapter is present, you may use advanced BASIC graphics
commands like PUT and GET.  If not, those commands cause an error.
However, even a monochrome system has the ability to display a large
set of special characters.  IBM graphics characters have ASCII values
of 128 to 255 and include a number of different shapes useful in
creating boxes, borders and so on.
     The characters we're interested in are those which consist of a
solid block.  All computer graphics are produced by turning pixels on
or off to light up different parts of the screen.  The smaller the size
of the pixel dots, the more detailed the image.  Although the IBM
character set doesn't include any pixel-sized characters -- each
character is composed of several pixels -- it does include some we can
use like giant pixels.
     For example, CHR$(219) is a solid block character, the inverse of
CHR$(32), the blank space.  Using these two characters together
provides a graphics screen with 80 x 25 resolution.  To turn a "dot"
within this coarse screen, print the solid block at the desired spot.
To turn off a dot, print a space.  The BASIC function SCREEN(Y,X) tells
you whether a given location contains a dot or an empty space.  Though
you're limited to simple, quite blocky shapes, this system is fast and
simple to use.  However, it's possible to do much better.
     Besides the block and space characters which light up or blank out
an entire screen location, there aer some which light up only part of a
screen position.  For instance, CHR$(220) is solid on the bottom half
and blank on the top.  The reverse is true of CHR$(223).  By using
these characters, we can double our resolution to 80 x 50 pixels.  This
complicates matters a bit, since we want to use only half a screen
position, and BASIC lets you print only to an entire screen position.
Here's a point-plotting routine that handles the tricky details:

10000 GR.Y=Y\2+1:GR.SC=SCREEN(GR.Y,X+1):GR.OFFSET=(Y MOD 2)*3:IF Z=0
      THEN 10020 ELSE IF GR.SC=32 THEN GR.SC=223-GR.OFFSET ELSE IF
      GR.SC+GR.OFFSET<>223 THEN GR.SC=219
10010 LOCATE GR.Y,X+1:PRINT CHR$(GR.SC);:RETURN
10020 IF GR.SC+GR.OFFSET=223 THEN GR.SC=32 ELSE IF GR.SC<>32 THEN
      GR.SC=220+GR.OFFSET
10030 GOTO 10010
10040 GR.Y=Y\2+1:S9=SCREEN(GR.Y,X+1):Z=(GR.SC=219 OR GR.SC+(Y MOD 2)
      *3=223):RETURN

     To plot a point with this routine, set the variable X to the
desired horizontal coordinate (0-79) and the variable Y to the vertical
coordinate (0-49).  Now you've set the screen location for the giant
pixel.  To turn it on, set the variable Z to 1.  Set Z to 0 to turn
the pixel off.  Then call the subroutine with GOSUB 10000.  Line 10040
is a separate routine that tells you whether a given location is lit
up or blank.  To test any point on the screen, set the variables X and
Y to the appropriate coordinates; then GOSUB 10040.  The variable Z
equals -1 if that point is lit or 0 it it's blank.
     Though this system emulates a simple graphics screen, keep in mind
that you are still printing characters.  Thus, there are four screen
locations that cause everything to scroll upward if you plot a point
there: locations (79,46), (79,47), (79,48), and (79,49).  To avoid
scrolling your display, either do not use these particular locations
or restrict your screen to 79 x 50 pixels (use horizontal locations
0-78).  Note that you can mix text and graphics freely, but putting
graphics on top of text cause some surprising results.  The following
program demonstrates how to animate a simple figure.  Add these lines
to the point-plotting routine and save the program.  Make sure the
numeric keypad is in numeric mode before you run it.

10 KEY OFF:CLS:DEFING A-Z:Y=0:Z=1:FOR X=0 TO 24:SNAKE$=SNAKE$+CHR$(X)
   +CHR$(Y):GOSUB 10000:NEXT:DX=1:DY=0:X=X-1
20 I$=INKEY$:IF I$<>"" THEN DX=SGN(INSTR("369",I$)-INSTR("147",I$)):
   DY=SGN(INSTR("123",I$)-INSTR("789",I$)):IF I$=" " THEN CLS:END
30 X=ASC(RIGHT$(SNAKE$,2))+DX:Y=ASC(RIGHT$(SNAKE$,1))+DY:IF X>78 THEN
   X=0 ELSE IF X<0 THEN X=78
40 IF Y>49 THEN Y=0 ELSE IF Y<0 THEN Y=49
50 Z=1:GOSUB 10000:SNAKE$=SNAKE$+CHR$(X)+CHR$(Y):X=ASC(LEFT$(SNAKE$,
   1)):Y=ASC(MID$(SNAKE$,2,1)):Z=0:GOSUB 10000:SNAKE$=MID$(SNAKE$,3):
   GOTO 20

     Control the direction of the wandering animated snake by using the
numeric keypad.  Press the space bar to end the program.  To improve
its speed the point-plotting routine is as short as possible.  However,
if you don't require fast drawing, you might want to add other
features.  Perhpas you'd like to color or shade the points to
introduce different degrees of brightness (of course, since each
two-pixel pair corresponds to a single character, there's a limit to
this technique).  You might add range checking to check for valid
coordinates before you plot a point.  And you could also modify the
routine to place graphics on top of text correctly.