A rank amateur blinks...

[OldMoses]

When I was working in SCREEN 0, I would often make use of blinking colors to attract the users attention. They would certainly do that, but I found the mode's blink algorithm to be too strident and wished for something a bit more subtle.

Here's what my amateur skills came up with. Let me know what you think of my solution and if it can be improved upon.

Code: QB64: [Select]

1. blink_a& = _RGB32(183, 50, 183)
2. blink_b& = _RGB32(183, 100, 183)
3. normal& = _RGB32(252, 252, 252)
4. s% = 60
5. disp& = _NEWIMAGE(640, 400, 32)
6. SCREEN disp&
7. _DEST disp&
8. CLS
9. DO
10.     x$ = INKEY$
11.     IF x$ <> "" THEN x = VAL(x$)
12.     COLOR blink_a&
13.     LOCATE 5, 5
14.     msg$ = "Press 7 to stop this infernally stupid demo."
15.     FOR a = 1 TO LEN(msg$)
16.         IF a MOD 2 = 0 THEN
17.             COLOR blink_a&
18.         ELSE
19.             COLOR blink_b&
20.         END IF
21.         PRINT MID$(msg$, a, 1);
22.     NEXT a
23.     y = y + 1
24.     IF y MOD (s% / 4) = 0 THEN
25.         y = 0
26.         SWAP blink_a&, blink_b&
27.     END IF
28.  
29.     _LIMIT s%
30. LOOP UNTIL x = 7
31. COLOR normal&
32. END
33.  

[Pete]

Well it works. I'd suggest taking the msg variable out of the loop, because it only needs to be assigned once. It doesn't hurt having it the way it is, it just doesn't need repeating, like a lot of things in life, it's good if you just hear it once, you don't need to hear it over and over, or re-iterated by others, or written on some handy reminder that has some defect in the glue base so no matter how hard you try to scrape it off, it just stays there... and stays there... and stays there.Other than that, good job!

Pete

[SMcNeill]

How about a NOT color?

SCREEN _NEWIMAGE(640,480,32)
BlinkRed = _RGB32(255,0,0)
DO
    CLS
    _LIMIT 2 'Just for the demo
    BlinkRed = NOT BlinkRed
    COLOR BlinkRed
     PRINT "Hello World"
    _DISPLAY
LOOP UNTIL _KEYHIT

******************

Though honestly, I'd suggest for 32-bit color modes to use 2 separate screens and then swap displays to simulate the blink.  Then, you could have normal text at one part of the screen, "blink" text at another part, and all you'd need to do is toggle between which screen to display every half second or so.

[bplus]

How about a blink'in beat?

Code: QB64: [Select]

1. SCREEN _NEWIMAGE(220, 50, 32)
2. _TITLE ""
3. DIM b AS _BIT, c AS INTEGER
4. WHILE _KEYDOWN(27) = 0
5.     CLS
6.     lc = lc + _PI(1 / 16)
7.     b = b + 1
8.     c = (c + 1) MOD 6
9.     IF b THEN _PRINTSTRING (65, 15), "Hello"
10.     IF c THEN _PRINTSTRING (118, 15), "World"
11.     _DISPLAY
12.     _LIMIT INT(5 * SIN(lc) + 6)
13. WEND
14.  
15.  

[OldMoses]

How about a blink'in beat?

That was cool.

[OldMoses]

Well it works. I'd suggest taking the msg variable out of the loop, because it only needs to be assigned once.

Good point, I also noticed after posting it that the first 'COLOR blink_a&' in the loop was completely redundant.

[OldMoses]

Though honestly, I'd suggest for 32-bit color modes to use 2 separate screens and then swap displays to simulate the blink.  Then, you could have normal text at one part of the screen, "blink" text at another part, and all you'd need to do is toggle between which screen to display every half second or so.

That's probably where I need to be, I just have to get on top of the learning curve. I'm playing with 32 bit, but still approaching it with SCREEN 0 thinking.

[bplus]

Hi OldMoses,

I liked the color swap blinking, it's less obnoxious. Here is a rolling color "blink":

Code: QB64: [Select]

1. RANDOMIZE TIMER
2. SCREEN _NEWIMAGE(220, 50, 32)
3. _TITLE ""
4. CONST H$ = "Hello World"
5. DIM SHARED r&, g&, b&, old&, new&
6. update
7. WHILE _KEYDOWN(27) = 0
8.     IF RND < 1 / 20 AND m = 10 THEN update
9.     CLS
10.     m = (m + 1) MOD 11
11.     IF m = 0 THEN SWAP old&, new&
12.     x = 65 + m * 8
13.     COLOR old&
14.     _PRINTSTRING (65, 15), MID$(H$, 1, m)
15.     COLOR new&
16.     _PRINTSTRING (x, 15), MID$(H$, m + 1)
17.     _DISPLAY
18.     _LIMIT 30
19. WEND
20.  
21. SUB update
22.     r& = RND * 255: g& = RND * 255: b& = RND * 255
23.     old& = _RGB32(r&, g&, b&)
24.     new& = _RGB32((r& + 128) MOD 255, (g& + 128) MOD 255, (b& + 128) MOD 255)
25. END SUB
26.  
27.  

Edit: Better color scheme