Frame Library

[SMcNeill]

Code: QB64: [Select]

1. '$INCLUDE:'FrameLibrary.BI'
2.  
3. CONST FileName$ = "tt.txt"
4.  
5.  
6. REDIM SHARED WordGrid(0, 0) AS STRING * 1
7. REDIM SHARED YLines(0, 0) AS STRING
8. REDIM SHARED XLines(0, 0) AS STRING
9.  
10. DIM SHARED SearchTerms(1) AS STRING
11. SearchTerms(0) = "TRICK": SearchTerms(1) = "TREAT"
12.  
13. DIM SHARED X AS INTEGER, Y AS INTEGER
14.  
15. DIM SHARED LeftFrame AS INTEGER, RightFrame AS INTEGER
16.  
17.  
18. SCREEN _NEWIMAGE(1280, 720, 32) '720p HD just cause I like it as a standard
19.  
20.  
21. LeftFrame = NewTextArea(0, 0, 400, _HEIGHT - 1, False)
22. ColorTextArea LeftFrame, _RGB32(255, 255, 255), _RGB32(0, 0, 128)
23. DrawTextArea LeftFrame
24.  
25. RightFrame = NewTextArea(401, 0, _WIDTH - 1, _HEIGHT - 1, False)
26. ColorTextArea RightFrame, _RGB32(255, 255, 255), _RGB32(0, 0, 0)
27. DrawTextArea RightFrame
28.  
29.  
30.  
31. LoadWordGrid
32. MakeDirectional
33. ShowGrid
34. FindWords
35.  
36.  
37.  
38. SUB FindWords
39.     FOR j = 0 TO UBOUND(SearchTerms)
40.         SetPrintStyleX RightFrame, CenterJustify
41.         SetPrintUpdate RightFrame, NewLine
42.         SetTextForeground RightFrame, _RGB32(255, 255, 0)
43.         PrintOut RightFrame, "SEARCHING FOR " + SearchTerms(j)
44.         SetTextForeground RightFrame, _RGB32(255, 255, 255)
45.         PrintOut RightFrame, ""
46.         PrintOut RightFrame, "Finding Left to Right Matches"
47.         SetPrintStyleX RightFrame, NoJustify
48.         SetPrintUpdate RightFrame, NoNewLine
49.  
50.         FOR i = 1 TO Y
51.             foundone = 0
52.             DO
53.                 foundone = INSTR(foundone + 1, YLines(1, i), SearchTerms(j))
54.                 IF foundone THEN
55.                     PrintOut RightFrame, "(Line" + STR$(i) + ", Position" + STR$(foundone) + "), "
56.                     tc = tc + 1
57.                 END IF
58.             LOOP UNTIL NOT foundone
59.         NEXT
60.  
61.         SetPrintStyleX RightFrame, CenterJustify
62.         SetPrintUpdate RightFrame, NewLine
63.         PrintOut RightFrame, ""
64.         PrintOut RightFrame, ""
65.         PrintOut RightFrame, "Finding Right to Left Matches"
66.         SetPrintUpdate RightFrame, NoNewLine
67.         SetPrintStyleX RightFrame, NoJustify
68.         FOR i = 1 TO Y
69.             foundone = 0
70.             DO
71.                 foundone = INSTR(foundone + 1, YLines(2, i), SearchTerms(j))
72.                 IF foundone THEN
73.                     PrintOut RightFrame, "(Line" + STR$(i) + ", Position" + STR$(X - foundone + 1) + "), "
74.                     tc = tc + 1
75.                 END IF
76.             LOOP UNTIL NOT foundone
77.         NEXT
78.  
79.         SetPrintStyleX RightFrame, CenterJustify
80.         SetPrintUpdate RightFrame, NewLine
81.         PrintOut RightFrame, ""
82.         PrintOut RightFrame, ""
83.         PrintOut RightFrame, "Finding Up to Down Matches"
84.         SetPrintUpdate RightFrame, NoNewLine
85.         SetPrintStyleX RightFrame, NoJustify
86.         FOR i = 1 TO X
87.             foundone = 0
88.             DO
89.                 foundone = INSTR(foundone + 1, XLines(1, i), SearchTerms(j))
90.                 IF foundone THEN
91.                     PrintOut RightFrame, "(Line" + STR$(foundone) + ", Position" + STR$(i) + "), "
92.                     tc = tc + 1
93.                 END IF
94.             LOOP UNTIL NOT foundone
95.         NEXT
96.  
97.         SetPrintStyleX RightFrame, CenterJustify
98.         SetPrintUpdate RightFrame, NewLine
99.         PrintOut RightFrame, ""
100.         PrintOut RightFrame, ""
101.         PrintOut RightFrame, "Finding Down to Up Matches"
102.         SetPrintUpdate RightFrame, NoNewLine
103.         SetPrintStyleX RightFrame, NoJustify
104.         FOR i = 1 TO X
105.             foundone = 0
106.             DO
107.                 foundone = INSTR(foundone + 1, XLines(2, i), SearchTerms(j))
108.                 IF foundone THEN
109.                     PrintOut RightFrame, "(Line" + STR$(foundone) + ", Position" + STR$(i) + "), "
110.                     tc = tc + 1
111.                 END IF
112.             LOOP UNTIL NOT foundone
113.         NEXT
114.  
115.  
116.         SetPrintUpdate RightFrame, NewLine
117.         PrintOut RightFrame, ""
118.         PrintOut RightFrame, ""
119.         PrintOut RightFrame, STR$(tc) + " total matches found."
120.         PrintOut RightFrame, ""
121.         PrintOut RightFrame, ""
122.         tc = 0
123.     NEXT
124. END SUB
125.  
126.  
127.  
128. SUB ShowGrid
129.     'Print the words in the grid
130.     SetTextColor LeftFrame, _RGB32(255, 255, 0), 0
131.     PrintOut LeftFrame, ""
132.     PrintOut LeftFrame, "                     WORD GRID"
133.     PrintOut LeftFrame, ""
134.     SetTextColor LeftFrame, _RGB32(255, 255, 255), 0
135.     FOR i = 1 TO Y
136.         PrintOut LeftFrame, "  " + YLines(1, i)
137.     NEXT
138. END SUB
139.  
140.  
141.  
142.  
143. SUB LoadWordGrid
144.     OPEN FileName$ FOR BINARY AS #1
145.     DO UNTIL EOF(1)
146.         LINE INPUT #1, junk$
147.         Y = Y + 1
148.     LOOP
149.     X = LEN(junk$): Y = Y
150.     SEEK #1, 1
151.  
152.     REDIM WordGrid(1 TO X, 1 TO Y) AS STRING * 1 'Properly size our grid, with borders
153.     REDIM YLines(2, Y) AS STRING
154.     REDIM XLines(2, X) AS STRING
155.  
156.     FOR i = 1 TO Y
157.         LINE INPUT #1, junk$
158.         FOR j = 1 TO X
159.             WordGrid(j, i) = MID$(junk$, j) 'Fill in the grid with the letters
160.         NEXT
161.     NEXT
162.     CLOSE #1
163. END SUB
164.  
165. SUB MakeDirectional
166.     FOR i = 1 TO Y
167.         FOR j = 1 TO X
168.             YLines(1, i) = YLines(1, i) + WordGrid(j, i) 'Left to Right Lines
169.     NEXT j, i
170.     FOR i = 1 TO Y: FOR j = X TO 1 STEP -1
171.             YLines(2, i) = YLines(2, i) + WordGrid(j, i) 'Right to Left Lines
172.     NEXT j, i
173.     FOR i = 1 TO Y: FOR j = 1 TO X
174.             XLines(1, i) = XLines(1, i) + WordGrid(j, i) 'Up to Down Lines
175.     NEXT j, i
176.     FOR i = 1 TO Y: FOR j = X TO 1 STEP -1
177.             XLines(2, i) = XLines(1, i) + WordGrid(j, i) 'Right to Left Lines
178.     NEXT j, i
179. END SUB
180.  
181. '$INCLUDE:'FrameLibrary.BM'
182.  

Using Bplus's halloween challenge to do a wordsearch from a grid of letters in various directions, I came up with this little demo to highlight the flexibility and ease of use of my little TextFrame Library.

What *IS* the FrameLibrary, you ask??

It's a simple way to designate various areas of the screen to print and interact independently on.  In this case, the left side holds the grid for us, while the right side prints out the results.  If you look at the demo I posted over at the other forums, it has 4 designated frame areas which we can print to.  (HERE: http://qb64.freeforums.net/thread/46/text-frames )

Each of these frames are 100% independent of the others.  You can set them to have various justification levels (left, right, center, no justification) for the text.  You can set whether text prints to a new line when finished, or not.  You can even set if the text frame is visible, or if you want to move it somewhere else onto the screen...

In the example here, we see how easy it is to designate our framed areas:

Code: QB64: [Select]

1. LeftFrame = NewTextArea(0, 0, 400, _HEIGHT - 1, False)
2. ColorTextArea LeftFrame, _RGB32(255, 255, 255), _RGB32(0, 0, 128)
3. DrawTextArea LeftFrame
4.  
5. RightFrame = NewTextArea(401, 0, _WIDTH - 1, _HEIGHT - 1, False)
6. ColorTextArea RightFrame, _RGB32(255, 255, 255), _RGB32(0, 0, 0)
7. DrawTextArea RightFrame

You can also see where we center our output text, while moving the pointer to a newline afterwards:

Code: QB64: [Select]

1.         SetPrintStyleX RightFrame, CenterJustify
2.         SetPrintUpdate RightFrame, NewLine)

And, where we change back to where we don't want to justify our text, or move to a new line after:

Code: QB64: [Select]

1.         SetPrintStyleX RightFrame, NoJustify
2.         SetPrintUpdate RightFrame, NoNewLine

Changing the color of the text is rather simple:

Code: QB64: [Select]

1.         SetTextForeground RightFrame, _RGB32(255, 255, 0)  

And, doing the actual printing is as simple as:

Code: QB64: [Select]

1.         PrintOut RightFrame, "SEARCHING FOR " + SearchTerms(j)

The library does automatic word-wrap.  Automatic scrolling of a frame, if we print down to the bottom of the frame, just as QB64 does when we print at the bottom lines of the screen...

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

Honestly, it's not that complicated to use, once one tries it just a bit.  Most of the commands mimic what we already have in QB64, with just the extra parameter in front for WHICH frame we're using.

PRINT whatever$  --->  PrintOut frame, whatever$
COLOR fg, bg ---> SetTextColor frame, fg, bg
LOCATE x, y ---> SetPrintPosition frame, x, y
and so...

The only exception is when we go to adding NEW, non-native QB64 capabilities:

SetPrintStyleX frame, HOW -->  frame is the same as above, HOW is: LeftJustify, RightJustify, CenterJustify, or NoJustify

In this case, LeftJustify prints our text at the left edge of the frame; RightJustify prints the text starting from the right edge of the frame, CenterJustify centers the text on the line, and NoJustify doesn't do any justification (much like a simple PRINT statement.)

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

Anywho... I thought I'd just share and show off the library a bit.  I don't think many people have even taken a look at this one (much less used it), but I find it to be useful in a TON of things which I do.  Being able to designate and print to multiple sections of the screen, without disturbing the rest of the screen, has always been something which I felt was too difficult to do -- thus, the birth of this.  :D

[TerryRitchie]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing :)

[codeguy]

Nifty.

[SMcNeill]

Another simple demo to highlight some of the power of the library:

Code: QB64: [Select]

1. '$INCLUDE:'FrameLibrary.BI'
2.  
3.  
4. SCREEN _NEWIMAGE(640, 480, 32)
5.  
6. CIRCLE (320, 240), 200, _RGB32(255, 0, 0)
7. PAINT (320, 240), _RGB32(255, 0, 0)
8. LOCATE 15, 35: PRINT "See the circle?"
9.  
10. SLEEP
11. PopUp = NewTextArea(200, 150, 400, 300, True)
12. ColorTextArea PopUp, _RGB32(255, 255, 255), _RGB32(0, 0, 128)
13. DrawTextArea PopUp
14. PrintOut PopUp, "See how we popped up text in the box here, which has now overdrawn our circle?"
15. SLEEP
16.  
17. HideFrame PopUp
18. LOCATE 2, 2: PRINT "Notice how we preserve the background when we hide/close the frame?"
19.  
20.  
21. '$include:'FrameLibrary.BM'

Needs the library files above to work, so grab them before trying this.

Notice here when I make the frame, the last option is set to TRUE:

Code: QB64: [Select]

1. PopUp = NewTextArea(200, 150, 400, 300, TRUE)

PopUp is the name which I'm calling my designated text area.  200, 150, 400,300 are the screen coordinates where the frame is created.  The last option (TRUE in this case) is a toggle asking, "Do we want to preserve the background underneath the PopUp?"

Since we said, TRUE, when we hide the PopUp, the background is restored...

** These frames can hide/appear without disturbing existing text which we already have on the screen!

[SMcNeill]

And to expand with another demo, highlighting a little more flexibility:

Code: QB64: [Select]

1. '$INCLUDE:'FrameLibrary.BI'
2.  
3.  
4. SCREEN _NEWIMAGE(640, 480, 32)
5.  
6. CIRCLE (320, 240), 200, _RGB32(255, 0, 0)
7. PAINT (320, 240), _RGB32(255, 0, 0)
8. LOCATE 15, 35: PRINT "See the circle?"
9.  
10. SLEEP
11. PopUp = NewTextArea(200, 150, 400, 300, True)
12. ColorTextArea PopUp, _RGB32(255, 255, 255), _RGB32(0, 0, 128)
13. DrawTextArea PopUp
14. PrintOut PopUp, "See how we popped up text in the box here, which has now overdrawn our circle?"
15. SLEEP
16.  
17. FOR x = 0 TO 100
18.     _LIMIT 30
19.     MoveFrame PopUp, 200 - x, 150 - x
20. NEXT
21. LOCATE 2, 2: PRINT "Notice how how even moving the frame doesn't harm the background?"
22.  
23.  
24. '$include:'FrameLibrary.BM'
25.  

Just like before, hit the space bar a few times and watch as we interact with our background, and pay attention to the simple fact that:

** We can MOVE the frames, and still not disturb the background as we do so!

[SMcNeill]

Just a demo of the centering technique:

Code: QB64: [Select]

1. '$INCLUDE:'FrameLibrary.BI'
2.  
3.  
4. SCREEN _NEWIMAGE(640, 480, 32)
5.  
6. CIRCLE (320, 240), 200, _RGB32(255, 0, 0)
7. PAINT (320, 240), _RGB32(255, 0, 0)
8. LOCATE 15, 35: PRINT "See the circle?"
9.  
10.  
11. PopUp = NewTextArea(200, 150, 400, 300, True)
12. ColorTextArea PopUp, _RGB32(255, 255, 255), _RGB32(0, 0, 128)
13. DrawTextArea PopUp
14. SetPrintStyleX PopUp, CenterJustify
15. SetTextColor PopUp, -1, 0
16. PrintOut PopUp, "See how we popped up text in the box here, which has now overdrawn our circle?                AND...                Do you notice how with one command we can center each line automatically??"
17.  
18. SLEEP
19.  
20.  
21. '$include:'FrameLibrary.BM'
22.  

SetPrintStyleX PopUp, CenterJustify --This one line centers all the text which pops out for us, in the frame.  Other options are LeftJustify, RightJustify, NoJustify

[SMcNeill]

And to showcase another simple option:

Code: QB64: [Select]

1. '$INCLUDE:'FrameLibrary.BI'
2.  
3.  
4. SCREEN _NEWIMAGE(640, 480, 32)
5.  
6. CIRCLE (320, 240), 200, _RGB32(255, 0, 0)
7. PAINT (320, 240), _RGB32(255, 0, 0)
8. LOCATE 15, 35: PRINT "See the circle?"
9.  
10.  
11. PopUp = NewTextArea(200, 150, 400, 300, True)
12. ColorTextArea PopUp, _RGB32(255, 255, 255), _RGB32(0, 0, 128)
13. DrawTextArea PopUp
14. SetPrintStyleX PopUp, CenterJustify
15. SetPrintStyleY PopUp, CenterLine
16. SetTextColor PopUp, -1, 0
17. PrintOut PopUp, "Perfectly centered!"
18.  
19. SLEEP
20.  
21.  
22. '$include:'FrameLibrary.BM'
23.  

SetPrintStyleY PopUp, CenterLine  -- Notice that with the single addition of this one line of code, we're now perfectly centering our text inside the box vertically!  Other options here are OnLine, TopLine, BottomLine

OnLine says we print on the line where we left off, doing nothing special.
TopLine says we print from the top line of the frame.
BottomLine  says we print from the bottom line of the frame.

Simple enough!  ;)

[SMcNeill]

And, one more option available for us:

Code: QB64: [Select]

1. '$INCLUDE:'FrameLibrary.BI'
2.  
3.  
4. SCREEN _NEWIMAGE(640, 480, 32)
5.  
6. CIRCLE (320, 240), 200, _RGB32(255, 0, 0)
7. PAINT (320, 240), _RGB32(255, 0, 0)
8. LOCATE 15, 35: PRINT "See the circle?"
9.  
10.  
11. PopUp = NewTextArea(200, 150, 400, 300, True)
12. ColorTextArea PopUp, _RGB32(255, 255, 255), _RGB32(0, 0, 128)
13. DrawTextArea PopUp
14. SetTextColor PopUp, -1, 0
15.  
16.  
17. PrintOut PopUp, "Now, watch as we count to 10, while fiddling with a few settings.  (Press <ANY KEY> to start."
18. SLEEP
19. SetPrintUpdate PopUp, NewLine
20. FOR i = 1 TO 10
21.     PrintOut PopUp, STR$(i)
22.     _DELAY .3
23. NEXT
24. PrintOut PopUp, "Did you notice the frame scroll the text as we counted??  Like we'd expect, huh?  Press <ANY KEY> to continue."
25. SLEEP
26.  
27. ClearTextArea PopUp
28. SetPrintUpdate PopUp, NoNewLine
29. FOR i = 1 TO 10
30.     PrintOut PopUp, STR$(i)
31.     _DELAY .3
32. NEXT
33. PrintOut PopUp, ".....  HEY?!!  What's up??  "
34. PrintOut PopUp, "These lines aren't automatically printing to a new line?!!"
35. SLEEP
36. '$include:'FrameLibrary.BM'
37.  

What we're focusing on here are two commands in particular:

SetPrintUpdate PopUp, NewLine
SetPrintUpdate PopUp, NoNewLine

Our first command (above), is how we tell the library if we want to PRINT and then move to a new line afterwards, or if we want to stay on the same line, at the same position.  Think of it as the difference between PRINT text$ and PRINT text$; (see that semi-colon?)

ClearTextArea PopUp -- and our second command, which strangely enough, Clears the Text Area we specify.  NOTE:  This doesn't change our text printing position; it simply clears the frame for us.  To change the print position we use the almost-LOCATE command:  SetPrintPosition.

[johnno56]

Brilliant demos!  Cool....

:)

[Petr]

Thank you for sharing this library. Wonderful is also the ability to share text fields in this way (as PopUp in your program) . That's what I'm using in the latest program I'm doing. But I have a lot of work ahead of me.

[Qwerkey]

Steve, marvellous as ever.  We expect nothing less.

Since we said, TRUE, when we hide the PopUp, the background is restored...

** These frames can hide/appear without disturbing existing text which we already have on the screen!

How does the computer know how to restore the background image when the frame is removed?  As I understand software images (I use the word "understand" without justification!), each time that a PRINT statement (or other graphics method) is used, the computer retains that image.  So when the frame is removed, you have to 'overwrite' it with the background (in your demo, this is the red circle - the CIRCLE and PAINT statements are used only once).  One of these days, Fellippe will place a ban on demonstrably stupid members (I'm in that sub-set)!  Richard

[Dav]

Cool Library!  Thanks for sharing.

- Dav

[STxAxTIC]

Fun!

I'm sure the next edition will be able handle instances of CHR$(13) inside the printed text. As of now it shows up as a musical note and doesn't break the line. Specifically I tried this:

Code: QB64: [Select]

1. PrintOut PopUp, "Perfectly center dsfadsfsdfdsfdfsdfd fdf dasf dsafdf dsf df" + CHR$(13) + "ed!"

EDIT (5 minutes later)

Ah, I see this issue can be hacked around by calling PrintOut more than once as the next demo does:

Code: QB64: [Select]

1. FOR i = 1 TO 10
2.     PrintOut PopUp, STR$(i)
3.     _DELAY .3
4. NEXT

[SMcNeill]

Fun!

I'm sure the next edition will be able handle instances of CHR$(13) inside the printed text. As of now it shows up as a musical note and doesn't break the line. Specifically I tried this:

Code: QB64: [Select]

1. PrintOut PopUp, "Perfectly center dsfadsfsdfdsfdfsdfd fdf dasf dsafdf dsf df" + CHR$(13) + "ed!"

EDIT (5 minutes later)

Ah, I see this issue can be hacked around by calling PrintOut more than once as the next demo does:

Code: QB64: [Select]

1. FOR i = 1 TO 10
2.     PrintOut PopUp, STR$(i)
3.     _DELAY .3
4. NEXT

Aye.  I'd considered fixing it so CHR$(13) worked as a new line, but then decided against it.  What if you simply meant to print the little musical icon instead?  I figured this was something best handled by the user/program and not by library itself.

Easy solution though:  Write a SUB to handle the process for you, in your program.

SUB MultiPrintOut (frame, what$)
IF INSTR(what$, CHR$(13)) THEN
    PrintOut frame, LEFT$(what$, INSTR(what$, CHR$(13))
    SetPrintUpdate frame, NewLine 'Set the option to print to a new line
    PrintOut frame, "" 'Print that Linebreak
    SetPrintUpdate frame, NoNewLine 'Restore back to single line printing
    MultiPrintOut frame, MID$(what$, INSTR(what$, CHR$(13)+1)
ELSE
    PrintOut frame, what$
END IF
END SUB

[SMcNeill]

Steve, marvellous as ever.  We expect nothing less.

Since we said, TRUE, when we hide the PopUp, the background is restored...

** These frames can hide/appear without disturbing existing text which we already have on the screen!

How does the computer know how to restore the background image when the frame is removed?  As I understand software images (I use the word "understand" without justification!), each time that a PRINT statement (or other graphics method) is used, the computer retains that image.  So when the frame is removed, you have to 'overwrite' it with the background (in your demo, this is the red circle - the CIRCLE and PAINT statements are used only once).  One of these days, Fellippe will place a ban on demonstrably stupid members (I'm in that sub-set)!  Richard

Here's the trick, explained using strings, to make it easy to see.

Normally, if we replace the middle part of a string, we have no way to revert it back, afterwards.  For example:

a$ = "12345"
MID$(a$, 2) = "ABC"

IF we print a$, it now prints "1ABC5" -- and this is basically how drawing on the screen works.  Draw something and it just overwrites what was already there, replacing it forever, with no way to undo that.

So, how would we undo the process??

We intercept with a back up of what we're overwriting:

a$ = "12345"
temp$ = MID$(a$, 2, 3) 'store the "234"
MID$(a$, 2) = "ABC" 'do our replacement as we wanted before

.....  And, when we want to restore the original:
MID$(a$, 2) = temp$

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

And it's the exact same process with graphics.

Start with the old screen.
Take a screen grab of the section we want to write to with _NEWIMAGE and _PUTIMAGE.
Write to the section we want to.

....and, when done, use _Putimage to restore the image we saved! Then _FREEIMAGE that temp image.

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

And, this is the process the library does for us, all behind the scenes, of course.  ;)