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Useful Routines For ZBASIC

By Dave Kelly, MacTutor Editorial Board

Hello! Are any of you tired of switching back and forth between versions of Basic? Although ZBasic still holds an edge over other Basics in the competition, there are benefits in favor of using other Basics from time to time. The frustrating thing about it is when you try to use a command, syntax, or subroutine with the wrong version of Basic. It’s easy to do if you switch back and forth very often. It’s also frustrating when your favorite function isn’t implemented the same (or not at all) from what you are used to.

Charles Stricklin has sent in three functions which he wished were already implemented in ZBasic. These have been designed to add to your ZBasic library of routines. The GETINDSTRING$ function works similarly to the GETINDRESOURCE function in the Macintosh toolbox. This routine allows easy retrieval of strings stored in a ‘STR#’ resource.

The GETRESWINDOW and GETRESMENU functions will get WIND and MENU resource data and interpret the resource to open up windows and setup menus using standard ZBasic statements. This is useful if you would like to use resources like ‘real’ applications do.

The program demonstrates the use of these functions. In developing this and through debugging the functions I am now even more aware of the missing capability to include resources from a resource file when compiling with ZBasic. This is a deficiency which I would hope Zedcor has as #1 on their ‘TO DO’ list. Charles also listed this problem as high priority and wrote a short routine as a work around for the meantime:

debugging = -1: ‘(or TRUE if defined previously)TRUE during development.

“OpenResourceFork” :’used in development only
 LONG IF debugging :’we’re still writing this
 CALL PARAMTEXT(“Do you want to use a specific resource”,”file?”,””,””)
 myAnswer = FN CAUTIONALERT(3,NIL) :’gets my answer from alert
 LONG IF myAnswer =1 :’I said “YES”
 resourceFilename$ = FILES$(1,”rsrc”,,volume)      :’gets a filename 

 ‘(created with ResEdit)
 refNum = FN OPENRESFILE(resourceFileName$)  :’and opens it’s  
 ‘resource fork
 END IF :’(myAnswer = 1)
END IF  :’(debugging)
RETURN :’(“OpenResourceFork”)

Other items on the ZBasic “Wish List” include:

(to be fixed):

• The “Save Changes?” alert should only be called after the user has actually made changes to an existing document... especially not right after launching ZBasic itself when opening an existing document.

• ZBasic doesn’t run reliably under MultiFinder. After several passes editing and running, ZBasic aborts even with 2.5+ Meg memory allocated to ZBasic. I’ve never had this happen when not running Multifinder. I suggest that Multifinder be turned off when editing and debugging ZBasic programs.

(to be improved):

• The ‘Find’ command is somewhat useless without a ‘Change’ command.

• The editor, even with the vast improvements over earlier versions, is still clumsy in several (many) areas.

• The default tab settings are a nuisance. This should be user definable.

• Editing would be much easier if more than one edit window (different files too) could be open at the same time.

• Lower the price. The ToolBox Editor should have been part of the package to begin with. The Program Generator is useful if you don’t already have your own custom BASIC shell defined.

On the plus side, ZBasic is still the fastest and has been very reliable since version 5.0 was released. If the price were still under $100, it would be a bargain. At the present time LightSpeed Pascal or C is a much better bargain when compared with ZBasic.

I’m sure that there are others routines which MacTutor readers have been using which would be useful to others. Send your routines to me via MacTutor and see your name in print! Thanks Charles!

‘ This program contains 3 new subroutines which
‘ may be used with the ZBasic Program Generator.
‘ ©1989 MacTutor
‘ Subroutines by Charles Stricklin, modified by Dave Kelly
‘************************************************************
‘                      • CONFIGURATION • 
‘************************************************************
‘
‘            Default Variable Type:Integer
‘            Convert to Upper Case:Yes
‘        Space Req.After Key Words:Yes
‘                     Array Base 1:No
‘                       Bundle Bit:Yes
‘
‘************************************************************
‘                    • SET UP VARIABLES • 
‘************************************************************
WINDOW OFF:COORDINATE WINDOW:DEF MOUSE=-1:WIDTH -2
DIM T,L,B,R,MY,MX’                REQUIRED FOR TOOL BOX CALLS
‘------------------------------------------------------------
WND=1:GOSUB”BUILD WINDOW”
GOSUB “BUILD MENU”
GOTO”EVENT QUEUE”
‘************************************************************
‘                        • THE QUEUE • 
‘************************************************************
“EVENT QUEUE”
ON DIALOG GOSUB “HANDLE DIALOG”:DIALOG ON
ON BREAK  GOSUB “HANDLE BREAK” :BREAK  ON
ON MOUSE  GOSUB “HANDLE MOUSE” :MOUSE  ON
ON MENU GOSUB “Handle Menu” :MENU ON
:
“LOOP”
GOTO”LOOP”
:
DIALOG OFF:BREAK OFF:MOUSE OFF
‘************************************************************
‘                     • DIALOG ROUTINES • 
‘************************************************************
“HANDLE DIALOG”
:
ACT=DIALOG(0):REF=DIALOG(ACT)
:
IF ACT=3 THEN WINDOW REF:RETURN
IF ACT=4 THEN GOSUB”CAPTURE”:WINDOW CLOSE REF:END
IF ACT=5 THEN “FORMAT WINDOW”
IF ACT=11 THEN EDIT FIELD REF,””
:
LONG IF WINDOW(0)=1
END IF
:
RETURN
‘************************************************************
‘                      • BREAK ROUTINE • 
‘************************************************************
“HANDLE BREAK”
END
‘************************************************************
‘                     • MOUSE ROUTINES • 
‘************************************************************
“HANDLE MOUSE”
:
MACT=MOUSE(0):MX=MOUSE(1):MY=MOUSE(2)
:
RETURN
“Handle Menu”
MenuNumber=MENU(0)
Menuitem=MENU(1)
MENU
IF MenuNumber=1 AND Menuitem=12 THEN END
RETURN

‘GETINDSTRING$ function By Charles Stricklin
‘Modified by Dave Kelly for MacTutor, May, 1989

‘This function is identical to the procedure GetIndString
‘which is not in ROM and not supported by ZBasic.  It reads
‘a string from a string list and returns a copy of it in the
‘variable the String$.  If the string list doesn’t exist of the
‘index is out of range an empty string is returned.

‘ stringListID is the resource ID of the string list; it’s resource type 
is ‘STR#’.
‘ stringIndex is the index of the desired string within the list.

LONG FN GETINDSTRING$(StringListID, StringIndex)
 TheString$=””
 Offset=0
 FALSE=0
 MyHandle&=FN GETRESOURCE(CVI(“STR#”),StringListID)
 LONG IF FN RESERROR=FALSE
 MyPointer&=USR 3(MyHandle&)
 NumberOfStrings=PEEK WORD(MyPointer&)
 LONG IF (StringIndex>0) AND (StringIndex <= NumberOfStrings)
 LONG IF StringIndex>1
 FOR ThisString=1 TO StringIndex-1
 LengthOfThisString=PEEK(MyPointer&+2+Offset)
 Offset=Offset+LengthOfThisString+1
 NEXT
 END IF
 LengthOfDesiredString=PEEK(MyPointer&+2+Offset)
 FOR Character=1 TO LengthOfDesiredString
 TheString$=TheString$+CHR$(PEEK(MyPointer&+2+Offset+Character))
 NEXT
 END IF
 MyHandle&=USR 7(MyPointer&)
 CALL DETACHRESOURCE(MyHandle&)
 END IF
END FN= TheString$

‘GETRESMENU function By Charles Stricklin
‘Modified by Dave Kelly for MacTutor, May, 1989
‘This function creates a ZBasic menu from a MENU resource.
‘The result given is boolean; true if the task is accomplished,
‘false if there’s a problem (the resource doesn’t exist, etc.)

‘ resourceID is resource ID of the menu resource to be used.
‘  menuNumber is the ZBasic number of the menu to be created.

LONG FN GETRESMENU(ResourceID, MenuNumber)
 DEFSTR LONG
 Done=0
 FALSE=0
 MenuBlkSize=14
 Title$=””
 MyHandle&=FN GETRESOURCE(CVI(“MENU”),ResourceID)
 LONG IF FN RESERROR=FALSE
 MyPointer&=USR 3(MyHandle&)
 EnableFlags&=PEEK LONG(MyPointer&+10)
 State=VAL(MID$(BIN$(EnableFlags&),32,1))
 LengthTitle=PEEK(MyPointer&+MenuBlkSize)
 FOR Character=1 TO LengthTitle
Title$=Title$+CHR$(PEEK(MyPointer&+MenuBlkSize+Character))
 NEXT
 MENU MenuNumber,0,State,Title$
 Offset&=MenuBlkSize+LengthTitle+1
 DO
 MenuItem=MenuItem+1:Title$=””
 LengthTitle=PEEK(MyPointer&+Offset&)
 FOR Character=1 TO LengthTitle
Title$=Title$+CHR$(PEEK(MyPointer&+Offset&+Character))
 NEXT
 Offset&=Offset&+LengthTitle+1
 IconNumber&=PEEK(MyPointer&+Offset&)
 IF IconNumber& THEN Title$=Title$+”^”+RIGHT$(STR$(IconNumber&),1)
 CommandKey=PEEK(MyPointer&+Offset&+1)
 IF CommandKey THEN Title$=Title$+”/”+CHR$(CommandKey)
 MarkChar = PEEK(MyPointer&+Offset&+2)
 IF MarkChar THEN Title$=Title$+”!”+CHR$(MarkChar)
 CharacterStyle=PEEK(MyPointer&+Offset&+3)
 IF FN BITTST(CharacterStyle,0) THEN Title$=Title$+”<B”
 IF FN BITTST(CharacterStyle,1) THEN Title$=Title$+”<I”
 IF FN BITTST(CharacterStyle,2) THEN Title$=Title$+”<U”
 IF FN BITTST(CharacterStyle,3) THEN Title$=Title$+”<O”
 IF FN BITTST(CharacterStyle,4) THEN Title$=Title$+”<S”
  State=VAL(MID$(BIN$(EnableFlags&),32-MenuItem,1))
 Offset&=Offset&+4
 MENU MenuNumber, MenuItem, State, Title$
 UNTIL PEEK(MyPointer&+Offset&)=FALSE
 Done=-1
 END IF
 MyHandle&=USR 7(MyPointer&)
 CALL DETACHRESOURCE(MyHandle&)
END FN=Done

‘GETRESWINDOW function By Charles Stricklin
‘Modified by Dave Kelly for MacTutor, May, 1989
‘This function creates a ZBasic window from a window template
‘resource.  Result given is boolean;true if task is accomplished,
‘false if there’s a problem ( resource doesn’t exist, etc.)
‘ resourceID is the resource ID of window template to be used.
‘ windowNumber is ZBasic number of the window to be created.
‘ modal is boolean.

LONG FN GETRESWINDOW(ResourceID, WindowNumber, Modal)
 Done=0
 Title$=””
 FALSE=0
 MyHandle&=FN GETRESOURCE(CVI(“WIND”),ResourceID)
 LONG IF FN RESERROR=FALSE
 MyPointer&=USR 3(MyHandle&)
 Y1=PEEK WORD(MyPointer&)
 X1=PEEK WORD(MyPointer&+2)
 Y2=PEEK WORD(MyPointer&+4)
 X2=PEEK WORD(MyPointer&+6)
 Type=PEEK WORD(MyPointer&+8)+1
 HasClose=PEEK WORD(MyPointer&+12)
 LengthOfTitle=PEEK(MyPointer&+18)
 FOR Character=1 TO LengthOfTitle
 Title$=Title$+CHR$(PEEK(MyPointer&+18+Character))
 NEXT
 IF Type=13 THEN Type=9: ‘ZBasic doesn’t support ZoomNoGrow
 IF HasClose=FALSE THEN Type=Type+256
 IF Modal THEN Type=-Type
 WINDOW WindowNumber,Title$,(X1,Y1)-(X2,Y2),Type
 Done=-1
 END IF
 MyHandle&=USR 7(MyPointer&)
 CALL DETACHRESOURCE(MyHandle&)
END FN=Done

‘************************************************************
‘                     • WINDOW ROUTINES • 
‘************************************************************
“BUILD WINDOW”
IF WND=1 THEN Result=FN GETRESWINDOW(1,1,0)
GOSUB”BUILD EDITS”:GOSUB”FILL EDITS”:GOSUB “FORMAT WINDOW”
RETURN
‘************************************************************
‘                     • MENU ROUTINES • 
‘************************************************************
“BUILD MENU”
Result=FN GETRESMENU(1002,1)
RETURN
‘************************************************************
‘              • PUT GRAPHICS & TEXT IN WINDOW • 
‘************************************************************
“FORMAT WINDOW”
CALL PENNORMAL
:
LONG IF WINDOW(0)=1
PrintString$=FN GETINDSTRING$(31618, 1)
LOCATE 1,1:PRINT PrintString$
PrintString$=FN GETINDSTRING$(31618, 2)
LOCATE 4,2:PRINT PrintString$
END IF
:
CALL PENNORMAL:RETURN
‘************************************************************
‘             • CREATE EDIT FIELDS AND BUTTONS • 
‘************************************************************
“BUILD EDITS”
TEXT ,,0,0
:
LONG IF WINDOW(0)=1
END IF
:
RETURN
‘************************************************************
‘            • FILL EDIT FIELDS AND SET BUTTONS • 
‘************************************************************
“FILL EDITS”
:
LONG IF WINDOW(0)=1
END IF
:
RETURN
‘************************************************************
‘        • CAPTURE EDIT FIELD STRINGS & READ BUTTONS • 
‘************************************************************
“CAPTURE”
:
LONG IF WINDOW(0)=1
END IF
:
RETURN