Mega-Text

Mega-Text


by Simon Hobbs


from Your Sinclair #21 (Sep.1987


[files MEGATEXT.*]








Routines which print text up on your screen in a variety of


different sizes are many, whereas programs which handle text


in a variety of special effects are few. One such program is


this small, but perfectly formed, cluster of routines from


Simon Hobbs. In this program, with its attendant demo, you


can print text onto the screen in a number of special styles


- right slant, left slant, fuzzy, bold, thick, faded, double


image and curved.








Method





Load in the Mega-Text Demo with LOAD "". This will load the


demo program, in Basic, which will auto-run and load the


machine code. You'll then be presented with an example of


each of the various styles available using the Mega text


code. You can break into the Basic and examine the listing,


which'll tell you most of the information you wish to know


about the program.





The code is specially sited at 64000 in memory to allow use


of UDGs in your programs which use Mega-text. To activate


the various functions, you must POKE the following


addresses:





64394 = x co-ordinate of text


64395 = y co-ordinate of text


64396 = style of text


64397 = height of text





and then you RANDOMIZE USR 64000. To work out the value you


have to POKE into the style of text address (64396) this is


what you do: Set the appropriate bit of the byte to activate


the associated function, and reset it to deactivate the


function. The bits for each function are:





BIT FUNCTION


0 Right slant italics


1 Fuzzy text


2 Bold text


3 Thick text


4 Faded text


5 Left slant italics


6 Double image text


7 Curved text





Bits go from right to left. So if you wanted left slanting,


double image text (eur!) you must POKE 64396, BIN 01100000


or in decimal, 96. Or if you wanted fuzzy, curved text,


(hooargh!) you'd need to POKE 64396, BIN 10000010 or 130.


The text co-ordinate system is the same as a normal PRINT AT


statement. If you don't put in any co-ordinates, the


program, being foolproof and crash-proof, will simply start


where it left off.








Basic Program





Here's the Basic demo program. Type it in and save it with


SAVE "TEXT DEMO" LINE 10, saving it on the front end of a


blank tape.








Hex Loader





Type in this Hex Loader and save it to a separate tape for


future use, then run it and type the following Hex Dumps


into it. Just type in the figures between the ":" sign and


the "=" sign. The figure after the "=" sign is the Checksum.


At the beginning you'll be asked for the Start Address and


Length. This is the address in memory where the code will be


loaded, and the length is how many addresses after that the


program takes up. These figures are given at the beginning


of the dumps. To stop typing input an 'S'.








Hex Dump





Here's the machine code, listed here as a hex dump. The


start address = 64000 and the length = 398. Save it as SAVE


"TEXTCODE" CODE 64000, 398, making sure it follows the Basic


program on tape.