Turbo Vision Life v1.0
by Ben Ziegler
February 16, 1992
INTRODUCTION
TVLife is a simple program that illustrates a few of Turbo
Visions's features: 1) how to use the Idle event to execute
background tasks, and 2) how to incorporate menus inside of
Twindows. It is merely meant to be a demonstration program for
Turbo Pascal v6.0
REQUIRED EQUIPMENT
IBM PC or 100% compatible
DOS 2.0 or higher
Highly Recommended: Microsoft compatible mouse
16 MHz or faster processor
INSTRUCTIONS
To execute TVLIFE, simply type "TVLIFE" at the DOS prompt. You
will be presented with a blank screen, a Menu Bar, and a Status
Line. To access the Menu Bar, press the F10 key. To execute
any of the commands on the Status Line, simply hit the required
Hot Key.
To get started quickly, press the following keys:
F9 (This will open up a Life window)
F5 (This will expand the window to fill the entire screen)
Alt-S (This will start the Life window running)
If desired, you may open as many Life windows as you want
(within the limits of your machine's free memory.) To open
more windows, press F9. After opening several windows, it may
be desirable to Tile all windows; to tile the windows press
Alt-W and then press "T".
Below is a list of all commands available from the Menu Bar and
Status Line:
Command Hot Key Explanation
------- ------- --------------------------------------
Exit Alt-X Exit TVLife immediately
Life F9 Open a Life window
Close Alt-F3 Close a Life window
HighRes Alt-H Enter High Res Video Mode
(43/50 lines for VGA)
LowRes Alt-L Enter Low Res Mode (25 Lines, default)
Zoom F5 Zoom window to fill entire Desktop
Next F6 Switch to next Life window
Menu F10 Activate the Menu
Tile Alt-W,T Tile all Life windows
Cascade Alt-W,C Cascade all Life windows
Note: For the Tile and Cascade commands, you must press two
keys. For example, you must press Alt-W and then "C" to
cascade.
Each Life window has its own Menu Bar. You may access the Menu
Bar by pressing Alt-A. The Life window's Menu Bar offers the
following commands:
Command Hot Key Explanation
------- ------- -----------------------------
Start Alt-S Start the Life window running
Stop Alt-P Stop the Life window
Clear Alt-C Clear the Life window
Random Alt-R Randomize the Life window
Close Alt-F3 Close the Life Window
The Random function is provided so that one may view new and
interesting life patterns. The Clear function is used so that
one may clear the board and enter one's own pattern (available
to mouse users only).
FEATURES AVAILABLE TO MOUSE USERS
If you have a Microsoft compatible mouse, then you may use
additional features. First of all, the Menu Bar and Status
Line commands can be accessed easily with mouse clicks. Life
windows may be moved or resized using the mouse. To move a
Life window, click on the top line of the window and drag it to
its desired location, then release the mouse button. To resize
the window, click on the resize icon (located on the lower
right corner of the window), and click and drag the corner for
the desired window size. The mouse may also be used to click
on the close window icon (located on the upper left corner), or
the zoom icon (located on the upper right corner).
Most importantly, the mouse may be used to edit the patterns
within the Life window. Clicking inside the life window will
cause a "dot" to appear. If you click on top of an existing
dot, the dot will be erased. This allows the user to create
his/her own patterns.
QUESITIONS & COMMENTS
Send any questions or comments to:
Ben Ziegler Internet Email Address:
4010 Terrace Dr bpz4r@virginia.edu
Annandale, VA 22003 (email valid until May 1992)
|