A KEYBOARD INPUT UTILITY
If you are like me, you often write programs that use "special"
keys like the arrow keys, function keys, etc., but the way these
keys are implemented seems frustrating; first you have to read a
null character, then do another read, and you have keep track of
what code means what. This detracts from the readability of the
program and disrupts your flow of thought. Or maybe you'd like
to read numbers from the keyboard but not have to worry about
trapping errors in input to avoid a fatal "Invalid numeric
format" error or check to see if the number typed is in the range
you want it. Or maybe you'd like to have a better input routine
than ReadLn to input a string. This unit tackles all those
problems, and a few others to enable you to write programs that
contain clean, good-looking, error-free input.
Author: Tom Swingle
Author can be contacted via e-mail at:
tswingle@oucsace.cs.ohiou.edu -or- swingle@duce.cs.ohiou.edu
or via regular U.S. mail:
Tom Swingle
114 Grosvenor St. (campus address)
Athens, OH 45701
Tom Swingle
Rt. 1 Box 292 (After June, 1992)
Waterford, OH 45786
Whether or not you send a donation, any feedback you have on this
unit is certainly welcome, and I will try to correct any bugs
reported, although I think I have tested it thoroughly enough
that almost all the bugs are gone (I have tested it quite
extensively and used it in several programs of mine). More than
anything, I would like to hear how this unit works with unusual
setups, like computers with keystroke buffer extenders or other
such things. I will gladly answer any questions as soon as I
can. If you have access to electronic mail, you can reach me
faster at
tswingle@oucsace.cs.ohiou.edu or swingle@duce.cs.ohiou.edu.
This unit is still undergoing rigorous testing, and bug reports
(if any, hopefully there are none) will be coming in as time goes
by, so contact me to see if there have been any updates, if this
unit interests you!
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Tom Swingle